Here nought within can ease the woe,

There nought within can peace o'erthrow.

Let him who gazes on each face

Truly proclaim in which man's place
He would at death be found.

PART III.

THE LESSONS AND TEACHINGS SUGGESTED

THEREBY.

CXLIX

ACH fellow to his neighbour boasts

Who chances to pass by,

We slew the chief of Jesu's hosts,

How great our victory!'

Strange vict'ry! ne'er did Jesus win

More signal triumph over sin

Strange vict'ry! when that vaunting band

Quailing before God's bar shall stand

To answer for that crime.

CL

Could they but cleave yon vault of blue

That bounds this finite sphere,

What wondrous sights would meet the view,

What melodies the ear!

The cruel tragedy rehearsed

On earth is altered and reversed:

Heav'n's portal open flies;

Unnumbered eyes glad meeting dart,
Unnumbered lips in music part,

To hail him to the skies.

CLI

What eye has not admiring seen

At autumn eventide,

A sunset glory in whose sheen

All beauties seem allied?

The flocking clouds are pierced with light, Some like red embers glowing bright;

Some shaped in streaks of feath'ry white Rivet the charmed beholder's sight;

Some circled by a golden frame

Surround their monarch's flight of flame;
Some soaring to their loftiest height
For long escape advancing night,

And downward waft their roseate light

O'er earth as well as sky.

A harmony we ne'er forget;

So Stephen's end is glowing yet

O'er this world's history.

CLII

The day is o'er, a painless calm
Upon those features beams

As if sweet slumber's soothing charm
Wrapped him in happy dreams:

The motley, yelling crowd has fled,
Companions raise the prostrate head

And lift the lifeless form;

As when wild winds have winged their flight, We oft behold a cloudless night

Succeed a day of storm.

CLIII

These loving friends from far and nigh

Encompassing their chief,

Show by quick gesture, word, and cry

Minds overcharged with grief:

In this our clime of northern chill

Sorrow lies chained beneath the will,

Expression's silent speech may fill
The countenance with grief;

There the strong feelings of the soul
Break from the grip of such control
And find in words relief.

CLIV

With lamentations lifted long

They lay him in the grave,

And thickly in their kind eyes throng The tears that cannot save.

The Priest decreed foul bird and beast
Upon his mangled corse should feast
In loathsome carnival;

But Love proved mightier than Hate,
Reversing this degrading fate
In costly burial.32

CLV

The clinging fall of recent snow
That robes the earth in white

Extends the sunlight's ebbing flow
Far into winter's night.

It beautifies the scene around,
New life imparting to the ground,

As coming spring will show;

So Stephen's death prolonged the light Of his dear Master gone from sight With wondrous afterglow.