ODE TO PEACE.

WM, TENNANT.

DAUGHTER of God! that sits on high,
Amid the dances of the sky,

And guidest with thy gentle sway
The planets on their tuneful way;
Sweet peace shall ne'er again
The smile of thy most holy face,
From thine ethereal dwelling-place
Rejoice the wretched weary race
Of discord-breathing men?

Too long, O gladness-giving Queen!
Thy tarrying in heaven has been;
Too long o'er this fair blooming world
The flag of blood has been unfurled
Polluting God's pure day;

Whilst, as each maddening people reels,
War onward drives his scythed wheels,

And at his horses bloody heels
Shriek murder and dismay.

Oft have I wept to hear the cry
Of widow wailing bitterly;

To see the parent's silent tear

For children fallen beneath the spear;

And I have felt so sore

The sense of human guilt and woe,
That I, in Virtue's passioned glow,
Have cursed (my soul was wounded so)
The shape of man I bore!

Then come from thy serene abode,
Thou gladness-giving child of God!
And cease the world's ensanguined strife
And reconcile my soul to life;

For much I long to see,

Ere to the grave I down descend,

Thy hand her blessed branch extend,

And to the world's remotest end

Wave love and harmony!

НОРЕ.

M. P. AIRD,

HOPE on, though happiness the heart may leave,
And beauty all around thee fade and die-
Let Hope her roses o'er thy future weave,
And paint her rainbow o'er the darkest sky;-

Hope, like a prisoned bird of promise, sings

Amid the storm, and beats her gilded bar– Bright o'er the billow spreads her silver wings,

And points to lands of "living green” afar; The dawn of glory in the heart that's riven, Where faith gets glimpses of an opening heaven.

A purple glory, bright as Sharon's rose,
Glowed o'er the vine-clad hills of Galilee,
But clouds soon gathered o'er that eve's repose,
Fretting with silver waves the deep blue sea:
A little bark was toiling o'er the wave,

All tempest torn, when, lo! a radiant form
Rose like the star of Hope above the grave,

And smoothed the ruffled spirit of the storm; Peace o'er the night like dewy morning shoneTo the green shore the barque came floating on.

Hope on--though far, like Hagar in the wild, From love and home,-athirst-the water spentAlone-an empty cup-a dying child—

Cast off her broken heart with anguish rent; Far o'er the desert strains her weary eye

No friend-no help of man can comfort bring; "My child! my child! let me not see him die,"

The lone one cried, when, lo! a crystal spring. Though love, and hope, and all but life be gone, Think of the desert-well-and still hope on.

In yon green vale bereaved ones are weeping-
Two loving sisters mourn a brother dead-
Their cherished one beneath the olive sleeping,
With him all beauty dies, all joy is fled;
Dark is the cloud that gathers o'er their home,
The sun of Hope upon the heart is set,—
Had He been here, they might not weep alone--
Can Jesus leave them?-can He e'er forget?

They see not yet the glory in the cloud!

He comes! the Comforter! and rends the shroud!

What though the tree, cut down, moss-shrouded lie,
And long beneath the tangled grass it sleep?
Like fountain waters, though the stream be dry,
The trampled root its golden sap may keep;
While round its withered heart a silver vein
Of fresh'ning waters like a sunbeam stray,
The tender branch may bud and bloom again,

And flowery verdure spring from dark decay: Hope!-though the greenness of the bough be gone, The life is in its heart-then still hope on.

THE MINISTRY OF AUGELS.

"Being caused to fly swiftly."-DAN. ix. 21.

MISS M. P. AIRD.

"Who maketh his angels spirits, his ministers a flame of fire."-H13. i. 14.

"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation ?"-HEB. i. 41.

LIKE an arrow through the air,

Or the fountain-flow of light,
Ministering angels fair,

Cleave the deep of night:

Quick as thought's electric glow,

Down into earth's chambers dark,
Fire-wheels running to and fro,

Like the eye of God, they dart;
Watching o'er the earth's green bound,
Searching all in cities round.

Flitting, flitting, ever near thee,
Sitting, sitting, by thy side,
Like your shadow, all unweary,

Angel legions guard and guide