SCENES

IN

THE LIFE OF THE SAVIOUR.

The Annunciation.

And the angel came in unto her, and said, "Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women." LUKE i, 28.

LOWLIEST of women, and most glorified!

In thy still beauty sitting calm and lone,
A brightness round thee grew-and by thy side,
Kindling the air, a form etherial shone,
Solemn, yet breathing gladness. From her throne
A queen had risen with more imperial eye,

A stately prophetess of victory

From her proud lyre had struck a tempest's tone,
For such high tidings as to thee were brought,
Chosen of Heaven! that hour:-but thou, O thou!
E'en as a flower with gracious rains o'erfraught

Thy virgin head beneath its crown didst bow,

THE ANNUNCIATION.

And take to thy meek breast th' all-holy word,
And own thyself the handmaid of the Lord.
Yet as a sun-burst flushing mountain snow,
Fell the celestial touch of fire ere long
On the pale stillness of thy thoughtful brow,
And thy calm spirit lighten'd into song.
Unconsciously, perchance, yet free and strong
Flow'd the majestic joy of tuneful words,

Which living harps the choirs of heaven among
Might well have link'd with their divinest chords.
Full many a strain, borne far on glory's blast,
Shall leave, where once its haughty music pass'd,
No more to memory than a reed's faint sigh;
While thine, O childlike virgin! through all time
Shall send its fervent breath o'er every clime,
Being of God, and therefore not to die.

Felicia D. Hemans.

19

Bethlehem.

THEY speak to me of princely Tyre,
That old Phoenician gem,

Great Sidon's daughter of the North;
But I will speak of Bethlehem.

They speak of Rome and Babylon,-
What can compare with them?
So let them praise their pride and pomp;
But I will speak of Bethlehem.

They praise the hundred-gated Thebes,

Old Mizraim's diadem,

The city of the sand-girt Nile;

But I will speak of Bethlehem.

They speak of Athens, star of Greece,
Her hill of Mars, her Academe;
Haunts of old wisdom and fair art;
But I will speak of Bethlehem.

Dear city, where heaven met with earth,
Whence sprang the rod from Jesse's stem,
Whence Jacob's star first shone;-of thee

I'll speak, O happy Bethlehem!

Horatius Bonar.

The Birth-Song of Christ.

CALM on the listening ear of night
Come Heaven's melodius strains,
Where wild Judea stretches far
O'er silver-mantled plains.

Celestial choirs from courts above
Shed sacred glories there,

And angels, with their sparkling lyres,
Make music in the air.

The answering hills of Palestine

Send back the glad reply;

And greet from all their holy heights
The Day-Spring from on high.

O'er the blue depths of Galilee

There comes a holier calm;

And Sharon waves, in solemn praise,
Her silent groves of palm.

"Glory to God!" the sounding skies

Loud with their anthems ring; "Peace to the earth, good will to men, From Heaven's eternal King."

22

THE BIRTH-SONG OF CHRIST.

Light on thy hills Jerusalem:

The Saviour now is born,

And bright on Bethlehem's joyous plains

Breaks the first Christmas morn.

E. H. Sears.