Look on us, Lord, and take our parts From these our proud yet grovelling hearts Did not the Gentile Church find grace, She too3, in earlier, purer days, Had watch'd Thee gleaming faint and far— But wandering in self-chosen ways She lost Thee quite, thou lovely Star. Yet had her Father's finger turn'd To Thee her first enquiring glance: The deeper shame within her burn'd, When waken'd from her wilful trance. Behold, her wisest throng thy gate, The Patriarchal Church. (Yet own'd too worthless and too late) They lavish on thy cottage-floor. They give their best-O tenfold shame On us their fallen progeny, Who sacrifice the blind and lame ' Who will not wake or fast with Thee! Malachi i. 8. FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. They shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water Isaiah xliv. 4. courses. LESSONS sweet of spring returning, Welcome to the thoughtful heart! Instinct pure, or heav'n-taught art? Soft as Memnon's harp at morning, To the inward ear devout, Touch'd by light, with heavenly warning Your transporting chords ring out. Every leaf in every nook, Every wave in every brook, Needs no show of mountain hoary, Winding shore or deepening glen, Where the landscape in its glory Teaches truth to wandering men : Give true hearts but earth and sky, And some flowers to bloom and die,— Homely scenes and simple views Lowly thoughts may best infuse. See the soft green willow springing Though the rudest hand assail her, But when showers and breezes hail her, Wears again her willing smile. If, the quiet brooklet leaving, For the shades I leave behind, Where the thickest boughs are twining All may hear, but none may see. So they live in modest ways, |