A DOMESTIC SCENE.

'Twas early day—and sunlight stream'd
Soft through a quiet room

That hush'd, but not forsaken seem'd—
Still, but with nought of gloom,
For there, secure in happy age,
Whose hope is from above,
A father commun'd with the page
Of heaven's recorded love.

Pure fell the beam, and meekly bright,

On his grey holy hair,

And touch'd the book with tenderest light,
As if its shrine were there;
But oh! that patriarch's aspect shone
With something lovelier far-

A radiance, all the Spirit's own,
Caught not from sun or star.

Some word of life e'en then had met
His calm benignant eye,

Some ancient promise, breathing yet

Of immortality:

Some heart's deep language, when the glow Of quenchless faith survives,

For every feature said, "I know

That my Redeemer lives."

And silent stood his children by,

Hushing their very breath,

Before the solemn sanctity

Of thought, o'er-sweeping death;

Silent-yet did not each young breast
With love and reverence melt?

Oh! blest be those fair girls, and blest
That home where God is felt!

MRS. HEMANS.

A COTTAGE SCENE.

Wi' serious face

They, round the ingle, form a circle wide;
The sire turns o'er, wi' patriarchal grace,
The big ha' Bible, ance his father's pride:
His bonnet reverently is laid aside,

His lyart haffets wearing thin an' bare ;

Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide, He wales a portion wi' judicious care;

And "Let us worship God!" he says, wi' solemn air.

The priest-like father reads the sacred page,
How Abram was the friend o' God on high;
Or Moses bade eternal warfare wage
With Amalek's ungracious progeny ;

Or how the Royal Bard did groaning lie,
Beneath the stroke o' Heaven's avenging ire;
Or Job's pathetic plaint, and wailing cry;
Or rapt Isaiah's wild, seraphic fire ;

Or other holy seers that tune the sacred lyre.

Perhaps the Christian volume is the theme, How guiltless blood for guilty man was shed; How He, who bore in heaven the second name, Had not on earth whereon to lay His head:

How His first followers and servants sped,

The precepts sage they wrote to many a land ;

How he, who lone in Patmos banished,

Saw in the sun a mighty angel stand;

And heard great Babylon's doom pronounced by Heaven's command.

Then kneeling down to heaven's eternal King,
The saint, the father, and the husband prays:
Hope "springs exulting on triumphant wing,"
That thus they all shall meet in future days:
There ever bask in uncreated rays,
No more to sigh or shed the bitter tear,
Together hymning their Creator's praise,

In such society, yet still more dear :

While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere.

The youngling cottagers retire to rest;

The parent-pair their secret homage pay,
And proffer up to heaven the warm request,
That He who stills the raven's clamourous nest,
And decks the lily fair in flowery pride,

Would, in the way his wisdom sees the best,
For them and for their little ones provide ;

But chiefly in their hearts with grace divine preside.

BURNS.

XLI. TRUTH, HONESTY, FALSEHOOD, DECEIT.

LOVE the truth.-ZECH. viii. 19.

Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eye-lids look straight before thee. Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left.-PROV. iv. 25, 27.

He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.- PSALM ci. 7.

Exod. xviii. 21-Levit. xix. 11-2 Kings v. 25-27—Job xiii. 16-xxvii. 3, 4, 8, 9—xxxvi. 13, 14—Psalm vii. 10—xi. 7—xv. 1, 2-xviii. 25-xxxi. 18-xxxii. 2—xxxiv. 13-xl. 4-li. 6—lviii. 1 -lix. 12-lxiii. 11-lxiv. 10-lxxv. 2-lxxxiv. 11-lxxxv. 10, 11-ci. 7-cxii. 2, 4-cxix. 7, 29, 30, 163-cxx. 2, 3-cxxv. 4cxl. 13-Prov. ii. 21—iii. 3, 4-iv. 25, 27-vi. 16-19—viii. 7—x. 9-xi. 3, 6, 9, 20-xii. 6, 17, 19, 22—xiii. 5—xiv. 5—xv. 8, 21xvii. 4-xix. 9-xx. 7, 17-xxi. 28-xxiii. 23-xxiv. 28-xxvi. 28-xxviii. 10, 18, 23-xxix. 5—xxx. 7, 8-Eccles. vii. 29Cant. i. 4-Isaiah xxix. 13-15-lvii. 11-Jer. ii. 22-iii. 10-v. 2, 3-vi. 13—viii. 5—ix. 3, 5, 6, 8-xlii. 20-Ezek. xxxiii. 30-32 -Hos. iv. 1-Mic. ii. 7-Zech. viii. 16, 19-Mal. ii. 6.

Matt. xxiii. 25-28-xxiv. 50, 51-Mark vii. 6-Luke xvi. 10-12-John i. 47-iii. 21-viii. 44-xvi. 13-Acts v. 1-10xxvi. 25-Rom. xii. 9, 17-xiii. 13-1 Cor. v. 8-Eph. iv. 14, 15, 21, 25, 28-v. 9-vi. 14-Col. iii. 9-1 Thes. iv. 6—Jas. iii. 17 -iv. 8-1 Pet. ii. 1, 2-iii. 10-1 John i. 8-ii. 4-Rev. xiv. 5 -xxi. 8, 27-xxii. 15.

Give me, Lord, a truthful heart,
Honest, guileless, and sincere ;
Thy Spirit's influence impart,
To whisper ever, Thou art near.

May I pursue, with steady pace,
The narrow path that leads to light;
My feeble steps, upheld by grace,
Nor swerving to the left or right.

Arm'd with Thy strength, may I resist
Alluring Falsehood's tempting snares;
I have no strength-do Thou assist,
And bid me cast away my fears!

Her angel's face

As the great eye of heaven shyned bright,
And made a sunshine in the shady place :

Did never mortall eye behold such heavenly grace.

SPENSER.