Page:Sarah Sheppard - L. E. L.pdf/72



The coarse and mean, the false and the unjust; And constant contact makes us grow too like The things we daily struggle with and scorn. Only by looking up can we see Heaven." Ethel Churchill, vol. ii.

But why should we multiply instances? We think no careful reader can rise from the perusal of L. E. L.'s works, without having his intellectual taste refined, his ideas increased, his sentiments as a patriot, philosopher and moral being called forth by the eloquent voice of the charmer, often charming so wisely. All Christian hearts who desire the increase of God's kingdom will respond to the sentiments of the following beautiful poem, a poem which nobly illustrates the chief end of our holy faith, the salvation of the world by the diffusion of the Gospel:—

is a glorious task to seek Where misery droops the patient head; Where tears are on the widow's cheek, Where weeps the mourner o'er the dead.

These are the moments when the heart Turns from a world no longer dear; These are the moments to impart The only hope still constant here.

That hope is present in our land, For many a sacred shrine is there; Time-honoured old cathedrals stand; Each village has its house of prayer,

O'er all the realm one creed is spread, One name adored, one altar known; If souls there be in doubt or dread, Alas! the darkness is their own.