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VII. LADY LUCY WHITMORE.

LADY LUCY WHITMORE, daughter of the Earl of Bradford, born 1792, died 1840, composed one hymn suitable for Lent, beginning, "Father, again in Jesus' name we meet." This hymn first appeared in 1824, in a volume entitled "Family Prayers for Every Day in the Week, with Fourteen Original Hymns." Of these hymns only the one we quote appears to be known or used at the present time.

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"Alas! unworthy of thy boundless love,
Too oft with careless feet from thee we rove;
But now, encouraged by thy voice we come,
Returning sinners, to a Father's home.

"Oh by His name in whom all fulness dwells,
Oh by his love which every love excels,
Oh by his blood so freely shed for sin,
Open blessed mercy's gate, and take us in."

VIII. ANNA, COUNTESS OF WINCHELSEA.

ANNA, Countess of Winchelsea, is one of the noble writers who have devoted their pens to the work of praising God. Wordsworth said of her poems that,

with the exception of Pope's, they were the only ones worthy of note between Milton's "Paradise Lost" and

Thomson's "Seasons." Seasons." A volume of poems by Lady Winchelsea was published in 1731, eleven years after the poetess herself had passed away. She is best known at this date by a little poem entitled "The Atheist and the Acorn." We give a couple of verses from a somewhat lengthy hymn of praise, entitled "Nature's Praise."

"To the Almighty on his radiant throne

Let endless hallelujahs rise!

Praise him, ye wondrous heights to us unknown!
Praise him, ye heavens unreached by mortal eyes!
Praise him, in your degree, ye sublunary skies!

"Praise him, ye angels that before him bow,
You creatures of celestial frame,

Our guests of old, our wakeful guardians now,—
Praise him, and with like zeal our hearts inflame,
Transporting then our praise to seats from whence you
came !"

IT

CHAPTER XIV.

A hindu hymn Writer.

ELLEN LAKSHMI GOREH.

T is one proof of the catholicity of the Christian Church that her "sweet singers" have come from all branches, all sections, all creeds, and all lands. Faroff India has supplied a singer of Christian songs of no mean order. Although at present her poems and hymns are mostly known to the world which reads mission literature, we think it not unlikely that in time to come some of her strains may be heard in the sanctuaries of our country. As far as we know, her poems and hymns are mainly known to the public through their publication by the Rev. Charles Bullock, in a little volume entitled "From India's Coral Strand (and it is to this volume we are indebted for the specimens we give); but some years ago a poem of hers, commencing,

"Listen, listen, English sisters,

Hear an Indian sister's plea ! "

attracted much attention from all who were interested

in Indian zenana missions. It was called by Frances

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Ridley Havergal “a splendid missionary appeal;" and, indeed, appeared first in print in consequence of Miss Havergal's recommendation.

Ellen Lakshmi Goreh was born at Benares, "the sacred city" of India, on September 11, 1853, of Christian parents. Her father belonged to the Brahmin caste, and was a native pastor, having been baptized under the name of Nehemiah. The Rev. Nehemiah Goreh was at one time filling an honoured position in the suite of the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, but afterwards became a valued and useful worker in the evangelization of his countrymen. Ellen's mother died shortly after the birth of the babe, and the child was adopted first by Mrs. Smailes, an indigo-planter's wife, and then, after the Indian Mutiny in 1857, by the Rev. W. T. and Mrs. Storrs, who trained her up as their own child. By them she was brought to England, in 1865, and educated. As she grew up to young womanhood, she entered into Christian work in the rural English parishes where Mr. Storrs ministered, and in course of years grew to know Miss Havergal and other workers for the Church Missionary Society. Both from a desire to help Indian zenana missions, and from early associations, she began to write poems bearing on that subject, and finally decided to return to India, to labour for the evangelization of her Indian sisters. She left England in 1880 for this purpose.

The following hymns are of such a character that they draw forth a response from every Christian heart. The first is entitled "The Great Refiner."

"Take my heart, O Great Refiner,

Plunge it in the cleansing flame; Heat the furnace seven times hotter, I shall still adore thy name. I shall hail its hungry roaring, "Twill be music in my ear, If amid its fiery anger

Thy sweet, gentle voice I hear.

"Yes, I love thee, Great Refiner,
Yes, I love the burning light
Dearer than the costliest jewel,
Sparkling beautiful and bright.
Is it true that I am worthy

Thus to be made pure from dross? If it were not wholly cleansed, Wouldst thou count it as a loss?

"Oh, how wonderful thy goodness, Far beyond my highest thought! I can only take, rejoicing,

What thy tender care has brought. Purged, and tried as gold or silver, This is what I long to be; Perfected, and wanting nothing,

Work thine own sweet will in me.

"Grand assurance! thou art watching
Most intently all the while;
Welcome is the fining process'
Carried on beneath thy smile:
Or if thou in love withholdest
Thy felt presence, it is well;
Faith shall triumph over feeling,
Peace shall still within me dwell.

"Welcome, welcome every dealing,
Pain or pleasure, joy or woe;
All is sent, O Great Refiner,
By a loving hand, I know.

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