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THE AWAKENING OF THE SPIRIT.

The stifling weight

Of guilt would press her deadly towards earth,
And strangle with a Demon's cruel hate

Giving sad dreams

Hove in its birth;

Of death and darkness for the energies

Of light and virtue, and the sunny gleams
Of heaven-lit skies.

SPIRIT, AWAKE!

The night is now far spent-the day at hand; From thy clogged form the sluggish fever shake, Let Love expand

Thy shatter'd wings,

Cast off those dreams of darkness; for the Sun
Of righteousness, in glory, upward springs
To light his own.

Be fearless now;

The way is certain, for thy path is bright;
Be bold, and confident, and strong, for thou
Art armed with light.

The world no more

By her thick shadows shall thy light obscure,
But onwards like an angel thou canst soar
Holy and pure.

Thy course shall be

To vanquish, and subdue, and conquer still
All things that cross thee, when thou wouldest flee

The strong right arm

From guilt and ill.

Of God shall make thee every way secure,

And through all human tempests, bear thee calm,

And safe, and sure:

Thou art his child,

And he shall bear thee up, and thou shalt shine
Redeem'd and perfect, pure and undefiled,
A thing Divine.

Glory of Glory, full

Of Love, shall there embrace thee, and restore
Thee to the image of the beautiful,

Then, slumbering soul,

To fade no more.

From this dark sepulchre of Death AWAKE,
Burst from the thraldom now of sin's control
For Christ's dear sake.

"Tis Christ-the Lord,

Who calls his chosen kindly to his breast

To shield and guard them-feed them with his word, And give them rest.

W. MARTIN.

MELODY.

"The desire of such as be sorrowful."
SOMETHING within the heart is burning,
Something within the heart is yearning
These walls of stubborn flesh to sever;
It pants, it sighs, from day to day,
To burst the thraldom of its clay,

To live with God-its life-for ever.
We are not of this darksome sphere;
The spirit's home cannot be here,

But in some purer, brighter sky.
For, oh! prophetic whisperings
Gush forth as from a thousand springs,
To tell us we shall never die.

Whence come they?-from our Father-land The joys of brighter worlds expand,

To cheer us through our grief and pain; The yearnings of a Father there,

Responding to our faith and prayer,

Call us to be his own again.

W. MARTIN.

COMFORT IN SORROW.

'Tis through the rainbow of our tears
We catch the clearest glimpse of heaven,
And the heart, dark in grief and fears,
And woe-begone and tempest-riven,
Smiles in the blast, and looks on high
With meek and humble piety.

The deepest glooms of night reveal

The stars that sunshine veils in light,
And darksome hours that o'er us steal
Give forth ten thousand tokens bright,
Revealing to the sad and lone
Glories to brighter hours unknown.

Then let us bear our night of sorrow
But as sweet changes in our time,
That promise still a heavenly morrow
In some eternal happy clime;
Nights which reveal, while wandering far,
To us our constant Polar Star.

W. MARTIN.

LIFE.

"Deliver us from Evil."

LIFE is a fearful thing!

From vague and unreal nothingness we come,
Unseen our origin, unknown our home;
And ever on the wing,

Hither and thither fluttering to and fro,
Like birds above the ocean's depths, we go
Nowhere to perch or cling.

The deep-mouth'd thunders o'er us bay and growl,
Whirlwind and tempest ever o'er us howl,
And we are tost
Amid a host

Of headlong passions, and dark thoughts arise
Like vapour-fumes of darkness to the skies,
And would erase

Mercy from goodness, and the blaze intense
Of our fierce daring, strike Omnipotence

Life is the path of Death;

Upon the face.

Hung black with sorrows, turmoils, woes, and

cares;

Beset with pitfalls, quagmires, gins, and snares,
Our feet beneath;

Teeming with syren forms which smile and kiss;
And fraught with rank and foul contagion is
The air we breathe:

Yet these seem more than beautiful, and lure
The heart from high delights and feelings pure,
Dazzle and dim

Our love for Him

Who in high glory and perfection made
Our souls his likeness, ere, alas! we stray'd
From Paradise;

And thus we grovel on without a guide,
While evil and temptation far and wide
Dare us to rise.

Deliver us, O Lord,

From this dread gulf of evil-light our path
With thy own glory, and restrain thy wrath
According to thy word;

Open our eyes unto that perfect day,

That we may see the Truth and know the Way;
Give us the sword

Of thy good Spirit, and of Faith the shield,
That we may not unto Temptation yield;
And the EVIL ONE

Hurl from his throne.
Thus will Temptation be a blessing given
To lead thy chosen people unto heaven,
And the harsh strife

And discords of this nether world, no loss,
But gain-and the bright via of the cross
The way of LIFE.

W. MARTIN.

THY KINGDOM COME.

THY Kingdom come- -and it shall come
When strife shall be no more,
And earth shall be a heavenly home
The Saviour to adore.

Now Wrong assails, and Strength prevails,
And meek-eyed Truth in sorrow wails;

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