Thou Framer of the light and dark, We are in port if we have Thee b. The Rulers of this Christian land, Oh! by thine own sad burthen, borne If some poor wandering child of thine Then they willingly received Him into the ship: and imme. diately the ship was at the land whither they went. St. John vi. 21. Watch by the sick: enrich the poor Come near and bless us when we wake, Ere through the world our way we take : Till in the ocean of thy love We lose ourselves in Heaven above. ADVENT SUNDAY. Now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. Romans xiii. 11. AWAKE—again the Gospel-trump is blown- Are gathering round the Judge's path, Strange words fulfill'd, and mighty works achiev'd, And truth in all the world both hated and believ'd. Awake! why linger in the gorgeous town, Alas! no need to rouse them: long ago They strew the ground beneath his feet: All but your hearts are there-O doom'd to prove The arrows wing'd in Heaven for Faith that will not love! Meanwhile He paces through th' adoring crowd, Calm as the march of some majestic cloud, That o'er wild scenes of ocean-war Holds its still course in Heaven afar: Even so, heart-searching Lord, as years roll on, Thou keepest silent watch from thy triumphal throne: Even so, the world is thronging round to gaze Constrain'd to own Thee, but in heart The changeful burden still of their rude lawless cry. Yet in that throng of selfish hearts untrue Children and childlike souls are there, Blind Bartimeus' humble prayer, And Lazarus waken'd from his four days' sleep, Enduring life again, that Passover to keep. And fast beside the olive-border'd way And heavenly Contemplation dear, Where Martha lov'd to wait with reverence meet, And wiser Mary linger'd at thy sacred feet. Still through decaying ages as they glide, When withering blasts of error swept the sky, And Love's last flower seem'd fain to droop and die, How sweet, how lone the ray benign On shelter'd nooks of Palestine ! < Arianism in the fourth century. |