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So let thy turtle dove's sad call arise

In doubt and fear

Through darkening skies,

And pierce, O LORD, thy justly sealed ear,
Where on the house top, all night long,
She trills her widow'd, faltering song.

Teach her to know and love her hour of prayer,
And evermore,

As faith grows rare,

Unlock her heart, and offer all its store

In holier love and humbler vows,

As suits a lost returning spouse.

Not as at first, but with intenser cry,
Upon the mount

She now must lie,

Till thy dear love to blot the sad account
Of her rebellious race be won,
Pitying the mother in the son.

a Psalm cii. 7.

b Deut. ix. 25. I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights,

as I fell down at the first.

But chiefly (for she knows thee anger'd worst By holiest things

Profan'd and curst)

Chiefly for Aaron's seed she spreads her wings,
If but one leaf she may from Thee
Win of the reconciling tree.

For what shall heal, when holy water banes ? Or who may guide

O'er desert plains

C

Thy lov'd yet sinful people wandering wide,
If Aaron's hand unshrinking mould
An idol form of earthly gold?

Therefore her tears are bitter; and as deep
Her boding sigh,

As, (while men sleep,)

who

Sad hearted mothers heave, that wakeful lie,

To muse upon some darling child
Roaming in youth's uncertain wild.

Therefore on fearful dreams her inward sight

Is fain to dwell

What lurid light

c Exodus xxxii. 4.

Shall the last darkness of the world dispel,

The Mediator in his wrath

Descending down the lightning's path.

Yet, yet awhile, offended Saviour, pause,
In act to break"

Thine outrag'd laws,

O spare thy rebels for thine own dear sake;
Withdraw thine hand, nor dash to earth
The covenant of our second birth.

"Tis forfeit like the first-we own it allYet for love's sake,

Let it not fall;

But at thy touch let veiled hearts awake,

That nearest to thine altar lie,

Yet least of holy things descry.

Teacher of teachers! Priest of priests! from Thee

The sweet strong prayer

Must rise, to free

First Levi, then all Israel, from the snare.

Thou art our Moses out of sight—

Speak for us, or we perish quite.

d Exodus xxxii. 19.

ASCENSION DAY.

Why stand ye gazing up into Heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven. Acts i. 11.

SOFT cloud, that while the breeze of May 21-1946

Chants her glad matins in the leafy arch,

Draw'st thy bright veil across the heavenly way, Meet pavement for an angel's glorious march:

My soul is envious of mine eye,

That it should soar and glide with thee so fast,
The while my groveling thoughts half buried lie,
Or lawless roam around this earthly waste.

Chains of my heart, avaunt I say

I will arise, and in the strength of love
́Pursue the bright track ere it fade away,
My Saviour's pathway to his home above.

Sure, when I reach the point where earth Melts into nothing from th' uncumber'd sight, Heaven will o'ercome th' attraction of my birth, And I shall sink in yonder sea of light :

Till resting by th' incarnate Lord, Once bleeding, now triumphant for my sake, I mark him, how by seraph hosts ador'd He to earth's lowest cares is still awake.

The sun and every vassal star,

All space, beyond the soar of Angel wings,
Wait on His word: and yet he stays his
For every sigh a contrite suppliant brings.

He listens to the silent tear

car

For all the anthems of the boundless sky-
And shall our dreams of music bar our ear
To His soul-piercing voice for ever nigh?

Nay, gracious Saviour-but as now Our thoughts have trac'd thee to thy glory-throne, So help us evermore with thee to bow

Where human sorrow breathes her lowly moan.

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