Page:The Christian Year 1887.djvu/35



Time's waters will not ebb, nor stay; Power cannot change them, but Love may; What cannot be, Love counts it done. Deep in the heart, her searching view Can read where Faith is fixed and true, Through shades of setting life can see Heaven's work begun.

O Thou, who keep'st the Key of Love, Open Thy fount, eternal Dove, And overflow this heart of mine, Enlarging as it fills with Thee, Till in one blaze of charity Care and remorse are lost, like motes in light divine;

Till as each moment wafts us higher, By every gush of pure desire, And high-breathed hope of joys above, By every secret sigh we heave, Whole years of folly we outlive, In His unerring sight, who measures Life by Love.


 * In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. Coloss. ii. 11.

The year begins with Thee, And Thou beginn'st with woe, To let the world of sinners see That blood for sin must flow.

Thine infant cries, O Lord, Thy tears upon the breast, Are not enough—the legal sword Must do its stern behest.

Like sacrificial wine Poured on a victim's head Are those few precious drops of Thine, Now first to offering led.

They are the pledge and seal Of Christ's unswerving faith