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That well-turned speech, those words that rose from earth Bound every list'ner by their gentle sway;

They roused the villager from thoughts of earth

And bade the man of science kneel and pray.

Thou art most like the calm autumnal day
That ripens fruit and saves the ling'ring flower;
Whose mellow sunshine ere it fades away
Leaves on the earth the gladness of its power.

Although on high the countless seraph choir

In happy expectation now await

In gathered throngs, with praise-tun'd voice and lyre, Thy angel-guarded flight, to Heaven's gate.

Our selfish love will speak its little word,
That substances the wish to keep thee here.
Still may thy faithful, guiding voice be heard
So widely reverenced, so justly dear.

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THE STORY OF ST. STEPHEN.1

The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance.'
Ps. cxii. 6.

PREFACE.

HROUGH hours and days of contempla

tive thought

And earnest scrutiny, I oft have gazed

Upon the loveliest landscape that is traced,
The records of a great man's holy life,
Until its most surpassing loveliness
Illumed the dark recesses of my soul,

And fertilised both intellect and heart,

Relifting the recumbent shield of Faith,
Unsheathing the neglected sword of Prayer.
When I beheld what others' faith had wrought,
From many meditations thence evoked,

I sought to rear an edifice of song.

1 For Notes see end of book.

B

In humble tribute to the praise of Him
Who shows what Christ-pervaded man can do,
And how God works for him who deeply loves,
And trusts unflinching to the uttermost.
God grant that he who reads this wondrous tale
(Which I have sought to sift and analyse
Not as the splendour of my theme demands,
But as man's mean intelligence may prompt)
May find but half the pleasure, or the gain
Accorded me in all the joyful toil.

In this material philosophic age,
When Giant Reason loves to stalk alone,
Leaving his partner Faith to lag behind,
The sympathising help-meet, that his Sire
In wisdom and deep forethought had bestowed
To aid and cheer him on Life's rougher ways,
Because he knew the solitary walk

Must be a way of stumbles, halts, and falls,
'Tis well for us to find some wondrous life
Wherein firm Trust has risen over all

That hating man could do, to blight and crush.

Why was St. Stephen full of dauntless might? Because weak Reason to his partner turned

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