ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST'S DAY. O God, who gav'st thy servant grace, To look on thine incarnate face, To see the light that dimly shone, Be ours, O King of mercy, still To feel thy presence from above, And in thy word, and in thy will, To hear thy voice and know thy love; And when the toils of life are done, And look, in humble hope, to Thee. INNOCENT'S DAY. weep not o'er thy children's tomb, The bud is cropt by martyrdom, The flower in heaven shall blow. Firstlings of faith, the murderer's knife The God for whom they gave their life, Though feeble were their days and few, Baptized in blood and pain, He knows them, whom they never knew, And they shall live again. Then weep not o'er thy children's tomb, O Rachel, weep not so: The bud is cropt by martyrdom, SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS; OR CIRCUMCISION. LORD of mercy and of might, Jesus, hear and save. Who, when sin's tremendous doom Didst not scorn the Virgin's womb, Mighty monarch, Saviour mild, Throned above celestial things, Who shalt yet return from high, EPIPHANY. BRIGHTEST and best of the sons of the morning, Cold on his cradle the dew drops are shining, Say, shall we yield him,in costly devotion, Vainly we offer each ampler oblation; Vainly with gifts would his favor secure: Richer by far is the heart's adoration; Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor. Brightest and best of the sons of the morning, Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid. Star of the East, the horizon adorning, Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid. FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. LUKE II. ABASHED be all the boast of age, Be hoary learning dumb, O Wisdom, whose unfading power To frame, in nature's earliest hour, Yet didst not Thou disdain awhile To bless thy mother with a smile, But, in thy Father's own abode, So may our youth adore thy name, |