THE

SACRED GIFT

A SERIES OF

MEDITATIONS UPON SCRIPTURE SUBJECTS,

WITH TWENTY HIGHLY-FINISHED ENGRAVINGS

AFTER

Celebrated Paintings by the Great Masters.

SECOND SERIES. BY

THE REV. CHARLES B. TAYLER, M. A.

AUTHOR OF "MAY YOU LIKE IT;" "RECORDS OF A GOOD MAN'S LIFE;"
"LADY MARY;" ETC. ETC.

FISHER, SON, & CO.

THE CAXTON PRESS, ANGEL STREET, ST. MARTIN'S-LE-GRAND, LONDON;

RUE ST. HONORÉ, PARIS.

1846.

ADDRESS.

AMONG the annual publications of the season, the fol

lowing pages may find perhaps many readers to whom subjects of a lighter and less sacred character would not be so acceptable. To such readers they are offered, by one who does not lightly value the approbation of the wise and good among his Christian brethren.

ST. PETER'S, CHESTER.

October, 1845.

THE WATCHERS.

BY THE REV. CHARLES B. TAYLER.

"And there was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sitting over against the
sepulchre."-MATT. xxvii. 61.

WHAT of the night ?—The

angry heavens are calm,

O'er banks of flowers the plaintive night-breeze sighing,
Wafts through the dewy glades their odorous balm.
The golden light in cloudless glory dying,

Blends with the purple shadows deepening round
The garden and the tomb, by Calvary's awful mound.

What of the night ?—In the soft spreading gloom,
Pale women sit, their lonely vigil keeping,

Silent and thoughtful by the hallowed tomb,

Where the cold corpse of their loved Lord lies sleeping:

The conflict and the agony are past,

And in that quiet grave the Sufferer rests at last.

B