A PRAYER.

Hearts that hope will not refresh,-
Hand of Healing! interpose.

Tyranny's strong breath is tainting
Nature's sweet and vivid air,
Nations silently are fainting,
Or up-gather in despair:
Not to those distracted wills
Trust the judgment of their woes ;
While the cup of anguish fills,
Arm of Justice! interpose.

Pleasures night and day are hovering
Round their prey of weary hours,
Weakness and unrest discovering
In the best of human powers:
Ere the fond delusions tire,
Ere envenomed passion grows
From the root of vain desire,
Mind of Wisdom! interpose.

Now no more in tuneful motion
Life with love and duty glides;
Reason's meteor-lighted ocean
Bears us down its mazy tides;
Head is clear and hand is strong,
But our heart no haven knows;
Sun of Truth! the night is long,
Let thy radiance interpose!

251

GOD RULING IN ALL.

ALFRED TENNYSON. IN MEMORIAM.

Love is and was my Lord and King,
And in his presence I attend

To hear the tidings of my friend,
Which every hour his couriers bring.

Love is and was my King and Lord,
And will be, though as yet I keep
Within his court on earth, and sleep
Encompassed by his faithful guard,

And hear at times a sentinel

That moves about from place to place, And whispers to the vast of space Among the worlds, that all is well.

And all is well, though faith and form
Be sundered in the night of fear;

Well roars the storm to those that hear

A deeper voice across the storm,

Proclaiming social truth shall spread,

And justice, e'en though thrice again

The red fool-fury of the Seine

Should pile her barricades with dead.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

253

A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

CHARLES KINGSLEY.

Ir chanced upon the merry, merry Christmas eve I went sighing past the church, across the moorland dreary,

"Oh! never sin and want and woe this earth will

leave,

And the bells but mock the wailing sound

they sing so cheery.

How long, O Lord! how long before thou come again?

Still in cellar, and in garret, and on moorland

dreary

The orphans moan, and widows weep, and poor men toil in vain,

Till the earth is sick of hope deferred, though Christmas bells be cheery."

Then arose a joyous clamor from the wild-fowl on the mere,

Beneath the stars, across the snow, like clear bells ringing,

And a voice cried: "Listen! Christmas carols

even here!

Though thou be dumb, yet o'er their work the stars and snows are singing.

Blind! I live, I love, I reign; and all the nations through

With the thunder of my judgments even now

are ringing;

Do thou fulfil thy work, but as yon wild-fowl do, Thou wilt heed no less the wailing, yet hear through it angels' singing."

THE HOPE OF MAN.

T. W. HIGGINSON.

THE past is dark with sin and shame,
The future dim with doubt and fear;
But, Father, yet we praise thy name,
Whose guardian love is always near.

For man has striven, ages long,

With faltering steps to come to thee, And in each purpose high and strong The influence of thy grace could see.

He could not breathe an earnest prayer,
But thou wast kinder than he dreamed,
As age by age brought hopes more fair,

And nearer still thy kingdom seemed.

But never rose within his breast

A trust so calm and deep as now;
Shall not the weary find a rest?

Father, Preserver, answer thou!

'Tis dark around, 't is dark above,

But through the shadow streams the sun; We cannot doubt thy certain love, And man's true aim shall yet be won!

PRAYER.

R. M. MILNES.

In reverence will we speak of those that woo The ear Divine with clear and ready prayer; And, while their voices cleave the Sabbath air, Know their bright thoughts are winging heavenward too.

Yet many a one,

the "latchet of whose shoe " These might not loose, — will often only dare Lay some poor words between him and despair,— "Father, forgive! we know not what we do." For, as Christ prayed, so echoes our weak heart, Yearning the ways of God to vindicate,