ALMIGHTY GOD.

CHORUS OF PRIESTS.

ALMIGHTY God! when round thy shrine
The Palm-tree's heavenly branch we twine,*
(Emblem of Life's eternal ray,

And Love that "fadeth not away,”)
We bless the flowers, expanded all,†
We bless the leaves that never fall,
And trembling say, " In Eden thus
The Tree of Life may flower for us !"
When round thy Cherubs-smiling calm
Without their flames §-we wreath the palm,
O God! we feel the emblem true,
Thy mercy is eternal too!

Those Cherubs with their smiling eyes,
That crown of palm which never dies,
Are but the types of Thee above -
Eternal Life, and Peace, and Love.

* "Scriptures having declared that the Temple of Jerusalem was a type of the Messiah, it is natural to conclude that the PALMS, which made so conspicuous a figure in that structure, represented that LIFE and IMMORTALITY which were brought to light by the Gospel.”—Observations on the Palm, as a sacred Emblem, by W. Tigh.

"And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims, and palm-trees, and OPEN FLOWers." -1 KINGS vi. 29.

§ "When the passover of the tabernacles was revealed to the great law-giver in the mount, then the cherubic images which appeared in that structure were no longer surrounded by flames: for the tabernacle was a type of the dispensation of mercy, by which Jehovah confirmed his gracious covenant to redeem mankind.”Observations on the Palm.

O FAIR! O PUREST!

SAINT AUGUSTINE TO HIS SISTER.*

0 FAIR! O purest! be thou the dove

That flies alone to some sunny grove,
And lives unseen, and bathes her wing,
All vestal white, in the limpid spring.
There, if the hovering hawk be near,
That limpid spring in its mirror clear
Reflects him, ere he can reach his prey,
And warns the timorous bird away.
Be thou this dove;

Fairest purest! be thou this dove.

The sacred pages of God's own book
Shall be the spring, the eternal brook,
In whose holy mirror, night and day,
Thou'lt study Heaven's reflected ray :—
And should the foes of virtue dare,
With gloomy wing, to seek thee there,
Thou wilt see how dark their shadows lie
Between Heaven and thee, and trembling fly!
Be thou that dove ;

Fairest purest! be thou that dove.

1

* In St. Augustine's treatise upon the advantages of a solitary life, addressed to his sister, there is the following fanciful passage, from which the thought of this song is taken: 'Te, soror, nunquam nolo esse securam, sed timere, semperque tuam fragilitatem habere suspectam, ad instar pavidæ columbæ frequentare rivos aquarum et quasi in speculo accipitris cernere supervolantis effigiem et caRivi aquarum sententiæ sunt scripturarum, quæ de limpidişsimo sapientia fonte profluentes," etc. etc. - DE VIT. EREMIT. AD SOROREM.

vere.

ANGEL OF CHARITY.

ANGEL of Charity, who, from above
Comes to dwell a pilgrim here,

Thy voice is music, thy smile is love,
And pity's soul is in thy tear!
When on the shrine of God were laid

First-fruits of all most good and fair,
That ever bloom'd in Eden's shade,
Thine was the holiest offering there!

Hope and her sister, Faith, were given
But as our guides to yonder sky ;
Soon as they reach the verge of heaven,
There, lost in perfect bliss, they die.*

But long as Love, almighty Love,

Shall on his throne of thrones abide, Thou, Charity, shalt dwell above, Smiling forever by His side.

BEHOLD THE SUN.

BEHOLD the Sun, how bright

From yonder east he springs,

As if the soul of life and light

Were breathing from his wings.

* “ Then Faith shall fail, and holy Hope shall die, One lost in certainty, and one in joy.”

R

PRIOR.

So bright the Gospel broke
Upon the souls of men;

So fresh the dreaming world awoke
In truth's full radiance then!

Before yon Sun arose,

Stars clustered through the sky – But O, how dim, how pale were those, To his one burning eye!

So Truth lent many a ray,

To bless the Pagan's night

But, Lord, how weak, how cold were they
To Thy one glorious light!

LORD, WHO SHALL BEAR THAT DAY.

LORD, who shall bear that day, so dread, so splendid,
When we shall see thy angel hovering o'er
This sinful world, with hand to heaven extended,
And hear him swear by Thee that time's no more ?*
When earth shall feel thy fast-consuming ray-
Who, mighty God! O who shall bear that day?

* And the Angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever, that there should be time no longer." REV. x. 5.

When thro' the world thy awful call hath sounded, Wake, all ye dead, to judgment wake, ye dead!"† And from the clouds, by seraph eyes surrounded,

The Savior shall put forth his radiant head ;‡ While earth and heaven before him pass away-II Who, mighty God! O who shall bear that day?

When, with a glance, the eternal Judge shall sever Earth's evil spirits from the pure and bright, And say to those, 'Depart from me forever!'

To these, 'Come dwell with me in endless light!'§ When each and all in silence take their way Who, mighty God! O who shall bear that day?

0

O TEACH ME TO LOVE THEE.

TEACH me to love thee, to feel what thou art,
Till, filled with the one sacred image, my heart
Shall all other passions disown-

Like some pure temple that shines apart,
Reserved for thy worship alone!

† "Awake, ye dead, and come to judgment."

They shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, and all the angels with him.-MAT. xxiv. 30.

From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. REV. xx. §. And before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one from another. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, &c. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, &c. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.-Mat. xxv. 32.