Page:The Christian Year 1887.djvu/116



Think on the shame, that dreadful hour When tears shall have no power, Should his own lay th' accuser prove, Cold while he kindled others' love: And let your prayer for charity arise, That his own heart may hear his melodies, And a true voice to him may cry, "Thy GOD forgives—thou shalt not die."


 * From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? St. Mark viii. 4.

Go not away, thou weary soul: Heaven has in store a precious dole Here on Bethsaida's cold and darksome height, Where over rocks and sands arise Proud Sirion in the northern skies, And Tabor's lonely peak, 'twixt thee and noonday light.

And far below, Gennesaret's main Spreads many a mile of liquid plain, (Though all seem gathered in one eager bound,) Then narrowing cleaves you palmy lea, Towards that deep sulphureous sea, Where five proud cities lie, by one dire sentence drowned.

Landscape of fear! yet, weary heart, Thou need'st not in thy gloom depart, Nor fainting turn to seek thy distant home: Sweetly thy sickening throbs are eyed By the kind Saviour at thy side; For healing and for balm e'en now thine hour is come.

No fiery wing is seen to glide, No cates ambrosial are supplied, But one poor fisher's rude and scanty store Is all He asks (and more than needs) Who men and angels daily feeds, And stills the wailing sea-bird on the hungry shore.

The feast is o'er, the guests are gone, And over all that upland lone The breeze of eve sweeps wildly as of old -