Faithful, so far as I knew, of thy word; again may they know me,

Fall on their Teacher's breast, and before thy face may I place them, but only more tried, and exclaiming with gladness, Father, lo! I am here, and the children, whom thou hast given me !"

Pure as they now are,

Weeping he spake in these words; and

now at the beck of the old man Knee against knee they knitted a wreath round the altar's enclosure. Kneeling he read then the prayers of the consecration, and softly

With him the children read; at the close, with tremulous accents,

Asked he the peace of Heaven, a benediction upon them.

Now should have ended his task for the
day; the following Sunday
Was for the young appointed to eat of the
Lord's holy Supper.

Sudden, as struck from the clouds, stood
the Teacher silent and laid his
Hand on his forehead, and cast his looks
upward; while thoughts high and
holy
Flew through the midst of his soul, and his
eyes glanced with wonderful bright-

ness.

"On the next Sunday, who knows! perhaps I shall rest in the graveyard! Some one perhaps of yourselves, a lily broken untimely,

Bow down his head to the earth; why delay I? the hour is accomplished. Warm is the heart; - I will! for to-day grows the harvest of heaven. What I began accomplish I now; what failing therein is

I, the old man, will answer to God and the reverend father.

Say to me only, ye children, ye denizens new-come in heaven,

Are ye ready this day to eat of the bread of Atonement?

What it denoteth, that know ye full well, I have told it you often.

Of the new covenant symbol it is, of Atonement a token,

Stablished between earth and

heaven.

Man by his sins and transgressions

Far has wandered from God, from his essence. 'T was in the beginning

See! behind me, as far as the old man remembers, and forward,

Far as Hope in her flight can reach with her wearied pinions,

Sin and Atonement incessant go through the lifetime of mortals,

Sin is brought forth full-grown ; but Atonement sleeps in our bosoms

Still as the cradled babe; and dreams of heaven and of angels,

Cannot awake to sensation; is like the tones in the harp's strings,

Spirits imprisoned, that wait evermore the deliverer's finger.

Therefore, ye children beloved, descended the Prince of Atonement,

Woke the slumberer from sleep, and she stands now with eyes all resplen

dent,

Bright as the vault of the sky, and battles with Sin and o'ercomes her.

Downward to earth He came and, trans-
figured, thence reascended,
Not from the heart in like wise, for there
He still lives in the Spirit,
Loves and atones evermore.
So long as

Time is, is Atonement. Therefore with reverence take this day her visible token.

Tokens are dead if the things live not. The light everlasting

Unto the blind is not, but is born of the eye that has vision.

Neither in bread nor in wine, but in the heart that is hallowed

Lieth forgiveness enshrined; the intention alone of amendment Fruits of the earth ennobles to heavenly things, and removes all Sin and the guerdon of sin.

Only Love with his arms wide extended, Penitence weeping and praying; the Will that is tried, and whose gold flows Purified forth from the flames; in a word, mankind by Atonement

Breaketh Atonement's bread, and drinketh Atonement's wine-cup.

But he who cometh up hither, unworthy. with hate in his bosom,

he eateth and drinketh Death and doom! And from this, preserve us, thou heavenly Father!

Are ye ready, ye children, to eat of the bread of Atonement?"

Thus with emotion he asked, and together answered the children,

"Yes!" with deep sobs interrupted. Then read he the due supplications, Read the Form of Communion, and in chimed the organ and anthem :

"O Holy Lamb of God, who takest away our transgressions,

Hear us! give us thy peace! have mercy, have mercy upon us!"

Th' old man, with trembling hand, and heavenly pearls on his eyelids,

Filled now the chalice and paten, and dealt round the mystical symbols.

KING CHRISTIAN

the broad eye of midday,

Clearer looked in at the windows, and all

the trees in the churchyard Bowed down their summits of green, and the grass on the graves 'gan to

shiver.

But in the children (I noted it well; I knew it) there ran a Tremor of holy rapture along through their ice-cold members. Decked like an altar before them, there

stood the green earth, and above it Heaven opened itself, as of old before Stephen; they saw there Radiant in glory the Father, and on his right hand the Redeemer. Under them hear they the clang of harpstrings, and angels from gold clouds Beckon to them like brothers, and fan with their pinions of purple.

Closed was the Teacher's task, and with heaven in their hearts and their faces,

Up rose the children all, and each bowed him, weeping full sorely,

Downward to kiss that reverend hand, but all of them pressed he Moved to his bosom, and laid, with a prayer, his hands full of blessings, Now on the holy breast, and now on the innocent tresses.