!% 
 
 W.MORLEY PUNSHON
 
 : c. 
 
 Ex Libris 
 K. OGDEN 
 
 
 
 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 SABBATH CHIMES.
 
 BALt-ANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON
 
 Ubttattons itt $erse for lljc 
 of % ftsr. 
 
 W. MORLEY PUNSHON, M.A. 
 
 SIXTH THOUSAND. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET. 
 
 MDCCCLXXXI.
 
 PS 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 |O those whose "heart is as my heart," 
 I offer this little volume, the offspring 
 of a year's enforced pause amid the 
 activities of a busy ministry. I covet for it, 
 chiefly, three successes ; that, if God wills, it 
 may be a messenger of mercy to the wander- 
 ing; that it may be a comforter to the 
 troubled ; and that it may be a memory of 
 the writer to many friends. 
 
 W. M. P. 
 
 REDLAND, February 1867. 
 
 1G4S37?
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 ADVENT, 
 EPIPHANY, . 
 
 FAITH, (Septuagesima,') 
 HOPE, (Sexagesimal 
 LOVE, (Quin^tagi'sima,) 
 
 LENT, 
 
 EASTER, 
 
 WHITSUNTIDE, 
 
 TRINITY, 
 
 SABHATH MORNING, 
 
 SABBATH EVENING, 
 
 CHRISTMAS DAY, . 
 
 GOOD FRIDAY, 
 
 ASCENSION DAY, . 
 
 BAPTISM, 
 
 THE LORD'S SUPPER, 
 
 MATRIMONY, 
 
 BURIAL OF THE DEAD, 
 
 INDEX TO FIRST LINES, 
 
 . I-I4 
 15-33 
 
 34 
 
 37 
 . 40 
 
 44-60 
 61-82 
 
 83 
 46-1 76 
 . 177 
 . 180 
 . 183 
 . 187 
 . 190 
 . 194 
 . 197 
 . 200 
 . 203 
 
 206
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 i. 
 
 1 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of 
 the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God."- 
 ISA. xl. 3. 
 
 JITH lightnings belted, cloud and tempest broke 
 
 On Sinai's sacred crest, 
 When God before affrighted Israel spoke 
 His high behest. 
 
 In the cleft rock the cowering prophet gazed 
 
 Upon the God unknown, 
 
 While, round the awful form, such brightness blazed 
 As girds the throne.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 By many a gleam throughout the dazzled dark, 
 
 He shamed His peopled fear ; 
 Arid seers in desert visions bade us mark 
 
 His presence near. 
 
 Still speak the voices, not with accents stern 
 
 Nor boding words of wrath, 
 As when the fiery cross is wont to burn 
 
 Through glen or strath. 
 
 When pelts the frightened hail upon the panes, 
 
 Stern Winter rules as king. 
 The sweet-breath'd zephyrs and the gentler rains 
 Herald the spring. 
 
 Though from the wilderness the summons swells, 
 
 " For God the way prepare," 
 The spirit of a milder Advent dwells 
 
 Within its prayer. 
 
 Straight to our hearts it reaches, 'mid the throngs 
 
 Of thoughts which come and go ; 
 As, on dull ears of age, a mother's songs 
 
 Sound clear and low. 
 
 It beats upon the spirit with a sense 
 
 Of softest, holiest calm ; 
 A fragrant soul-myrrh ; a kind influence 
 Of healing balm.
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 He comes ! the Saviour ! haste to make Him room ! 
 
 Speed with your contrite vows ! 
 Wear all the jewels ! scatter the perfume ! 
 As fits a spouse. 
 
 Prepare His way ! no wasteful thoughts and rude, 
 
 No dalliance with sin, 
 
 Must greet His march, nor on His sight intrude 
 When He comes in. 
 
 When He is nigh, no lion-lust must walk 
 
 Over the swarded green ; 
 
 No ravening beasts through trampled pastures stalk 
 In rage unclean. 
 
 The way is called holy. All is still, 
 
 And pure, and heavenly bright, 
 As the sweet rose-hearts, which the dew-drops fill 
 On summer's night. 
 
 Where quiet ones in thoughclul moments stray, 
 He lingers by their side, 
 Flings a rare charm on their Emmaus-way, 
 
 And loves to abide. 
 
 In upper rooms, where tarry earnest souls, 
 
 He passes the shut doors : 
 And heaven comes floating in, as morning rolls 
 On golden floors.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Oh, advent blessed ! Lord ! we wait for this 
 
 In hush of watching love; 
 Wait in Thy temple ; wait, to prove the bliss 
 All bliss above. 
 
 Come to Thine own ! come to Thy wishful Bride ! 
 Shed Thy pure love abroad, 
 And each heart shall become a clean and wide 
 " Highway for God."
 
 II. 
 
 " Every man's' work shall be made manifest : for the day shall declare it, 
 because it shall be revealed by fire ; and the fire shall try every man's 
 work of what sort it is." i COR. iii. 13. 
 
 j|Y trifles in our common ways 
 
 Our characters are slowly piled; 
 We lose not all our yesterdays, 
 
 The man hath something of the child. 
 Part of the past to all the present cleaves ; 
 As the rose-odours linger, e'en in fading leaves. 
 
 The habits of each wayward hour 
 
 Increase by their indulgence gain, 
 Till we are slaves beneath their power, 
 
 Yet all unconscious of our chain ; 
 And to our fancied independence cling, 
 As birds, which, in their cage, the songs of freedom sing. 
 
 Never did flood sweep through the vale 
 Without some ravage left behind,
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 Some wreck to turn a young face pale ; 
 
 Some household comfort undermined ; 
 So hath each moment, used or wasted, left 
 An added grace to all, or of some charm bereft. 
 
 As, when the ancient temple rose, 
 
 In silence must the work be done ; 
 As light upon the morning flows, 
 
 The bright dower of the silent sun, 
 So heedless men their busy tasks have plied, 
 Nor known what palaces were rising by their side. 
 
 In ceaseless toil, from year to year, 
 
 Working with loath or willing hands, 
 Stone upon stone we shape and rear, 
 
 Till the completed fabric stands ; 
 
 And, when the last hush hath all labour stilled, 
 
 The searching fire will try what we have striven to build. 
 
 Or firm in its abiding strength, 
 
 Or starting from the unstable sand, 
 " The day" shall manifest at length 
 
 Each cunning thought in secret planned ; 
 And woe to that which will not bear assay 
 When burns the testing flame when breaks th' avenging 
 day! 
 
 Full oft, in some unhappy night, 
 The fire hath wrapt around a house
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 Where care had hid his griefs from sight, 
 
 And slumber stole o'er aching brows, 
 And startled sleepers, 'mid the fiery strife, 
 Are rudely roused from dreams, and battle for dear life ; 
 
 Then all that darkness had concealed 
 
 Is by the ghastly dawn declared ; 
 
 And in that sickening light revealed, 
 
 No household mystery is spared ; 
 
 There was no time to alter 'mid the blaze ; 
 
 Just as they were, they met the stranger's curious gaze. 
 
 And is it to be so at last ? 
 
 All our life-work disclosed and tried ! 
 In memory of the faithless past 
 
 Who may the stern assize abide ? 
 Those who, on Sion's sure foundation old, 
 " Build " steadfast, day by day, the " silver " and the 
 " gold."
 
 III. 
 
 " And said unto Him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for 
 another?" MATT. xi. 3. 
 
 |OWN the dark vale of time full many a glance, 
 From her retirement lone, 
 The longing church hath thrown, 
 Student of psalmist's song, or prophet's trance ; 
 Meek watcher through the ages ; to descry 
 The Shiloh pledged of old, and hail His advent 
 nigh. 
 
 " Lo here ! lo there ! " on the bewildered sense 
 The haughty trumpets peal ; 
 The false Messiahs steal 
 Weak hearts away on shallowest pretence, 
 In new revolts to place their fruitless trust, 
 Be lured where danger frowns, then left to shame and 
 dust.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES, 
 
 Let a frail reed be shaken by the wind, 
 
 And curious feet will press 
 
 Into the wilderness, 
 Haply the long-expected Seer to find ; 
 Whose day the Patriarch, through long years, discerned, 
 At whose name old men leaped, and holy matrons yearned. 
 
 Through baffled hope lives on the unquenched desire, 
 
 And, as the hopeful bees 
 
 Keep murmuring to the breeze 
 Prophetic whispers of gay summers nigher ; 
 So, though rebuked full oft, men waited still, 
 Till Sion's conquering Lord should stand on Sion's hill 
 
 Not with the meteor's flash ; but as the light, 
 Which, on the still world rolled, 
 Breaks to a morn of gold, 
 But in its noiseless march no infant's night 
 Is rudely ended ; He by Jordan trod, 
 And the brave herald saw, and owned the "Lamb of 
 God." 
 
 Yet in men's wondering hearts doubts rose and grew. 
 Obscure, despised, forlorn, 
 A mark for scowl and scorn ; 
 Yet steadfast as a star. Can He be true ? 
 Then, like a bright stream struggling to be free, 
 Forth flashed the eager question "Tell us, art thou 
 He ?"
 
 io SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 E'en yet the false Christs, mid the multitude 
 Of suitors with bold brows, 
 Who come to woo the Spouse, 
 Upon her constancy of love intrude ; 
 And fain would breathe suspicion on her troth, 
 And leave her like themselves, false to her word and 
 oath. 
 
 But Thou, O Lord ! wilt stoop to us infirm ; 
 
 Love to resolve our doubt, 
 
 And bring us gladly out 
 
 Of our soul's prison ; as from some dark germ 
 
 The sweet rose crimsons ; till, all doubt at rest, 
 
 We lie, like the Beloved, enraptured on Thy breast. 
 
 We too have mourned, because our carnal dream 
 
 Of pomp and courtly state, 
 
 And guards at palace gate 
 Base lights of earthly kingdoms did not gleam 
 Thy face around when Thou didst come to reign ; 
 But that Thy crown was thorn Thy kingly tribute, pain. 
 
 Like the stern priests and scribes who made Thee 
 grieve, 
 
 We could not bear Thy loss. 
 " But come down from the cross, 
 And our swift souls will hasten to believe." 
 Oh tear this Jewish traitor from within ! 
 Oh cast it from our hearts, this shame of earthly sin !
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. II 
 
 Bid us be of the malefactor taught 
 The felon by Thy side, 
 Who longed " with Thee " to abide 
 
 In that new Heaven just opened to his thought ; 
 
 And saw, while e'en disciples' eyes waxed dim, 
 The royal hosts of God the prostrate Seraphim. 
 
 Still is our faith assured by thousand signs. 
 
 The blind are beauty's heirs. 
 
 And from demoniac lairs 
 
 Sound strange hosannas. E'en the dark grave shines 
 With heaven-light streaming through it at both ends ; 
 A sepulchre disused, and tenantless of friends. 
 
 'Mid the world's strife of tongues to Thee we cling. 
 
 We cease our endless quest 
 
 For other than the best. 
 
 Thou art our Prophet, Thou our Priest and King ! 
 Here will we give our home-sick longings o'er, 
 For Thou hast come ; our love, our avarice ask no more.
 
 IV. 
 
 "Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be 
 careful for nothing." PHIL. iv. 4. 5. 
 
 |H speak not thus to hearts, all palpitating 
 In changeful agonies of sad suspense ; 
 Which hope and dread by turns ; the days 
 awaiting 
 
 With a numb, weary sense. 
 
 When all the glory from the heaven is vanished, 
 
 As fantasies of sleep before the dawn ; 
 While the poor hope, like exile newly banished, 
 Yet lingers homeward drawn. 
 
 When, all the rapture of the summer over, 
 
 The flowers are withered in each woodland haunt 
 And not a lark, from out the tufted clover, 
 
 Has heart enough to chant
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 13 
 
 When on the wall the shadows gather blanker, 
 
 While, hopeless, illness wastes, or madness raves ; 
 When the o'er-freighted bark, without an anchor, 
 Drifts on the scoffing waves. 
 
 When all the store of love, so closely cherished, 
 
 By tyrant hand is snatched from the embrace ; 
 And all the light of the rich past has perished, 
 Out of the dumb white face. 
 
 When the struck souls lie prostrate with repining, 
 
 And look defiant on the happy sun ; 
 Which shines so bright, they almost grudge his shining, 
 And wish the day were done. 
 
 When stern fate bids the heart live on, though breaking, 
 
 As palsy never lifted from the limbs, 
 Or, o'er a dead child, some crazed mother making 
 Rude melodies of hymns. 
 
 Oh heap not on these inner fires the fuel, 
 
 Nor tempt the loud rebellions you condemn ! 
 Grant them at least your silence. It were cruel 
 To speak of peace to them. 
 
 Yet the words change not. " Be for nothing careful, 
 
 Neither for present want nor future dread, 
 But while Christ tarrieth, let your spirits prayerful 
 Keep listening for His tread."
 
 14 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 Solemn they sound ; like angels of compassion 
 
 To this low world on some loved errand bent ; 
 And yet not angels, but in some strange fashion 
 With human natures blent. 
 
 They bid us not rebel, in foulest treason 
 To every earthly faculty and faith ; 
 They meet our souls in truce, and furnish reason 
 For all the Scripture saith. 
 
 " The Lord at hand !" then why should we surrender 
 
 To any meaner claim our spirits' keys ? 
 Or, faithless warders, open to pretender 
 
 What valour ne'er could seize ? 
 
 Why, in our careworn souls, should pulses riot 
 
 With passion frenzied, or with joy elate ? 
 When from God's calming presence breathes a quiet 
 Upon the heart and state. 
 
 Oh what are these our bitterest self-denials, . 
 
 The griefs that make our roses drop so soon ? 
 But God His children leading, through night's trials, 
 To an eternal noon. 
 
 Then hush ! ye passionate voices ! all-sustaining 
 
 Is the great comfort of pur coming Lord ; 
 Already is the long sad midnight waning, 
 
 For we can trust His word
 
 v. 
 
 " And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, re- 
 ceive my spirit." ACTS vii. 59. 
 
 |HEY dragged him forth, fierce in their rage and 
 hate, 
 
 Outside the city gate ; 
 While from his angel-face a lustre streamed 
 
 So bright, so pure ; it seemed 
 As if, already, Heaven had let down 
 
 Her child's awaiting crown. 
 
 He. of the martyrs' host the eldest-born ; 
 
 Reckless of earth's poor scorn, 
 
 Wise by the faith of many ripening years 
 
 Above his wisest peers ; 
 
 Through the dark veil of flesh the Godhead knew, 
 And died tc prove Him true.
 
 16 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 As when wild clouds, struck by the lightning's brand, 
 Deluge the frightened land, 
 
 So fell man's deadlier shower, more prompt to kill, 
 Slave of more cruel will. 
 
 Soon on the ground a battered casket lay, 
 
 The gem had 'scaped away. 
 
 They gazed upon the ruins of a prison, 
 
 From which a man had risen ; 
 
 And, like a sunrise on a dying storm, 
 
 Came many an angel form, 
 
 And sang, amid a silence rapt and deep, 
 
 " He gives His loved ones sleep." 
 
 Whence was the goodly strength upon him poured ? 
 
 But from his visioned Lord ; 
 Swift, or to chide the wavering, or the o'erfraught 
 
 To win to brighter Thought, 
 Seen by a faith which nothing could estrange, 
 
 Through all Life's curves of change. 
 
 Who look on Christ into His image grow, 
 
 Burn with diviner glow, 
 
 Wrestle intrepid in the spirit's strife, 
 
 And gather strength for life ; 
 
 As troops are brave to scale the fire-swept hill, 
 By dint of daily drill 
 
 We crave thy likeness, Lord ! our upward eyes 
 Would fain to Thee arise,
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES, 
 
 Leave each fair pageant, each unholy shrine ; 
 
 And, fastened all on Thine, 
 Transformed by the blest gaze, aspire to stand 
 
 " Faultless " at Thy right hand. 
 
 Though in their baffled rage the heathen groan, 
 
 Christ sits upon the throne. 
 
 To crush His foes, to screen His own from ill. 
 Kingly, He sitteth still ; 
 
 " Expecting," not impatient, till the chime 
 
 Shall sound the last of time. 
 
 But, when from murderous hands the martyrs break, 
 He rises for their sake ; 
 
 He, whom no shock of battled worlds could move, 
 In recompensing love, 
 
 Rises, to give, whene'er His Stephens come, 
 
 Their warmest welcome home.
 
 VI. 
 
 ' Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." i COR. v. & 
 "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." GAL. vi. 7. 
 
 |PEAK not of trifles light as air, 
 
 Or froth of Ocean's pride ; 
 For things, on which no thought we 
 
 spare, 
 
 The mightiest forces hide. 
 As slumbers, in the clod, the fire, 
 As lingers music in the lyre, 
 So future destinies are born 
 From hours of prayer, or hours of scorn. 
 
 Where God in generous fulness dwells, 
 
 Nor small nor great is known ; 
 He paints the tiniest floweret-cells 
 
 O'er emerald meadows strown ; 
 And sees, but not with kinder eyes, 
 The heavens grow rich with sunset dyes ; 
 Both ministrant to beauty's sense, 
 Both signs of one Omnipotence.
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 19 
 
 He comes not forth with pageant grand 
 
 His marvels to perform ; 
 A cloud " the bigness of a hand" 
 Can blacken heaven with storm. 
 A grain of dust, if He arrange, 
 The fortunes of a planet change. 
 An insect reef can overwhelm 
 The stately navies of a realm. 
 
 There are no trifles. Arks as frail 
 
 As bore God's prince of old, 
 On many a buoyant Nile stream sail 
 
 The age's heirs to hold. 
 From Jacob's love on Joseph shed, 
 Came Egypt's wealth and Israel's bread ; 
 From Ruth's chance gleaning in the corn, 
 The Psalmist sang ; the Christ was born. 
 
 Each spirit weaves the robe it wears, 
 
 From out life's busy loom, 
 And common tasks and daily cares 
 
 Make up the threads of doom. 
 Wouldst thou the veiled future read ? 
 The harvest answereth to the seed. 
 Shall Heaven e'er crown the victor's brow ? 
 Ask tidings of the battle now. 
 
 Oh wise beyond all written page 
 Are those, who learn to say,
 
 2O 
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 " Less worth were centuries of age 
 
 Than golden hours to-day ! " 
 For in the present all the past 
 And future years are folded fast. 
 And, in each laden moment, lie 
 The shapes of an eternity.
 
 VII. 
 
 1 Return unto thy rest, O my soul." Ps. cxvL 7. 
 
 (I HE RE is the rest we long to gain, 
 
 The rest beyond decaying ? 
 Our life-long chase of shadows vain 
 Has wrought our heart's betraying. 
 Our harps are sadly mute from sound, 
 
 And hang on strangers' willows. 
 Our dove no sheltering home hath found, 
 But wearies o'er the billows. 
 
 In restless pain we heave and toss, 
 
 Like playthings of the ocean ; 
 And mourn with sharpest pangs of loss 
 
 Dead objects of devotion. 
 We follow light where'er it gleams, 
 
 Though marsh and mist encumber ; 
 We reign, anointed kings, in dreams, 
 
 But wake, forlorn, from slumber.
 
 22 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 We grasp at grains of shining dust, 
 
 But in the grasp they perish ; 
 We put in men's applause our trust, 
 
 It cheats the hopes we cherish. 
 Remorse a ghostly shadow blights 
 
 Each wreath we weave for pleasure : 
 But restless still we scale the heights, 
 
 Or search the mines for treasure. 
 
 Oh, nought of earth can e'er avail, 
 
 While Eden-memories haunt us ! 
 Our longings are on larger scale 
 
 Than lower worlds can grant us. 
 We pant within the veil to be, 
 
 To roam in fields elysian, 
 And " in His beauty," God to see, 
 
 Nor die beneath the vision. 
 
 He only " in His likeness " made 
 
 Our souls in the beginning ; 
 And He the costlier ransom paid 
 
 To bar the doom of sinning. 
 He who the stars in courses keeps, 
 
 And governs cold Orion ; 
 He lifts us from the restless deeps, 
 
 And plants our feet on Sion. 
 
 To Him, long-strayed, we venture back, 
 Nor 'mong dark mountains wander ;
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 God pledges peace upon the track, 
 And endless welcomes yonder. 
 
 E'en now each grateful spirit hears 
 His voice the lost ones calling 
 
 " Return ! your eyes shall cease from tears, 
 Your feet be safe from falling."
 
 VIII. 
 
 " But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, 
 and went his way."* MATT. xiii. 25. 
 
 [HE furrows are straightly drawn 
 
 In the freshly-opened soil, 
 And in the blush of the amber dawn 
 The sower goes forth to toil 
 
 He fears not the winter's frown ; 
 
 He knows, as he hastens on, 
 From each good seed that he flingeth down, 
 
 May a sevenfold store be won. 
 
 He can trust the land for wealth, 
 
 For Nature is not forsworn. 
 Unless some enemy work by stealth, 
 
 He shall sing 'mid shocks of corn. 
 
 * This subordinate lesson may fairly be drawn from the Parable of the 
 Tares, though, in its original utterance, it had of course another applica- 
 tion.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 25 
 
 In the chill and secret night, 
 
 While he sleeps away his cares, 
 And dreams that the harvest-moon is bright, 
 
 That enemy soweth tares. 
 
 Till the long, long months are sped, 
 
 Till the wheat is ripe in ear, 
 Till fields are gay with the reaper's tread, 
 
 Will the noxious weeds appear. 
 
 And if some one asketh, whence 
 
 'Mid the precious come the vile ? 
 'Tis when slumber steals the captive sense 
 
 The enemy works his wile. 
 
 Ah me ! how often are strown, 
 
 In the wider human field, 
 Those evil seeds which, untimely sown, 
 
 Will a baneful harvest yield ! 
 
 The enemy doth not sleep ; 
 
 But, as with an eldrich spell, 
 He works, with a barbarous craft and deep, 
 
 The ill from the seeming welL 
 
 He breathes on the good desire, 
 
 And stifles its upward aim ; 
 He kindles the passion's lambent fire 
 
 Into a murderous flame.
 
 26 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 He breathes on thrift, and it turns 
 
 To a hungry greed of gold, 
 On zeal, and the red-browed anger burns 
 
 Like a bale-fire on the wold, 
 
 On self-respect, and it fumes 
 Like a war-horse in its pride, 
 
 On faith, and it cowers in darkened rooms 
 Where ghostly visitants glide. 
 
 He whispers fear, and it pales 
 
 In the feebleness of fright ; 
 He clouds the heaven till the pole-star fails 
 
 To cheer the mariner's sight. 
 
 Restless and fierce as a flood 
 Which death on its bosom bears, 
 
 Thus ever at work to blight the good, 
 The enemy soweth tares. 
 
 Watch ! Watch by the furrows dark, 
 
 Till the weary night is done, 
 And o'er the ridges the herald-lark 
 
 Is sent to announce the sun. 
 
 If the eyelids wakeful keep, 
 Ye are warned against the foe, 
 
 'Tis when brain and heart are still with sleep 
 That he ventureth forth to sow.
 
 IX. 
 
 ' The men of Nineveh shall rise in the judgment with this generation, and 
 shall condemn it." MATT. xii. 41. 
 
 j|S on some queenly forehead shines a rare and costly 
 
 gem, 
 So shone the truth all price beyond in fair 
 
 Jerusalem ; 
 The truth incarnate, through her streets, in weary sojourn 
 
 trod, 
 
 And, truer than her priesthood knew, her temple guested 
 God. 
 
 No timid prophet, frightened 'neath the burden which he 
 
 bore, 
 Spoke sadly in her stately halls one warning, and no 
 
 more ; 
 But God's own Son revealed Himself by many a healing 
 
 sign, 
 And from their graves the dead came forth to witness 
 
 Him Divine.
 
 2 8 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 No lightnings clave the shuddering air around His Sa- 
 viour-path, 
 
 No hearts turned, sickening, from a voice which spake 
 of nought but wrath ; 
 
 But loving word and loving deed hope to the vilest gave, 
 
 That He had come from foulest sin and fiercest doom to 
 
 But as when swept by angry winds the waves more angry 
 
 swell, 
 
 So o'er that city proud and stern no contrite silence fell, 
 But louder rang her rebel songs, and scornful in her 
 
 pride, 
 Alike the love of Heaven she spurned, and wrath of 
 
 Heaven defied. 
 
 The sun shone bright o'er Nineveh, and every marble 
 street 
 
 Was filled with morning greetings, and with fall of hurry- 
 ing feet ; 
 
 Aloft the sounding voices swelled through all the slum- 
 brous air, _ 
 
 From mart of many traders, and from Nisroch's fane of 
 prayer. 
 
 But as pale nature holds her breath beneath the thunder- 
 cloud, 
 By spell of sudden silence was that voiceful city bowed,
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 29 
 
 And through the ghostly stillness, like a knell, uprose the 
 
 tone 
 "Yet forty days, and Nineveh is" humbled and"o'er- 
 
 thrown." 
 
 With eyes that shone with secrets, and with haggard 
 looks and wan, 
 
 From street to street the prophet passed a lonely, bur- 
 dened man ; 
 
 He passed, and spoke, and vanished, as some spectre of 
 the night, 
 
 Which lifts one dooming finger, and then mocks the 
 straining sight. 
 
 But to the city's heart that word leaped, like a forked 
 flame, 
 
 And smote each chord, which, trembling, broke in peni- 
 tential shame ; 
 
 And on and on, from hut to throne, the tide of sorrow 
 swept, 
 
 Till, with a wail which reached to God, that mighty city 
 wept. 
 
 This, eager as the flowers are, to wooing suns to yield ! 
 That, hard as is the triple mail or boss of brazen shield ! 
 And, in the white light of the throne, before which both 
 
 shall stand, 
 Which will the judgment-angel choose, to wear the guiltier 
 
 brand ?
 
 30 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 O thou, on whom the gospel light now sitteth, like a 
 
 crown, 
 Take heed lest thou, by meaner lips, art humbled and 
 
 cast down. 
 Be still, my heart ! and reverent, as the warning tale is 
 
 told; 
 The clay, into God's kingdom, presses oft before the 
 
 gold.
 
 X. 
 
 ' And He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow : and they 
 
 awake Him, andsay unto Him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?" 
 
 MARK iv. 38. 
 ' And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and He 
 
 alone on the land. And He saw them toiling in rowing ; for the wind 
 
 was contrary unto them." MARK vi. 47, 48. 
 
 Jl'ER Gennesaret mountain-bordered 
 Beats the storm, and swells the gale, 
 While the bark, Divinely ordered, 
 Spreads for shore the labouring sail 
 Faster falls the cloud-heart's raining, 
 
 Lightnings leap from thunder-caves, 
 Through the deadening midnight straining, 
 Wild eyes shine across the waves. 
 
 Oh. how oft men weary, gazing 
 For some radiant help from far ! 
 
 While above them, downward blazing, 
 Gleams some bright and friendly star.
 
 32 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 In their billowy danger sharing 
 Lay their Lord, in human sleep, 
 
 Calm as childhood's while unspaiing 
 Surged and strove the furious deep. 
 
 From His gentlest slumber parted, 
 
 Glance of that awaking eye 
 Soothes the lone and fretful-hearted, 
 
 Bids their fear in faith to die. 
 What to Him the wild commotion ? 
 
 Vassals to His sovereign will, 
 Fiercest wind or angriest ocean, 
 
 Instant at His word are still. 
 
 O'er Gennesaret, wildly blowing, 
 
 Chafe the sullen winds again, 
 While the voyagers " toil in rowing," 
 
 With a dull impatient pain. 
 Deeper looms the dark before them, 
 
 Wearier grows each slackening hand, 
 No loved presence bending o'er them, 
 
 Hopeless night and distant land. 
 
 Louder roars the surge's clangour, 
 Which the troubled moon shines o'er ; 
 
 And the surf-waves white with anger- - 
 Dash in battle on the shore ; 
 
 But the Lord His own beholding 
 Watches o'er their roused alarms,
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 33 
 
 As some mother watches, folding 
 Frightened nurslings in her arms. 
 
 Wearily the night-watch weareth, 
 
 Weareth, sickening and forlorn, 
 Yet the promised help forbeareth ; 
 
 Hush of blast, or glimpse of morn. 
 Then the waiting Saviour maketh 
 
 O'er the storm His path of peace ; 
 From the wave the frenzy breaketh ; 
 
 In the heart the discords cease. 
 
 On our souls be deeply graven, 
 
 Lessons by these tempests taught, 
 Willeth Christ to lift the craven 
 
 Into realms of braver thought. 
 When with Him we sojourn longer, 
 
 And the heart has stronger grown ; 
 Rageth then the storm cloud stronger, 
 
 And we brave the blast alone. 
 
 While untried we strive and wrestle 
 
 In our yet unripened strength, 
 Christ will slumber in the vessel, 
 
 And will speak the calm at length. 
 Through the wilder tempest scathless, 
 
 While we bravely breast the wave, 
 Still we hear Him, " Be not faithless, 
 
 I am watching I will save."
 
 Faith* 
 
 XI. 
 
 ' But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." JAMES L 6, 
 
 JHE restful look which angels wear ; 
 The glance of an untroubled eye, 
 Whose quick, clear gaze still seeks the sky ; 
 A mouth half parted, as for prayer ; 
 
 All sunshine on the upward face ; 
 
 All meekness in the folded palms ; 
 As some fair girl, who asketh alms 
 
 For her blind father in his place : 
 
 Yes ! this is faith a patient guest, 
 
 Content to wait till fuller time ; 
 
 And nourishing a trust sublime 
 That she shall grasp the heavenliest.
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 35 
 
 The bliss of those who "have not seen ;" 
 Who, through the months of dark decay, 
 Can realize the bright-haired May 
 
 Twining her coronets of green. 
 
 The bliss of those, who, all the night, 
 With cressets burning in the crypt, 
 Have seen the ruby morning, dipt 
 
 And bathed in glory, greet the sight 
 
 Yes ! this is faith. It dares not doubt 
 The honour of the Father's name ; 
 For though the world may fill with blame, 
 
 The child goes proudly in and out. 
 
 Within itself its evidence 
 
 Has mastered fear and captured thought ; 
 
 And all things seem as if o'erwrought 
 By pressure of celestial sense. 
 
 Of old, the venturous Genoese 
 
 Stood in a great thought calm, and stern 
 
 'Mid rebel crew, his prow to turn, 
 Through the vast reach of westward seas. 
 
 Careless, though the vexed waters swirled, 
 Like hate and envy's meaner things ; 
 Until the land-bird's timid wings 
 
 Brought welcomes of a newer world.
 
 36 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 With visions of unuttered good, 
 
 How drooped the dazzled eyelids dim, 
 What time before the Sanhedrim 
 
 Erect the earliest martyr stood ! 
 
 Then in the teeth of foes he spake ; 
 As those who see the opened gate, 
 Nor blench to meet the deadliest fate, 
 
 In Jesus' strength, for Jesus' sake. 
 
 Yes ! this is faith ; which dares rely 
 
 Though all is hostile circumstance ; 
 Only concerned to catch the glance 
 
 Of one all-seeing, loving eye ; 
 
 That eye on which her own is bent, 
 
 Whose looks, whene'er they downward strike, 
 Can make ours to their pureness like 
 
 While gazing, filled with that intent. 
 
 And Christ will all the souls exalt 
 
 Of those who cleave to Him alone, 
 Till, in the glory of the throne, 
 
 They are presented " without fault" 
 
 Lord ! put this faith within my heart, 
 That I may so familiar be 
 Thy light will not be strange to me, 
 
 When I shall see Thee " as Thou art."
 
 XII. 
 
 " For we are saved by hope : but hope that is seen is not hope : for what a 
 man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see 
 not, then do we with patience wait for it." ROM. viii. 24, 25. 
 
 [H, who can tell of the sower's cares, 
 
 As he wanders forth alone ? 
 While the shrill wind whistles in wintry airs 
 To the answering surge's moan. 
 
 No sunny gleam in the leaden day, 
 
 No blithe companions around, 
 Silent he scatters the seed away 
 
 In the cold, uncertain ground. 
 
 Wearily, wearily forth he plods 
 
 With life for the yielding loam, 
 Who can say if ever, above the clods, 
 
 He shall hear the harvest-home ?
 
 38 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Shall the long, dark months which intervene 
 The work of the seed-time spoil ? 
 
 Or the locust army blight the green 
 When it peeps above the soil ? 
 
 Shall seed, long wooed by the jealous rain, 
 
 Into wanton fulness sprout ? 
 Or the mad wind scatter the bearded grain 
 
 In its boisterous glee, about ? 
 
 Oh, who can tell of the sower's cares, 
 
 As he wanders lone and mute, 
 And lightens his labours with many prayers 
 
 For the generous gift of fruit ? 
 
 For some may fall where travellers tread, 
 And the wild birds round it flock ; 
 
 And some where the furrow is sparsely spread 
 O'er a scarp of stubborn rock ; 
 
 And some amid ranker thorns, which hide 
 The sun from the seed he leaves, 
 
 It were strange if ever the country-side 
 Should wave with the whitening sheaves. 
 
 Though clouds may gather, and winds may sigh, 
 
 And scoffers deride his deed, 
 Yet ever from sunrise hastening by 
 
 The sower soweth the seed.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 39 
 
 Oh, brave and bold is the sower's heart, 
 
 With his darkling fears to cope, 
 For the dull, grey future is spanned athwart 
 
 By the iris-arch of hope. 
 
 And this heavenly word hath made him strong, 
 
 " The harvest shall never cease." 
 And he scattereth still to that inward song, 
 
 For duty fulfilled hath peace. 
 
 'Twere pleasanter work, with the flower-crowned, 
 
 And the harvest laugh of friends ; 
 But the God, who blesses the fruitful ground, 
 
 The bliss of the seed-time sends. 
 
 And though lonely toil on earth is sad, 
 
 'Mid the frown of wintry weather, 
 The sowers and reapers where all is glad 
 
 Shall rejoice for aye together.
 
 XIII. 
 
 " But the greatest of these is charity." i COR. xiii. i^ 
 
 j]OOM for the last and largest grace 
 
 The Church below can e'er express ! 
 Which stamps on earthly hearts and base 
 
 The image of Heaven's loveliness ; 
 Ordained the chiefest bliss to prove, 
 Likeness to God for " God is Love." 
 
 An honest eye a brow so frank, 
 
 It ne'er can home a thought of guile ;- 
 
 The patent of a heavenly rank ; 
 The signet of a heavenly smile ; 
 
 What base-born craft can simulate 
 
 Credentials of such kingly state ? 
 
 Forgiving, though she suffers long, 
 From low suspicion nobly free,
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 41 
 
 In faith sublime in patience strong ; 
 
 Eager from her own praise to flee. 
 " An angel, sure," men wondering say, 
 " Hath lighted upon earth to-day." 
 
 As, by the sluggard eyes unseen, 
 
 The dew her choicest balm distils ; 
 As, o'er the silent mountains green, 
 
 The summer spreads her wealth of rills ; 
 So Love her dews and rills lets fall ; 
 Concealed herself ; she blesses all. 
 
 Without her, vain the boastful noise 
 Of chariots' whirl and trumpets' blare. 
 
 Labour hath but distempered joys, 
 And darkness rests on cross and care, 
 
 And zeal's wild lightnings cleave the gloom, 
 
 Lurid as torches in a tomb. 
 
 For men are thankless all, and prone 
 To think white raiment hides a scar ; 
 
 And doubt's complaining under-tone 
 
 Is heard through faith's high hymns afar ; 
 
 And selfish murmurs, loud and rude, 
 
 O'erpower the chant of gratitude. 
 
 But where love is, the veil will lift ; 
 
 As some belated traveller sees, 
 Clear through the shaggy tempest's rift, 
 
 Light of the steadfast Pleiades ;
 
 42 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 And, growing trustful at the sight, 
 Thinks of the heaven beyond the night. 
 
 If love the faith and life inform, 
 Men rise above their dark distrust, 
 
 /.s the bright wings erewhile the worm 
 Leave in disdain their former dust. 
 
 When keen eyes pierce all falsehoods through, 
 
 Love bears the glance, for love is true. 
 
 Love is the talisman which quells 
 The stormiest surge of mortal strife : 
 
 And when we die, and dies all else 
 Of goodliness or charm in life : 
 
 To fairer worlds translated high, 
 
 Love passes the death-angel by. 
 
 Faith cannot scale the jasper walls, 
 She bows and dies before the gate ; 
 
 And hope in mortal faintness falls, 
 With blest fruition satiate. 
 
 But love abides the lasting grace, 
 
 For love is native to the place. 
 
 But how shall souls defiled as ours 
 E'er harbour such celestial guest ? 
 
 She dwells with consecrated powers, 
 The pure intent, the blameless breast ; 
 
 Or hides in lowliest nooks away, 
 
 Like cereus-buds, which shrink from day.
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 43 
 
 " Nearer to Christ," we must retreat ; 
 
 The bliss to loved disciples known ; 
 And while His quiet pulses beat 
 
 Must learn to regulate our own ; 
 Until we all His mind receive, 
 And learn of love, in love to live.
 
 XIV. 
 
 1 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head." MATT. ri. ij. 
 
 'Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? 
 ... Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of 
 wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go 
 free ? " ISA. IviiL 5, 6. 
 
 JHERE 'S winter on the hills to-day. 
 
 The sad wind soughs o'er churchyard knolls, 
 And weary nature seems to say, 
 "'Tis Lenten-tide for sinful souls." 
 
 The barb is in our heart to-day. 
 
 Sore crushed with sense of ail and sin, 
 We feebly strive, and faintly pray, 
 
 'Gainst danger near for grace within. 
 
 We mourn our pride and passion's stain,- 
 The earthly in our hearts enshrined ; 
 
 The rebel flesh, too oft in vain 
 Commanded by the nobler mind ;
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 45 
 
 And all of human curse or care, 
 Which lurk life's dangerous paths among, 
 
 To quench the altar-flame of prayer, 
 Or hush the heavenward strain of song. 
 
 Hence ! selfish trust and sordid aims, 
 
 No longer on our memories crowd ! 
 Our heart its inner fast proclaims, 
 
 And "fears to enter in the cloud." 
 
 Bold in the sight of men we tread, 
 
 Who wore for us the crown of thorn 
 He bade us to " anoint the head : " 
 
 The Christian fast is manly borne. 
 
 Sad with the smart of contrite pain, 
 
 We keep apart our vigils lone, 
 And inly weep like her of Nain 
 
 The tears which melt the heart from stone. 
 
 We wail not the remorseful cry, 
 
 Once wrung from hopeless traitor's breast, 
 
 The offended Saviour passeth by 
 As erst, to breathe, not wrath but rest 
 
 Calmly floats on the guarded ark, 
 Though fiercely the proud waters roll ; 
 
 Exults and sings, above the dark, 
 The bird with morning in his souL
 
 46 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 It were not meet His love to spurn, 
 While, humbled, we ourselves abase ; 
 
 For contrite hearts the shadows turn 
 To loving smiles upon His face. 
 
 The Bridegroom of the Church hath still 
 His royal feast before her spread, 
 
 And while He lingers, nothing will 
 
 The " children of His chamber " dread. 
 
 Chastened by Him, before His feet 
 We cast our sloth, and shame, and pride ; 
 
 His strength invoke, His love entreat, 
 Who saith " I will not always chide." 
 
 Then ready or for work or war, 
 
 We keep the fast which He doth choose ; 
 And in His service valiant are, 
 
 " The bands of wickedness to loose." 
 
 Thus, from our Lent, His grace shall make 
 An easier road from earth to heaven ; 
 
 And, pardoned for the Saviour's sake, 
 " We love for we have much forgiven."
 
 XV. 
 
 ' Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of 
 the devil." MATT. iv. i. 
 
 ' For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling 
 of our infirmities ; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet with- 
 out sin." HEB. iv. 15. 
 
 ' For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour 
 them that are tempted." HEB. ii. 18. 
 
 [IERCELY on Salem's towers and hills 
 
 The hot sun striketh down, 
 The feverish pulse of summer thrills 
 
 The desert bare and brown ; 
 As, Spirit-guided, through the languid air, 
 Moves one sad form apart for fasting, strife, and prayer. 
 
 Nature hath no foreboding voice, 
 
 No battle trumpets blow ; 
 The heedless sons of men rejoice ; 
 The mornings come and go ; 
 But in that desert deadlier conflict nears 
 Than where the chariots roll or glance the glittering spears.
 
 48 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 The lists are spread. In solemn tryst, 
 
 In God's eternal plan, 
 'Tis here the Satan tempts the Christ, 
 
 As once he tempted man ; 
 And shall he triumph, as on Eden's field ? 
 Will here the mightier Adam cast away His shield ? 
 
 Why gaze we with such wishful eyes 
 
 That keenest strife upon ? 
 Why sing we, when, to nether skies, 
 
 The baffled fiend has gone ? 
 For us the fight is won, the victory wrought, 
 Whose issues stretch beyond the loftiest reach of thought. 
 
 Our hearts, forlorn and troubled, need 
 
 A tender priest and true, 
 Mighty with God to intercede, 
 
 But kind and human too ; 
 And Christ, in this His desert-hour, reveals 
 The arm of conquering strength, the heart which warmly 
 feels. 
 
 Vainly he tells of wound or scar 
 
 Who ne'er took sword in hand, 
 Idly he speaks of ocean's war 
 
 Who sees it from the strand. 
 The " visage marred " begets the sense of pain, 
 Our own tears give the power all other tears to explain.
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 49 
 
 So, Jesus ! in this school of scorn. 
 Though Thou wert Son Divine, 
 The whispered sin, the troubling thorn, 
 
 The thought of shame were Thine. 
 
 " Tempted in all points." Be thy name adored 
 
 For this true humanness, our Brother, Saviour, Lord 1 
 
 Loving and faithful ! we require 
 
 Nothing apart from Thee, 
 Anointed by this chrism of fire 
 
 Our true High Priest we see ; 
 And boldly venture through life's wildering maze, 
 Brave because Thou, O Christ, didst tread the self-same 
 ways. 
 
 When perils round us threatening hang, 
 
 Or arduous duties press, 
 And yielding flesh would 'scape the pang, 
 
 Or make the trouble less, 
 
 By coward means ; we think of Him who bore, 
 And spurned the unhallowed thought in ages long before. 
 
 When oft the harassed soul around 
 Presumption spreads her snares, 
 ' And captive leads the spirit bound 
 
 With chain of needless cares ; 
 " Thou shalt not tempt the Lord" this word of power 
 Our souls shall weapon through the dark, deceitful hour. 
 
 D
 
 50 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 And when the Tempter, bolder grown, 
 
 Suggests the atheist lie, 
 And bids us, at his Moloch-throne, 
 
 To pay our homage high, 
 
 Humble, but dauntless, through our Lord's defence, 
 We speak the words rebuking Satan, get thee hence ! 
 
 Most grateful, in the desert lone, 
 
 The rock its shadow flings ; 
 Most gentle, where the grass is mown, 
 
 The dew its coolness brings ; 
 And, after struggle, to the wearied breast 
 Earth hath no paradise so sweet as perfect rest 
 
 So when the demon-thoughts are fled, 
 
 Angels come trooping down 
 To fan the brow, and lift the head, 
 And bring the palm and crown ; 
 We see the vision, hear the approval given, 
 The Master smiles " Well done," and in that smile is 
 Heaven.
 
 XVI 
 
 "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor 
 dark : but it shall be one day which shall be known unto the Lord, not 
 day, nor night : but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall 
 be light." ZECH. xiv. 6, 7. 
 
 [IERCE through the land the invader sweeps, 
 As sudden, from the glacier-steeps, 
 The avalanche in fury leaps. 
 
 Sad silence in her banquet-halls, 
 Confusion on her leaguered walls, 
 Darkly the curse on Judah falls. 
 
 Their fathers' graves the stranger owns, 
 All plaintive are the minstrel tones, 
 For "none take pleasure in her stones." 
 
 On every heart there comes the blight 
 Of wish, almost of hope. No sight 
 Of sun or star, dim, troubled light.
 
 52 SA BBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 " Not clear nor dark," the Lord hath said, 
 A gleam through angry clouds o'erhead, 
 A dull, gray morning, flecked with red. 
 
 Who knows not this ? To us 'tis given 
 
 Into this desert to be driven, 
 
 Faint hope on earth, faint glimpse of heaven. 
 
 No trust, no power to see the best, 
 Dark fears, too vague to be expressed, 
 A feverish gasping after rest. 
 
 Not hopeless "dark," but oh ! "not clear," 
 How oft the fitful lights appear, 
 Which burn for mortal guidance here ! 
 
 Then from the depths we cry afar 
 If, haply, some kind Bethlehem-star 
 Will lead us where our mercies are. 
 
 And the Lord's presence brings its balm, 
 
 As on the ancient lake a calm. 
 
 We hush the sob, we raise the psalm. 
 
 " Known to the Lord," this gospel will 
 All our unrestful murmurs still, 
 Our hearts with patient gladness fill. 
 
 If He, our Saviour, knows our pain, 
 Each wearying hour, each sad refrain, 
 Shall end in joy, as clouds in rain.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 53 
 
 And if the shadows denser frown, 
 And clasp us like an ebon crown 
 They break before the sun goes down. 
 
 "At even, light," the promise runs, 
 Bright as with pomp of many suns, 
 Whispered to God's beloved ones. 
 
 As lightning from the tempest torn, 
 
 So, ere the night, a newer morn 
 
 Is from the gathering darkness born. 
 
 Bursts upon even-tide the day, 
 The shadows are dispersed for aye, 
 The crimson glows above the gray. 
 
 Ne'er is that westering splendour past, 
 To heaven's own noon it broadens fast, 
 And while God liveth, it shall last.
 
 XVII. 
 
 "And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the 
 bush is not burnt And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to 
 see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush." EXOD. iii. 3, 4. 
 
 JREAT are Thy works, O God ! and sought 
 Of those who fix their kindling thought 
 
 On Thy all-wise designs ; 
 Deeper the reverent wonder grows, 
 Deeper the sense of sweet repose, 
 
 As, in Thy ways, Thy tireless goodness shines. 
 
 Happy the men who, while the tide 
 Of life flows on, can "turn aside" 
 
 Thy purpose to discern ! 
 So, timely curious, Moses came 
 To gaze upon the fronds of flame 
 
 The bush, whose red leaves flourish while they burn. 
 
 The brooklet murmured in its bed, 
 The flocks in patient silence fed,
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 55 
 
 As o'er the plain he trod, 
 Startled to watch the unwonted fire, 
 Nor guessing, as it leaped the higher, 
 
 That in its midst was shrined the hidden God 
 
 This morn, like other morns, had seemed, 
 Of nought the musing shepherd dreamed 
 Beyond the common round 
 When bursts upon his dazzled eyes 
 Of that " great sight " the quick surprise, 
 
 And the voice bade him reverence " holy ground." 
 
 'Tis often thus. Life's duteous deeds 
 Are steps by which " the angel " leads 
 
 To " greater things than these." 
 As Simon from Tiberias' breast 
 Was summoned by his Lord's behest 
 
 Of the new gospel-realm to hold the keys. 
 
 Oh, not from far beneath above 
 We vainly quest incarnate love ; 
 
 God all around we see ; 
 Though banished into dreariest wild, 
 The Father talketh with the child, 
 
 His holy place the one lone desert-tree. 
 
 The stammered word, the slender praise, 
 The poor, the young, the friendless raise,
 
 56 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 The homage, long delayed, 
 He will not e'er reject with scorn, 
 He, who of old the wilding thorn 
 
 In Midian's waste His bright pavilion made. 
 
 What angel word ! what mystic sign 
 Revealed the hidden guest Divine, 
 
 By earth and heaven adored, 
 We know not ; but a look, a tone> 
 A blessing, make the Godhead known : 
 
 Christ spake but " Mary" and she knew the Lord. 
 
 The light is born out of the dark. 
 Then let us humbly wait and hark 
 For whisper or for word. 
 The grandest message of God's lips, 
 His most sublime apocalypse, 
 
 Oft from the fiercest heart of flame are heard. 
 
 Not ours to grieve, not ours to choose 
 The way in which the heavenly news 
 
 Our spirits shall inspire ! 
 Welcome or pain, or awe, or fear, 
 If but our honoured souls may hear 
 
 Thy voice, O Lord! though Thou shalt speak "by 
 
 fire."
 
 XVIII. 
 
 1 The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Now is my 
 soul troubled ; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: 
 but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name." 
 JOHN xii. 23-28. 
 
 |HE hour is come !" 'tis thus He wakes 
 His followers from their feverish dream ; 
 And His high purpose to redeem, 
 
 Forth on the startled silence breaks. 
 
 Who can the loving mystery read ? 
 
 Glory and Death ! oh, wedlock strange ! 
 
 Can anguish thus to honour change ? 
 Do martyrs triumph while they bleed ? 
 
 Doth joy, the truant, lurk in pain ? 
 
 Is life concealed in bitter cup ? 
 
 How can fair visions kindle up 
 From panting heart and burdened brain ?
 
 58 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Gaze the disciples on their Lord. 
 
 No wonder that their asking eyes, 
 Which court, the while they dread, replies. 
 
 Should long for some assuring word. 
 
 But denser darkness settles down. 
 The human fear, the human will, 
 New agonies impending still 
 
 The mystery of the Father's frown. 
 
 Dark earth, blue heaven all clouded o'er, 
 The strange and lonely strife with sin 
 Oh, ne'er was kingdom ushered in 
 
 By heralds sad as these before ! 
 
 The highest glory is not where 
 
 'Mid crimson clouds the fight is won ; 
 'Tis to reclaim the erring son, 
 
 Long used the sinful yoke to bear. 
 
 Better to clothe with corn the wild 
 
 Than track the fire-path of a star ; 
 Less the proud sons of science are 
 
 Than clown who saves a drowning child. 
 
 Through death the world is raised above 
 Its alien curse and kindred dust, 
 We on the cross read, " God is just," 
 
 But in the offering, " God is love."
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 59 
 
 The wheaten corn which falls and dies, 
 
 In autumn's plenty richly waves ; 
 
 So, from the loathsome place of graves, 
 With Christ, our elder, we may rise. 
 
 From death comes life. The hand of God 
 This direst curse to good transforms ; 
 So purest air is born of storms ; 
 
 So bursts the harvest from the clod. 
 
 The highest benedictions hide 
 
 Where sacrifice is pure and true ; 
 And our poor self-denials, too, 
 
 If done for Christ, in Him abide. 
 
 But hark ! the trouble breaks in prayer, 
 
 As billows on the patient beach ! 
 
 Oh, tell us, Jesus, how to reach 
 The marvel and the comfort there ! 
 
 Some brave ones, who Thy name confessed, 
 Have tossed away their lives in sport, 
 And gone to death, as kings to court, 
 
 And hailed him with wild words of jest. 
 
 But we this high excitement lack, 
 
 And shrink from pain, and droop in loss, 
 And only want to bear the cross 
 
 When Thou hast placed it on the back.
 
 60 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 And Thou our pattern art, not they ; 
 
 And Thou hast wept. then we may grieve 
 Some joy to lose, some friend to leave, 
 
 Into the darkness gone away. 
 
 When all life's light is in eclipse, 
 
 " Oh if Thou canst, my Father, spare ! " 
 These accents of Thy garden-prayer 
 
 Will quiver from imploring lips. 
 
 But if the cup from which we shrink 
 Thou dost forbid to pass away, 
 Then help us from the heart to say, 
 
 " My Father wills it, I must drink" 
 
 Braver to feel " Thy will be done," 
 
 Because we first had cried aloud ; 
 We see the rainbow in the cloud 
 
 We know beyond it shines the sun.
 
 Easter, 
 
 XIX. 
 
 ' Very early in the morning, they came to the sepulchre. . . . Why seek 
 ye the living among the dead ? He is not here, but is risen." LUKE 
 xxiv. i, 5, 6. 
 
 |IS early morn ; come, cross the brook, 
 The Kedron He so lately crossed, 
 In hope 'tis all we can to look 
 Once more upon the ' loved and lost.' 
 
 " These smiling flowers, by spring arrayed, 
 
 The winter of our grief renew ; 
 For in the tomb, where Christ is laid, 
 Our faith, alas ! is buried too. 
 
 " ' We trusted ' 'twas a pleasant dream, 
 
 By rudest waking overthrown, 
 'That He our Israel would redeem,' 
 And, peerless, reign on Salem's throne
 
 62 SABBA TH CHIMES, 
 
 " That hope is gone ; but memory cleaves 
 
 In blissful trance to Jesus yet, 
 And, through her tears, still sits and weaves 
 The past into one long regret. 
 
 " Come where those funeral olives wave, 
 
 The city sleeps, the morn is fair 
 Love yearns to see the garden-grave, 
 Come, let us weep and worship there." 
 
 Thus, as their mighty sorrow spoke, 
 Forth the true-hearted women went. 
 
 Then the unhoped-for morning broke 
 Upon their night of discontent. 
 
 Not always bending o'er the urn 
 
 Of missed and mourned ones should we lie ; 
 When sorrow doth to duty turn, 
 
 Strong consolation waiteth by. 
 
 Grieving for Christ all griefs above, 
 
 Who by the grave stand meek and dumb 
 
 With troubled faith, but constant love : 
 To them the visioned angels come. 
 
 Hark ! how the sounds their hearts revive ! 
 
 " Not here, but risen," as he said ; 
 u The Lord ye love is yet alive 
 
 Why seek the living 'mong the dead ? "
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 63 
 
 Glad news and not alone for those 
 Who gathered round that sacred place : 
 
 Like some rich river's song it flows, 
 A gospel for a ruined race. 
 
 Oh, oft from out the darkest mine 
 
 A costlier gem the toiler bears ; 
 Oh, oft the heavenliest hope can shine, 
 
 Struck from the heart of old despairs. 
 
 Jesus is risen ! Silent now, 
 
 Not frantic, are the tears we weep 
 O'er glazing eye, and marble brow, 
 
 And dear ones in the dreamless sleep. 
 
 Jesus is risen ! The fight is o'er ; 
 
 Death to his own destruction hurled ; 
 Man from the heaven is barred no more ; 
 
 Easter hath dawned upon the world.
 
 
 XX. 
 
 ' And they returnee, and prepared spices and ointments ; and rested the 
 Sabbath-day, according to the commandment." LUKE xxiii. 56. 
 
 wherefore should those hands of love 
 Their fragrant work forbear ? 
 Such task as theirs will mount above, 
 
 Like incense of a prayer ; 
 If they should falter or suspend, 
 'Twere treason to that matchless Friend, 
 Who, loving, " loved them to the end." 
 
 Nay, do not those true hearts the wrong 
 
 Their affluent love to doubt, 
 The heart-fires which have burned so long. 
 
 Have not at once gone out ; 
 Love born of love for ever will 
 The life with generous pulses fill, 
 Surviving scorn, and shame, and ill. 
 
 " They rested," as did He, when first, 
 Obedient to His hand,
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 65 
 
 The light on formless darkness burst ; 
 
 And, at His high command, 
 Celestial beauty clothed the wild, 
 And stars in ordered courses smiled 
 On earth God's work ; and man His child. 
 
 " They rested," 'twas a higher law 
 
 Which bade them thus delay, 
 And moved their lingering feet to draw 
 
 From that new tomb away ; 
 God spake the broad command before ; 
 " Duty than sacrifice is more ; 
 Better to serve than to deplore." 
 
 " Spices and ointments," priceless these 
 
 Poor symbols of regard ; 
 And He, who reads the human, sees, 
 
 Nor fails He to reward ; 
 But love hath struck its deepest chord, 
 When, rather than embalm the Lord, 
 " They rested," to obey His word. 
 
 " They rested," thoughtless of the meed 
 
 The first day's morn would bring ; 
 Nor dreamed that from such painful seed 
 
 Such harvest e'er could spring ; 
 When lo ! upon their doubting eyes 
 Forth flashed the Easter's rare surprise, 
 " Jesus is risen ye shall rise." 
 
 E
 
 66 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 " They rested." God's will is the best, 
 
 And resurrection nears, 
 When quiet trust, in mourning breast 
 
 Can take the place of tears ; 
 They, in whose hearts proud waters toss, 
 The Maries, pierced with keenest loss, 
 Must not lie weeping 'neath the cross. 
 
 And we, who in this later time 
 Their grief and promise heir, 
 May, for like exercise sublime, 
 Our counselled souls prepare. 
 Eager to work, but calm to wait, 
 Till, at hot noon, or sunset late, 
 The pale horse standeth at the gate.
 
 XXL 
 
 'And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by 
 night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred 
 pound weight." JOHN xix. 39. 
 
 |S swiftly flies the startled dove, 
 
 When some keen danger swoops above, 
 And shelters 'neath the friendly eaves, 
 
 Careless of all the joy she leaves : 
 
 By new and sore disquiet pressed, 
 
 So comes to Christ a noble guest, 
 
 Perplexed 'twixt earnestness and fear, 
 
 Half longing half afraid to hear. 
 
 He comes by night. Not his to brook 
 The withering of the scorner's look, 
 The cynic banter, gay and loud, 
 The wonder of the gibing crowd, 
 The burst of fierce or haughty spleen, 
 Which fain would crush the Nazarene :
 
 68 SA BBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 Not daring yet these storms to meet, 
 He comes at night, with stealthy feet 
 
 Blame ye the ruler, that he shrank 
 From tainted name and forfeit rank ? 
 Think ye that such strong need of soul 
 Should spurn the sense's base control, 
 And bear the victor-spirit through, 
 With manful haste, to dare and do, 
 Accounting all the world but loss, 
 To find the truth, and clasp the cross ? 
 
 Ah ! think how faintly you have borne ; 
 How oft your plighted troth forsworn ; 
 How, when the nickering slanders fell, 
 You whispered your unkind farewell ; 
 How you forsook, denied, betrayed ; 
 Foul traitor to the vows you made, 
 And, while these wraiths before you stand, 
 Pause, ere you fix the coward's brand. 
 
 The shadows fall of that dread hour, 
 " Of darkness " the supremest " power," 
 When, in red clouds, the sun has died, 
 And Nature owns the Crucified : 
 Where are the bold disciples fled ? 
 Why haste they not to claim their dead ? 
 For, while they nurse their grief and gloom, 
 The cowards lay Him in the tomb.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 69 
 
 There is a courage braver far 
 Than charges in the ranks of war, 
 Or leaps to hear the cannon's boom, 
 Or speeds, with patriot pride, to doom. 
 A hardy frame of well-knit nerves 
 The soldier's purpose amply serves, 
 And speeds the thinning phalanx on, 
 When banners trail, and hope is gone. 
 
 But warriors oft have backward turned 
 When folly laughed, or passion burned ; 
 Scared from the right by witling's blame, 
 Have let small sneers their manhood shame. 
 So on Gilboa's rainless field, 
 The monarch " casts away his shield." 
 So Samson, when his lusts invite, 
 Turns craven in the moral fight. 
 
 Let God inspire ! then weak are strong, 
 And cowards chant the battle-song ; 
 He, whose approach the darkness hides, 
 Stands fast when all the world derides ; 
 'Mid fiercest fires the generous youth 
 Is valiant for the living truth ; 
 And, martyred for the Saviour's sake, 
 Heroic woman clasps the stake. 
 
 We thank Thee, Lord ! when Thou hast need 
 The man aye ripens for the deed ;
 
 70 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 And Thou canst make the timid bold 
 
 To shed his fears as dross from gold 
 
 And, nerved from Heaven, nor droop nor quail, 
 
 Though worlds confront, and hell assail. 
 
 Oh breathe, in this and every hour, 
 
 On each on me this soul of power !
 
 XXII. 
 
 " Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he 
 saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me : and again, a little 
 while, and ye shall see me : and, because I go to the Father ? They 
 said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell 
 what he saith." JOHN xvi. 17, 18. 
 
 IHAT is it that He saith ? 
 
 That He, who our deep love so oft hath bidden 
 To cling and gather round Him, must be hidden 
 From all but faith ; 
 
 That, through the happy days, 
 We shall be no more tranced with wondrous story, 
 Nor see God's love and man's blend, like a glory, 
 Whene'er we gaze. 
 
 Not to behold Him, when 
 
 We longed and hoped to see Him sceptred rather ; 
 And only, when He " goeth to the Father," 
 See Him again :
 
 72 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 " A little while ! " to gain 
 The knowledge to o'er-master life and sorrow, 
 And then to languish in one hopeless morrow 
 Of lengthening pain : 
 
 A while ! and then the end ! 
 One flash and then the utter dark, for ever ; 
 How the poor-heart-strings ache in the endeavour 
 To comprehend ! 
 
 We know not what He saith. 
 His words are riddles true and tender mostly 
 There runs a shuddering through them, like some ghostly 
 Shadow of death. 
 
 We, too, ask, what is this ? 
 
 When, o'er some ruined hope, we weep and wonder, 
 Or when some spirit-summons bids us sunder 
 From all our bliss. 
 
 What ! called so soon to part 
 With fortune's rapture, and with love's caressing, 
 With all those dews of life which fall in blessing 
 On the parched heart ! 
 
 Moan like the passing bells 
 The wail of weary souls which linger, aching ; 
 The hollow sound of all life's music, breaking 
 In sad farewells.
 
 SA BBA TH CHIMES. 73 
 
 A while ! a little v/hile ! 
 
 Sigh of crushed hearts, in homes bereft and lonely, 
 For one brief holiday of summer only 
 Able to smile. 
 
 Oh, for the power to rest ! 
 Till to each soul God whispers His revealing, 
 Calming, as rain on waves, each angered feeling, 
 " What is is best." 
 
 Sense sobs o'er graves, and mourns 
 Each cypress-garland, twined for love's undoing. 
 Faith a bright prophet sees its youth renewing 
 Within the urns. 
 
 For though the loved ones died 
 In slow decay, or scathed by swifter lightning ; 
 'Twas but that in a noon-tide, ever brightening, 
 They might abide. 
 
 Faith always sees them now, 
 Because they are within the Father's presence, 
 And endless youth, of heaven the radiant essence, 
 Brightens each brow.
 
 XXIII. 
 
 " The time coraeth when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I 
 shall show you plainly of the Father." JOHN xvi. 25. 
 
 BS travellers o'er some darksome waste 
 
 Their blind and perilous progress urge, 
 And fear to stay, and fear to haste, 
 
 While mists hang o'er the mountain's verge ; 
 And earth is wrapt in midnight shroud, 
 Or some faint streak of moonlight struggles through the 
 cloud ; 
 
 As children, guessing day by day 
 
 Life's many riddles, new and strange ; 
 Before whom pass, as in a play, 
 
 All motley characters of change ; 
 Some, monstrous, filling with affright, 
 Some, waking each new power in credulous delight ; 
 
 So, wildered traveller, wondering child, 
 Each soul its way through life inquires,
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 75 
 
 Now lost in moorland, now beguiled 
 By passion's dancing meteor-fires ; 
 Longing itself to understand, 
 And feeling, like the blind, for some near guiding hand. 
 
 We strive, and profit not with strife ; 
 Are weary with our torturing woe ; 
 The passionate secret of all life 
 
 We only guess, we long to know, 
 More light ! oh from what depths we cry, 
 Let the white truth blaze on us ere we droop and die ! 
 
 For now we blindly fear and love, 
 
 By partial knowledge lured astray, 
 Nor deem those woodland boughs above, 
 
 'Neath which we stroll through summer's day, 
 In such a wanton fulness twine, 
 They shut out from our eyes the blue of heaven divine. 
 
 Our nature does not bound our want; 
 And, stunned by this perpetual roar, 
 Poor baffled ones ! we sob and pant, 
 
 And sigh for some eternal shore ; 
 Each heart chafes like a moaning sea ; 
 And who shall still its storm ? our Father, who but Thee ? 
 
 But from a happy place shine out 
 
 Rays of a large majestic hope, 
 And a Christ's voice, rebuking doubt, 
 
 Gives to our faith its widest scope :
 
 76 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 " No more in proverbs will I speak, 
 But plainly show your hearts the Father whom ye seek." 
 
 "Tis morning now ! the dark hath fled, 
 Scared by the venturous dawn away. 
 More light ! see how the glorious red 
 
 Breaks on the soul and brings the day ! 
 " We follow on to know the Lord," 
 And, in heaven's endless noon, shall find our rich reward.
 
 XXIV. 
 
 "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and 
 ye shall be witnesses unto me." ACTS i. 8. 
 
 JJORD ! wilt Thou now the throne restore, 
 And raise our Israel from the dust ?" 
 Brave words ! which seemed as if they bore 
 Nought meaner than the patriot trust 
 
 But He who knows how subtle stains 
 As breath on mirrors mar the mind, 
 
 Unbraids each motive's tangled skeins, 
 And shows the lust which lurks behind. 
 
 " Ye shall have power." The answer probes 
 
 The longing of each heart in turn, 
 Knew He that, 'neath those peasant-robes, 
 
 Desires for thrones were wont to burn ? 
 
 " Ye shall have power ; " but not of kings, 
 Or those who march through blood to fame, 
 
 " The power the dove-like Spirit brings 
 To witness through the world my name."
 
 78 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Oh waking rude from pompous dream ! 
 
 No loud acclaim no judge's throne 
 No laurels won amidst the gleam 
 
 Of serried ranks, and foes o'erthrown. 
 
 Not these ! but triumphs nobler far 
 Than bards have sung, or wealth has priced ; 
 
 To bring, as Magi to the star, 
 The vassal-world to bow to Christ ! 
 
 The gift of power ! not surely poured, 
 The heart's imperious pride to feed, 
 
 Nor yet for selfish ends to hoard ; 
 As wealth inflames a miser's greed. 
 
 For vaunt and avarice shear the hair, 
 
 In which the Samson's valour lies, 
 And force him, in his blind despair, 
 
 To play the mime to heathen eyes. 
 
 Men may not rest though sleep be sweet, 
 With wildering dreams which mount to heaven ; 
 
 For God hath need of tireless feet, 
 
 Forth on the soul's strong purpose driven. 
 
 Life is too short for holy trance, 
 While ruin round us works its woe ; - 
 
 On Tabor's crest the glory-glance 
 But nerved for sterner strife below.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 79 
 
 Well might the angels court eclipse 
 Of all heaven's brightness for a space, 
 
 In barter for those witness-lips, 
 Which burn with news of gospel-grace ! 
 
 And we are heirs of work so high, 
 So rounded with all thoughts of bliss, 
 
 That minstrels of the upper sky 
 
 Have learned no chant so sweet as this.
 
 XXV. 
 
 ' Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, believe also in me." 
 
 JOHN xiv. i. 
 'Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? 1 ' LUKE 
 
 xxiv. 38. 
 
 CLOSER to Christ the loved ones grew, 
 The world seemed heaven when He was 
 
 nigh; 
 Their raptured life no future knew, 
 
 Nor dreamed they one so loved could die ; 
 And when He spoke of parting, oh ! the quail 
 And stoop of the bruised heart, as stunned by mighty 
 hail. 
 
 Like the stern silence, dread as death, 
 
 'Twixt lightning-flash and thunder-peal ; 
 So sudden grief, which held the breath, 
 But strung the boding sense to feel ; 
 And on the giddy brain, like funeral knells, 
 Beat heavy, all in one, a lifetime of farewells.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 81 
 
 . But on that silence, drear and blank, 
 
 Fell looks of love and words of cheer ; 
 As tears of eve, on daisied bank, 
 
 Fall, in the childhood of the year ; 
 " Let not your hearts be troubled : ye believe 
 In God, believe in me." Faith cannot hopeless grieve. 
 
 Again they met. The tragic hour 
 
 With life-long wound their hearts had scarred, 
 But memory held, the orphan's dower, 
 
 The likeness of the " visage marred." 
 With doors shut on the world, in upper room, 
 They spoke, now, of lost hope ; now, of forsaken tomb. 
 
 They brooded in a wayward grief 
 
 Which wrestled with a trembling love ; 
 Vassals of giant unbelief, 
 
 Darkening their loftiest thoughts above ; 
 When on their sight a radiant presence came, 
 And a remembered voice seemed breathing each 
 one's name. 
 
 Oh strange that when our blessings come 
 
 We scarce can pierce their veiled disguise ! 
 They stood affrighted all, and dumb, 
 
 As if joy smote their aching eyes 
 With blindness ; till the words a calmness made, 
 " 'Tis I why are ye troubled ? why your thoughts 
 afraid?" 
 
 F
 
 82 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Two soothing words ! The grave between. 
 Who can withstand the appealing grace, 
 It stilled the sorrow that had been 
 
 By sight of that familiar face, 
 Which, ere they yet had broken on the soul, 
 Spoke to the waters proud, " But thus far shall ye 
 rolL" 
 
 Before and after death alike, 
 
 He bids us cease our trouble yet ; 
 Nor sword can pierce nor anguish strike 
 
 The sealed on whom His love is set. 
 Teach us the lesson, Lord ! at once to flee 
 From trouble into faith from wavering faith to Thee.
 
 Whitsuntide* 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 ' Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language." GEN. xi. 7. 
 ' We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God." 
 ACTS ii. n. 
 
 jjTATELY on Shinar's ancient plain 
 
 Uprose a mighty thought in stone ; 
 The thinkers scoffed in pure disdain 
 Of forces mightier than their own. 
 Full many a moon had waxed and waned, 
 Full many a brain and hand had striven, 
 To pile a tower, which, unrestrained 
 
 By bound or bar ; should smite the heaven. 
 
 For thought had brooded calm and long, 
 And grew of its own offspring proud, 
 
 And Labour brought his sinews strong ; 
 And Art her children, cunning-browed ; 
 
 And deathless will and deathless pride 
 Bade scorn the earth, and brave the sky,
 
 84 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 Till they, who all their peers outvied, 
 Should now with their Creator vie. 
 
 Then came the injured Godhead down, 
 
 And cursed them with an alien speech ; 
 And, from the thunder of His frown, 
 
 Afar they wandered, each from each. 
 But in the curse a blessing lurked. 
 
 From baffled language nations grew. 
 And thus the wrath of Heaven hath worked 
 
 The purpose of its mercy too. 
 
 Years rolled away. Three empires vast 
 
 Had queened and faded, one by one ; 
 A fourth had reached its prime, and cast 
 
 The purple of its setting sun ; 
 When, as a whirlwind from the north 
 
 Awes the bowed forests in its ire, 
 Twelve chosen men came boldly forth, 
 
 With hearts of faith and " tongues of fire.' 
 
 No haughty Csesars from their thrones 
 With cohort fierce and lictor's-rod ; 
 
 These have no weapons, save the tones 
 Of voices strong with words of God. 
 
 But to men's hearts those voices leap, 
 And pierce through all their guarded lies, 
 
 Till, like a world aroused from sleep, 
 They feel the baptism of the skies.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 85 
 
 They come from far from sunny shores, 
 
 Which o'er the proud ^gean smile ; 
 From regions where the Orontes pours 
 
 Through the rich plain for many a mile ; 
 A motley crowd of diverse name ! 
 
 But on each startled listener rung, 
 Impetuous from the lips of flame, 
 
 God's wonders in his native tongue. 
 
 Thus love can every doom reverse, 
 
 Restore the good long mourned as lost ; 
 E'en as the ancient Babel's curse, 
 
 Died at the breath of Pentecost. 
 And teeming brain and lissom hand, 
 
 By breath of heavenly grace controlled, 
 May work and win, at God's command, 
 
 More than the builders dreamt of old. 
 
 Oh for the lambent fire to fall, 
 
 To purge the vile, the weak to nerve ! 
 So when the clarion-voices call 
 
 We shall be meet to build or serve. 
 Come, Holy Ghost ! with cleansing power, 
 
 When Thou from pride our hearts hast shriven, 
 Then, blameless, we may rear the tower, 
 
 Whose topmost stone shall reach to heaven.
 
 Trinity, 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 1 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.' 
 EPH. ii. 18. 
 
 |ATHER ! from all things marred and base 
 In this, our darkling dwelling-place, 
 We lift our eyes to seek Thy face. 
 
 We wait Thy sovereign will to learn, 
 Our life Thy favour fain would earn, 
 Our hearts for Thy sweet soothing yearn. 
 
 For Thee the bending nations groan ; 
 So wild, so strong their wailing tone, 
 No voice can hush them but Thine own. 
 
 For there is nought that satisfies 
 In "refuges of" builded "lies ;" 
 The earth hath failed. Men ask the skies.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 87 
 
 The world is full of doubt and jar, 
 Red-handed hate, and wasteful war ; 
 All mail hath dint ; all flesh hath scar. 
 
 And thought is rebel ; and desire 
 Alternate smoulders and leaps higher, 
 Like some half-dead volcano's fire. 
 
 E'en as for rain the cedars pant, 
 E'en as the harts the brooklets haunt ; 
 Men heave and throb with mighty want 
 
 We covet knowledge. Keen our guess 
 When mysteries oft, or questions press ; 
 Until we ache from weariness. 
 
 We faint with thirst. We die unseen. 
 All truth hath but the mirage been, 
 False as the fabled Hippocrene. 
 
 The rival systems bend their brows, 
 Eager their zealot prides to arouse. 
 We know not where to pay our vows. 
 
 Then from the search we recreant flee ; 
 
 Still chafing, like a hungry sea, 
 
 That we may reach Thy throne and Thee. 
 
 But as the passionate currents flow, 
 They break upon one strand of woe, 
 Moaning the unknown God to know.
 
 88 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 O Lord ! Thou must Thyself declare ! 
 We may not climb on broken stair 
 Of faultless creed or formal prayer. 
 
 Encumbered with our earthly load, 
 We cannot tread the star-strewn road, 
 Which leads to Thy divine abode. 
 
 Show us Thyself ! none else prevail. 
 Earth's mightiest with the effort fail, 
 And tremor shakes the seraph's veiL 
 
 Drooping and furled each angel-wing ; 
 The silenced elders cease to sing, 
 All heaven is hushed before the King. 
 
 God only can of God proclaim, 
 Without presumptuous guilt and blame, 
 The glories of the hidden name. 
 
 But love hath sent the Son to bleed, 
 And the Eternal Spirit to plead ; 
 God-furnished, for our creature need. 
 
 No longer must the poorest pine. 
 The gulf is bridged. The light divine 
 Broods o'er the lowliest human shrine. 
 
 The holiest is no longer pent 
 From mortal view. The veil is rent 
 God comes to every pilgrim's tent.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 89 
 
 Father ! we bless Thee Thou hast bowed, 
 For us, with Thy rich grace endowed, 
 The veiling heavens and scattered cloud. 
 
 O Saviour dear ! We fain would tell 
 In lip and life's hosanna-swell, 
 Thy praises blest Immanuel! 
 
 And, in co-equal praise, repeat 
 Our life long worship at Thy feet, 
 Divine and gracious Paraclete ! 
 
 One God in persons Three ! We pour 
 In Heaven's full cup our meaner store, 
 And silent in Thy light adore.
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 1 Then said I, Woe is me ! for I am undone ; because I am a man of 
 unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips : for 
 mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." ISAIAH vi. 5. 
 
 JPON the temple's glittering floors 
 A pure unwonted radiance pours ; 
 
 On court and column downward rolled 
 The gathering waves of glory break ; 
 Till all things from their lustre take 
 Or hues of things divine, or shapes of heavenly mould. 
 
 Prostrate, as if the blaze had drowned 
 All other sense of sight or sound, 
 
 The prophet lay in sudden swoon ; 
 As Eastern travellers, when they press 
 Through the vast, palmless wilderness, 
 
 Faint 'neath the angry sun, or breath of fierce simoon. 
 \ . 
 
 What fearful sacrilege hath pressed 
 Upon that bowed, remorseful breast ?
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 91 
 
 What nameless memory cleft the stroke ? 
 While in the fretted arches' gleam 
 Waved the bright wings of seraphim, 
 And from celestial choirs the triple praises broke. 
 
 It is no sullen priest of Baal 
 
 Who smites the breast and lifts the wail ; 
 
 The holiest man, the boldest seer, 
 Whose words the faithless people scathed, 
 " Whose lips in fire divine were bathed, 
 God's child, God's prophet, lies in anguish here. 
 
 " Woe ! woe is me ! unclean, undone ! 
 Oh hide me from yon flaming sun ! 
 
 For God hath burst upon my sight ; 
 And in that vision stands confessed 
 The vileness of my prided best ; 
 As sunbeams show all faults within their line of light 
 
 " Sin lurks in my distempered zeal, 
 And mars the offering when I kneel 
 
 Bending in lowliest orison ; 
 I thought my prophet-lips were clean, 
 But I the Lord of Hosts have seen, 
 And blench and tremble in the pureness of the throne." 
 
 Not thus when new-born Adam roved 
 In that fair virgin Eden, groved
 
 92 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 In loveliest harmony of shade ; 
 Then earthly could with heavenly blend, 
 And man could talk with God, as friend 
 Looks into dear friend's face, nor knows to feel afraid. 
 
 Ah ! it is thus the primal fall 
 Hath visited and cursed us all. 
 
 Our eyes for heavenly scenes are dim ; 
 And, wildered, as in mortal trance, 
 We shiver at the Almighty's glance, 
 And only through the cloud can bear to look on Him. 
 
 In pure hearts faith is ever young, 
 'Tis from our sin our fear hath sprung, 
 
 And made unmeet with God to abide ; 
 Sinless, with wishful look and long, 
 We should greet God at even-song. 
 Nor from Divine approach in bowers of Eden hide. 
 
 And yet some blessed symbols wait 
 With hope to cheer the desolate. 
 
 The angel from the altar flies, 
 Eager with touch of burning coal 
 To heal and cleanse the leprous soul ; 
 Type of that blood divine, which all salvation buys. 
 
 Oh, not in anger to consume i 
 Rather to teach, to bless, to 'illume,
 
 3 ABBA TH CHIMES. 93 
 
 The lambent glories downward shine. 
 While, to dispel each lingering doubt, 
 The fire atoning ne'er goes out, 
 Symbol of sin confessed, and expiate' wrath divine. 
 
 Crushed 'neath the silence of rebuke, 
 We see that flame, and upward look 
 Within each consecrated fane ; 
 So we with seraph-lips may vie, 
 And " Holy, holy, holy," cry, 
 Till our poor psalm shall blend with loftier angel-strain.
 
 XXIX. 
 
 'For how great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty." ZECK. 
 
 ix. 17. 
 ' The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord." Ps. xxxiii. 5. 
 
 | HERE are who say the world is drear, 
 
 A baffling maze of sins and pains, 
 Where mortals crouch in wildering fear, 
 And death o'er every homestead reigns. 
 
 A world where myriad voices scorn, 
 
 And myriad cavils mock reply ; 
 And myriad men, to trouble born, 
 
 Exist to toil, and grieve, and die. 
 
 But earth is not a place of tombs, 
 
 In spite of all that cynics say, 
 For God hath shed forth balms and blooms 
 
 To heal the plague and scent the way.
 
 SADBA TH CHIMES. 95 
 
 And tribute rich and ample hoard 
 
 Bear witness to rebuke the wrong ; 
 And Nature vindicates her Lord 
 
 In buoyant life and woodland song. 
 
 On the same soil the harvest waves, 
 Into whose heart the tempest wore ; 
 
 And, while men bend by wintry graves. 
 The swift spring hastes to grass them o'er. 
 
 So, wandering on the solemn hills, 
 Which look upon some boundless plain, 
 
 Besprent with flowers, and gay with rills, 
 Which laugh, like things unused to pain ; 
 
 Or gazing on some landscape large, 
 With glade, and stream, and silent tower, 
 
 While, from the far horizon's marge, 
 
 Swells the old sea's great sound of power ; 
 
 A presence seems to lurk in each ; 
 
 And, like a gospel pure and kind, 
 Their silence, eloquent as speech, 
 
 Hath lessons to the listening mind 
 
 Of comfort, learnt from cottage fires ; 
 
 Of peace, from Nature's dreamless rest ; 
 Of faith, from heaven-pointing spires ; 
 
 Of endless life, from ocean's breast.
 
 96 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 Of sweet communion with the dead, 
 (The precious living loved not less, 
 
 For they the golden streets who tread 
 Watch not to envy, but to bless.) 
 
 Taught by the way the still earth leans. 
 Half-wearied, on the clasping sky, 
 
 Like some shy child, who, lingering, means 
 To claim close favours by and by. 
 
 Of duty, taught by each fair thing, 
 Which works its Maker's high desire, 
 
 By streams which flow and birds which sing, 
 And know not to repine nor tire. 
 
 Of God for all the landscape fair, 
 The azure heaven the cloudlet dim, 
 
 The ripening fields the moorland bare ; 
 All have a word to speak for Him. 
 
 Oh for an inner ear to hark 
 
 Each whisper of this under-song ! 
 
 Oh for brave will, to learn and mark, 
 And grow for grief or service strong 1
 
 XXX. 
 
 ' There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that 
 repenteth." LUKE xv. 10. 
 
 jjHERE are would earth and heaven divorce, 
 
 And sunder every tie, 
 Which binds our sphere, in mystic force, 
 To that far throne beyond the course 
 Of orbs in yonder sky. 
 
 And sceptics, white with angry foam, 
 
 Their scornful lips have curled ; 
 
 Deriding those who fain would roam 
 
 To find and fill, with hopes of home, 
 
 This orphan of a world. 
 
 Not thus the pitying angels lean 
 
 From their calm seats above ; 
 They watch with kindly eyes and keen, 
 And long some struggling soul to screen, 
 
 In ministry of love.
 
 98 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Heaven loves the ruined to redeem ; 
 
 As noblest hearts below 
 Light up, with tenderest vigil-gleam, 
 O'er those whose flattering childhood's dream 
 
 Hath lost its morning glow. 
 
 For love is full of love to all, 
 
 Yet loves the weakest most. 
 The one in peril, or in thrall, 
 Whose wine of life has turned to gall, 
 Hath larger share engrossed. 
 
 The shepherd will the flock forsake, 
 
 Safe in the fold abiding, 
 To wander, through ravine and brake, 
 Homeward the one stray lamb to take ; 
 
 Nor break its heart with chiding. 
 
 The sire in calm emotion dwells 
 
 Where quiet home-fires burn ; 
 But his deep love in floods upwells 
 When from deserted pleasure-cells 
 The prodigals return. 
 
 The stream in languid ripples flows 
 
 And summers through the wood ; 
 But if, by long stern winter froze, 
 Released, in cataract haste it throws 
 Its waves in living flood.
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 99 
 
 And sorrow gives to fading things 
 
 A memory always green ; 
 As parting birds have brightest wings ; 
 As music over churchyards rings, 
 
 And breaks o'er graves between. 
 
 Oh ! if in hearts forlorn as ours 
 
 We keep the choicest gift, 
 The sunniest smiles the rarest flowers 
 From shadowed hearts and painful hours 
 
 Their shade and pain to lift ; 
 
 The angels kinder far than we 
 
 Of heavenlier joy are heirs ; 
 When from their thrones they stoop to see 
 Some brave ones, battling to be free 
 
 From sinful curse and cares. 
 
 The purest bliss the angels share 
 
 Is o'er a world forgiven. 
 Oh mystery beyond compare ! 
 Earth's joy and sorrow vibrate there, 
 
 And pity brightens heaven.
 
 XXXI. 
 
 ' Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be thou envious against the 
 workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, 
 and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; so 
 shall thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shall be fed. Delight thy- 
 self also in the Lord ; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. 
 Commit thy way unto the Lord ; trust also in him ; and he shall bring 
 it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and 
 thy judgment as the noonday." Ps. xxxvii. 1-6. 
 
 |HO would not learn a lore like this, 
 By some sweet psalmist taught ? 
 And rest in calm content of bliss, 
 Without unquiet thought ? 
 
 And yet our restless hearts, perplexed 
 
 With secrets strange or fell, 
 And oft with righteous anger vexed, 
 
 Are eager to rebel. 
 
 " Not fret " when men of prosperous wrong 
 
 In gilded chariots ride ; 
 When trampled weak and tyrant strong 
 
 On every hand abide ;
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 101 
 
 When, now with rage, and now with boast, 
 
 The hot world cheats the way, 
 And wreckers hoist, on iron coast, 
 
 False lights to lure astray ; 
 
 When perjured lives, with wasteful prayers, 
 
 Their sordid aims can leaven, 
 As one should turn to fiery glares 
 
 God's rainbows out of heaven ; 
 
 When wicked in their power secure 
 
 God's justice seem to 'arraign ; 
 Were it not weakness to endure ? 
 
 Dishonour to refrain ? 
 
 Like songs in storms, the calm command 
 
 Still sounds, " Fret not thy soul, 
 Nor wrath nor envy understand, 
 
 The mystery of the whole." 
 
 Why should the stately oak complain 
 
 That grass hath earlier spring, 
 When centuries yet of sun and rain 
 
 Will hail the forest king ? 
 
 For it will through long summers hide 
 
 The woodland songsters blithe, 
 When the frail grasses at its side 
 
 Have fallen by the scythe.
 
 102 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Wherefore all helpless angers curb, 
 
 All murmuring envies still : 
 " The wicked," like the blasted herb, 
 
 "Shall wither" when He will 
 
 Large charity will lift thee soon 
 
 To breathe diviner air, 
 Where flowers, as of an endless June> 
 
 The Beulah-gardens bear. 
 
 Delight in God shall make thee spread 
 Such influence through thy gloom, 
 
 As when some hidden violets shed 
 Their riches of perfume. 
 
 " Commit thou all thy way to God," 
 Then let the slanderers bark ; 
 
 He brings it forth who flings abroad 
 The noontide from the dark. 
 
 The gem which decks some royal hand 
 
 In darkness was impearled ; 
 And thou canst wait that thou mayst stand 
 
 God's own before the world.
 
 XXXII. 
 
 ' And we.know that all things work together for good to them that love 
 God." ROM. viii. 28. 
 
 [AITH speaks, while sense is dumb and sad, 
 
 Of all life's strange confusions weary, 
 Dreading, though fireside eves are glad, 
 
 Lest following morns break cold and dreary ;- 
 But faith, with prescient vision blessed, 
 Paints shining morrows in the west. 
 
 All nature longs to be assured, 
 Suspense is torture to the feeling ; 
 
 The deadliest ill can be endured 
 If trouble be not past annealing ; 
 
 And faith, like some alchemist old, 
 
 Can turn base metals into gold. 
 
 And God hath said" To loving souls 
 All things for good shall work together." 
 
 From heart to heart the promise rolls ; 
 As song-birds, 'mid the scented heather,
 
 104 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 From nest to nest the strain prolong, 
 Till air is filled with balm and song. 
 
 'Tis He hath said it, from whose hand 
 
 Comes all this bounteous world's providing ; 
 
 Whose love in equal grace hath planned 
 A kingdom's or a sparrow's guiding ; 
 
 Who marks the proud sun when he sets, 
 
 And feeds the orphan ravenlets. 
 
 And He can do whate'er He wills, 
 The worlds are all His vassal-forces ; 
 
 Each vast domain His influence fills, 
 He binds the stars in lambent courses, 
 
 And, when the storm its wildest raves, 
 
 He speaks a silence on the waves. 
 
 Oh not in vain doth He create 
 
 Aught from His affluent love proceeding ; 
 The meanest hath appointed state, 
 
 If only for the mightiest's needing. 
 The meteor and the thunder-stone 
 Have use and mission of their own. 
 
 Christ hath not to His people sworn 
 Blue heavens where summer glories sparkle, 
 
 But foreheads crowned, like His, with thorn, 
 And paths where shadowy winters darkle ; 
 
 Yet ever hath the promise stood, 
 
 " All things together work for good."
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 105 
 
 And blessedness is highest life ; 
 
 When God's will all our will absorbeth ; 
 As stars which braved the midnight strife 
 
 Die when the glorious morning orbeth ; 
 And when we feel, 'mid threatening harms, - 
 The clasp of His encircling arms. 
 
 Faith ! rest thou here, whate'er befall ; 
 The blighted hope ; the serpent-slander ; 
 
 The plague-swept household ; or the call 
 O'er the returnless waves to wander. 
 
 The fires which kindle sevenfold, 
 
 But burn the dross to prove the gold.
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 1 Is any among you afflicted ? let him pray. Is any merry ? let him sing 
 psalms." JAS. v. 13. 
 
 j|AND in hand, through all our ways, 
 
 Joy and sorrow travel, 
 Making life a tangled maze 
 We may not unravel ; 
 E'er at work to build or mar, 
 Like unsocial twins they are, 
 Wreathing smile, or striking scar. 
 
 Fleet of foot and wide of range, 
 
 On each traveller goeth ; 
 Like experience of change 
 
 Every spirit knoweth, 
 Whisper soft or brawling loud, 
 Zephyr sometimes, sometimes cloud, 
 Here the bridal there the shroud.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 107 
 
 Warp and woof of many threads 
 
 Time is always weaving ; 
 Year to year he sternly weds 
 
 Heedless of our grieving ; 
 Blending, in his ceaseless loom, 
 Joy's bright crimson, to illume 
 Sable shades of doubt and doom. 
 
 When the sorrow blights our good, 
 Do we chafe repining ? 
 
 Or discern, 'neath cloak and hood, 
 Angel form outshining ? 
 
 Swell our hearts as swells the tide ? 
 
 Do we in locked chambers hide 
 
 Serpent-craft or lion pride? 
 
 When joy's summer glories smite 
 Do they bless or blind us ? 
 
 Doth the pure celestial light, 
 Proud, or thankful, find us ? 
 
 Doth some brief delirium dupe ? 
 
 Brief, as dew in flower-cup, 
 
 Which the hot world drinketh up ? 
 
 Blest to whom God shows His grace 
 Hallowing all their trouble ! 
 
 Those to whom His lifted face 
 Makes their gladness double !
 
 io8 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 Commerce with the skies can teach 
 Gospels beyond common reach 
 Blessedness too rare for speech. 
 
 Nature in her worst unrest 
 
 Spoken sorrow beareth, 
 And when grief is unexpressed 
 
 Only then despaireth ;. 
 Hearts will break which cannot weep ; 
 Tears repressed, from eyelids keep 
 All the happy dews of sleep. 
 
 Winds, which whisper to the woods. 
 Joyous hearts resemble : 
 
 They would fain in gladdest moods 
 Into language tremble ; 
 
 One can never quite rejoice ; 
 
 Without some dear answering voice 
 
 Eden had not half its joys. 
 
 Hearts which glow, and hearts which bleed ;- 
 
 God for each one careth ; 
 Outlet for their strongest need 
 
 He for each prepareth ; 
 In restraint no longer pent ; 
 Joy in bursts of song hath vent ; 
 Sorrow prays ; and is content
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 109 
 
 Oh for hearts of finer tone 
 
 Help of heaven to borrow ! 
 Be our joys in praises shown, 
 
 And in prayer our sorrow ; 
 Till, like priests for service stoled, 
 Awed as radiant clouds unfold, 
 We shall God Himself behold.
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 1 All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord ; and thy saints shall bless thee.' 
 PSALM cxlv. 10 
 
 |HEN art has grasped some graceful dream, 
 
 The artificer's fame is fed ; 
 Mid blaze of song some lingering gleam 
 Will play around the poet's head. 
 
 As by rare skill, or rarer gift, 
 
 Men theii own meaner glories raise, 
 
 Ceaseless the worlds of God uplift 
 Their homage of perpetual praise. 
 
 One chant of life and beauty thrills 
 From wilding fern and stately tree ; 
 
 'Tis thundered from the solemn hills, 
 And answered by the exulting sea. 
 
 Upward the brooklet's music floats, 
 Each flower-cup bending to the tune, 
 
 The woodlands, from a hundred throats, 
 Hymn praise beneath the listening moon.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. in 
 
 The countless stars which light the dark, 
 Tribes that with life the greensward leaven, 
 
 The air, which vibrates, while the lark 
 Warbles of summer and of heaven, 
 
 Each pulse of light, each wave of sound, 
 Each foresight shrewd, each wise design, 
 
 All swell, to the world's utmost bound, 
 Praise to the forming hand divine. 
 
 Yet is it all unconscious praise, 
 
 Struck from their nature, not from them ; 
 
 As some old summer's buried rays 
 Flash in a monarch's diadem. 
 
 Strong laws material forces bind, 
 
 As captives held in prison bars ; 
 The reverence of one baby-mind 
 
 Is nobler than a million stars. 
 
 While fast the heedless seasons roll, 
 
 Nor know the truths which they express, 
 
 All nature " praises," but the soul 
 
 Of man God's image fain would bless. 
 
 Not like insensate nature, dumb 
 
 Or tuneless, we our tribute pour. 
 Oh priceless privilege ! We may come, 
 
 And " bless " the God whom we adore ;
 
 . 112 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Talk of His goodness in the ways, 
 And lean upon His gracious hand; 
 
 Intelligently speak His praise, 
 And learn His love to understand. 
 
 Blessing than praise is more. The heart 
 Sends its quick love to prompt the tongue, 
 
 And all its happy pulses start, 
 While the full spirit-psalm is sung. 
 
 Let nature in her Lord rejoice, 
 
 Harmonious worlds His praise proclaim ! 
 We, with glad heart and willing voice, 
 
 Will " bless " Him for His newest name.
 
 XXXV. 
 
 " And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat oy the wayside watching ; for 
 his heart trembled for the ark of God." i SAM. iv. 13. 
 
 IITH sightless eyes and silver hair, 
 
 An old man watched and wept ; 
 And vexed thoughts wandering into prayer 
 Within him strove and crept 
 
 He watched, for now the warrior's plume 
 
 Waves in the distant war ; 
 And clash of arms, and sound of doom, 
 
 Burden the breeze afar. 
 
 The wayside wanderers paused to grieve 
 
 For pain too large to share, 
 All through the hours, till deepening eve, 
 
 He still sat " watching" there.
 
 ii 4 SA BBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 " Watching," as those who wake till dawn, 
 Lest some dear sleep be stirred ; 
 
 Distrustful, as some startled fawn, 
 A strayling from the herd. 
 
 Restless, as he who dreams that death 
 
 His argosy o'erwhelms ; 
 Timid as hares, when evening's breath 
 
 Murmurs 'mid stately elms. 
 
 No truant thought averts the look, 
 Strained straight towards the field ; 
 
 With one dread wish to read the book 
 In mercy clasped and sealed. 
 
 The book is read. The courier lips 
 
 Are white with wrath of soul, 
 That such poor wrecks of gallant ships 
 
 On one lone strand should rolL 
 
 The patriot bows, like shaken tent, 
 'Neath blast of dire disgrace ; 
 
 The judge outpours his sore lament 
 For Israel's evil case ; 
 
 The father mourns the curse fulfilled, 
 Long spoken by the Lord,
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. \ 1 5 
 
 And weeps o'er both his children, killed 
 Beneath one cruel sword. 
 
 Yet the strong soul bore nobly up, 
 
 Until the heaviest stroke, 
 " The ark is lost." This filled the cup ;- 
 
 And then the brave heart broke. 
 
 There is great need for Elis yet, 
 As watchers through the dark, 
 
 In perilous times of conflict set, 
 To tremble for the ark 
 
 Its foes, with vaunt and valour proud, 
 
 Bear it to Dagon's fane, 
 And hymn their fancied triumph loud, 
 
 With many a frantic strain. 
 
 Its friends are faint when duty calls, 
 And droop beneath their load ; 
 
 And scorners, on their temple walls, 
 Have carven " Ichabod." 
 
 And some have made the ark a shrine, 
 And some have woven charms, 
 
 That victory may espy the sign, 
 And wait upon their arms. 
 
 And some have sought for wizard gift, 
 Like that unkingly Saul ;
 
 1 1 6 SA BBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 And some, stretched Uzzah-hands, to lift 
 From an imagined fall 
 
 And some, with ostentatious tramp, 
 
 To warning omens blind, 
 Have ta'en the ark into the camp, 
 
 But left its God behind. 
 
 Watch ! watch ! the subtle peril threats 
 
 The freedom of the Bride ; 
 The foe, unweary, ne'er forgets 
 
 His spirit-snares to hide. 
 
 Woe worth the day when Christian work 
 
 Is done by faithless hands ; 
 In traitor's wile more dangers lurk 
 
 Than in Philistine bands. 
 
 The watchmen on the walls can guard 
 While marshalled armies wait ; 
 
 But vain are sleepless watch and ward, 
 If treason opes the gate. 
 
 Oh for the strong-souled prophets back, 
 
 Our craven souls to cheer ! 
 Whose fear of God constrained the lack 
 
 Of every meaner fear.
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 117 
 
 To arms ! the martial shout prolong, 
 
 Unfurl the flag again ; 
 Give battle to the false and wrong ; 
 
 God needeth earnest men.
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 1 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it." 
 LUKE xix. 41. 
 
 [LAD welcomes float around, 
 
 Palm-branches strew the ground. ; 
 Not only do the nameless few 
 Their plighted vows renew, 
 Ten thousand hearts shed homage, like a summer dew. 
 
 " Haste I and your tribute bring, 
 Behold our promised King !" 
 Straight each to each the tidings tells, 
 
 Till, like the joyous bells 
 Which ring for bridals, through Jerusalem it swells. 
 
 There 's trouble on His brow ; 
 Why throb the heart-strings now ? 
 Now, when the world's acclaim He hears, 
 
 When seeming triumph nears ; 
 Why do those kind eyes sadden into rain of tears ?
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 1 1 9 
 
 Not for Himself oppressed, 
 Though " marred" above the rest, 
 No passion e'er in Him rebelled ; 
 
 His heart's fierce storm He quelled, 
 As, by imperial law, old ocean's pride is held. 
 
 It was no selfish woe, 
 Which bade His tears to flow ; 
 But pity when the glory fled 
 From Sion's sacred head ; 
 
 And sorrow when He, mourning, gazed on Lazarus 
 dead. 
 
 Before Him, as He passed, 
 Slept the fair city, glassed 
 In morning's mirror clear and gray ; 
 
 He saw th' advancing day 
 When pomp of wall and tower in shapeless ruin lay. 
 
 And, vision drearier far 
 Than earth's sad ruins are ; 
 Souls which, in keenest wrath and scorn, 
 
 Had Him, the Christ, forsworn, 
 He saw by headlong hate to hopeless ruin borne. 
 
 " If thou hadst known, e'en thou," 
 Ere night had come but now 
 No more the day-star wooes thine eyes 
 
 With blush of orient skies. 
 'Tis night, and on that night no morn shall ever rise.
 
 120 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Still through the circling years 
 Those matchless, pitiful tears 
 Speak to us ; as the covenant sign, 
 
 Whose light-braids God doth twine, 
 Speaks in the heaven ; of love, which blends with power 
 divine. 
 
 " He wept" for our sore loss, 
 The tears before the cross ; 
 Grief flowered into atoning deed, 
 
 He gave Himself to bleed 
 
 That life from death might spring; safety from direst 
 need. 
 
 His tears our weakness chide. 
 
 " He wept," then we confide ; 
 
 Distrust were fouler treason still 
 
 Against that loving will, 
 Which fain would clasp a world, and shield it from all ill 
 
 " He wept," then we should wail 
 Our fellows' blight and ail ; 
 Be Jesus our high pattern yet ! 
 
 Then we shall ne'er forget 
 He frankly cancelled ours. Now ours to all the debt
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 ' Two men went up into the temple to pray ; the one a Pharisee, and the 
 other a publican." LUKE xviii. 10. 
 
 |ITH brow upraised, as one who sees his peers, 
 
 From some tall summit, dwarf to lesser size, 
 Free from all vulgar awe or feeble tears, 
 Courting all eyes 
 
 To gaze upon his eyes, alight with pride- 
 Behold the Pharisee ! a statelier sort 
 Of man, not made of clay, fit to abide 
 
 In temple court, 
 
 As his own heart assured him. Bound to thanks 
 
 For duty done and life enjoyed, to God ; 
 But not to wail o'er sin, like meaner ranks 
 Of common clod.
 
 122 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Proud as he passed, his eye's dilating globe 
 
 Fell on a poor wretch crouching in the aisle, 
 And, gathering up the fringes of his robe 
 
 From chance defile, 
 
 He to the altar strode with lordly scorn, 
 
 And spoke his thanks to self and God again, 
 For the rare privilege of not being born 
 
 " As other men." 
 
 Blind to the beauty of all high desire, 
 
 Content with husks, not fruit, he clung to/arm, 
 As one who blows white ashes of the fire, 
 
 Saying, " I am warm." 
 
 With eyes that sought the ground, and inly burned 
 
 With that dry sorrow which is keenest pain ; 
 Longing for tears, if but " the clouds returned 
 After the rain." 
 
 Crushed by the one large, deadly sense of sin, 
 
 Fearing to look toward the holy place, 
 Lest he should find nor cleft to shelter in, 
 
 Nor smile of grace, 
 
 Came the poor sinner to the place of prayer ; 
 Not with the voice of some exulting psalm, 
 
 A 
 
 But with dim tremulous hope, which scarcely dare 
 Expect its balm.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 123 
 
 The homeless, flying from the furious blast, 
 
 Heeds not the passer-by, although a king ; 
 
 So, filled with grief, the scorn upon him cast 
 
 Had lost its sting. 
 
 No pomp of words the labouring silence broke, 
 
 Mutely the eye besought, the lips implored ; 
 Then, passionate, the heart leaped forth and spoke, 
 " Have mercy, Lord ! " 
 
 And could no more ; for then a storm arose, 
 
 Sweeping through all the chambers of the mind ; 
 As when through northern forests shrieks and blows 
 The wintry wind. 
 
 And He, the Highest, sat in heaven and heard 
 
 The voice of both. For upward to His throne 
 There rise alike, the ostentatious word, 
 
 And under-tone 
 
 Spoken in murmurs. Whether vaunted loud, 
 Or held, like some shy secret, in the mind, 
 He answers each the contrite and the proud 
 After their kind. 
 
 To some like Caiaphas and Herod nought. 
 
 To some, the smoke and whirlwind, as to Cain. 
 To some, the whisper, which, inbreathed to thought, 
 Can soothe its pain.
 
 124 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 11 Who ask not have not." Why should men repine 
 
 That He is jealous, and will reign alone ? 
 Nor suffer us to rear an idol-shrine 
 
 Beside His own ? 
 
 Who bows to self, of God hath small regard. 
 
 His pride he worships let his pride befriend ; 
 And " seen of men," of men he reaps reward 
 Until the end. 
 
 But when the sinners pour their anguished prayer, 
 All heaven is hushed while God himself imparts, 
 And " gathers up the fragments," to repair 
 
 Their broken hearts.
 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 1 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about 
 His people from henceforth even for ever." Ps. cxxv. 3. 
 
 as by angel bands, 
 
 What should the chosen people fear ? 
 While ever " round about " them stands, 
 Through tempest shocks in desert drear 
 The Lord their God, with gracious hands 
 Uplift to bless and cheer. 
 
 The mountains round Jerusalem 
 
 Their ceaseless vigil ne'er forget ; 
 Yonder the hills of Moab gem 
 
 The north with pink and violet ; 
 Here, rich with many a stately stem, 
 The Olive-mount is set. 
 
 The city sleeps within the guard 
 
 Thrown o'er her, as a sevenfold shield ; 
 And such the loving watch and ward,
 
 126 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Which God hath on His children sealed ; 
 An amulet whose spell hath barred 
 All perils earth can yield. 
 
 Whether afar they wander wide, 
 
 Or nightly on His breast have leaned, 
 
 No distance from His love can hide 
 The souls that boundless love hath screened ; 
 
 Safe, if they in His arms abide, 
 
 From traitor or from fiend. 
 
 Though we inconstant are, and frail, 
 Our weakness He doth not upbraid ; 
 
 Cut through the midnight hears the wail 
 From frenzied hearts in anguish made, 
 
 And sendeth songs upon the gale 
 
 To warble through the glade. 
 
 For earth hath ne'er so lone a spot 
 
 But litanies can freight the air ; 
 The bosky woodland's secret grot 
 
 Can charter an imploring prayer ; 
 And, e'en where trace of man is not, 
 
 God buildeth temples there. 
 
 Go where the arctic rigours freeze 
 The hardy life-blood in the veins ; 
 
 Or tempt the ire of treacherous seas ; 
 Or cross sirocco-haunted plains ; 
 
 In heat, or frost, or storm, or breeze, 
 
 The Lord our God remains.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 127 
 
 Oh, can he murmur who can pray, 
 And with a present God commune ? 
 
 Who carols, on his guarded way, 
 The cadence of some heavenly tune ? 
 
 And knows that into fadeless day 
 
 He will be lifted soon ? 
 
 Those eyes on which no slumbers steal 
 Their tenderness of watching bring ; 
 
 And we the brilliant shadows feel, 
 The shadows of His sheltering wing; 
 
 While angels hover round, to seal 
 
 The children of the King. 
 
 " Henceforth for ever ! " oh to lie, 
 
 Like the beloved, on Jesus' breast ! 
 See in the storm the Lord pass by, 
 
 And meet Him on the billow's crest ! 
 Then, cheerful, 'neath the purple sky 
 Depart, with Him to rest
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 ' They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest." ISAIAH ix 3. 
 
 jjHAT time, in twilight hour, the wains, 
 Rich with their freight of golden gains, 
 Move homeward through the fragrant lanes, 
 
 Beneath the crisp autumnal skies, 
 The harvest-carols love to rise ; 
 While day, in gorgeous sunsets, dies. 
 
 Then industry and homely pride 
 Sit on the hearth-stone, satisfied ; 
 In the calm thought of need supplied. 
 
 Then olden hopes enkindled long, 
 
 To make men, e'en through winters, strong, 
 
 Die in delight ; as swans in song. 
 
 Then, not doled out for niggard need, 
 The riches all the toils exceed, 
 The yield is wealthier than the seed.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 129 
 
 Then burns a pure, unselfish joy ; 
 Pure as the faith of generous boy, 
 Which the false years will soon destroy ; 
 
 A joy without or stint or guile, 
 As the glad sun's impartial smile, 
 Which lights dark vault and minster aisle. 
 
 Every one's joy a holy thing, 
 Which touches all, the sceptred king 
 And peasant, lord of crust and spring. 
 
 And thus, the prophet's lips reveal 
 With no distempered pulses, feel 
 Who at Christ's altar, reverent, kneel. 
 
 They throb with joy of need supplied ; 
 The rock, in which they haste to abide, 
 Doth still the healing fountain hide. 
 
 E'en at the glimpse of Saviour's form 
 Their fears are fled, though wont to swarm 
 Like omens of a constant storm. 
 
 The angel-hands are bid prepare 
 Bread for the hungry " and to spare," 
 The richest robe the daintiest fare. 
 
 No selfish murmurs spoil the feast. 
 
 Love reigns. He who had loved the least, 
 
 Dry as ungenerous sands of east, 
 
 I
 
 j 30 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Whose lip in cold disdain had curled, 
 Whose heart by greed and self was churled 
 Would fain arise and feed the world. 
 
 They joy " before Thee." If Thy light 
 Beam not upon the wandering sight, 
 The rapture is not perfect quite. 
 
 The aimless glances rove and stray 
 As some fair child's, whose frolic play 
 Is spoiled if father is away. 
 
 'Tis thine to tune each loving chord, 
 Thou givest " the joy of harvest " Lord ! 
 Father ! at once beloved adored ! 
 
 Fulfil the longing Thou hast given. 
 Darkly from former Edens driven, 
 Give us Thyself, that gift is heaven.
 
 XL. 
 
 'To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly 
 places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." 
 EPH. iii. 10. 
 
 SHE eldest-born of God rejoiced 
 
 When light from cleaving darkness sprang, 
 And choirs of angels, myriad-voiced, 
 Exulting woke, and sang. 
 
 Endowed with subtler sense than we 
 
 They saw the glory of the Lord 
 Flash from fair earth and silver sea ; 
 And, seeing, each adored. 
 
 Like minstrels whom their theme absorbs 
 Till reckless who may bend to hear ; 
 So, filled with song, those stately orbs 
 Asked for no hearkening ear.
 
 132 SA BBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 In fulness of the later time, 
 
 On favoured Bethlehem's pastured plain, 
 The wakeful shepherds caught the chime 
 Of heavenly hosts again. 
 
 Drawn from their thrones by high desire 
 
 The love of God in Christ to scan, 
 Compassion swept each seraph-lyre 
 
 To breathe " good-will to man." 
 
 And listening worlds, from angel lips, 
 
 Heard strains of "rapturous amaze," 
 And felt each new apocalypse 
 
 More prodigal of praise. 
 
 But now, just as a noble boy 
 
 Beneath some spell of language thrown, 
 Is wild to re-produce the joy 
 
 Of each remembered tone. 
 
 The Church below, in that strange lore 
 
 Which contrite hearts are apt to learn, 
 Provokes the angels to adore ; 
 
 As she responds in turn. 
 
 Earth sings to heaven. Ye radiant powers, 
 
 Who track the " wisdom" of the King ! 
 Exalt your highest praise by ours, 
 
 Who quiver while we sing !
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 133 
 
 Where battling tempests shake the skies, 
 
 They melt to depths of softest blue. 
 From crushed herbs sweetest odours rise 
 Kissed by the pitying dew. 
 
 Oh how could angels e'er express 
 
 The harp-song of one human breast ? 
 They never felt our weariness ; 
 
 They cannot sing our rest. 
 
 Hence silent are the heavenly choir, 
 
 While men shout " Greater to redeem." 
 One wail from rebel heart is higher 
 Than chant of cherubim. 
 
 They sing all-holy in their ranks, 
 
 Of perfect work in perfect strain : 
 We, wealthier, stammer forth our thanks 
 For cancelled curse and pain. 
 
 Twice, downward, from the loving sky, 
 
 Their joyous bursts of praise are known. 
 Twice, upward, our poor minstrelsy 
 
 Swe/ls to the sapphire throne. 
 
 In theirs we join. Our hymn of grace 
 Baffles each angel skill to reach ; 
 The loftiest poean of the place 
 
 Is woven from human speech.
 
 XLI. 
 
 "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow." MATT. vi. 28. 
 
 "I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily." HOSEA 
 xiv. 5. 
 
 ILOSE sheltered in some fragrant nook 
 
 Beside the wanton river, 
 Or bending o'er the carolling brook, 
 Whose love-song ceaseth never, 
 The trembling lily seeks to hide 
 Her first faint blush of maiden pride. 
 
 She wraps herself in emerald dress, 
 From each rude gazer's viewing, 
 
 Nor dreams her bashful loveliness 
 Inflames the zephyr's wooing ; 
 
 Till, each fair coronal impearled, 
 
 She bares her beauty to the world. 
 
 Not in the bold and gay parterre, 
 'Mid queenlier flowers flaunting;
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 135 
 
 She loves to smile in silence, where 
 
 Such smiles are sorely wanting, 
 To reign in some far woodland court, 
 Where bird and brook hold summer sport. 
 
 Not thankless for the sun and shower, 
 
 Her saintly life she liveth ; 
 The pure heart of her stainless flower 
 
 In gratitude she giveth. 
 Heedful of heaven, but loving, too, 
 The dear moss-bank on which she grew. 
 
 'Tis thus they live ! these emblems sweet, 
 Of hearts God's love hath sainted, 
 
 Which, sheltered in their blest retreat, 
 Keep Eden's bloom untainted ; 
 
 For " as the lily" they shall grow 
 
 By the still waters' ordered flow. 
 
 At Jesus' feet unseen, unheard, 
 
 Each lowly one down lieth, 
 And feeds on that ambrosial Word 
 
 Which every need supplieth ; 
 Till, ripe for the awaiting hour, 
 They stand, God's priests of love and power. 
 
 Making life gay with happy psalms, 
 
 They work amid their praying, 
 On darkened homes, in angel alms, 
 
 Fresh light from heaven outraying ;
 
 136 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 Till eyes grow bright, and prayer ascends 
 For blessings on the lost one's friends. 
 
 Thus, while alike to Heaven and earth 
 
 They willing service render, 
 Each hour some fairer charm hath birth ;- 
 
 Till, as in sunset splendour, 
 In all their pearl-white beauty stored, 
 They grace the garden of the Lord,
 
 XLII. 
 
 ' And He came and touched the bier : and they that bare him stood still 
 And He said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was 
 dead sat up, and began to speak. And He delivered him to his 
 mother." LUKE vii. 14, 15. 
 
 fORTH through the solemn street 
 
 The sad procession swept, 
 Pacing its mournful way with measured feet : 
 While inly wept 
 
 One mourner, in a grief 
 
 Stern as the silent years, 
 
 Which seemed to mock the common, weak relief 
 Of outward tears. 
 
 Keen was her sense of loss, 
 
 An agony untold ; 
 
 For Death had seized, amid a world of dross, 
 Her piece of gold
 
 138 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 They bore her only son, 
 
 Star of her evening, fled, 
 Whose lesser light recalled that vanished one 
 Now long since dead. 
 
 For her best loved had died ; 
 
 And, stunned from former bruise, 
 The widow's joyous oil of life had dried 
 Within her cruse. 
 
 Desert her heart, and bare ; 
 
 Like lone house on a wild ; 
 No voice to make blithe music on the stair, 
 No laughing child. 
 
 No solace from the past, 
 
 No hope in days to come, 
 She cowered as if sorrow's second blast 
 Had struck her dumb. 
 
 But, near the city's verge, 
 
 A sudden silence came ; 
 The hired mourners swift forbore their dirge, 
 As if in shame 
 
 To mourn a lifeless clod 
 
 With such despairing cry, 
 
 While the Redeemer " the strong Son of God"- 
 Was passing by.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 139 
 
 " He came and touched the bier." 
 
 They wait, in curious pause, 
 
 Has He the power and will to interfere 
 
 With Nature's laws ? 
 
 He walked upon the waves ! 
 
 His word the thousands fed ! 
 Is He imperial in the place of graves 
 Over the dead? 
 
 Then spake the royal word ; 
 
 And, quick with rushing throes, 
 The red life in the clay obedient heard : 
 The dead arose 1 
 
 And spoke just as before 
 Unconscious of eclipse : 
 Like babe, who only knows that night is o'er 
 From mother's lips. 
 
 Or one who, free from harm, 
 From the perfidious sea 
 Comes home and finds all in his father's farm 
 Which used to be. 
 
 No desert dream of tombs, 
 
 Nought but life's love and joy ; 
 As Nature has no thought, 'mid summer blooms, 
 That storms destroy.
 
 140 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 The same through endless time, 
 
 Thus Jesus healeth now. 
 With " many crowns," for victories sublime, 
 Upon His brow. 
 
 Conqueror in each stern fight 
 
 O'er mortal sin and dread ; 
 And mighty, from corruption's foulest night, 
 To raise the dead.
 
 XLIII. 
 
 " This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reach- 
 ing forth unto those things which are before." PHiL.'iii. 13. 
 
 g,HAKE from the soul its sloth ! 
 
 These are not times Christ's service to refuse. 
 
 Heir of two worlds ! for both 
 Thy spirit's manhood nobly brace and use ; 
 Till glisten, on earth's clouds, thy bright life's covenant- 
 hues. 
 
 Oft memory has embalmed 
 The recollections of what used to be ; 
 
 Until, like ships becalmed, 
 We slumber on the dead past's waveless sea ; 
 Nor, from that sluggish dream, e'er struggle to be free. 
 
 Oh for the constant mind 
 All meaner things to use and to control! 
 
 Till, like some faithful hind, 
 Who serves his lord for love, and not for dole ; 
 Earth is but vassal to the heaven-aspiring souL
 
 142 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 This only thing to do, 
 Nor waste our spendthrift power on many plans. 
 
 A steadfast heart and true 
 Inheriteth all favour, God's and man's ; 
 Weds earth to heaven ; and angels smile upon the banns. 
 
 As, when the storm hath blown 
 What time for rain the sultry woodlands parch, 
 
 Bends lovingly the zone 
 Of many colours in one rainbow-arch ; 
 So to one goal we bend each footstep of our march. 
 
 Or, as the wild bees roam 
 Through the rose-gardens and the woodbine bowers, 
 
 Bringing one essence home 
 From their sweet rifling of a thousand flowers ; 
 So may we hoard for heaven our heritage of hours. 
 
 Why should we linger o'er 
 Each ancient pleasure, each familiar bond ? 
 
 Or all the golden store 
 
 Of childhood's witching spells, or raptures fond ? 
 They cling to these who have no better home beyond. 
 
 We are not children now. 
 Past is that season, credulously gay. 
 
 And manhood's sterner vow 
 Impels us to the field of mortal fray, 
 And woe to those who blench, or coward turn away !
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 143 
 
 We may but pass the night 
 On the gained summit, 'mid the sheltering snow, 
 
 Forth starting with the light, 
 Still upward to the higher crest to go ; 
 Yearning, in present good, the glorious best to know. 
 
 We may not stay to quaff 
 The cups of welcome where the loved ones greet, 
 
 But grasp the palmer-staff, 
 And strap the sandals on the hurrying feet ; 
 Lest, in the amber morn, we fail our Lord to meet. 
 
 " Forgetting all behind." 
 Oh to press forward where the glories wait ! 
 
 Nor e'er our loins unbind, 
 Till we are safe within the lifted gate, 
 Amid the crowned, and in their kindred joy elate.
 
 XLIV. 
 
 ' And Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of 
 good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee." MATT. ix. 2. 
 
 iHO will doubt that wishful mother 
 Loves beyond all bribe or hire, 
 Though she gives some answer, other 
 Than her fretful child's desire ? 
 Strongest love is farthest-sighted, 
 , Sees the sun beyond the cloud, 
 By a richer radiance lighted, 
 With a subtler sense endowed. 
 
 More than all our poor petitions 
 
 Oft our Saviour loves to grant, 
 But on heavenlier conditions, 
 
 Than our earth-bound longings want 
 We lament o'er strange denials ; 
 
 Idle words of fruitless prayer; 
 Beaded in'the golden vials, 
 
 Christ has made them fragrant there.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 145 
 
 We in present sorrow languish, 
 
 Gaze on heaven with eyelids dim, 
 Ask relief from mortal anguish, 
 Paining nerves or palsied limb ; 
 But the Christ-eyes smile benignly, 
 
 Seeing deeper needs within, 
 And the Christ-lips speak divinely, 
 Whispering of forgiven sin. 
 
 Healing this the deadlier cancer, 
 
 Speaking all the spirit pure ; 
 Were not here a nobler answer 
 
 Than the shrivelled flesh to cure ? 
 All our litanies comprising, 
 
 By new insight understood, 
 'Neath a seeming frown disguising, 
 
 Brightest smile, and chiefest good 
 
 Lord ! with humblest joy receiving 
 
 All Thy cleansing word can do ; 
 Haply, while we lie, believing, 
 
 Thou wilt heal the palsy too ; 
 Make the great salvation double, 
 
 Pour on soul and flesh the balm, 
 Loose the wailing heart from trouble, 
 
 Fit it for the victor's palm. 
 
 Teach our wayward souls reliance 
 That Thy will is always best, 
 
 K
 
 146 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Though by stern and strange appliance, 
 Thou dost shape us for ou v rest. 
 
 By Thy grace we all inherit 
 Power to bear Thy cross and shame ; 
 
 Firm endurance ; martyr-spirit ; 
 Singing saintly 'mid the flame. 
 
 When amid life's broken sleeping 
 
 Troubled visions o'er us roll, 
 And there break out floods of weeping 
 
 From the " great deep " of the soul ; 
 Let our faith, in Thee confiding, 
 
 Trust that Thou wilt heal and save ; 
 Till, contented in Thy guiding, 
 
 We shall pass the conquered grave.
 
 XLV. 
 
 " Why stand ye here all the day idle ? "MATT. xx. 6. 
 
 |WO fields for toil the outer and the inner, 
 
 Both overgrown with weeds ; 
 Who to the labour hastes ? to be the winner 
 Of all the labourer's meeds ? 
 
 To bathe in radiant mornings, daily spreading 
 Over the heavens anew ; 
 
 To sit 'neath trees of life, for ever shedding 
 
 Their bounteous honey-dew. 
 
 To rouse a spirit, formed for God, from slumber. 
 And robe it for the light ; 
 
 The heirs of heaven from clay to disencumber, 
 
 Which clogs their upward flight 
 
 To lift a world, 'neath sin and sorrow lying, 
 
 And " pour in oil and wine ; " 
 
 To warble, in the dulled ears of the dying, 
 Refrains of hymns divine.
 
 148 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Work for a life-time ! in each path up-springing, 
 In low or lofty spheres. 
 
 Hark ! to the Master's summons, always ringing 
 In quick and heedful ears ! 
 
 Cool brain, strong sinew, heart with love o'erflowing, 
 Shall all in sloth escape ? 
 
 Like vine, which, fruitless through its wanton growing, 
 Ne'er purples into grape. 
 
 The daylight wanes and dies " why stand ye idle ?" 
 Life hasteth to its bourne. 
 
 The bridegroom tarries will ye greet the bridal, 
 Or in the darkness mourn ? 
 
 Lo ! in the fields the yellow harvest drooping, 
 
 As lilies in the rain ; 
 Where are the reapers that they come not, trooping, 
 
 To gather in the grain ? 
 
 Some, in the festive hall disporting gaily, 
 On slothful pillow, some ; 
 
 Some, in delays most blameful, and yet daily 
 Exclaiming, " Lo, I come." 
 
 And some, infatuate, 'mid the alien's scoffing, 
 Quarrel about their toil; 
 
 As wreckers, when ships founder in the offing, 
 Grow murderous over spoil
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 149 
 
 Meanwhile the harvest waiteth for the reaping, 
 God's patience hath not tired. 
 
 Ye cannot say, extenuate of your sleeping 
 
 " We wait, for none hath hired." 
 
 Through the hushed noon-tide hour the Master calleth, 
 Ye cannot choose but hear ; 
 
 Still sounding when the lengthening shadow falleth, 
 " Why stand ye idle here ?" 
 
 Up ! for a while the pitying glory lingers ! 
 
 Work while it yet is day ! 
 Then rest the Sabbath rest where angel-singers 
 
 Make melody for aye.
 
 XLVI. 
 
 "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." JOHN xi. 33. 
 
 |E cometh not, although we sent Him tidings, 
 
 Soon as around our hearts the darkness grew, 
 He, whom till now, not love, though prone to 
 chidings, 
 
 Could deem untrue. 
 
 " Ah me ! our eyes were weary with their straining, 
 
 To see Him traversing the olived slope ; 
 Died, one by one, out of hearts bruised and paining, 
 
 Hope after hope. 
 
 " And through the leaden hours we watched him fading, 
 
 With whom the sun and stars went from the day ; 
 Till, spite of tears, and tenderest upbraiding, 
 
 He slept away.
 
 SA BBA TH CHIMES. 1 5 1 
 
 " Now this poor swept home does but mock the other, 
 Where the kind lightnings played from side to side ; 
 * Ah, Lord ! if Thou hadst but been here, our brother 
 
 Would not have died !' " 
 
 But soon, as shoots a star to sight, a rumour 
 
 Strikes on the ear and heart that Jesus nears ; 
 How at the sound each wild resentful humour 
 
 Dissolves in tears ! 
 
 He comes too late ! the loved one hath departed ; 
 
 The covetous grave hath opened for its own. 
 Loud is the wailing of the broken-hearted 
 
 Above the stone, 
 
 " Take ye away the stone." It will encumber 
 
 The living in his passage from the dead. 
 The sleeper rose, cast off his desert slumber, 
 
 And left his bed. 
 
 Vain is the tomb's embrace, the spoiler's malice, 
 To Him, who drank Himself the bitter cup ; 
 He speaks the life-wine mantleth in the chalice, 
 
 And brimmeth up. 
 
 " Not unto death, but for the Father's glory." 
 
 Through the hushed world the purpose is complete, 
 For they who mourned, and we who read the story, 
 
 Bow at His feet
 
 152 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Dear human friend, who wept before His praying, 
 
 Such tears as fall from our own weary eyes ! 
 But through those tears there shone the Godhead, saying, 
 
 " Lazarus, arise !" 
 
 Restored again to the deep joy of being, 
 
 How the fond heart with love is ne'er sufficed ! 
 " The eye is " never " satisfied with seeing " 
 
 The face of Christ. 
 
 And all the soul bends forth, entranced, to listen, 
 
 While grace and truth come sparkling in each word ; 
 As on the spray the morning dewdrops glisten 
 
 For bee or bird. 
 
 What wonder love's sweet incense shed around Him 
 
 Her wealth of spikenard in libation poured ! 
 What wonder fafth, with loyal reverence, crowned Him 
 
 Her God and Lord ! 
 
 He loves the human yet, with love undying, 
 
 And stills Heaven's music while He leaves His throne, 
 From every charnel where our love is lying 
 
 To roll the stone,
 
 XLVII. 
 
 "Lord I how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? until 
 seven times ? " MATT, xviii. 21. 
 
 jITH large, round wonder in their eyes, 
 
 As children guess their onward way, 
 Awaking to some new surprise, 
 Of thought and being, day by day. 
 
 So the meek souls at Jesus' feet 
 
 Left all their narrow spheres behind ; 
 
 And sat, and learned, in converse sweet, 
 Which charmed the while it cleared the mind. 
 
 Already many a film has gone 
 
 Which veiled the heavenly from their view ; 
 And, as the healing power works on, 
 
 The man looms broader than the Jew.
 
 154 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 " How often, Lord, dost Thou require 
 Forgiveness to transgressors shown ? 
 
 Till seven times, shall the coals of fire 
 Upon the thankless heart be thrown ? " 
 
 Strong was the soul, and firm the hand, 
 Which grasped a virtue great as this ! 
 
 In those stern times, when no command 
 Had taught that love was strength and bliss. 
 
 But as the pilgrim, wildering, dwells 
 And lingers o'er some purpled scene, 
 
 Where sunlight streams through bosky dells, 
 On ivied cliffs in deep ravine ; 
 
 Yet feels the thoughts enkindled are, 
 Like wordless music, sweet but dim, 
 
 So sweet, they bear his soul afar, 
 So vague, he cannot catch the hymn ; 
 
 Thus fear and joy when Jesus saith, 
 
 " Not for the seventh, but endless time " 
 
 Blend in the prayer, " Increase our faith 
 To scope and stature so sublime." 
 
 Oh for the Heaven-imparted might 
 The true God-likeness to express ! 
 
 The man, when smitten, turns to smite, 
 The God, offended, bends to bless.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 155 
 
 The sun shines though is rendered back 
 
 No gratitude of flowers and balms. 
 The rain, e'en on the simoon-track, 
 
 Can find some lovely isle of palms. 
 
 " Seventy times seven " wider flow 
 
 The ripples of the Gospel-wave, 
 Till it embrace thy friend, thy foe, 
 
 The worst thou hast this side the grave, 
 
 Though he be thankless, cruel, cold ; 
 
 By long pain hardened not to feel : 
 In crime all prematurely old ; 
 
 A viper, stinging mercy's heel ; 
 
 Though fortune's gifts and manhood's crowns 
 
 Into the dust his rage hath hurled ; 
 Though charity hath nought but frowns 
 
 To give this orphan of a world ; 
 
 Yet if he contrite weep, and burn 
 
 With long desire to be forgiven, 
 Thine enemy thou shalt not spurn, 
 
 Thou, for whom Christ hath purchased heaven. 
 
 For from the cross, and from the throne 
 Where once He died, where now He lives 
 
 The Saviour whispers to His own, 
 " Who much is pardoned, much forgives."
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 " But ye are come to Mount Zion and to tae spirits of the just 
 
 made perfect." HEB. xii. 22, 24. 
 
 JIH there are times of saddest shrift 
 For these poor hearts of ours ! 
 When weeping for some vanished gift, 
 Whose loss seemed from our earth to lift 
 The sunshine and the flowers ; 
 
 When rustle round the heart dead leaves 
 
 From olden autumns strown ; 
 And pensive memory sits and weaves 
 Crowns out of faded flowers, and grieves 
 
 Those dear ones yonder flown. 
 
 Who says that death can conquer love ? 
 
 Thoughts of the treasured past 
 Come, darkening, all the years above ; 
 As, with the olive leaf, the dove 
 
 Sped homeward through the blast.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 157 
 
 Each fond remembrance, lingering stays, 
 
 Green as the grass on graves ; 
 The ancient looks, the winsome ways, 
 The wealth of love more sweet than praise ; 
 
 These memory hides and saves. 
 
 Their steps are on the household stair ; 
 
 We are not all bereft 
 They sit in the familiar chair ; 
 Echo the laugh, and swell the prayer, 
 
 As if they ne'er had left. 
 
 Thus fancy tricks the grosser sense, 
 
 Not loth to be deceived. 
 Thus clings the love, in poor pretence 
 It cannot bid the vision hence, 
 
 Half dreaded, half believed. 
 
 But they are not beneath the sod 
 
 Imprisoned, hopeless, dumb ; 
 Awaking to the smile of God, 
 They follow where the Saviour trod, 
 
 And have " to Zion " come. 
 
 With all the choicest company 
 
 They, our beloved, abide ; 
 Church of the first-born seraphs high, 
 Down-darting from the upper sky ; 
 
 Gathered to greet the Bride.
 
 158 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 There we may join and love them still, 
 
 And list their wondrous tale, 
 And ramble round the peopled hill, 
 And with twin rapture gaze, and thrill ; 
 For oh ! how thin the veil ! 
 
 Talk not of death ! in covenant one 
 
 Still heart responds to heart ; 
 And though for them the strife is done, 
 The palm is waved, the battle won, 
 We will not cannot part. 
 
 And we the while we strive and pray 
 
 'Gainst mysteries of sin, 
 And don Christ's armour as we may, 
 And, manful, cleave our hindered way 
 
 Where they have entered in, 
 
 Feel each loved presence by our side 
 
 Our strife to nerve and cheer; 
 While, in the fiercest fight descried, 
 He speaks the Lord, who loved and died, 
 They / await you here.
 
 XLIX. 
 
 'Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers 
 of the inheritance of the saints in light." COL. i. 12. 
 
 [NCONSCIOUS sowers, scattering seed, 
 We sow for harvests of a future reaping. 
 
 Oh, solemn life ! in every deed, 
 Yielding some secrets for the Judge's keeping, 
 Which years will reproduce 
 For sorrow or for use. 
 
 Close are the subtle links which bind 
 This life to that to which its fleeting hasteth ; 
 
 Our nature is for both designed, 
 And each fair joy th' exulting spirit tasteth 
 Is from that God who fills 
 The rock's wild heart with rills. 
 
 And this poor world is full of joys 
 When light immortal rests on it benignly,
 
 160 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 And the man's heart within the boy's 
 Longs for those glorious morns, which break divinely, 
 And turns to eastern skies, 
 With bliss of upward eyes. 
 
 But who shall make our nature meet 
 For such great heirship ? ours who hoard the treasure 
 
 The vain world flingeth at our feet, 
 Or woo, 'neath gay festoons, some fickle pleasure, 
 Or, with obsequious plumes 
 Cover the prophets' tombs ? 
 
 'Tis He, the Father, whose rich love 
 Hath changed the heart, to new desires awaking, 
 
 And shaped it for its home above ; 
 The vagrant dream into the heavenly breaking ; 
 Till all the sloth and sin 
 Yield to His discipline. 
 
 The Father doth not trust his own 
 So loved, so yearned for to the careless stranger; 
 
 Nor may kind angel leave his throne, 
 Who feels the bliss, but has not felt the danger. 
 The Father's chastening mild 
 Alone can win the child. 
 
 It may be that the strength was shorn, 
 The pride of manhood humbled prematurely ;
 
 SABS A TH CHIMES. 161 
 
 But from the feebleness was born 
 The true God-likeness in the spirit surely. 
 Then be the loud heart mute ! 
 Autumn hath richest fruit. 
 
 Haply, the timid spirit leant 
 On others, as a staff, those wise and kind ones, 
 
 To whom, of right, the reverence went ; 
 As though, so led, the steps could ne'er be blind ones. 
 
 The staff broke ; and, o'erthrown, 
 . We rose, and walked alone. 
 
 Our heart, like summer-tendril, clings 
 To earth, replete with sacramental graces ; 
 
 Death breathes upon our lovely things ; 
 The friend, the child, look down with angel faces : 
 Then we uplift the cry, 
 " Give peace, and let us die." 
 
 Thou knowest always what is best, 
 Our souls, down-lying on loved earth, to gather ; 
 
 Perfect this meetness in our breast ; 
 We will lie still, and give Thee thanks, O Father! 
 Till, with the ransomed throng, 
 Life flowers into song.
 
 L. 
 
 "Thevi said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon 
 Peter answered him, Lord! to whom shall we go? thou hast the words 
 of eternal life." JOHN vi 67, 68. 
 
 jjOME faithless hearts have fled, 
 
 They could not bear the pureness, or the scorn- 
 ing* 
 
 And went away, as from among the dead 
 Foul things of darkness go, when breaketh 
 morning. 
 
 " And will ye leave me too ? 
 On whom my love hath lighted, with long yearning, 
 
 Of tenderest grace and truth ; such as the dew 
 Hath for the flowers it cools 'mid tropic burning ? 
 
 " Ye, whom I loved to teach, 
 Familiar things for heavenly symbols taking, 
 
 Clothing all nature with diviner speech ; 
 Will ye go, like the world, your Lord forsaking ? "
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 163 
 
 We bow 'neath Thy rebuke, 
 
 As children, grieved at some kind mother's chiding, 
 Who see her love come flashing through her look, 
 As suns through mist more welcome for the hiding. 
 
 Ah ! whither can we go ? 
 Dismayed and startled, as by sudden thunder, 
 - Who but Thyself can " life eternal" show ? 
 We ask, bewildered in our grief and wonder. 
 
 We must some refuge find, 
 The human cannot waste its life in sighing, 
 Nor gaze upon the sun till smitten blind ; 
 Nor ever ask, where all forbears replying. 
 
 Great nature hath no balms. 
 O'erarching skies sound forth no glad evangel ; 
 
 And misereres mingle with the psalms, 
 The tired earth singeth to her pitying angel 
 
 Denials cannot change 
 That dread unknown which lies beyond our seeing ; 
 
 God hath united ; we may not estrange 
 This dying life and that eternal being. 
 
 Death comes but what beyond ? 
 Some Stygian shore ? some weird-like rest or roaming ? 
 
 Or is it home, where welcomes warm and fond 
 Glance through the lattice, and light up the gloaming?
 
 164 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 O life ! eternal life ! 
 Prize of the bounding spirit's vast ambition ! 
 
 Hail to the warrior's doom or martyr's strife, 
 If we may hope for this enrapturing vision ! 
 
 To whom shall we repair ? 
 Mute are the oracles the olden sages 
 
 Mock with their dumb lips our imploring prayer, 
 Which, answerless, moans downward through the ages. 
 
 No light ! no rest below ! 
 Our hearts are weary, and our voices falter ; 
 Ah whither shall our anguished spirits go ? 
 Lord ! be Thy love our plea Thy cross our altar ! 
 
 All, all we want are Thine ! 
 Greek beauty, Roman reverence, in Thee blended, 
 
 And nature glows into a holy shrine ; 
 And form is Spirit's robe, and doubt is ended. 
 
 We seek no other rest ; 
 But as the swan smoothes down her ruffled pinion 
 
 In the wave-mirror of the lakelet's breast ; 
 We, blest and calm, repose in Thy dominion. 
 
 The truth of all we see 
 
 Speaks from Thy lips all discords reconciling ; 
 Jesus ! our Lord ! we pray, we cling to Thee, 
 Stoop from Thy throne, and bless us with Thy smiling.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 165 
 
 That smile were present heaven 
 Let down upon the soul, no longer lonely, 
 
 All darkness banished if Thyself be given ; 
 We see, need, long for nought save " Jesus only."
 
 LI. 
 
 "And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remain- 
 eth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written 
 among the living in Jerusalem : when the Lord shall have washed away 
 the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of 
 Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the 
 spirit of burning." ISAIAH iv. 3, 4. 
 
 |HILE fast the darkling year decays, 
 
 And speed our hurrying moments on, 
 Shall not the ancient symbols blaze, 
 In blessing, on our guarded ways, 
 
 Till from the desert gone ? 
 
 Or must we rise to holy deed, 
 
 Ere in our van the cloud will go 
 Through each wild waste our steps to lead ? 
 Or ere shall shine, for nightly need, 
 The mystic pillar's glow ? 
 
 Then, Lord, each wishful heart prepare 
 Thy promised presence soon to win ;
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 167 
 
 Nor e'en Thy sharper trials spare. 
 
 We will or sword or burning bear, 
 
 So we be purged of sin. 
 
 'Twere easy, 'mid the battle's blast, 
 To front the foe without dismay, 
 When music plays, and friends stand fast ; 
 But, when on lonelier warfare cast, 
 'Tis harder to obey. 
 
 To pine aloof, 'mid victories won, 
 
 To lose the guerdon, dearly prized, 
 The work, we longed to compass, done, 
 Accomplished by some meaner one 
 
 Whose aid our strength despised. 
 
 To be content in hermit-cells, 
 
 Nor murmur in our helpless thrall, 
 
 While from the warrior bosom swells 
 
 The pride in which all valour dwells, 
 
 And sounds the bugle-call 
 
 To work, like lightnings on the dark, 
 
 And leave no trace, nor memory long ; 
 No friend to bid the world to hark 
 Its newest teacher ; none to mark, 
 
 Or set our names in song. 
 
 To sit while stealthy slander tears 
 As children rags our good repute,
 
 168 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Until we breathe in poisoned airs ; 
 And know no healing, save in prayers, 
 Yet be sublimely mute. 
 
 To feel that all our cherished joys, 
 
 And luxuries of happy tears, 
 Are gone, like a forgotten voice ; 
 Or like an infant's broken toys ; 
 
 Wrecks of the golden years. 
 
 Ay these are heights of faith and hope 
 
 To which but few have strength to climb, 
 And those, who earthward delve and grope, 
 Are faint of heart and limb to cope 
 With such a toil sublime. 
 
 Oh for the power these heights to scale, 
 
 These Nebos of the prophet's fate ! 
 Where airs from heaven are on the gale, 
 And from the crest, without a veil, 
 We see the jasper gate. 
 
 For this, until the haggard morn, 
 
 We wrestle in unequal strife, 
 And when with our long labour worn, 
 In Peniel-strength we " lift the horn " 
 
 Like athletes crowned for life. 
 
 For this all welcome pain and loss, 
 If through their pangs Thy presence came ;
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 169 
 
 Be ours the baptism of the cross ! 
 If else we may not lose the dross, 
 
 Enkindle Thou the flame. 
 
 But that the fire may surely burn 
 
 All sordid, sensual thought away, 
 Lord ! by the furnace watch, and yearn, 
 Till from the silver's heart return 
 
 Thine image, bright as day. 
 
 Oh teach us lowly to remain, 
 
 Without one murmur, at Thy feet ; 
 Nor of the heaviest cross complain, 
 Till Thou each docile spirit train 
 Into Thy will complete.
 
 LIT. 
 
 "And he brought him to Jesus." JOHN L 42. 
 
 | HERE is a love defies the years 
 
 To loose its clasp, or quench its fire ; 
 A love which peril more endears, 
 
 Like flames which blaze in tempests higher. 
 
 A love which bears its steadfast part 
 The readiest when 'tis needed most, 
 
 And shows alike its brother-heart 
 
 'Mid sneers of blame, and smiles of boast 
 
 And when one soul, of tiuth in quest, 
 Some glorious Alpine reach hath won, 
 
 And knows the other, yet unblest,- 
 
 Toils through the dark to greet the sun ; 
 
 His brother first he hastes to invite, 
 
 To join him on the sunny slope ; 
 Whence burst upon the wondering sight 
 
 Majestic views of faith and hope.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 171 
 
 The links that bound the generous boys 
 Who leaped the brook, or roamed the field, 
 
 Are welded by the manlier joys 
 
 Of doubt dispersed, and truth revealed. 
 
 'Tis ever thus. Who Jesus finds 
 
 Must all abroad the tidings speak. 
 Not for the hoard of miser-minds 
 
 The heaven-light spreads from peak to peak. 
 
 The power which strikes from charger's hoof ; 
 
 The might of the resplendent main ; 
 The regal thought, which dwells aloof 
 
 In some imperial poet's brain ; 
 
 The burnish of the argentine ; 
 
 The scent which sleeps in folded lid ; 
 Not for themselves their grand design ; 
 
 Where power is lodged, there use is hid. 
 
 Each spendthrift moment swells the amount 
 
 Of power abused, or run to waste ; 
 And each augments the vast account 
 
 To which the circling seasons haste. 
 
 Oh, wherefore in disdainful sloth 
 
 Fold we our arms, while at our door 
 He stands unknown, to whom our troth 
 
 Of fealty and of love we swore ?
 
 1 72 SABS A TH CHIMES. 
 
 The breathless world awaits the sign. 
 
 Its heart is sick it beats so strong. 
 Shall we, who know the Lord, combine 
 
 To cheat its hope its pain prolong ? 
 
 As well our traitorous hands were lift, 
 Like Cain's, on murder's purpose bent. 
 
 To each to all we bear the gift : 
 Heirs of a better testament. 
 
 If, in some holiday of grace, 
 
 We went to this new Rabbi's home, 
 
 And found, within that lowly place, 
 A wisdom strange to loftier dome ; 
 
 There yet is room. The heart of Christ 
 Will no poor heart of man contemn ; 
 
 And He, who all our need sufficed, 
 Is all they need to comfort them.
 
 LIIL 
 
 : Thou shall remember all the way which the Lord thy God hath led thee.' 
 DEUT. viii. 2. 
 
 |HE year has wrought its mystic rede, 
 
 Its hours have passed with fleetest speed, 
 Its thought hath ripened into deed. 
 
 Its marvel and its mystery o'er, 
 Its promise grand of gift or store 
 Flushes the fevered cheek no more. 
 
 It held along its restless course 
 As o'er the plain some fiery horse, 
 Without repose, without remorse. 
 
 Reckless if weal or woe betide, 
 
 If ban or boon be scattered wide, 
 
 Though some have lived, and some have died.
 
 174 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Though some, beneath the pitying moon, 
 Have struggled, paled, and fallen soon ; 
 Some blazed through twilight into noon. 
 
 And it has died at last ; though mirth 
 Ushered it to the expecting earth, 
 And bells rang at its joyous birth. 
 
 On, swift and stern, the purpose runs, 
 The year, with all its pomp of suns, 
 Is urned amidst the olden ones. 
 
 But, ere its solemn funeral, 
 It let its mantle-memory fall, 
 In last bequeathment, on us alL 
 
 The memories of its various times 
 Dwell in the tranceful ear, like chimes, 
 Or music of some old-world rhymes. 
 
 These memories distinct, deep-lined 
 Light up each travelled path behind, 
 Like fitful fire-lights, to the mind 
 
 To some they cling like curse of Cain, 
 Down pressing, on the burdened brain, 
 Some torturing thought of giant pain.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 175 
 
 To others, like a falling star, 
 
 They bring glad tidings, rich and far, 
 
 From worlds where light and beauty are. 
 
 Mutely the thronging visions pass, 
 Old joys, old griefs, in mingling mass, 
 Vivid, minute, as in a glass. 
 
 Each peril, once so darkly feared, 
 
 Each omen, sinister and weird, 
 
 Each fonder home-thought, twice endeared. 
 
 No single feature softened down, 
 Each joy its smile has, and its crown, - 
 Each grief its old original frown. 
 
 It cannot be that life shall end 
 
 In the dark grave o'er which we bend 
 
 When memory hath no death for friend. 
 
 And as we muse, the truths beneath 
 Flash forth, as from an inner sheath ; 
 The lessons which all years bequeath ; 
 
 That, 'mid the tumult and unrest, . 
 Thick mists upon the mountain's breast ; 
 God's sun is glad upon the crest.
 
 176 
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 That wrong is but the slave of right, 
 And soon the day shall burst in sight, 
 And e^rth be steeped in heaven-light.
 
 Sabbath S 
 
 IJWEET is the sunlight after rain, 
 
 And sweet the sleep which follows pain, 
 And sweetly steals the Sabbath rest 
 Upon the world's work-wearied breast 
 
 Of heaven the sign of earth the calm I 
 The poor man's birthright and his balm ! 
 God's witness of celestial things ! 
 A sun, " with healing in its wings." 
 
 New rising in this gospel time, 
 And in its sevenfold light sublime ; 
 Blest day of God ! we hail the dawn, 
 To gratitude and worship drawn. 
 
 Through the hot world, from week to week, 
 'Twere vain the soul's repose to seek, 
 But on the Sabbath's restful air 
 
 Is Nature's voiceless call to prayer. 
 
 M
 
 i;8 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 O'er all the quiet landscape spreads 
 A hush, like that which evening sheds 
 When sounds are still, and flowers are furled, 
 And shadows wrap the slumbering world. 
 
 As birds which, scared by sound of wars, 
 Fly up to nest among the stars, 
 But come to their familiar tree 
 When earth to list their song is free ; 
 
 So holy thoughts will flee the breast 
 By travail of the week oppressed, 
 But when the psalms of Sabbath rise, 
 Will hasten downward from the skies. 
 
 But e'en the Sabbath charms to cheat, 
 Unless the answering soul is meet, 
 No rest the hallowed hours impart, 
 Save only to the hallowed heart 
 
 Whether our faith in temples pleads, 
 Or love is bent on duteous deeds ; 
 Or lingering sickness gasps and pines 
 For meekest trust in God's designs ; 
 
 Or erring steps are kindly borne 
 From scenes of shame, or seats of scorn ; 
 Whene'er we come with covenant new, 
 O Saviour ! teach us to be true.
 
 SA BBA TH CHIMES. 1 79 
 
 Oh, nought of gloom and nought of pride 
 Should with the sacred hours abide ; 
 At work for God in loved employ 
 We lose the duty in the joy. 
 
 Breathe on us, Lord ! our sins forgive, 
 And make us strong in faith to live ; 
 Our utmost, sorest need supply, 
 And make us strong in faith to die.
 
 
 Sabbath 
 
 BOTHER Sabbath sun is down, 
 
 Grey twilight creeps o'er thorpe and town. 
 How much of sorrow, unconfessed, 
 Lies hidden in yon darkening west ! 
 
 What burdens, uncomplaining borne ! 
 What masks o'er latent anguish worn ! 
 What pangs of heart-break ! plots of sin ! 
 Have this night's shadows folded in ! 
 
 We woke to-day with anthems sweet 
 To sing before the mercy-seat, 
 And, ere the darkness round us fell, 
 We bade the grateful vespers swell. 
 
 Whate'er has risen from heart sincere, 
 Each upward glance of filial fear, 
 Each litany, devoutly prayed, 
 Each gift upon Thine altar laid ;
 
 SABS A TH CHIMES. 181 
 
 Each tear, regretful of the past, 
 Each longing o'er the future cast, 
 Each brave resolve, each spoken vow, 
 Jesus, our Lord ! accept them now. 
 
 Whate'er beneath Thy searching eyes, 
 Has wrought to spoil our sacrifice ; 
 Aught of presumption, over bold, 
 The dross we vainly brought for gold ; 
 
 If we have knelt at alien shrine, 
 Or insincerely bowed at Thine, 
 Or basely offered " blind and lame," 
 Or blushed beneath unholy shame ; 
 
 Or, craven prophets, turned to flee 
 When duty bade us speak for Thee ; 
 'Mid this sweet stillness, while we bow, 
 Jesus, our Lord ! forgive us now. 
 
 Oh let each following Sabbath yield 
 For our loved work an ampler field, 
 A sturdier hatred of the wrong, 
 A stronger purpose to grow strong ; 
 
 And teach us erring souls to win, 
 And " hide " their " multitude of sin ;" 
 To tread in Christ's long-suffering way, 
 And grow more like Him day by day.
 
 1 82 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 So as our Sabbaths hasten past, 
 And rounding years bring nigh the last ; 
 When sinks the sun behind the hill, 
 When all the "weary wheels" stand still ; 
 
 When by our bed the loved ones weep, 
 And death-dews o'er the forehead creep, 
 And vain is help or hope from men ; 
 Jesus, our Lord ! receive us then.
 
 Christmas 
 
 'And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, 
 praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, 
 and good will to men." LUKE ii. 13, 14. 
 
 ]UDDEN," as if there could not be repressed 
 The hidden rapture of the heaven longer, 
 The song burst forth ; like a soul-burden, 
 stronger 
 By dint of constant hiding in the breast 
 
 And as that revelry of praise increased, 
 And o'er the heedful, silent plain resounded ; 
 Oh, how the rapt hearts of the watchers bounded, 
 
 Nor knew, entranced, when the loved music ceased! 
 
 Never before did heavenly minstrels note 
 
 Earth's answer with theirs blending like a minor ;-
 
 184 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 And still those strains, than all our strains diviner, 
 On through the world and down the ages float 
 
 The charter of our freedom, ne'er reversed ! 
 
 The glorious feast to which our God hath bidden ! 
 
 The pledge and earnest of a goodlier Eden 
 Than ever Adam tilled, or Satan cursed ! 
 
 Ears deaf to other anthems hark to this, 
 And long that each blest cadence ne'er may alter ; 
 'Tis the bowed earth's involuntary psalter, 
 
 Her perfect utterance of perfect bliss. 
 
 " Glory to God ;" for that sublime descent, 
 
 Which showed the greater Godhead, in the stooping, 
 Homeward to lead poor exiles, faintly drooping 
 
 In sad remorse and desert discontent. 
 
 " Glory to God ! " 'mong angel thrones and ranks ! 
 For the unutterable joy of raising 
 Sinners to seraphSj endless in their praising ; 
 
 Stirred by the voiceless heart, whose throbs are thanks. 
 
 " And peace on earth." The strain hath gentler airs, 
 Which strike upon each ruffled chord of feeling, 
 As sunlight on a saintly maiden, kneeling 
 
 With hushed face, by a sick-bed, at her prayers.
 
 SABBATH CHIMES. 185 
 
 " Peace on the earth." We listen, and grow calm, 
 When doubt has darkened, or when pain convulses ; 
 E'en the wild leaps of passion's fever-pulses, 
 
 Are still as childhood's, 'neath the healing balm. 
 
 " Good will to men" if but their souls respond. 
 Men whose calm brows are ever lifted sunward, 
 Who are by heavenly voices guided onward 
 
 To where God lives, of homes and hearts the bond. 
 
 " Good will to men," of every speech or clime. 
 
 The advent one the kindness universal ! 
 
 The world is summoned to the glad rehearsal! 
 Learner of harper's skill and minstrel's chime 1 
 
 Oh, sorcery rare ! oft have its trancing spells, 
 More potent when the storm-clouds gathered denser, 
 Breathed fragrance on the air, as in the censer 
 
 The " linked sweetness " of all flowers dwells. 
 
 Father in heaven ! we bless Thee for the song. 
 
 It melts into our hearts, and makes them warmer ; 
 
 It stirs us to put on the warrior's armour, 
 And in Thy name do battle with the wrong. 
 
 Father in heaven ! we bless Thee for the Child. 
 
 For in Him Thou hast blessed with endless blessing ; 
 
 No reach of good, no gift beyond our guessing, 
 Is lacking now, with* Jesus reconciled.
 
 186 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 And all the human joy these seasons know 
 Is but a solemn act of recognition, 
 A silent homage, paid to that blest vision, 
 
 Of Him ; the Lord in heaven the Child below.
 
 'And when they were come to the place that is called Calvary, there they 
 
 crucified Him." LUKE xxiii. 33. 
 ' Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer." LUKE x.xiv. 46 
 
 [H, close the book, and seal the seal, 
 
 And let the veil drop over all ; 
 Would that oblivion could conceal 
 What memory shudders to recall. 
 
 'Twas here, on this accursed hill, 
 
 " Without the gate," the deed was done, 
 
 Which made the vexed earth's heart to thrill, 
 And darkened the indignant sun. 
 
 Here rose the taunts of cruel scorn, 
 Here hung the felons by His side ; 
 
 Less vile than they who wove the thorn, 
 And reared the cross on which He died.
 
 188 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Well might the night o'erspread the day, 
 As darkness ruled e'er time began, 
 
 When He, whom heavenly hosts obey, 
 " Was made a curse " for sinful man. 
 
 " Was made a curse ; " but never yet 
 Did curse such fruit of blessing bear, 
 
 For all our sin, and doom, and debt, 
 By costliest price were cancelled there. 
 
 Hence, more than other, Calvary's slopes 
 Invite the pilgrim-feet to stray, 
 
 As some fair shrine, where buried hopes 
 Love has embalmed to cheat decay. 
 
 The full heart here, all shrines above, 
 Its wealthier adoration pours ; 
 
 In sight of that all-suffering love, 
 The eyes may weep, the faith adores. 
 
 'Tis not the life, divinely pure, 
 And even more divinely kind : 
 
 'Tis not the power all ills to cure, 
 
 Nor flash earth's beauty on the blind ! 
 
 'Tis not that loaves to banquets grew 
 Whene'er He willed the thousands fed, 
 
 Nor, at His word, that life anew 
 
 Quickened the swathed or buried dead.
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 'Tis not His teaching, though He spake 
 The wisest words to human thought, 
 
 Words, which the proud ones oft mistake, 
 But sweetly to the child-heart taught. 
 
 Life, healing, teaching ! in all these 
 Some purpose and some lesson lie ; 
 
 But taith the deeper mystery sees, 
 " That it behoved " the " Christ to die." 
 
 To die, not in oblation vain, 
 The seal to all His words to give, 
 
 Not in the martyr's scorn of pain ; 
 To die that all the world might live ! 
 
 Oh for the heart this truth to learn, 
 Erewhile too darkly understood ! 
 
 We for the living Saviour yearn, 
 Our trust is in the sprinkled blood. 
 
 And while by faith we humbly cling 
 To Christ the crucified alone, 
 
 Each, to His cross, our sins would bring. 
 Eager to crucify our own.
 
 ' And He led them out as far as to Bethany, and He lifted up His hands, 
 and blessed them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was 
 parted from them, and carried up into heaven." LUKE xxiv. 50, 51. 
 
 JE led them forth," as oft before, 
 Along the dear familiar way ; 
 But on that long-remembered day 
 The road seemed shorter than of yore. 
 
 Before the lightning leaps to kill 
 
 Dread hush comes o'er the swooning air ; 
 
 And so, oppressed by nameless care, 
 Each felt as if his heart stood still, 
 
 Smitten with sense of fear or pain ; 
 
 Yet all unconscious whence it sprang, 
 And mindful only of a pang 
 
 As if its fibres cleft in twain.
 
 SA BBA TH CHIMES. \ 9 1 
 
 " He led them forth," and sweetly loth 
 To lose one human memory here, 
 His home of love, His haunt of fear, 
 
 The road to triumph neared them both. 
 
 "He led them forth," where many a shrine 
 Of tender truth their hearts had piled, 
 And many a mood and hour beguiled 
 
 With affluent talk on things divine. 
 
 And love had lingered there so long 
 
 That all around seemed charm and token ; 
 So there its last word must be spoken, 
 
 Or it would grieve with sense of wrong. 
 
 And where but from the " house of woe" 
 Could loftiest songs of triumph rise ? 
 Do not our own sad Bethanies 
 
 Distil the subtlest joys we know ? 
 
 Unveil the heavenly worlds afar ? 
 
 Till, purged and strong, the upward faith 
 Can hear what each crowned harper saith, 
 
 And worship where the angels are ? 
 
 And now upon the mount He stands, 
 With heaven already on his brow ; 
 Who dares to doubt His Godhead now? 
 
 And blesses them with lifted hands.
 
 192 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 " He blessed them " this the great design 
 For which incarnate God came down, 
 To weave, of mortal thorns, the crown ; 
 
 To turn earth's water into wine. 
 
 His life was blessing. When He spoke 
 
 The tempest slept, the winds were balm, 
 Demoniacs hushed in kindest calm, 
 
 The iron bands in sunder broke, 
 
 The famine fled from hollow eyes ; 
 
 The desert dreams of death were past ; 
 
 The four days' dead, though charnelled fast, 
 Awoke to life with sweet surprise. 
 
 And now, while the cloud-chariots wait, 
 And angel guards to tend Him throng, 
 'Mid radiant host and seraph song, 
 
 He pauses, e'en at heaven's gate, 
 
 To shed his latest blessing round. 
 
 And while their swelling hearts yet leap 
 And quiver 'neath its music deep, 
 
 A rush of wings ! and He is crowned. 
 
 Not flushed with conqueror's selfish pride, 
 But calm and kingly, He ascends ; 
 His last thought here is for His friends. 
 
 His first in heaven their fears to chide.
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 193 
 
 For as they awe-struck wait, and dumb, 
 The white-robed heralds whisper low, 
 " Why stand ye gazing upward so ? 
 
 A second time your Lord shall come." 
 
 Beyond dark clouds and jasper walls 
 We, blinded, cannot see the track, 
 We may not wish the prophet back, 
 
 Nor gaze until his mantle falls. 
 
 We fain would with our Lord ascend ; 
 But we are frail. O Saviour ! keep, 
 And witness, ere we fall on sleep. 
 
 * Who loves us, loveth to the end."
 
 Baptism, 
 
 all your new-born joys, 
 The raptures which you almost fear to feel, 
 And in one covenant anthem give them voice 
 The while you lowly kneel 
 
 Pay unto Heaven your vows ! 
 Come laden, richlier than with turtle-doves ! 
 Offer your fairest, offer in God's house 
 
 The children of your loves ! 
 
 Not passed through Moloch-fire ; 
 Not, as the sacrificial firstling, slain ; 
 But rendered, as the music from the lyre, 
 
 For praise and not for bane. 
 
 With swell of inward song, 
 And the heart's wrestling litanies of prayer, 
 Give them to Him to whom yourselves belong : 
 Commit them to His care.
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 195 
 
 Bring them in robes of white, 
 Robes of the penitent the dead the blest ; 
 The inner grace, which shineth through the rite, 
 Will dower them of the best. 
 
 Not, as by sorcerer's charm, 
 To rise renewed from the baptismal flood, 
 But given to Christ, to feel His circling arm 
 Enfoldeth every good. 
 
 'Twill not be all in vain, 
 If faith abideth by the sacred ark ; 
 But on the child, e'en in the holy fane, 
 Will Jesus set His mark. 
 
 Seal of the covenant new, 
 
 While the bright chrism yet rests upon the face ; 
 As on the floweret rests the morning dew 
 Token of future grace. 
 
 Yes ! bring the children soon ! 
 Christ will not utter one reproachful word, 
 But " suffer them " that they may take the boon 
 By royal hands conferred. 
 
 An angel guard to fence 
 The young soul from its early perils round ! 
 And waft the slumber from the droning sense 
 Upon enchanted ground.
 
 196 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 Supply of daily strength 
 Awaiting use, amid earth's burdening cares ; 
 Help springing out of trouble ; and, at length, 
 Answers to vialled prayers. 
 
 Until all-dedicate, 
 
 Their willing souls from evil forces freed, 
 The blessing falleth on the heart and state, 
 
 And they are Christ's indeed 
 
 Then ye who frankly give, 
 And they, the tender nurslings of your love, 
 Linked by one bond eternally, shall live 
 One family above
 
 1 This do in remembrance of Me." LUKE xxii. 19. 
 
 ' Ye do show the Lord's death until he come." i COR. xi. 26. 
 
 ilEAR pledge of love divinely true, 
 The rainbow of the covenant new, 
 Symbol of peace, 'mid sacred strife, 
 Spanning the stormy heaven of life. 
 
 How the blest bond each spirit brings 
 From common cares to holy things ; 
 And bids both hope and memory wake 
 In loving watch, for Jesus' sake ! 
 
 If nations, in their grateful praise, 
 Columns to wise or valiant raise ; 
 If some tall mound, or guarded tree, 
 Hallow the shrines of liberty ; 
 
 If relics of dear days gone by, 
 
 Are hoarded from rude gazer's eye, 
 
 And cherished with extremest care, 
 
 And linked with life, and blessed by prayer ;
 
 1 98 SA BBA TH CHIMES. 
 
 Be this our sign ! that Christ hath wrought 
 Triumph for us, transcending thought. 
 Be this our gage ! that Christ doth bear 
 Deep love for us, beyond compare. 
 
 Like those old songs we ne'er forget, 
 So rise and fall the accents yet, 
 " I go to leave you. Ye are mine. 
 Come, eat the bread, and drink the wine. 
 
 Take at my hands this latest boon, 
 Ye will a tenderer memory soon. 
 And when my face no more ye see, 
 By this my blood remember me." 
 
 Sounds, 'plaining still, that dear bequest, 
 Of Christian faith the badge and test ; 
 Last message to the Church below, 
 " My death until my coming show." 
 
 Link to assure our hearts the twain. 
 Future of worship past of pain, 
 Session of judgment blast of scorn, 
 That crown of glory this, of thorn. 
 
 And as, sometimes, when words would fail, 
 The kindling eye takes up the tale, 
 And speaks in light, though not in sound, 
 Its prophecy to all around ;
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 199 
 
 So let this living symbol teach 
 More eloquent than human speech, 
 The Saviour died. Our sins He bore. 
 The Saviour lives, " to die no more." 
 
 Here while we wait, in reverent fear, 
 Longing, yet trembling, to draw near, 
 Waiting for some celestial sign, 
 Some warrant from the lips Divine ; 
 
 Oh, breathe the life into the bread ! 
 And let our hungering' hearts be fed ! 
 The power into the cup inspire, 
 To slake our soul-thirst of desire ! 
 
 Let us the mount of vision scale, 
 And pierce the skies, and pass the veil, 
 And hear the adoring harpers' tone, 
 And see " the rainbow round the throne." 
 
 Then turn from these blest sights away, 
 To work and win as conquerors may, 
 Thy braver witnesses to be, 
 Constraining men and worthy Thee,
 
 f&atrlmong* 
 
 JS voyagers, on a lake, 
 
 Beyond some wooded knoll or headland 
 
 glancing, 
 
 Through the wild shimmer of the sunlight, dancing 
 O'er heathery hill and brake ; 
 
 The while with joy they thrill, 
 Are longing to intensify the feeling, 
 And sure each glowing change, o'er landscape steal- 
 ing, 
 
 Will show scenes lovelier still ; 
 
 So, on life's changeful sea, 
 Now calm, now storm-swept, hearts which sail 
 
 together, 
 Can find their bliss in clear or lowering weather, 
 
 Yet long still more to see ;
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 201 
 
 And join their venturous hands, 
 Together the dark future to unravel ; 
 Deeming the twain are stronger for the travel 
 
 Into mysterious lands. 
 
 Oh, sacred wedded love ! 
 
 To-day come trooping friends with kindly token, 
 Breathing heart-blessings which lips leave unspoken, 
 
 But which are heard above. 
 
 Heaven wafts her gentlest airs. 
 New radiance lights all ordinary places, 
 And all the features of familiar faces, 
 
 Grow bright as if with prayers. 
 
 A blessing on the bond ! 
 The sacred link of those already plighted, 
 Not for this wasting world alone united, 
 
 But for the vast beyond. 
 
 On this remembered morn, 
 When hope and memory, in a solemn meeting, 
 Give to each other holy tryst and greeting ; 
 
 Be a blest future born ! 
 
 While, in the mutual troth, 
 Each guileless heart, in surest trust reposes ; 
 May faith entwine, of her fair heavenly roses, 
 
 Life-coronets for both.
 
 202 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 The flowers along the aisle 
 Be of life's path the ever-blooming symbol. 
 And the life-music more than clang of cymbal 
 
 Kind voice and sunny smile. 
 
 Rapture without regret ! 
 A fire, with love for its perennial fuel. 
 The chrysolite of life ; a costly jewel 
 
 In a home-casket set. 
 
 A blessing on the twain 
 Made one to-day in new communion mystic ! 
 May fragrant clouds, in baptism eucharistic, 
 
 Bless each with gracious rain. 
 
 And the kind sun for aye 
 
 Shine on the home, sweet light of Heaven providing, 
 The home where dvvelleth Christ therein abiding 
 
 As in each heart to-day.
 
 Burial of ihz 
 
 IERCHANCE we watched around the bed 
 The fading of each nameless grace, 
 The life-light ebbing from the face, 
 Until the last slow wave had sped, 
 And left us gazing on the cold, unanswering dead. 
 
 The dead ! what wonder in the word ! 
 
 From thought and feeling strangely mute ; 
 No music in the broken lute 
 
 To be by man or nature stirred ; 
 Heedless of streamlet's voice, or lay of household bird. 
 
 The cypress is their only wreath. 
 
 And grief above them gasps and sobs ; 
 You would not think what rebel throbs, 
 As if a sword should chafe its sheath, 
 Shook their wild hearts a week since. Now they sleep 
 beneath.
 
 204 SABBATH CHIMES. 
 
 We pass below the sombre yews, 
 
 Which all the greening barrows guard ; 
 And tread the still and rank churchyard, 
 
 That lone, stern path which none refuse : 
 While all the world seems draped in solemn funeral hues. 
 
 They rest ; but we, the living, pour 
 
 Our soul-rain on their opened graves ; 
 Such small relief our nature craves. 
 They knew our hearts' true love before ; 
 Haply not all unconscious now they know it more. 
 
 And we to them give juster praise. 
 
 As those who, upward, from a mine, 
 See through the fainter daylight shine 
 Some steadfast star's unquenching blaze, 
 We see, through the dark tomb, their white and blame- 
 less rays. 
 
 " Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust." 
 
 Of all our love, is this the end ? 
 
 Is nothing left us of our friend 
 But treasured gage, or marble bust, 
 And leal life-memories of inviolate truth and trust ? 
 
 To sense no more. But faith can bid 
 
 The shadows from the soul uplift, 
 
 And own again the vanished gift, 
 Spite of the lying coffin-lid. 
 Only in trance of pause, our loved are from us hid.
 
 SABBA TH CHIMES. 205 
 
 Cast on the waveless lake your eye, 
 And in the mirror of its breast, 
 The cots the pines the snowy crest 
 All in the depths reflected lie ; 
 And, stretched in azure arch, serene and broad the sky. 
 
 So faith, when weeping over tombs 
 Sees Easter-symbols in the clod. 
 Hills which go climbing up to God, 
 A fragrant wealth of heavenly blooms, 
 And far beyond the glory ol the golden domes. 
 
 Sorrow may not become despair. 
 
 For Christ hath in the charnel lain 
 
 To turn its sore disgrace to gain. 
 He will both grave and crown prepare ; 
 Who shed a Saviour's blood, will show a Saviour's care.
 
 INDEX OF FIRST LINES. 
 
 PACK 
 
 ANOTHER Sabbath sun is down, . . . . .180 
 
 As on some queenly forehead shines a rare and costly gem, . 27 
 
 As swiftly flies the startled dove, ..... 67 
 
 As travellers o'er some darksome waste, . . " . .74 
 
 As voyagers, on a lake, .... ... zoo 
 
 Bring all your new-born joys, ...... 194 
 
 By trifles in our common ways, ..... S 
 
 Closer to Christ the loved ones grew, . . ... 80 
 
 Close sheltered in some fragrant nook, . .134 
 
 Down the dark vale of time full many a glance, ... 8 
 
 Dear pledge of love divinely true, ..... 197 
 
 Encircled as by angel bands, . . . . . .125 
 
 Faith speaks, while sense is dumb and sad, .... 103 
 Father ! from all things marred and base, .... 86 
 Fiercely on Salem's towers and hills, ..... 47 
 Fierce through the land the invader sweeps, . . . .51 
 
 Forth through the solemn stree'', ..... 137
 
 INDEX OF FIRST LINES. 207 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Glad welcomes float around, ...... 118 
 
 Great are Thy works, O God ! and sought, . . . . 54 
 
 Hand in hand through all our ways, ..... 106 
 He cometh not, although we sent Him tidings, . . .150 
 
 ' He led them forth " as oft before, ..... 190 
 
 Lord ! wilt Thou now the throne restore ? . . . 77 
 
 O'er Gennesaret mountain-bordered, .... 31 
 
 Oh, close the book, and seal the seal, .... 187 
 
 Oh, there are times of saddest shrift, ..... 156 
 Oh, speak not thus to hearts, all palpitating, ... 12 
 
 Oh, wherefore should those hands of love, .... 64 
 Oh, who can tell of the sower's cares, . .37 
 
 Perchance we watched around the bed, .... 203 
 
 Room for the last and largest grace, . . ... .40 
 
 Shake from the soul its sloth ! . . . . . . 141 
 
 Some faithless hearts have fled, ..... 162 
 
 Speak not of trifles light as air, ..... 18 
 
 Stately on Shinar's ancient plain, . . 83 
 
 " Sudden," as if there could not b^ repressed, . . . 183 
 
 Sweet is the sunlight after rain, ' . . . . . 177 
 
 The furrows are straightly drawn, . , . . . .24 
 
 " The hour is come !" 'tis thus He wakes, .... 57 
 The eldest-born of God rejoiced, ..... 131 
 
 The restful look which angels wear, . . ... 34 
 
 The year has wrought its mystic rede, - . . . . 173 
 
 There are who say the world is drear, - . . . .94 
 
 There are would earth and heaven divorce, .... 97 
 There is a love defies the years, ..... 170 
 
 There's winter on the hills to-day, ..... 44 
 They dragged Him forth, fierce in their wge and hate, . . 15 
 
 'Tis early morn, come, cross the brook, . . 61 
 
 Two fields for toil the outer and the inner, .... 147 
 
 Unconscious sowers, scattering seed, ..... 159 
 Upon the temple's glittering floors, ..... qo
 
 208 
 
 INDEX OF FIRST LINES. 
 
 What is it that He saith ? 
 
 What time, in twilight hour, the wains, 
 
 When art has grasped some graceful dream, . 
 
 Where is the rest we long to gain, 
 
 While fast the darkling year decays, 
 
 Who will doubt that wishful mother, 
 
 Who would not learn a lore like this, . 
 
 With brow upraised as one who sees his peers, 
 
 With large, round wonder in their eyes, 
 
 With lightnings belted, cloud and tempest broke, 
 
 With sightless eyes and silver hair, 
 
 PAGE 
 
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 HO 
 
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 IOO 
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 "3 
 
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