THE HEBREW MOTHER.

The rose was in rich bloom on Sharon's plain,
When a young mother with her first-born thence
Went up to Zion, for the boy was vowed
Unto the Temple-service P-by the hand
She led him, and her silent soul, the while,
Oft as the dewy laughter of his eye

:

Met her sweet serious glance, rejoiced to think
That aught so pure, so beautiful was hers,
To bring before her God. So passed they on,
O'er Judah's hills and wheresoe'er the leaves
Of the broad sycamore made sounds at noon,
Like lulling rain-drops, or the olive-boughs,
With their cool dimness, crossed the sultry blue
Of Syria's heaven, she paused, that he might rest;
Yet from her own meek eyelids chased the sleep
That weighed their dark fringe down, to sit and watch
The crimson deepening o'er his cheek's repose,
As at a red flower's heart.

And where a fount

Lay like a twilight-star 'midst palmy shades,
Making its banks green gems along the wild,
There too she lingered, from the diamond wave
Drawing bright water for his rosy lips,

And softly parting clusters of jet curls

To bathe his brow. At last the Fane was reach'd.
The Earth's One Sanctuary--and rapture hushed
Her bosom, as before her, through the day,

It rose, a mountain of white marble, steeped
In light, like floating gold.

But when that hour

Waned to the farewell moment, when the boy
Lifted, through rainbow-gleaming tears, his eye
Beseechingly to hers, and half in fear

Turned from the white-robed priest, and round her arm
Clung as the ivy clings—the deep spring-tide
Of Nature then swelled high, and o'er her child
Bending, her soul broke forth, in mingled sound
Of weeping and sad song." Alas," she cried,
"Alas! my boy, thy gentle grasp is on me,
The bright tears quiver in thy pleading eyes,
And now fond thoughts arise,

And silver cords again to earth have won me ;
And like a vine thou claspest my full heart--
How shall I hence depart?

How the lone paths retrace where thon wert playing
So late, along the mountains, at my side?

And I, in joyous pride,

By every place of flowers my course delaying
Wove, e'en as pearls, the lilies round thy hair,
Beholding thee so fair!

And oh! the home whence thy bright smile hath parted,
Will it not seem as if the sunny day

Turned from its door away ?

While through its chambers wandering, weary-hearted,
I languish for thy voice, which past me still
Went like a singing rill?

Under the palm-trees thou no more shall meet me,
When from the fount at evening I return,

With the full water-urn;

Nor will thy Bleep's low dove-like breathings greet me, As 'midst the silence of the stars I wake,

And watch for thy dear sake.

And thou, will slumber's dewy cloud fall round thee,
Without thy mother's hand to smooth thy bed?

Wilt thou not vainly spread

Thine arms, when darkness as a veil hath wound thee, To fold my neck, and lift up in thy fear,

A cry which none shall hear?

What have I said, my child?—Will He not hear thee,
Who the young ravens heareth from their nest?
Shall He not guard thy rest,

And, in the hush of holy midnight near thee,
Breathe o'er thy soul, and fill its dreams with joy?
Thou shalt sleep soft, my boy!

I give thee to thy God—the God that gave thee,
A wellspring of deep gladness to my heart!

And precious as thou art,

And pure as dew of Hermon, He shall have thee,
My own, my beautiful, my undefiled!

And thou shalt be His child.

Therefore, farewell!—I go, my soul may fail me,
As the hart panteth for the water-brooks,

Yearning for thy sweet looks

But thou, my first-born, droop not, nor bewail me ;
Thou in the shadow of the Rock shalt dwell,
The Rock of Strength.—Farewell."

At last the Fane was reached.

Fane means a place of worship. Hence ye profane, is a poetic expression. The word profane, thus used, means the unholy— those who are not instructed in religion, or not capable of understanding and feeling any thing beautiful.

The earth's one sanctuary. Other nations besides the Hebrews observed religious worship, and had splendid temples in honour of their gods—but those were false gods, and Mrs. Hemans supposes that the "house of the Lord in Shiloh," was the only temple then upon earth where the Lord had set his name, and where he was worshipped in the spirit and purity which he had revealed to a chosen people.

Mrs. Hemans has given a brief but delightful sketch of the climate and scenery of Judea. The "olive boughs," the " palmy shades," and the fountain by the way side, according to Dr. Clarke, are still features of a country where, though names, rulers, and religions are changed, nature is still the same, and where the pastoral simplicity of ancient manners yet remains—where Rachel still tends the flocks, and Rebecca bears her pitcher to the well.

Thomas Moore in one of his poems describes the delicious climate of Syria and Palestine, with their productions,

SYRIA.

Now, upon Syria's land of roses
Softly the light of eve reposes,
And, like a glory, the broad sun
Hangs over sainted Lebanon;
Whose head in wintry grandeur towers,
And whitens with eternal sleet,
While summer, in a vale of flowers,
Is sleeping rosy at his feet.

To one, who looked from upper air
-O'er all the enchanted regions there,
How beauteous must have been the glow,
The life, the sparkling from below!

Fair gardens, shining streams, with ranks
Of golden melons on their banks,
More golden where the sun light falls ;—
Gay lizards, glittering on the walls
Of ruined shrines, busy and bright
As they were all alive with light ;-

And, yet more splendid, numerous flocks
Of pigeons, settling on the rocks,
With their rich restless wings, that gleam
Variously in the crimson beam

Of the warm west,—as if inlaid
With brilliants from the mine, or made
Of tearless rainbows, such as span
The unclouded skies of Peristan!
And then, the mingling sounds that come,
Of shepherd's ancient reed, with hum
Of the wild bees of Palestine,

Banqueting through the flowery vales;
And, Jordan, those sweet banks of thine,
And woods, so full of nightingales!

THOMAS MOORE.

Mr. Moore is a native of Ireland, only a small portion of his writings are of a serious character; but two of his hymns are selected as illustrative of his sacred poetry.

My choir shall be the moonlight waves,
When murmuring homeward to their caves,
Or when the stillness of the sea,

Even more than music, breathes of thee!

I'll seek, by day, some glade unknown,
All light and silence, like thy throne!
And the pale stars shall be, at night,
The only eyes that watch my rite.

Thy heaven, on which 'tis bliss to look,
Shall be my pure and shining book,
Where I shall read, in words of flame,
The glories of thy wondrous name.

I'll read thy anger in the rack

That clouds awhile the day-beam's track;
Thy mercy in the azure hue

Of sunny brightness, breaking through!

There's nothing bright, above, below,
From flowers that bloom to stars that glow
But in its light my soul can see
Some feature of thy Deity.

There's nothing dark, below, above,
But in its gloom I trace thy love,
And meekly wait that moment, when
Thy touch shall turn all bright again!

THE KINGDOM COME.

These verses repeat the figures by which the Hebrew Prophets Isaiah, and others indicate the reign of Christ. The Jews believed he would be their political ruler, and the splendid oriental imagery by which the circumstances of his power were illustrated in the prophetical writings, led them to presume that he would be arrayed in all the magnificence of eastern monarchs.

Those who know the history of the Christian religion, know, that though the life of Jesus was humble, and his death ignominious, yet kings and princes," from every nook of earth" have acknowledged the truth of this religion, and that every nation of civilized men is subject in some measure to the blessed influence of Christianity.