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XV.

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?"-Ps. xxvii. 1.

LEAD, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on!

The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on!

Keep Thou my feet, I do not ask to see
The distant scene,—one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou
Shouldst lead me on.

I loved to see and chose my path; but now
Lead Thou me on!

I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on,

O'er moor and hill, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night be gone;

And with the morn those angel faces smile,

That I have loved long since, and lost erewhile.

XVI.

"I leave the world, and go to the Father."John xvi. 28.

It was a brave attempt, adventurous he,
Who in the first ship broke the unknown sea;
And, leaving his dear native shores behind,
Trusted his life to the licentious wind.

I see the surging brine: the tempest raves :
He on the pine plank rides across the waves,
Exulting on the edge of thousand gaping graves:
He steers the winged boat, and shifts the sails,
Conquers the flood, and manages the gales.

Such is the soul, that leaves this mortal land,
Fearless, when the Great Master gives command.
Death is the storm: she smiles to see it roar,
And bids the tempest waft her from the shore;
Then with a skilful helm she sweeps
the seas,
And manages the raging storm with ease;
Her faith can govern death,—she spreads her wings
Wide to the wind, and as she sails she sings,
And loses by degrees the sight of mortal things.
As the shores lessen, so her joys arise,
The waves roll gentler, and the tempest dies;
Now vast eternity fills all her sight;

She floats on the broad deep with infinite delight, The seas for ever calm, the skies for ever bright.

XVII.

"O death, where is thy sting?"—1 Cor. xv. 55.

WHAT is death

But the bright angel of God's Providence,
The herald of salvation, come to plume
Th' enfranchised spirit; with ethereal touch
To rive her prison, quicken all her powers,
To wing with pinions fleeter than the wind,
And elevate to worlds beyond the stars?

XVIII.

“Who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." -2 Tim. i. 10.

Do

TELL me, ye winged winds,
That round my pathway roar,
ye not know some spot
Where mortals weep no more?
Some lone and pleasant dell,

Some valley in the west,

Where, free from toil and pain,

The weary soul may rest?

The loud wind dwindled to a whisper low,

Sighing for pity, as it answer'd-No!

Tell me, thou mighty deep,
Whose billows round me play,
Know'st thou some favour'd spot,
Some island far away,
Where weary man may find

The bliss for which he sighs,
Where sorrow never lives,

And friendship never dies?

The wild waves rolling in perpetual flow, Stopped for awhile, and sighed to answer-No!

And thou, serenest moon,
That with such holy face

Dost look upon the earth,
Asleep in night's embrace,
Tell me in all thy round

Hast thou not seen some spot

Where man, poor wanderer,

Might find a happier lot?

Behind the cloud the moon withdrew in woe, And a voice sweet, but sad, responded-No!

Tell me, my secret soul,

O tell me, Hope and Faith,
Is there no resting place
From sorrow, sin and death?

Is there no happy spot

Where mortals may be bless'd-
Where grief may find a balm

And weariness a rest?

Faith, Hope and Love, (best boons to mortals given,)

Waved their bright wings and whispered-Yes, in Heaven.

XIX.

"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."-John x. 10. "WHAT is the gift of life?"

To those subdued, and taught by wisdom's voice,
Wisdom of stern necessity, not choice,
Whose cup of joy is ebbing out in haste,
Who have no fountain to supply the waste,
Whose spirit, like some traveller gazing round
On broken columns in the desert ground,
Sees but sad traces on a lonely scene

Of what life was, and what it might have been,
O! is not life a sad and solemn thing?

"What is the gift of life?"

To him who reads with heaven-instructed eye, "T is the first dawning of eternity;

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