PARAPHRASE OF PSALM I. How blest the upright man, whose feet The sinner's wiles ne'er turned aside, Who ne'er would share the scorner's seat, Nor in the haunts of guilt abide! The law of God his constant theme, Through every waking hour of night; His study, from the day's first beam To the last ray of fading light. He shall be like the tree, whose roots He who with beauty clothes the tree, His faithful servant, too, shall bless, Shall keep his path from danger free, And crown each effort with success. Not such the hardened sinner's doom,- Be swept-nor leave his trace behind; When the last trump the dead shall wake, Shall hear the word that bids him take, The God who hates the sinner's ways, And blights them in his righteous wrath, The pious man with love surveys, And with rich blessings crowns his path. THE ATHEIST. THERE is no God,-the fool in secret said; There is no God that rules on earth or sky; Is there no God?-the silver stream that flows, The air he breathes, the ground he treads, the trees, The flowers, the grass, the sands, each wind that blows, All speak of God; throughout one voice agrees, And eloquent his dread existence shows: Blind to thyself, ah! see Him, fool, in these. TRANSLATION OF THE LATIN HYMN, "DIES IRE." O DAY of wrath! that dreadful day, When dread shall strike the sinner dumb, When the Almighty Judge shall come, Every hidden sin to sum! When the wondrous trumpets' tone, What shall THEN that creature say? Lord of all power and majesty, Pure fountain of all piety, O Thou, whose vengeance waits on sin, With suppliant heart and bended knee, "That day of wrath, that dreadful day, A CHRISTMAS CAROL. STAR of the east, whose beacon-light On thee in thought we love to gaze And think on thy mysterious rays, Fair is the star of eve that sheds But still more fair thy form arose, Which of a more serene repose, Hail thou, whose silvery radiance led Their choicest gifts, in worship spread That glorious Sun, whose harbinger And like the pillared flame to bear Hail thou, appointed to adorn The rising King of heaven, In whom the peaceful empire sealed, So on thy beacon-light we gaze In western climes afar, And note thy heaven-directed rays, Thou lovely eastern star : Him who permits to all to see The light their stations need; Who chose the star-versed sage by thee, Star of the east, to lead; Who made by shepherd swains at night And gives to us his Scriptures' light, COMMUNION OF SAINTS. "THE Church triumphant,"-animating word, Waking the mind to visions of the skies, Touching each string of the soul's harmonies, Like to the trumpet John in Patmos heard. "The Church triumphant." In its golden zone What throng of glorious things assembled shine, Such as no thought hath reached, nor heart hath known! A city where the sun makes not the day, But God Himself, the everlasting light; Where comes no even, nor the shades of night, And where the golden hours pass not away. Angels are there, and saints, and, happy thought! Those whom we loved, and walked with heart to heart, One bond encircles all-the Blood that bought. Communion of the saints, in earth and heaven; Till we shall be triumphant too, and blest LOVE TO OUR ENEMIES. WHEN on the fragrant sandal tree E'en on the edge that wrought her death, As if betokening in her fall Peace to her foes, and love to all. How hardly man this lesson learns, To smile, and bless the hand that spurns; To see the blow, to feel the pain, But render only love again. |