Page:The Christian Year 1887.djvu/129

 Nor surer would the blessing prove Of humbled hearts, that own Thy love, Should choral welcome from above Visit our senses plain:

Than by Thy placid voice and brow, With healing first, with comfort now, Turned upon him, who hastes to bow Before Thee, heart and knee; "Oh! thou, who only wouldst be blest, On thee alone My blessing rest! Rise, go thy way in peace, possessed  For evermore of Me."


 * Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. St. Matthew, vi. 28.

Sweet nurslings of the vernal skies, Bathed in soft airs, and fed with dew, What more than magic in you lies, To fill the heart's fond view? In childhood's sports, companions gay, In sorrow, on Life's downward way, How soothing! in our last decay Memorials prompt and true.

Relics ye are of Eden's bowers, As pure, as fragrant, and as fair, As when ye crowned the sunshine hours Of happy wanderers there. Fall'n all beside—the world of life, How is it stained with fear and strife! In Reason's world what storms are rife, What passions range and glare!

But cheerful and unchanged the while Your first and perfect form ye show, The same that won Eve's matron smile In the world's opening glow. The stars of heaven a course are taught Too high above our human thought: Ye may be found if ye are sought, And as we gaze, we know.