jro f 1 If 1 f i p: \3 I | [ I r l £ '3 r -3 ill [j [. ?f 1 i 1 -^€ | J 1 1 1 § 1 1 I t 1 -*' * ^ FROM THE LIBRARY OF REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON. D. D, BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO THE LIBRARY OF PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY edl. xAfrr- -z*,!???-. ^^#^^^#^^ i /t <& f MEDITATIONS IN YERSE FOR THE SUNDAYS OF A YEAR. BY W. /VlORLEY j^UNSHON, JA.fl, H c to § o r h : PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PORTER, 200 MULBERR Y-S T R E E T. 1868. J *&gp^^ PREFACE I 1 /.¥j|jl|^0 those whose "heart is as my heart" I y <>?pp) offer this little volume, the offspring of a year's enforced pause amid the activities of a busy ministry. I covet for it, chiefly, three successes : that, if God wills, it may be a messenger of mercy to the wandering; that it may be a comforter to the troubled ; and that it may be a memory of the writer to many friends. W. M. P. Redland, February, 1867. tr Sss/tvV$5 ^HH^^^NH'! 'V, 1 I I J £ Hr l£3|S=#M«$' i #^^ X I I CONTENTS I I f f f | Page Advent 11 Epiphany 25 Faith, (Septuagesima) 43 Hope, (Sexagesima) 46 Love, ( Quinquagesima) 49 Lent 53 Easter 70 Whitsuntide 91 Trinity 94 Sabbath Morning 189 Sabbath Evening 192 Christmas Day 197 Good Friday , 200 8 CONTENTS. Page Ascension Day 203 Baptism 20 ABBATH C HI ME & As when the ancient Temple rose. In silence must the work be done ; As light upon the morning flows, (The bright dower of the silent Bun, | ' So heedless men their busy tasks have plied. Nor known what palaces were rising by their side. In ceaseless toil, from year to year. "Working with loath or willing hands. Stone upon stone we shape and rear. Till the completed fabric stands : And. when the last hash hath all labor stilled, The searchino- fire will try what we have striven to build. Or firm in its abiding strength. Or starting from th' unstable sand. •• The day " shall manifest at length Each cimning thought in secret planned : And woe to that which will not bear assay When bums the testing flame, when breaks th' avenging dav ! Full oft. in some unhappy ni^ht. The fire hath wrapt around a house Where Care had hid his griefs from sight. And slumber stole o'er aching brows, And startled sleepers, 'mid the fiery strife. Are rudely roused frorn dreams, and battle for dear life : ^ =«HN- &4r> SABBATH CHIMES. Then all that darkness had concealed Is by the ghastly dawn declared ; And in that sick'ning light revealed, No household mystery is spared ; There was no time to alter — 'mid the blaze ; Just as they were, they met the stranger's curious gaze. 17 And is it to be so at last ? All our life-work disclosed and tried ! In memory of the faithless past Who may the stern assize abide ? Those who, on Sion's sure foundation old, " Build " steadfast, day by day, the '' silver " and the " gold." IS SABBATH CHIME 8. hi. Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another ?— Matthew xi, 3. •-'•- OWN the dark vale of time full many a glance, From her retirement lone, £*. Student of psalmist's song, or prophet's trance ; pieek watcher through the ages ;) to descry The Shiloh pledged of old, and hail his advent nigh. " Lo here ! lo there ! " on the bewildered sense The haughty trumpets peal ; The false Messiahs steal Weak hearts away on shallowest pretense, In new revolts to place their fruitless trust, Be lured where danger frowns, then left to shame and dust. Let a frail reed be shaken by the wind, And curious feet will press Into the wilderness, Haply the long-expected Seer to find, Whose day the Patriarch, through long years discerned. At whose name old men leaped, and holy matrons yearned. -*# SABBATH C HI ME S. Through baffled hope lives ou the unquenched desire ; And as the hopeful bees Keep murmuring to the breeze Prophetic whispers of gay summers nigher, So, though rebuked full oft, men waited still, Till Sions conquering Lord should stand on Sion's hill. Not with the meteors flash, but as the light, TThich, on the still world rolled,* Breaks to a morn of gold, But in its noiseless march no infant's night Is rudely ended. He by Jordan trod ; And the brave herald saw, and owned the " Lamb of God." w- Yet in men's wondering hearts doubts rose and grew. Obscure, despised, forlorn, A mark for scowl and scorn • Yet steadfast as a star. Can He be true ? Then, like a bright stream struggling to be free, Forth flashed the eager question, k ' Tell us, art thou He E'en yet the false Christs, 'mid the multitude Of suitors with bold brows Who come to woo the Spouse, Upon her constancy of love intrude ; And fain would breathe suspicion on her troth, And leave her, like themselves, false to her word and oath. w^^Uk^U But thou, O Lord ! wilt stoop to us infirm ; Love to resolve our doubt, And bring us gladly out Of our soul's prison ; as from some dark germ The sweet rose crimsons ; till, all doubt at rest, We lie, like the Beloved, enraptured on thy breast. "We too have mourned, because our carnal dream Of pomp and courtly state, And guards at palace gate- Base lights of earthly kingdoms — did not gleam Thy face around when thou didst come to reign ; But that thy crown was thorn — thy kingly tribute, pain. Like the stern priests and scribes who made thee grieve, We could not bear thy loss. " But come down from the cross, And our swift souls will hasten to believe. 1 ' O tear this Jewish traitor from within ! O cast it from our hearts — this shame of earthly sin ! Bid us be of the malefactor taught — The felon by thy side, Who longed " with thee " to abide In that new heaven just opened to his thought ; And saw, while e'en disciples' eyes waxed dim, The royal hosts of God — the prostrate Seraphim. ^#^#^k; * SABBATH CHIMES. 21 Still is our faith assured by thousand signs ; The blind are beauty's heirs ; And from demoniac lairs Sound strange hosannas. E'en the dark grave shines With heaven-light streaming through it at both ends — A sepulcher disused, and tenantless of friends. 'Mid the world's strife of tongues to thee we cling. We cease our endless quest For other than the best : Thou art our Prophet, thou our Priest and King ! Here will we give our home-sick longings o'er, For Thou hast come ; our love, our avarice ask no more. -.---■ $=* SABBATH CHIMES. * Jtttamii IV. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing. — PniLippiAXS iv, 4. 5. **^^L¥* SPEAK not thus to hearts all palpitating In changeful agonies of sad suspense ; % Which hope and dread by turns ; the days awaiting With a numb, weary sense : When all the glory from the heaven is vanished, As fantasies of sleep before the dawn ; While the poor hope, like exile newly banished. Yet lingers — homeward drawn : When, all the rapture of the summer over. The flowers are withered in each woodland haunt, And not a lark, from out the tufted clover, Has heart enough to chant : When on the wall the shadows gather blanker, While hopeless illness wastes, or madness raves ; When the o'er-freighted bark, without an anchor, Drifts on the scoffing waves : S ABB ATE CHIMES. When all the store of love, so closely cherished, By tyrant hand is snatched from the embrace ; And all the light of the rich past has perished Out of the dumb white face : 23 h When the struck souls lie prostrate with repining, And look defiant on the happy sun, "Which shines so bright, they almost grudge his shining And wish the day were done : When stern fate bids the heart live on, though breaking As palsy never lifted from the limbs, Or, o'er a dead child, some crazed mother making Rude melodies of hymns : O heap not on these inner fires the fuel, Nor tempt the loud rebellions you condemn ! Grant them at least your silence. It were cruel To speak of peace to them. Yet the words change not. " Be for nothing careful, Neither for present want nor future dread ; But while Christ tarrieth, let your spirits prayerful Keep listening for his tread." Solemn they sound ; like angels of compassion To this low world on some loved errand bent ; And yet not angels, but in some strange fashion With human natures blent. j^M^#^- -^-^^^^^^^^^ 24- SABBATH CIIIMES. They bid us not rebel, in foulest treason To every earthly faculty and faith ; They meet our souls in truce, and furnish reason For all the Scripture saith. " The Lord at hand ! " then why should we surrender To any meaner claim our spirits' keys \ Or, faithless warders, open to pretender TVliat valor ne'er could seize ? Why, in our care-worn souls, should pulses riot With passion frenzied, or with joy elate, When from God's calming presence breathes a quiet Upon the heart and state ? what are these, our bitterest self-denials, The griefs that make our roses drop so soon, But God his children leading, through night's trials, To an eternal noon ! Then hush, ye passionate voices ! all-sustaining Is the great comfort of our coming Lord ; Already is the long sad midnight waning, For we can trust his word. SABBATH CHIMES. ZQ Epiplxamj* i. They stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. — Acts vii, 59. 1 IEY cast him forth, fierce in their rage and hate. Outside the city gate ; TVhile from his angel-face a luster streamed So bright, so pure, it seemed As if already heaven had let down Her child's awaiting crown. v- He, of the martyrs' host the eldest born, Reckless of earth's poor scorn, Wise by the faith of many ripening years Above his wisest peers, Through the dark vail of flesh the Godhead knew. And died to prove him true. As when wild clouds, struck by the lightning's brand. Deluge the frightened land. So fell man's deadlier shower, more prompt to kill ; Slave of more cruel will : Soon on the ground a battered casket lay : The gem had 'scaped away. SABBATH CHIMES. They gazed upon the ruins of a prison, From which a man had risen ; And, like a sunrise on a dying storm, Came many an angel form, And sang, amid a silence rapt and deep, " He gives his loved ones sleep." ... Whence was the goodly strength upon him poured But from his visioned Lord? Swift, or to chide the wavering, or the o'erfraught To win to brighter thought, Seen by a faith which nothing could estrange, Through all life's curves of change. I Who look on Christ into his image grow, Burn with diviner glow, Wrestle intrepid in the spirit's strife, . And gather strength for life ; As troops are brave to scale the fire-swept hill By dint of daily drill. We crave thy likeness, Lord ! our upward eyes Would fain to thee arise ; Leave each fair pageant, each unholy shrine, And, fastened all on thine, Transformed by the blest gaze, aspire to stand " Faultless " at thy right hand. I •=^#^ S ABB A Til CHI ME S. Though in their baffled rage the heathen groan, Christ sits upon the throne. To crush his foes, to screen his own from ill, Kingly, he sitteth still ; " Expecting, 1 ' not impatient, till the chime Shall sound the last of Time. £7 m? But, when from murd'rous hands the martyrs break. He rises — for their sake ; lie whom no shock of battled worlds could move. In recompensing love, Rises, to give, whene'er his Stephens come, Their warmest welcome home. 2$ VA^^IPfl/ H^^&^^^^^N? S ABBA Til CHIMES. Epiphamj;, ii. A little leaven leaveoeth the whole lump. — 1 ConrsTniA^s v, C. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. — Galatiaxs vl, 7. to PEAK not of trifles lio-ht as air. Or froth of Ocean's pride ; For things, on which no thought we spare, ^7 The mightiest forces hide. As slumbers, in the clod, the fire, As lingers music in the lyre, So future destinies are born From hours of prayer, or hours of scorn. Where God in generous fullness dwells, Nor small nor great is known ; He paints the tiniest flowret-cells O'er emerald meadows strown ; And sees, but not with kinder eyes, The heavens grow rich with sunset dyes ; Both ministrant to beauty's sense, Both signs of one Omnipotence. He comes not forth with pageant grand His marvels to perform ; A cloud " the bigness of a hand " Can blacken heaven with storm. J .;= w,-> = H*NH SABBAT E CHIMES. 29 A grain of dust, if He arrange, The fortunes of a planet change. An insect reef can overwhelm Ask tidings of the battle now. The stately navies of a realm. There are no trifles. Arks as frail As bore God's prince of old, On many a buoyant Nile stream sail The age's heirs to hold. From Jacob's love on Joseph shed, Came Egypt's wealth and Israel's bread; From Ruth's chance gleaning in the corn, The Psalmist Bang ; the Christ was born. Each spirit weaves the robe it wears From out life's busy loom, And common tasks and daily cares Make up the threads of doom. Wouldst thou the vailed future read ? The harvest answereth to the seed. Shall Heaven e'er crown the victor's brow ? O wise beyond all written page Are those who learn to say. •' Less worth were centuries of age Than golden hours to-day ! " For in the present all the past And future years are folded fast. And in each laden moment lie The shapes of an eternitv. 30 SABJ3ATJI (JHIMES. ' Hpipbaiitj., in. J Iteturn unto thy rest, O my soul. — Psalm cxvi, 7. ^pHERE is the rest we long to gain, The rest beyond decaying ? Our life-long chase of shadows vain Has wrought our heart's betraying. Our harps are sadly mute from sound, And hang on strangers' willows ; Our dove no sheltering home hath found, But wearies o'er the billows. In restless pain we heave and toss Like playthings of the Ocean ; And mourn with sharpest pangs of loss Dead objects of devotion. We follow light where'er it gleams, Though marsh and mist encumber ; We reign, anointed kings, — in dreams, — But wake, forlorn, from slumber. We grasp at grains of shining dust, But in the grasp they perish ; We put in men's applause our trust — It cheats the hopes we cherish. t - -*i.^ ,3? SABBATH C II HIES. Remorse — a ghostly shadow — blights Each wreath we weave for pleasure ; But restless still we scale the heights, Or search the mines for treasure. O, naught of earth can e'er avail While Eden-mem'ries haunt us ! Our longings are on larger scale Than lower worlds can grant us. We pant within the vail to be, To roam in fields elysian, And, "in his beauty," God to see Nor die beneath the vision. He only " in His likeness " made Our souls in the beginning ; And he the costlier ransom paid To bar the doom of sinning. He who the stars in courses keeps, And governs cold Orion ; He lifts us from the restless deeps, And plants our feet on Sion. To Him, long strayed, we venture back, Nor 'mong dark mountains wander; God pledges peace upon the track, And endless welcomes yonder. E'en now each grateful spirit hears His voice the lost ones calling — " Return ! your eyes shall cease from tears, Your feet be safe from falling." $4- SABBATH CHIMES. Epipliamj;* IV. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.* — Matthew xiii, 25. g|j| HE furrows are straightly drawn In the freshly-opened soil, And in the blush of the amber dawn The sower goes forth to toil. j He fears not the winter's frown ; He knows, as he hastens on, From each good seed that he flingeth down May a sevenfold store be won. He can trust the land for wealth, For Nature is not forsworn. Unless some enemy work by stealth He shall sing 'mid shocks of corn. In the chill and secret night, While he sleeps away his cares, And dreams that the harvest-moon is bright, That enemy soweth tares. * This subordinate lesson may fairly be drawn from the Parable of tho Tares, though, in its original utterance, it had of course another application. SABBATH CHIMES. 35 ■■:■- Till the long, long months are sped, Till the wheat is ripe in ear, Till fields art gay with the reaper's tread, Will the noxious weeds appear. And if some one asketh, Whence 'Mid the precious come the vile ? 'Tis when slumber steals the captive sense The enemy works his wile. I Ah me ! how often are strown, In the wider human field, Those evil seeds which, untimely sown, Will a baneful harvest yield ! The enemy doth not sleep, But, as with an eldritch spell, He works, with a barbarous craft and deep, The ill from the seeming well. He breathes on the good desire, And stifles its upward aim ; He kindles the passion's lambent fire Into a murderous flame. He breathes on thrift, and it turns To a hungry greed of gold ; On zeal, and the red-browed anger burns Like a bale-fire on the wold ; ^^^^^^^^^^^^^l^^^^^ {; m 86 - ■ m SABBATH CHIMES. On self-respect, and it fumes Like a war-horse in its pride ; On faith, and it cowers in darkened rooms Where ghostly visitants glide. He whispers fear, and it pales In the feebleness of fright ; He clouds the heaven till the pole-star fails To cheer the mariner's sight. Restless and fierce as a flood Which death on its bosom bears — Thus ever at work to blight the good, The enemy soweth tares. Watch ! Watch by the furrows dark, Till the weary night is done, And o'er the ridges the herald-lark Is sent to announce the sun. If the eyelids wakeful keep, Ye are warned against the foe ; Tis' when brain and heart are still with sleep That he ventureth forth to sow. >-* J 4a S ABBA TH CHIMES. 27 v. The men of NiDeveh shall rise in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it. — Matthew xii, 41. ^ S on some queenly forehead shines a rare and costly gem, _,"* So shone the truth — all price beyond — in fair Jerusalem ; The Truth Incarnate through her streets in weary sojourn trod, And, truer than her priesthood knew, her Temple guested God. No timid prophet, frightened 'neath the burden which he bore, Spoke sadly in her stately halls one warning, and no more ; But God's own Son revealed himself by many a healing sign, And from their graves the dead came forth to witness him divine. No lightnings clave the shuddering air around his Saviour- path, No hearts turned, sick'ning, from a voice which spake of naught but wrath ; But loving word and loving deed hope to the vilest gave, That he had come from foulest sin and fiercest doom to save. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ =#3$^*gg SABBATH CHI ACES. But as, when swept by angry winds, the waves more angry swell, So o'er that city proud and stern no contrite silence fell ; But louder rang her rebel songs, and scornful in her pride, Alike the love of Heaven she spurned, and wrath of Heaven defied. The sun shone bright o'er Xineveh, and every marble street "Was filled with morning greetings, and with fall of hurry- ing feet ; Aloft the sounding voices swelled through all the slum- brous air, From mart of many traders, and from Xisroch's fane of prayer. But, as pale Xature holds her breath beneath the thunder- cloud, By spell of sudden silence was that voiceful city bowed ; And through the ghostly stillness, like a knell, uprose the tone, "Yet forty days, and Xineveh is" humbled or "o'er- thrown." With eyes that shone with secrets, and with haggard looks and wan, fFrom street to street the Prophet passed — a lonely, bur- dened man ; f -^«^^^IH^***^^# rt ^^^^^«# i ^^*^l I SABBATH CHIMES. 39 He passed, and spoke, and vanished, as some specter of the night, Which lifts one dooming finger, and then mocks the strain- But to the city's heart that word leaped like a forked flame, And smote each chord, which, trembling, broke in peniten- tial shame ; And on and on, from hut to throne, the tide of sorrow swept, Till, with a wail which reached to God, that mighty city wept. h This, eager as the flowers are to wooing suns to yield ! That, hard as is the triple mail or boss of brazen shield ! And, in the white light of the throne, before which both shall stand, Which will the judgment-angel choose to wear the guiltier brand ? thou, on whom the Gospel light now sitteth like a crown, Take heed lest thou by meaner lips art humbled and cast down! Be still, my heart ! and reverent, as the warning tale is told; The clay into God's kingdom presses oft before the gold. #35 40 SABBATH CH IMS 8. Epiphamj;* VI. He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow : and they awake, him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? — Maek iv, 3S. When even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them. — Mark vi, 47, 4S. ^ 'ER Gennesaret, mountain-bordered, $ Beats the storm, and swells the gale, While the bark, divinely ordered, Spreads for shore the laboring sail. Faster foils the cloud-heart's raining ; Lightnings leap from thunder-caves ; Through the dead'ning midnight straining, Wild eyes shine across the waves. O how oft men weary, gazing For some radiant help from far, While above them, downward blazing, Gleams some bright and friendly star ! In their billowy danger sharing Lay their Lord, in human sleep Calm as childhood's — while unsparing Surged and strove the furious deep. OH&&&S&S& From his gentlest slumber parted, Glance of that awaking eye Soothes the lone and fretful-hearted, Bids their fear in faith to die. What to Him the wild commotion Vassals to his sov'reign will, Fiercest wind or angriest ocean Instant at his word are still. O'er Gennesaret, wildly blowing, Chafe the sullen winds again, While the voyagers " toil in rowing," With a dull impatient pain. Deeper looms the dark before them, Wearier grows each slack'ning hand, No loved j)rcsence bending o'er them ; Hopeless night and distant land. 41 Louder roars the surge's clangor, Which the troubled moon shines o'er And the surf-waves, white with anger, Dash in battle on the shore : But the Lord, his own beholding, Watches o'er their roused alarms, As some mother watches, folding Frightened nurslings in her arms. -< Deeper the rev'rent wonder grows, Deeper the sense of sweet repose, As, in thy ways, thy tireless goodness shines. Happy the men who, while the tide Of life flows on, can " turn aside " Thy purpose to discern ! So, timely-curious, Moses came To gaze upon the fronds of flame — The bush, whose red leaves flourish while they burn. The brooklet murmured in its bed, The flocks in patient silence fed, As o'er the plain he trod ; Startled to watch the unwonted fire, Xor guessing, as it leaped the higher, That in its midst was shrined the hidden God. *#^§L? ^4 64- S ABB AT H CHIMES. t This morn like other moras had seemed; Of naught the musing Shepherd dreamed Beyond the common round ; When bursts upon his dazzled eyes Of that " great sight " the quick surprise, And the Yoice bade him rev'rence " holy ground. 'Tis often thus. Life's duteous deeds Are steps by which " the angel " leads To " greater things than these : As Simon froin Tiberias' breast Was summoned by his Lord's behest Of the new Gospel-realm to hold the keys. O, not from far — beneath — above We vainly quest incarnate Love ; God all around we see ; Though banished into dreariest wild, The Father talketh with the Child— His holy place the one lone desert tree. The stammered word, the slender praise, The poor, the young, the friendless raise,- The homage, long delayed, He will not e'er reject with scorn, — He, who of old the wilding thorn In Midian's waste His bright pavilion made. J§^^^^ .=-._>- ~. /-«.. r*=2g- SABBATH CHIMES. 65 What angel word, what mystic sign Revealed the hidden Guest divine, By earth and heaven adored, We know not ; but a look, a tone, A blessing, made the Godhead known : Christ spake but "Mary," and she knew the Lord. The light is bom out of the dark ; Then let us humbly wait and hark For whisper or for word : The grandest message of God's lips, His most sublime apocalypse, Oft from the fiercest heart of flame is heard. Xot ours to grieve, not ours to choose The way in which the heavenly news Our spirits shall inspire ! Welcome or pain, or awe, or fear, If but our honored souls may hear Thy voice, O Lord ! though thou shalt speak "by fire." 6 $* 66 SABBATH CHIMES. Hbsnt v. The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified. Now is my soul troubled: and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour ? but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. — John xii, 23-28. £HE hour is come ! 'tis thus He wakes His followers from their feverish dream ; And his high purpose to redeem, Forth on the startled silence breaks. Who can the loving mystery read ? Glory and death ! O wedlock strange ! Can anguish thus to honor change ? Do martyrs triumph while they bleed ? Doth joy, the truant, lurk in pain ? Is life concealed in bitter cup ? How can fair visions kindle up From panting heart and burdened brain ? Gaze the disciples on their Lord. No wonder that their asking eyes, Which court, the while they dread, replies, Should long 1 for some assuring word. STSNH* SABBATH CHIMES. 67 But denser darkness settles down. The human fear, the human will, New agonies impending still — The mystery of the Father's frown. Dark earth, blue heaven all clouded o'er, The strange and lonely strife with sin — O, ne'er was kingdom ushered in By heralds sad as these before ! The highest glory is not where, 'Mid crimson clouds, the fight is won ; 'Tis to reclaim the erring son, Long used the sinful yoke to bear. Better to clothe with corn the wild Than track the fire-path of a star ; Less the proud sons of science are Than clown who saves a drowning child. Through death the world is raised above Its alien curse and kindred dust ; We on the cross read, " God is just," But in the offering, " God is love." The wheaten corn which falls and dies, In autumn's plenty richly waves ; So, from the loathsome place of graves, With Christ, our elder, we may rise. vMhw^H^^mMh^^^^j,^^^^^ -?*=£ - ^»=^-^^=^-^^^=- - 68 SABBATH CHIMES. From death comes life. The hand of God This direst curse to good transforms ; So purest air is born of storms ; So bursts the harvest from the clod. The highest benedictions hide Where sacrifice is pure and true ; And our poor self-denials, too, If done for Christ, in him abide. But hark ! the trouble breaks in prayer, As billows on the patient beach ! O tell us, Jesus, how to reach The marvel and the comfort there ! Some brave ones, who thy name confessed, Have tossed away their lives in sport, And gone to death, as kings to court, And hailed him with wild words of jest. But we this high excitement lack, And shrink from pain, and droop in loss, And only want to bear the cross, When Thou hast placed it on the back. And Thou our pattern art, not they ; And thou hast wept : then we may grieve Some joy to lose, some friend to leave, Into the darkness gone away. S ABBA TH CHIMES. 69 Wlien all life's light is in eclipse, " O, if thou canst, my Father, spare ! " These accents of thy garden-prayer Will quiver from imploring lips. But if the cup from which we shrink Thou dost forbid to pass away, Then help us from the heart to say, " My Father wills it, I must chink." Braver to feel " Thy will be done," Because we first had cried aloud : We see the rainbow in the cloud, We know bevond it shines the sun. i >».>-_ - 70 SA BBA Til CHIMES. Easter* i. Very early in the morning they came to the sepulchre. . . . "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen.— Lukh xxiv. 1. 5, 6. [S ulv morn. ••Come, cross the brook, The Kedron He so lately crossed, In hope — 'tis all we can — to look Once more upon the ' Loved and Lost.' . - These smiling flowers, by spring arrayed, The winter of our grief renew ; For in the tomb, where Christ is laid, Our faith, alas ! is buried too. " ' TVe trusted,' — 'twas a pleasant dream, By rudest waking overthrown, — k That He our Israel would redeem, 1 And, peerless, reign on Salem's throne. " That hope is gone : but memory cleaves In blissful trance to Jesus yet, And through her tears still sits and weaves The past into one long regret. .a iV ^ - "fc £ A BBATH CII I ME S. 71 " Come where those funeral olives wave,— The city sleeps, the mora is fair ; — Love yearns to see the garden-grave — Come, let us weep and worship there." Thus, as their mighty sorrow spoke, Forth the true-hearted women went : Then the unhoped-for morning broke Upon their night of discontent. Not always bending o'er the urn Of missed and mourned ones should we lie ; When sorrow doth to duty turn, Strong consolation waiteth by. Grieving for Christ all griefs above, Who by the grave stand, meek and dumb, With troubled faith, but constant love, To them the visioned angels come. Hark ! how the sounds their hearts revive ! " Not here, but risen," as he said ; " The Lord ye love is yet alive — Why seek the living 'inong the dead ? " Glad news ! and not alone for those Who gathered round that sacred place ; Like some rich river's song it flows ; A gospel for a ruined race. :^u^<4^^^N^® 1 f 7i/ SABBATH CHIMES. O. oft from out the darkest mine A costlier gem the toiler bears : O. oft the heavenliest hope can shine, Struck from the heart of old despairs. Jesus is risen ! Silent now. Xot frantic, are the tears we weep O'er glazing eye. and marble brow. And dear ones in the dreamless sleep. Jesus is risen ! The fight is o'er : Death to his own destruction hurled ; Man from the heaven is barred no more Easter hath dawned upon the world. -..~=-,^.._ ■= _ ,--_.-.. SABBATH CHIMES. 73 Easter, ii. Ther returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day. according to the commandment. — Luke xxiii, 56. -WHEREFORE should those hands of love Their fragrant work forbear ? 2£* Such task as theirs will mount above, Like incense of a prayer ; If they should falter or suspend 'Twere treason to that matchless Friend, Who. loving, " loved them to the end.*' Nay, do not those true hearts the wrong Their affluent love to doubt ; The heart-fires which have burned so long Have not at once gone out ; Love born of Love forever will The life with generous pulses fill, Surviving scorn, and shame, and ill. " They rested," as did He, when first, Obedient to his hand, The light on formless darkness burst, And at his high command Celestial beauty clothed the wild, And stars in ordered courses smiled On earth — God's work : and man — his child. 7 - r=^^^^^*ir^?^^ - <& 74. SABBATH CHIMES. " They rested," — 'twas a higher law Which bade them thus delay, And moved their ling'ring feet to draw From that new tomb away ; God spake the broad command before,— " Duty than sacrifice is more ; Better to serve than to deplore." " Spices and ointments," — priceless these Poor symbols of regard ; And He who reads the human sees, Nor fails he to reward ; But love hath struck its deepest chord, When, rather than embalm the Lord, " They rested," to obey his word. " They rested," thoughtless of the meed The first day's morn would bring ; Nor dreamed that from such painful seed Such harvest e'er could spring ; When lo ! upon their doubting eyes Forth flashed the Easter's rare surprise, — " Jesus is risen — ye shall rise." " They rested." God's will is the best, And resurrection nears, When quiet trust in mourning breast Can take the place of tears ; They in whose hearts proud waters toss, The Marys, pierced with keenest loss, Must not lie weeping 'neath the cross. '^^r^^ SABBATH CHIMES. 75 1 And we, who in this later time Their grief and promise heir, May for like exercise sublime Our counseled souls prepare ; Eager to work, but calm to wait, Till at hot noon, or sunset late, The pale horse standeth at the gate. J « 4 76 SABBATH CHIMES. Easter, III. There came also Nicodemus. -which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds ■weight. — Johx xix, 39. " S swiftly flies the startled dove TThen some keen danger swoops above. P And shelters neath the friendly eaves, Careless of all the joy she leaves : By new and sore disquiet pressed, So comes to Christ a noble guest, Perplexed 'twiLxt earnestness and fear, Half longing — half afraid — to hear. He comes by night. Xot his to brook The with'ring of the scomer's look, The cynic banter, gay and loud. The wonder of the gibing crowd. The burst of fierce or haughty spleen, Which fain would crush the Xazarene ; Xot daring yet these storms to meet. He comes at nisrht with stealthv feet. Blame ye the ruler that he shrank From tainted name and forfeit rank I Think ye that such strong need of soul Should spurn the sense's base control, I f I SABBATH CHI3IES. And bear the victor-spirit through, With manful haste, to dare and do, Accounting all the world but loss, To find the truth, and clasp the cross ? Ah ! think how faintly you have borne ; How oft your plighted troth forsworn ; How, when the flick'ring slanders fell, You whispered your unkind farewell ; How you forsook, denied, betrayed ; Foul traitor to the vows you made — And while these wraiths before you stand, Pause ere you fix the coward's brand. The shadows fall of that dread hour, " Of darkness" the supremest " power," When in red clouds the sun has died, And Nature owns the Crucified : Where are the bold disciples fled ? Why haste they not to claim their dead ? For while they nurse their grief and gloom, The cowards lay him in the tomb. 77 There is a courage braver far Than charges in the ranks of war, Or leaps to hear the cannon's boom, Or speeds with patriot pride to doom. A hardy frame of well-knit nerves The soldier's purpose amply serves, And speeds the thinning phalanx on When banners trail, and hope is gone. f 73 SABBATH CHIMES. But warriors oft have backward turned When folly laughed, or passion burned ; Scared from the right by witling's blame, Have let small sneers their manhood shame. So on Gilboa's rainless field The monarch " casts away his shield." So Samson, when his lusts invite, Turns craven in the moral light. Let God inspire ! then weak are strong, And cowards chant the battle-song ; He, whose approach the darkness hides, Stands fast when all the world derides ; 'Mid fiercest fires the generous youth Is valiant for the living truth ; And, martyred for the Saviour's sake, Heroic woman clasps the stake. We thank thee, Lord ! when thou hast need The man aye ripens for the deed ; And thou canst make the timid bold To shed his fears as dross from gold ; And, nerved from heaven, nor droop nor quail, Though worlds confront, and hell assail. O breathe, in this and every hour, On each, on me, this soul of power ! m &=$#£ SABBATH CHIMES. 79 Easter, f IV. Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me : and again, a little while, and ye shall see me : and, because I go to the Father ? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while ? we cannot tell what he saith. — Johx xvi, 17, 18. ^HAT is it that He saith ? That He, who our deep love so oft hath bidden To cling and gather round him, must be hidden From all but faith ? That, through the haj>py days, "We shall be no more tranced with wondrous story, Nor see God's love and man's blend, like a glory, Whene'er we gaze ? Not to behold him, when We longed and hoped to see him sceptered rather ; And only when he " goeth to the Father," See him again ? " A little while !" to gain The knowledge to o'er-master life and sorrow, And then to languish in one hopeless morrow Qf lengthening pain HWf-tf^S^Mf-^k^ ^^ t 1 i v> $0 SABB A TH CHIME S. A while ! and then the end ? One flash, and then the utter dark, forever ; How the poor heart-strings ache in the endeavor To comprehend ! We know not what he saith ! His words are riddles, true and tender mostly ; There runs a shudd'ring through them, like some ghostly Shadow of death. We too, ask, What is this ? When o'er some ruined hope we weep and wonder, Or when some spirit-summons bids us sunder From all our bliss. What ! called so soon to part With fortune's rapture, and with love's caressing, With all those dews of life which fill in blessing On the parched heart ! Moan like the passing bells The wail of weary souls which linger, aching ; The hollow sound of all life's music, breaking In sad farewells. A while ! a little while ! Sigh of crushed hearts, in homes bereft and lonely, For one brief holiday of summer only Able to smile. i SABBATH CHIMES. O for the power to rest ! Till to each soul God whispers his revealing, Calming, as rain on waves, each angered feeling, " What is, is best." 81 Sense sobs o'er graves, and mourns Each cypress-garland, twined for love's undoing ! Faith — a bright prophet — sees its youth renewing Within the urns. For though the loved ones died In slow decay, or scathed by swifter lightning ; 'Twas but that in a noon-tide, ever brightening, They might abide. Hj I Faith always sees them now, Because they are within the Father's presence, And endless youth, of heaven the radiant essence, Brightens each brow. 8 ■ r :^- \^9 s ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ s ^^^^^^m 2*& s, '«? SABBATH CHIMES. Easter, v. The time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but 1 shall show you plainly of the Father. — John xvi, 25. A S travelers o'er some darksome waste Their blind and perilous progress urge, ^m And fear to stay, and fear to haste, \jM While mists hang o'er the mountain's verge ; And earth is wrapt in midnight shroud, Or some faint streak of moonlight struggles through the cloud; As children, guessing day by day Life's many riddles, new and strange ; Before whom pass, as in a play, All motley characters of change ; Some, monstrous, filling with affright, Some waking each new power in credulous delight ; i So, wildered traveler, wondering child, Each soul its way through life inquires, Now lost in moorland, now beguiled By passion's dancing meteor fires ; Longing itself to understand, And feeling, like the blind, for some near guiding hand. ■^^^^i^^^^M^*^ SABBATH CHIMES. We strive, and profit not with strife ; Are weary with our torturing woe ; The passionate secret of all life "We only guess, we long to Tcnow. More light ! O from what depths we cry, Let the white truth blaze on us ere we droop and die ! 83 For now we .blindly fear and love, By partial knowledge lured astray, Nor deem those woodland boughs above, 'Neath which we stroll through summer's day, In such a wanton fullness twine, They shut out from our eyes the blue of heaven divine. T Our nature does not bound our want ; And stunned by this perpetual roar, Poor baffled ones ! we sob and pant, And sigh for some eternal shore ; Each heart chafes like a moaning sea ; And who shall still its storm ? our Father, who but thee ? But from a happy place shine out Rays of a large majestic hope, And a Christ's voice, rebuking doubt, Gives to our faith its widest scope : " No more in proverbs will I speak, But plainly show your hearts the Father whom ye seek." ■^ JsJ 84- .^ABBATH CHIMES. 'Tis morning now ! the dark hath fled, Scared by the venturous dawn away. More light ! see how the glorious red Breaks on the soul and brings the day ! " We follow on to know the Lord," And in heaven's endless noon shall find our rich reward. SABBATH CRIMES. 8b Easter* VI. Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me. — Acts i, 8. {& c& ORD, wilt thou now the throne restore, And raise our Israel from the dust ? ^J^ff Brave words ! which seemed as if they bore Naught meaner than the patriot trust. But He who knows how subtle stains, As breath on mirrors, mar the mind, Unbraids each motive's tangled skeins, And shows the lust which lurks behind. ■ " Ye shall have power." The answer probes The longing of each heart in turn ; Knew he that 'neath those peasant-robes Desires for thrones were wont to burn ? " Ye shall have power ; " but not of kings, Or those who march through blood to fame • " The power the dove-like Spirit brings To witness through the world my Name." 1 O waking rude from pompous dream ! No loud acclaim, no judge's throne, No laurels, won amid the gleam Of serried ranks, and foes o'erthrown. 86 SABBATH CHIMES. a ! Not these ! but triumphs nobler far Than bards have sung, or wealth has priced ; To bring, as Magi to the star, The vassal-world to bow to Christ ! The gift of power ! not surely poured The heart's imperious pride to feed, Nor yet for selfish ends to hoard, As wealth inflames a miser's greed. For vaunt and avarice shear the hair, In which the Samson's valor lies, And force him, in his blind despair, To play the mime to heathen eyes. Men may not rest, though sleep be sweet, With 'wild'ring dreams which mount to heaven ; For God hath need of tireless feet, Forth on the soul's strong purpose driven. I J I Life is too short for holy trance, While ruin round us works its woe ; On Tabor's crest the glory-glance But nerved for sterner strife below. Well might the angels court eclipse Of all heaven's brightness for a space, In barter for those witness-lips Which burn with news of gospel-grace ! SABBATH CHIMES. m And we are heirs of work so high, So rounded with all thoughts of bliss, That minstrels of the upper sky Have learned no chant so sweet as this. % J '^M^^^^^^ ^^H*^^^^^^- ^"^#^#^ 8$ SABBATH CHIMES. t Ea$tei\ VII. Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, believe also in me. — John xiv, 1. Why are ye troubled ? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts ? — Luke xxiv, 38. LOSER to Christ the loved ones grew, ^TW, The world seemed heaven when he was nigh ; Their raptured life no future knew, yy O^ Nor dreamed they one so loved could die ; And when he spoke of parting, O ! the quail And stoop of the bruised heart, as stunned by mighty hail. Like the stern silence, dread as death, 'Twixt lightning-flash and thunder-peal ; So sudden grief, which held the breath, But strung the boding sense to feel ; And on the giddy brain, like funeral knells, Beat heavy, all in one, a life-time of farewells. But on that silence, drear and blank, Fell looks of love and words of cheer ; As tears of eve, on daisied bank, Fall in the childhood of the year ; "Let not your hearts be troubled : ye believe In God, believe in me." Faith cannot hopeless grieve. .K^^^^^^^^.y^ h^^S^^^^^ SABBATH CHIMES. 89 Again they met. The tragic hour With life-long -wound their hearts had scarred, But memory held — the orphan s dower — The likeness of the " visage marred." "With doors shut on the world, in upper room, They spoke, now of lost hope, now of forsaken tomb. They brooded in a wayward grief Which wrestled with a trembling love ; Vassals of giant unbelief, Dark ning their loftiest thoughts above : When on their sight a radiant Presence came, And a remembered yoice seemed breathing each one's name. O strange that when our blessings come We scarce can pierce their vailed disguise ! They stood affrighted all and dumb, As if joy smote their aching eyes With blindness ; till the words a calmness made, 'Tis I — whv are ve troubled ( whv vour thoushts afraid ' Two soothing words ! The grave between. Who can withstand the appealing grace ! It stilled the sorrow that had been By sight of that familiar face, "Which, ere they yet had broken on the soul, Spoke to the waters proud — " But thus far shall ye roll." Before and after death alike, He bids us cease our trouble yet ; Nor sword can pierce, nor anguish strike The sealed on whom His is set. Teach us the lesson, Lord ! at once to flee. From trouble into faith — from wavering faith to thee. HHd SABBATH CHIMES. 91 WMtsuaticta Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language. — Genesis xi, 7. We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. — Acts ii, 11. > TATELY on Shinar's ancient plain Uprose a mighty thought in stone The thinkers scoffed in pure disdain Of forces mightier than their own. Full many a moon had waxed and waned, Full many a brain and hand had striven, To pile a tower, which, unrestrained By bound or bar, should smite the heaven. For Thought had brooded calm and long, And grew of its own offspring proud ; And Labor brought his sinews strong, And Art her children — cunning-browed ; And deathless "Will and deathless Pride Bade scorn the earth, and brave the sky, Till they, who all their peers outvied, Should now with their Creator vie. ■>W^>W- ■- ..^-^=, 92 SABBATH CHIMES. Then came the injured Godhead down, And cursed them with an alien speech ; And from the thunder of his frown Afar they wandered — each from each. But in the curse a blessing lurked ; From baffled language nations grew ; And thus the wrath of Heaven hath worked The purpose of its mercy too. Years rolled away. Three empires vast Had queened and faded, one by one ; A fourth had reached its prime, and cast The purple of its setting sun ; When, as a whirlwind from the north Awes the bowed forest in its ire, Twelve chosen men came boldly forth, With hearts of faith and "tongues of fire. No haughty Cesars from their thrones With cohort fierce and lictor's rod ; These have no weapons, save the tones Of voices strong with words of God. But to men's hearts those voices leap, And pierce through all their guarded lies, Till, like a world aroused from sleep, They feel the baptism of the skies. They come from far — from sunny shores, Which o'er the proud iEgean smile ; From regions where th' Orontes pours Through the rich plain for many a mile ; g^h -^^^^^ - SABBATH CHIMES. 93 A motley crowd of diverse name ! But on each startled list ner rung, Impetuous from the lips of flame, God's wonders in his native tongue. Thus Love can every doom reverse, Restore the good long mourned as lost, E'en as the ancient Babel's curse Died at the breath of Pentecost. And teeming brain and lissom hand, By breath of heavenly grace controlled, May work and win, at God's command, More than the builders dreamt of old. O for the lambent fire to fall, To purge the vile, the weak to nerve ! So when the clarion-voices call We shall be meet to build or serve. Come, Holy Ghost ! with cleansing power. When thou from pride our hearts hast shriven, Then, blameless, Ave may rear the tower, Whose topmost stone shall reach to heaven. ^^^^^5^ 94 SA BB A TH CHIME S. Tnmttj* Through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father, Ephesians ii, IS. TATHER ! from all things marred and base In this, our darkling dwelling-place, We lift our eyes to seek thy face. We wait thy sov'reign will to learn, Our life thy favor fain would earn, Our hearts for thy sweet soothing yearn. 1 For thee the bending nations groan ; So wild, so strong their wailing tone, No voice can hush them but thine own. For there is naught that satisfies In "refuges of" builded " lies ;" The earth hath failed. Men ask the skies. The world is full of doubt and jar, Red-handed hate and wasteful war ; All mail hath dint ; all flesh hath scar. ^^§^r4^4^^-^ **H$ S^^^^? SABBATH CHIMES. And thought is rebel ; and desire Alternate smolders and leaps higher, Like some half-dead volcano's fire. E'en as for rain the cedars pant, E'en as the harts the brooklets haunt ; Men heave and throb with mighty want. We covet knowledge. Keen our guess When mysteries oft, or questions press ; Until we ache from weariness. We faint with thirst. We die unseen. All truth hath but the mirage been, False as the fabled Hippocrene. The rival systems bend their brows, Eager their zealot prides to rouse. We know not where to pay our vows. Then from the search we recreant flee ; Still chafing like a hungry sea, That we may reach Thy throne and Thee. But as the passionate currents flow, They break upon one strand of woe, Moaning the unknown God to know. O Lord ! thou must thyself declare ! We may not climb on broken stair Of faultless creed or formal praver. 10 97 ^afr^SS 98 SABBATH CHIMES. Encumbered with our earthly load, We cannot tread the star-strewn road, Which leads to thy divine abode. Show us Thyself! none else prevail. Earth's mightiest with the effort fail, And tremor shakes the seraph's vail. Droopiog and furled each angel-wing ; The silenced elders cease to sing ; All heaven is hushed before the King- God only can of God proclaim, Without presumptuous guilt and blame, The glories of the hidden name. But Love hath sent the Son to bleed, And th' Eternal Spirit to plead ; God-fumished, for our creature need. No longer must the poorest pine. The gulf is bridged. The light divine Broods o'er the lowliest human shrine. The holiest is no longer pent From mortal view. The vail is rent. God comes to every pilgrim's tent. Father ! we bless thee thou hast bowed, For us, with thy rich grace endowed, The vailing heavens, and scattered cloud. SABBATH CHIMES. 99 O Saviour dear ! we fain would tell, In lip and life's hosanna-swell, Thy praises, blest Iinrnanuel ! And, in coequal praise, repeat Our life-long worship at thy feet, Divine and gracious Paraclete ! One God in Persons three ! We pour In heaven's full cup our meaner store, And silent in thy light adore. 100 SABBATH CHI 31 US. ■. Trimttj* ii. Then said I, Woe is me ! for I am undone ; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.— Isaiah vi, 5. 'PON the temple's glittering floors pure, unwonted radiance pours ; On court and column downward rolled The gathering waves of glory break ; Till all things from their luster take Or hues of things divine, or shapes of heavenly mold. Prostrate, as if the blaze had drowned All other sense of sight or sound, The prophet lay in sudden swoon ; As Eastern travelers, when they press Through the vast, palmless wilderness, Faint 'neath the angry sun, or breath of fierce simoon. What fearful sacrilege hath pressed Upon that bowed, remorseful breast ? What nameless memory cleft the stroke While in the fretted arches' gleam Waved the bright wings of seraphim, And from celestial choirs the triple praises broke. I SABBATH CHIMES. 101 It is no sullen priest of Baal Who smites the breast and lifts the wail ; The holiest man, the boldest seer, Whose words the faithless people scathed, Whose lips in fire divine were bathed, God's child — God's prophet — lies in anguish here. f "Woe ! woe is me ! unclean, undone ! O hide me from yon flaming sun ! For God hath burst upon my sight ; And in that vision stands confessed The vileness of my prided best ; As sunbeams show all faults within their line of light. " Sin lurks in my distempered zeal, And mars the off'ring when I kneel Bending in lowliest orison ; I thought my prophet-lips were clean, But I the Lord of Hosts have seen, And blench and tremble in the pureness of the throne." ! Not thus when new-born Adam roved In that fair virgin Eden, groved In loveliest harmony of shade ; Then earthly could with heavenly blend, And man could talk with God, as friend Looks into dear friend's face, nor knows to feel afraid. ^.; IM^^^M^ V ^^HMH£ 102 SABBATH CHIMES. All ! it is thus the primal fall Hath visited and cursed us all. Our eyes for heavenly scenes are dim ; And, 'wildered, as in mortal trance, We shiver at th' Almighty's glance, And only through the cloud can bear to look on him. In pure hearts faith is ever young ; 'Tis from our sin our fear hath sprung, And made unmeet with God t' abide ; Sinless, with wishful look and long, We should greet God at even-song, Nor from divine approach in bowers of Eden hide. And yet some blessed symbols wait With hope to cheer the desolate. The angel from the altar flies, Eager with touch of burning coal To heal and cleanse the leprous soul ; Type of that blood divine which all salvation buys. O, not in anger to consume ! Rather to teach, to bless, t' illume, The lambent glories downward shine. While, to dispel each ling'ring doubt, The fire atoning ne'er goes out, Symbol of sin confessed, and expiate' wrath divine. SABBATH CHIMES. 108 Crushed 'neath the silence of rebuke, We see that flame, and upward look Within each consecrated fane ; So we with seraph-lips may vie, And " Holy, holy, holy," cry, Till our poor psalm shall blend with loftier angel-strain. H$> ^^u&^^^^H 1 > i;^ 8 ABB ATM CHIMB S. * III. H';.w great is Hi? goodness, and how great is His beauty. — Zechaeiah ix. IT. -rth is full of the goodness of the Lord.— Psalm Yxviii, 5. :HERE are who say the world is drear, A baffling maze of sin and pains. Where mortals eronch in 'wild'ring fear. And death o'er every homestead reigns ; A world where myriad voices scorn. And myriad cavils mock reply : And myriad men, to trouble borru Exist to toil, and grieve, and die. But earth is not a place of tombs. In spite of all that cynics say. For God hath shed forth balms and blooms To heal the plague and scent the way. And tribute rich and ample hoard Bear witness to rebuke the wrong ; And Xature vindicates her Lord In buovant life and woodland song. - a I J u BMh* ■^ t. v ^c ^^r-ggr :[ I SABBATH CHIMES. On the same soil the harvest waves. Into whose heart the tempest wore ; And, while men bend by wintry graves, The swift spring hastes to grass them o'er. So, wandering on the solemn hills, Which look upon some boundless plain. Besprent with flowers, and gay with rills, Which laugh like things unused to pain ; Or gazing on some landscape large. "With glade, and stream, and silent tower. While from the far horizon's marge Swells the old sea's great sound of power ; 107 A presence seems to lurk in each ; And. like a gospel pure and kind, Their silence, eloquent as speech. Hath lessons to the listening mind, Of comfort, learned froni cottage tires ; Of peace, from Xature's dreamless rest ; Of faith, from heaven-pointing spires ; Of endless life, from ocean's breast ; Of sweet communion with the dead, — (The precious living loved not less. For they the golden streets who tread Watch not to envy, but to bless ;) — ^#^^H^#^#^^^^ 10S SABBATH CHIMES. Taught by the way the still earth leans, Half-wearied, on the clasping sky, Like some sly child, who, ling'ring, means To claim close favors by and by ; Of duty, taught by each fair thing, Which works its Maker's high desire, By streams which flow and birds which sing, And know not to repine nor tire ; ! Of God — for all the landscape fair, The azure heaven, the cloudlet dim, The rip'ning fields, the moorland bare, — All have a word to speak for Him. O for an inner ear, to hark Each whisper of this under-song ! O for brave will, to learn and mark, And grow for grief or service strong ! ^^^^M^^^^^^H •i SABBATH CHIMES. 109 Trinity. IV. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. — Luke xy, 10. pV :HERE are would earth and heaven divorce, And sunder every tie ■^ Which binds our sphere, in mystic force, To that tar throne beyond the course Of orbs in yonder sky. And skeptics, white with angry foam, Their scornful lips have curled ; Deriding those who fain would roam To find, and fill with hopes of home, This orphan of a world. Not thus the pitying angels lean From their calm seats above ; They watch with kindly eyes and keen, And long some struggling soul to screen In ministry of love. Heaven loves the ruined to redeem ; As noblest hearts below Light up, with tenderest vigil-gleam, O'er those whose rlatt'rino- childhood's dream ^B^^S^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 110 SABBATH CHIMES. For Love is full of love to all, Yet loves the weakest most : The one in peril, or in thrall, Whose wine of life has turned to gall, Hath larger share engrossed. The shepherd will the flock forsake, Safe in the fold abiding, To wander through ravine and brake, Homeward the one stray lamb to take ; Nor break its heart with chiding. The sire in calm emotion dwells Where quiet home-fires burn ; But his deep love in floods upwells When from deserted pleasure-cells The prodigals return. The stream in languid ripples flows In summers through the wood ; But if, by long stern winter froze, Released, in cataract haste it throws Its waves in living flood. And sorrow gives to fading things A memory always green ; As parting birds have brightest wings ; As music over churchyards rings, And breaks o'er graves between. I I SABBATH CHIMES. O ! if in hearts forlorn as ours We keep the choicest gift, The sunniest smiles, the rarest flowers, From shadowed hearts and j)ainful hours Their shade and pain to lift : The angels, kinder far than we, Of heavenlier joy are heirs, When from their thrones they stoop to see Some brave ones battling to be free From sinful curse and cares. Ill The jDurest bliss the angels share Is o'er a world forgiven. O mystery beyond compare ! Earth's joy and sorrow vibrate there, And pity brightens heaven. 11?, SABBATH CHIMES. i f Trinity;* v. Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good ; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. De- light thyself also in the Lord ; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord ; trust also in him ; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. — Psalm xxxvii, 1-6. JHO would not learn a lore like this, By some sweet psalmist taught ? ^*H And rest in calm content of bliss, Without unquiet thought ? And yet our restless hearts, perplexed With secrets strange or fell, . And oft with righteous anger vexed, Are eager to rebel. " Not fret," when men of prosperous wrong In gilded chariots ride ! When trampled weak and tyrant strong On every hand abide ! When, now with rage, and now with boast, The hot world cheats the way, And wreckers hoist, on iron coast, False lights to lure astray ! ^HHHHHHM^NHM^HH^: $ SABBATH CHIMES. "When perjured lives, with wasteful prayers, Their sordid aims can leaven, As one should turn to fiery glares God's rainbows out of heaven ! ±L3 1 When wicked, in their power secure, God's justice seem t' arraign ! Were it not weakness to endure ? Dishonor to refrain ? Like songs in storms, the calm command Still sounds, " Fret not thy soul, Nor wrath nor envy understand The mystery of the whole." I Why should the stately oak complain That grass hath earlier spring, When centuries yet of sun and rain Will hail the forest king ? For it will through long summers hide The woodland songsters blithe, When the frail grasses at its side Have fallen by the scythe. Wherefore all helpless angers curb, All murmuring envies still : " The wicked," like the blasted herb, " Shall wither" when He will. 12 11-4 SABBATH CHIMES. Large charity will lift thee soon To breathe diviner air, "Where flowers, as of an endless June, The Beulah-jrardens bear. ~ Delight in God shall make thee spread Such influence through thy gloom, As when some hidden violets shed Their riches of perfume. " Commit thou all thy way to God," Then let the slanderers bark ; He brings it forth, who flings abroad The noontide from the dark. The gem which decks some royal hand In darkness was impearled ; And thou canst wait, that thou may'st stand God's own before the world. Trittitij. X VI. "Wc know all things work together for good to them that love God. —Romans viii, 28. AITH speaks, while sense is dumb and sad, Of all life's strange confusions weary, Dreading, though fireside eves are glad, i*HV* Lest following morns break cold and dreary ; But Faith, with prescient vision blest, Paints shining morrows in the West. All nature longs to be assured ; Suspense is torture to the feeling; The deadliest ill can be endured If trouble be not past annealing ; And faith, like some alchemist old, Can turn base metals into gold. And God hath said, " To loving souls All things for good shall work together." From heart to heart the promise rolls ; As song-birds, 'mid the scented heather. From nest to nest the strain prolong, Till air is filled with balm and song. U.6 SABBATH CHI JIBS. 'Tis He hath said it, from whose hand Comes all this bounteous world's providing ; Whose love in equal grace hath planned A kingdom's or a sparrow's guiding ; Who marks the proud sun when he sets, And feeds the orphan ravenlets. And He can do whate'er he wills, The worlds are all his vassal-forces ; Each vast domain his influence fills, He binds the stars in lambent courses, And when the storm its wildest raves He speaks a silence on the waves. O not in vain doth He create Aught from his affluent love proceeding ; The meanest hath appointed state, If only for the mightiest's needing ; The meteor and the thunder-stone Have use and mission of their own. Christ hath not to his people sworn Blue heavens where summer glories sparkle, But foreheads crowned, like his, with thorn, And paths where shadowy winters darkle ; Yet ever hath the promise stood, " All things together work for good." tt|tHH*NH SABBATH CniJfES. 117 And blessedness is highest life ; When God's will all our will absorbcth ; As stars which braved the midnight strife Die when the glorious morning orbeth ; And when we feel, "mid throat'ning harms, The clasp of his encircling arms. Faith ! rest thou here, whate'er befall : The blighted hope ; the serpent-slander ; The plague-swept household ; or the call O'er the returnless waves to wander. The fires which kindle sevenfold But bum the dross to prove the gold. s ^ • *£* : ^-.^.^ H*^ — '■— v — 5 SABBATH CHIMES. VII. Is any among yon afflicted ? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. — Jakkb v. 13. 7 AXD in hand through all our ways Jot and sorrow travel. ^ Making life a tangled maze TTe niav not unravel : E'er at work to build or mar. Like unsocial twins they are. Wreathing smile, or striking scar. Fleet of foot and wide of range. On each trav'ler goeth : Like experience of change Every spirit knoweth : Whisper soft, or brawling loud. Zephyr sometimes, sometimes cloud Here the bridal — there the shroud. Warp and woof of many threads Time is always weaving ; Tear to year he sternly weds. Heedless of our grieving ; Blending, in his ceaseless loom. Joy's bright crimson to illume Sable shades of doubt and doom. SABBATH CHIMES. 119 When the sorrow blights our good, Do -we chafe — repining ? Or discern, 'neath cloak and hood, Angel form outshining ? Swell our hearts as swells the tide ? Do we in locked chambers hide Serpent craft or lion pride ? When joy's summer glories smite Do they bless or blind us ? Doth the pure celestial light Proud or thankful find us ? Doth some brief delirium dupe ? Brief as dew in flower-cup, Which the hot world drinketh up ? Blest to whom God shows his grace Hallowing all their trouble ! Those to whom his lifted face Makes their gladness double ! Commerce with the skies can teach Gospels beyond common reach — Blessedness too rare for speech. Nature in her worst imrest Spoken sorrow beareth, And when grief is unexpressed Only then despaireth ; Hearts will break which cannot weep ; Tears repressed from eyelids keep All the happy dews of sleep. ^^^^*^ : ^^>^ I t 120 SABBATH CHIMES. Winds, which whisper to the woods. Joyous hearts resemble ; They would fain in gladdest moods Into language tremble ; One can never quite rejoice ; "Without some dear answering voice Eden hath not half its joys. Hearts which glow, and hearts which bleed, God for each one careth ; Outlet for their strongest need He for each prepareth ; In restraint no longer pent ; Joy in bursts of song hath vent ; Sorrow prays, and is content. O for hearts of liner tone Help of Heaven to borrow ! Be our joys in praises shown, And in prayer our sorrow : Till, like priests for service stoled, Awed as radiant clouds unfold, We shall God himself behold. I • •=.-, I ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^-^^H^^e^ SABBATH CHIMES. 121 i I Trimtij. VIII. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall hless thee. Psalm cxlv, 10. ?"'<#*: HEN art has grasped some graceful dream, The artificer's fame is fed ; Mid blaze of song some ling'ring gleam Will play around the poet's head. As by rare skill, or rarer gift, Men their own meaner glories raise, Ceaseless the worlds of God uplift Their homage of perpetual praise. * One chant of life and beauty thrills From wilding fern and stately tree ; 'Tis thundered from the solemn hills, And answered by th' exulting sea. Upland the brooklet's music floats, Each flower-cup bending to the tune ; The woodlands from a hundred throats Hymn praise beneath the list'ning moon. The countless stars which light the dark, Tribes that with life the greensward leaven, The air which vibrates, while the lark Warbles of summer and of heaven ; 13 12% SABBATH CHIMES. Each pulse of light, each wave of sound, Each foresight shrewd, each wise design, All swell, to the world's utmost bound, Praise to the forming Hand Divine. Yet is it all unconscious praise, Struck from their nature, not from them ; As some old summer's buried rays Flash in a monarch's diadem. Strong laws material forces bind, As captives held in prison bars ; The rev'rence of one baby-mind Is nobler than a million stars, While fast the heedless seasons roll, Nor know the truths which they express, All nature " praises," — but the soul Of man — God's image — fain would bless ! Not like insensate nature, dumb Or tuneless, we our tribute pour : O priceless privilege ! We may come, And "bless" the God whom we adore ! 1 Talk of his goodness in the ways, And lean upon his gracious hand ; Intelligently speak his praise, And learn his love to understand. ^•#^=^M^^ SABBATH CHIMES. Blessing than praise is more. The heart Sends its quick love to prompt the tongue, And all its happy pulses start While the full spirit-psalm is sung. * Let Nature in her Lord rejoice, Harmonous worlds his praise proclaim ! We, with glad heart and willing voice, Will " bless " him for his newest Name. SABBATH CHIMES. Trimttf* IX. When he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the way-side watching : for his heart trembled for the ark of God. — 1 Samuel iv, 13. i tflTH sightless eyes and silver hair An old man watched and wept ; And vexed thoughts wand'ring into prayer Within him strove and crept. He watched, for now the warrior's plume Waves in the distant war ; And clash of arms, and sound of doom, Burden the breeze afar. t ! The way-side wand'rers paused to grieve For pain too large to share, All through the hours, till deep'ning eve, there. He still sat " watching " Watching," as those who wake till dawn Lest some dear sleep be stirred ; Distrustful, as some startled fawn, A strayling from the herd. i Sift' 4* 1 f ; l m 85 J f f J SABBATH CHUTES. 127 1 Restless, as he who dreams that death His argosy overwhelms ; Timid as hares, when evening's breath Murmurs 'mid stately elms. No truant thought averts the look Strained straight toward the field ; With one dread wish to read the book In mercy clasped and sealed. The book is read. The courier lips Are white with wrath of soul, That such poor wrecks of gallant ships On one lone strand should roll. The patriot bows, like shaken tent, 'Neath blast of dire disgrace ; The judge outpours his sore lament For Israel's evil case ; The father mourns the curse fulfilled, Long spoken by the Lord, And weeps o'er both his children, killed Beneath one cruel sword. Yet the strong soul bore nobly up L T ntil the heaviest stroke, " The ark is lost." This filled the cup And then the brave heart broke. ^^$$ I .t ; 1 1 ^ 12$ SABBATH CHIMES. There is great need for El is yet, As watchers through the dark, In perilous times of conflict set, To tremble for the ark. Its foes, with yaunt and valor proud, Bear it to Dagon's fane, And hymn their fancied triumph loud, AVith many a frantic strain; Its friends are faint when duty calls, And droop beneath their load ; And scorners on their temple walls Have carven, " Ichabod." And some have made the ark a shrine, And some have woven charms, That victory may espy the sign, And wait upon their arms. And some have sought for wizard gift, Like that unkingly Saul ; And some, stretched Uzzah-hands, to lift From an imagined fall. And some, with ostentatious tramp, To warning omens blind, Have ta'en the ark into the camp, But left its God behind. J SABBATH CHIMES. 1*9 Watch ! watch ! the subtle peril threats The freedom of the bride ; The foe, unweary, ne'er forgets His spirit-snares to hide. Woe worth the day when Christian work Is done by faithless hands ; In traitor's wile more dangers lurk Than in Philistine bands. The watchmen on the walls can guard While marshaled armies wait ; But vain are sleepless watch and ward, If treason opes the gate. I O for the strong-souled prophets, back Our craven souls to cheer ! Whose fear of God constrained the lack Of every meaner fear. To arms ! the martial shout prolong ; Unfurl the flag again ; Give battle to the false and wrong ; God needeth earnest men. 14 I 130 SABBATH CHIMES. Trimttj. x. When he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it.— Luke xix, 41. j/£g^LAJD welcomes float around, Palrn-branclies strew the ground ; f'^jftjog Palm-branches strew the ground ; "• \ Not only do the nameless few S -' — 1 Their plighted vows renew. Ten thousand hearts shed homage, like a summer dew. " Haste ! and your tribute bring ; Behold our promised King ! " Straight each to each the tidings tells, Till, like the joyous bells Which ring for bridals, through Jerusalem it swells. I There's trouble on his brow ; Why throb the heart-strings now ? Now, when the world's acclaim he hears, When seeming triumph nears, Why do those kind eyes sadden into rain of tears ? Not for himself oppressed, Though "marred" above the rest, No passion e'er in him rebelled ; His heart's fierce storm he quelled, As, by imperial law. old ocean's pride is held. '^^^#^=#^«^*#^-^^# i -*-^v SABBATH CHIMES. 131 It was no selfish woe Which bade his tears to flow ; But pity, when the glory fled From Sion's sacred head ; And sorrow, when he, mourning, gazed on Lazarus dead. Before him, as he passed, Slept the fair city, glassed In morning's mirror — clear and gray ; He saw th' advancing day When pomp of wall and tower in shapeless ruin lay. And, vision drearier far Than earth's sad ruins are, Souls which, in keenest wrath and scorn, Had him, the Christ, forsworn, He saw by headlong hate to hopeless ruin borne. " If thou hadst known, e'en thou," Ere night had come ; but now No more the day-star woos thine eyes With blush of orient skies ; 'Tis night, and on that night no morn shall ever rise. Still through the circling years Those matchless, pitiful tears Speak to us, — as the covenant sign, Whose light-braids God doth twine, Speaks in the heaven, — of love, which' blends with power divine. 1 J f 1 T f Egg* HiN '^ '^ 132 SABBATH CHIMES. " He wept " for our sore loss, The tears — before the cross ; Grief flowered into atoning deed, He gave himself to bleed That life from death might spring ; safety from direst need. His tears our weakness chide. " He wept ! " then we confidfe ; Distrust were fouler treason still Against that loving will, Which fain would clasp a world, and shield it from all ill. I X £ " He wept ! " then we should wail Our fellows' blight and ail ; Be Jesus our high pattern yet ! Then we shall ne'er forget He frankly canceled ours. Now ours to all the debt. f '^4^^4^sM^^^^4^^^^ SABBATH CHIMES. 18c XI. Two men went up into the temple to pray : the one a Pharisee and tho other a publican. — Lukl xviii, 10. ^ ITH brow upraised, as one who sees Ms peers, From some tall summit, dwarf to lesser size, * Free from all vulgar awe or feeble tears, Courting all eyes To gaze upon Ms eyes, alight with pride — Behold the Pharisee ! a statelier sort Of man, not made of clay, fit to abide In temple court, As his own heart assured him. Bound to thanks For duty done and life enjoyed, to God ; But not to wail o'er sin, like meaner ranks Of common clod. Proud as he passed, his eye's dilating globe Fell on a poor wretch crouching in the aisle, And, gathering up the fringes of his robe From chance defile, I Trimttj* * I i> 134- SABBATH CHI3IES. He to the altar strode with lordly scorn, And spoke his thanks to self and God again, For the rare privilege of not being born " As other men." Blind to the beauty of all high desire, Content with husks, not fruit, he clung to form, As one who blows white ashes of the fire, Saying, " I'm warm." f i With eyes that sought the ground, and inly burned With that dry sorrow which is keenest pain ; Longing for tears, if but " the clouds returned After the rain ;" Crushed by the one large, deadly sense of sin, Fearing to look toward the holy place, Lest he should find nor cleft to shelter in, Nor smile of grace, Came the poor sinner to the place of prayer ; Not with the voice of some exulting psalm, But with dim, tremulous hope, which scarcely dare Expect its balm. The homeless, flying from the furious blast, Heeds not the passer-by, although a king ; So filled with grief, the scorn upon him cast Had lost its sting-. I f :?**-- SABBATH CHIMES. 125 No pomp of words the lab'ring silence broke ; Mutely the eye besought, the lips implored ; Then, passionate, the heart leaped forth and spoke, " Have mercy, Lord ! " And could no more ; for then a storm arose, Sweeping through all the chambers of the mind, As when through northern forests shrieks and blows The wintry wind. I And He, the highest, sat in heaven and heard The voice of both. For upward to his throne There rise alike the ostentatious word And under-tone Spoken in murmurs. Whether vaunted loud, Or held, like some shy secret in the mind, He answers each — the contrite and the proud- After their kind. To some — like Caiapkas and Herod — naught ; To some, the smoke and whirlwind, as to Cain ; To some, the whisper, which, inbreathed to thought, Can soothe its pain. " Who ask not have not." Why should men repine That He is jealous, and will reign alone ? Xor suffer us to rear an idol-shrine Beside His own ? V 136 SABBATH CHIMES. Who bows to self, of God hath small regard. His pride he "worships — let his pride befriend ; And " seen of men," of men he reaps reward Until the end. But when the sinners pour their anguished prayer, All heaven is hushed while God himself imparts, And " gathers up the fragments," to repair Their broken hearts. sk I I &^U ^^^^^^^/^ ,^(^««^*«&^^^^^^^^^:.; 1 SABBATH CHIMES. 137 Trimttj. XII. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever. — Psaxm cxxv, 2. j^tf CIRCLED as by angel bands, What should the chosen people fear ? While ever " round about " them stands, Through tempest shocks, in desert drear, The Lord their God, with gracious hands Uplift to bless and cheer. 1 The mountains round Jerusalem Their ceaseless vigil ne'er forget ; Yonder the hills of Moab gem The north with pink and violet ; Here, rich with many a stately stem, The Olive-mount is set. The city sleeps within the guard Thrown o'er her, as a sevenfold shield ; And such the loving watch and ward Which God hath on his children sealed ; An amulet — whose spell hath barred All perils earth can yield. 15 ^^s^^^^^^^ 128 SABBATH CHI JIBS. Whether afar they wander wide. Or nightly on his breast have leaned, No distance from his love can hide The souls that boundless love hath screened Safe, if they in his arms abide. From traitor or from fiend. Though we inconstant are. and frail, Our weakness he doth not upbraid ; But through the midnight hears the wail From frenzied hearts in anguish made ; And sendeth songs upon the gale To warble through the glade. For earth hath ne'er so lone a spot But litanies can freight the air ; The bosky woodland's secret grot Can charter an imploring prayer ; And e'en where trace of man is not. God bnildeth ternples there. Go where the arctic rigors freeze The hardy life-blood in the veins ; Or tempt the ire of treach'rous seas ; Or cross sirocco-haunted plains ; In heat, or frost, or storm, or breeze. The Lord our God remains. .^VjSr _.'=- = r*^=. - «= - " «ac i r ■^^^^.^^^k^^^^M SABBATH GRIMES. Trimttj. XVIII. Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be cf good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee. — Matthew ix, 2. r^HO will doubt that wishful mother Loves beyond all bribe or hire, i Though she gives some answer other Than her fretful child's desire ? Strongest love is farthest sighted, Sees the sun beyond the cloud, By a richer radiance lighted, With a subtler sense endowed. More than all our poor petitions Oft our Saviour loves to grant, But on heavenlier conditions Than our earth-bound longings want. We lament o'er strange denials ; Idle words of fruitless prayer ; Beaded in the golden vials, Christ has made them fragrant there. We in present sorrow languish, Gaze on heaven with eyelids dim, Ask relief from mortal anguish, Paining nerves or palsied limb ; w^^^^^^^^^k 1 SABBATH CHIMES. 159 But the Christ-eyes smile benignly, Seeing deeper needs within, And the Christ-lips speak divinely, Whisp'ring of forgiven sin. Healing this the deadlier cancer, Speaking all the spirit pure ; Were not here a nobler answer Than the shriveled flesh to cure ? All our litanies comprising, By new insight understood, 'Neath a seeming frown disguising, Brightest smile and chiefest good. Lord ! with humblest joy receiving All thy cleansing word can do ; Haply, while we lie, believing Thou wilt heal the palsy too ; Make the great salvation double, Pour on soul and flesh the balm, Loose the wailing heart from trouble, Fit it for the victor's palm. Teach our wayward souls reliance That thy will is always best, Though by stern and strange appliance Thou dost shape us for our rest. By thy grace we all inherit Power to bear the cross and shame ; Firm endurance ; martyr-spirit ; Singing saintly 'mid the flame. 1 ^r^^H^i 160 SABBATH CHIMES. When amid life's broken sleeping Troubled visions o'er us roll, And there break out floods of weeping From the " great deep " of the soul ; Let our faith, in thee confiding, Trust that thou wilt heal and save ; Till, contented in thy guiding, We shall pass the conquered grave. 4 I SABBATH CHIMES. 161 Trmittju XIX. "Why stand ye here all the day Idle ? — Matthew xx, 6. <£ ^^^^WO fields for toil — the outer and the inner, % lijft Both overgrown with weeds ; ^f§Pl Who to the labor hastes, to be the winner % Of all the laborer's meeds ? To bathe in radiant mornings, daily spreading Over the heavens anew ; To sit 'neath trees of life, forever shedding Their bounteous honey-dew. To rouse a spirit, formed for God, from slumber, And robe it for the light ; The heirs of heaven from clay to disencumber, Which clogs their upward flight. To lift a world, 'neath sin and sorrow lying, And " pour in oil and wine ;" To warble, in the dulled ears of the dying, Refrains of hymns divine. Work for a lifetime, in each path up-springing, In low or lofty spheres ! Hark to the Master's summons, always ringing In quick and heedless ears ! 18 162 SABBATH CHI ME S. Cool brain, strong sinew, heart with love o'erflowing, Shall all in sloth escape I Like vine, which, fruitless through its wanton growing, Ne'er purples into grape ! The daylight wanes and dies — "Why stand ye idle ?'' Life hasteth to its bourne ! The bridegroom tarries — will ye greet the bridal, Or in the darkness mourn ? Lo ! in the fields the yellow harvest drooping, As lilies in the rain ; Where are the reapers, that they come not, trooping, To gather in the grain \ Some, in the festive hall disporting gaily; On slothful pillow, some ; Some, in delays most blameful, and yet daily Exclaiming, "Lo. I come." And some, infatuate, 'mid the alien's scoffing. Quarrel about their toil ; As wreckers, when ships founder in the offing, Grow murderous over spoil. Meanwhile the harvest waiteth for the reaping, God's patience hath not tired. Ye cannot say — extenuate of your sleeping — " We wait, for none hath hired." Through the hushed noon-tide hour the Master ealleth ; Ye cannot choose but hear; Still sounding when the lengthning shadow falleth, " Why stand ye idle here :" Up ! for a while the pitying glory lingers ! "Work while it yet is day ! Then rest the Sabbath rest — where angel-singers Make melody for aye. 1 J ^jfe—...^.^, _._.«,._ 16-4 SABBATH CHIMES. Tvtmty* xx. Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. — Jonx xi, 32. ^MJJZ E cometh not, although we sent him tidings Soon as around our hearts the darkness grew, "~~-~ He, whom till now, not love, though prone to chidings, Could deem untrue. " Ah me ; our eyes were weary with their straining, To see him traversing the olived slope ; Died, one by one, out of hearts bruised and paining, Hope after hope. "And through the leaden hours we watched him fading, With whom the sun and stars went from the day ; Till, spite of tears, and tenderest upbraiding, He slept away. " Now this poor swept home does but mock the other, Where the kind lightnings played from side to side ; ' Ah, Lord ; if thou hadst but been here, our brother Would not have died ! ' '" >$^^^^^«$^ SABBATH CHIMES. 165 I Strikes on the ear and heart that Jesus nears ; How at the sound each wild resentful humor Dissolves in tears ! He comes too late ! the loved one hath departed ; The covetous grave hath opened for its own ; Loud is the wailing of the broken-hearted Above the stone. " Take ye away the stone." It will encumber The living in his passage from the dead. The sleeper rose, cast off his desert slumber, And left his bed. Vain is the tomb's embrace, the spoiler's malice, To him who drank himself the bitter cup ; He speaks — the life-wine mantleth in the chalice, And brimmeth up. " Not unto death, but for the Father's glory." Through the hushed world the purpose is complete, For they who mourned, and we who read the story, Bow at his feet. Dear human Friend, who wept before his praying, Such tears as fall from our own weary eyes ! But through those tears there shone the Godhead, saying, " Lazarus, arise ! " iiM^^^ #* § • U66 SABBATH CHIMES. Restored again to the deep joy of being. How the fond heart with love is ne'er suffic •• The eye is " never " satisfied with seeing'' The face of Christ And all the soul bends forth, entranced, to listen AVhile grace and truth come sparkling in each word ; As on the spray the morning dewdrops glisten For bee or bird. What wonder Love's sweet incense shed around him Her wealth of spikenard — in libation poured ! "What wonder Faith, with loyal reverence, crowned him Her God and Lord '. He loves the human yet. with love undying. And stills heaven's music while he leaves his throne, From even* charnel where our love is lying To roll the stone. SA BBA TIT CHIMES. 167 Trinity XXI. Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? until seven times? — Matthew xviii, 21. ^jTTH large, round wonder in their eyes, As children guess their onward way, b Awaking to some new surprise Of thought and being, day by day, So the meek souls at Jesus' feet Left all their narrow spheres behind ; And sat, and learned, in converse sweet, Which charmed, the while it cleared, the mind. I Already many a film has gone Which vailed the Heavenly from their view And, as the healing power works on, The man looms broader than the Jew. " How often, Lord, dost thou require Forgiveness to transgressors shown Till seven times shall the coals of fire Upon the thankless heart be thrown ? " i SABBATH CHIMES. Strong was the soul, and firm the hand, Which grasped a virtue great as this, In those stern times, when no command Had taught that love was strength and bliss. But as the pilgrim, wil'd'ring, dwells And lingers o'er some purpled scene, Where sunlight streams through bosky dells, On ivied cliffs, in deep ravine ; Yet feels the thoughts enkindled are, Like wordless music, sweet but dim, — So sweet, they bear his soul afar, So vague, he cannot catch the hymn ; — Thus fear and joy, when Jesus saith, ' ; Not for the seventh, but endless time," Blend in the prayer, " Increase our faith To scope and stature so sublime." ). O for the heaven-imparted might The true God-likeness to express ! The man, when smitten, turns to smite The God, offended, bends to bless. 1 The sun shines, though is rendered back No gratitude of flowers and balms ; The rain, e'en on the simoon-track, Can find some lovely isle of palms. ^^^^^^.^^^^i^^u^^i iTfi^Q- w ^ SABBATH CHUTES. " Seventy times seven" — wider flow The ripples of the Gospel-wave, Till it embrace thy friend, thy foe, The worst thou hast this side the grave. Though he be thankless, cruel, cold ; By long pain hardened not to feel ; In crime all prematurely old ; A viper, stinging mercy's heel ; Though fortune's gifts and manhood's crowns Into the dust his rage hath hurled ; Though charity hath naught but frowns To give this orphan of a world ; 169 3 1 Yet if he contrite weep, and burn With long desire to be forgiven, Thine enemy thou shalt not spurn, Thou, for whom Christ hath purchased heaven. For from the cross, and from the throne, Where once He died, where now he lives, The Saviour whispers to his own, " Who much is pardoned, much forgives." 19 170 8 A BBA Til CHIMES. XXII. Te are come unto Mount Zion . . . and to the spirits of just men made perfect. — Hebrews xii, 22, 23. (f x THERE are times of saddest shrift For these poor hearts of ours ! When weeping for some vanished gift, J^y** v Whose loss seemed from our earth to lift The sunshine and the flowers ; When rustle round the heart dead leaves From olden autumn strown : And pensive memory sits and weaves Crowns out of faded flowers, and grieves . Those dear ones — yonder flown. Who says that death can conquer love ? Thoughts of the treasured past Come darkening all the years above ; As, with the olive leaf, the dove Sped homeward through the blast. Each fond remembrance, ling'ring stays. Green as the grass on graves ; The ancient looks, the winsome ways. The wealth of love more sweet than praise ; These memory hides and saves. Sw* S ' XCOXSCIOUS sowers, scattering seed, We sow for harvests of a future reaping. O, solemn life ! in every deed Yielding some secrets for the Judge's keeping, Which years will reproduce For sorrow or for use. Close are the subtle links which bind This life to that to which its fleeting hasteth ; Our nature is for both designed, And each fair joy th' exulting spirit tasteth Is from that God who fills The rock's wild heart with rills. And this poor world is full of joys When light immortal rests on it benignly, And the man's heart within the boy's Longs for those glorious morns, which break divinely, And turns to eastern skies With bliss of upward eyes. & 74 SABBATH CHIME*. But who shall make our nature meet For such great heirship ? — ours — who hoard the treasure The vain world flmgeth at our feet. Or woo, neath gay festoons, some fickle pleasure. Or, with obsequious plumes Cover the prophets* tombs ? "lis he. the Father, whose rich love Hath changed the heart, to new desires awaking. And shaped it for its home above ; The vagrant dream into the heavenly breaking ; Till all the sloth and sin Yield to his discipline. The Father doth not trust his own — So loved, so yearned for — to the careless stranger ; Xor may kind angel leave his throne, Who feels the bliss, but has not felt the danger. The Father's chastening mild Alone can win the child. It may be that the strength was shorn. The pride of manhood humbled prematurely ; But from the feebleness was born The true God-likeness in the spirit surely. Then be the loud heart mute ! Autumn hath richest fruit. l^f^NH^^^^^^^H^^^H^ •■- 6' A BBA Til C H I2IE S. 175 Haply, the timid spirit leant On others, as a staff, — those wise and kind ones, To whom, of right, the rev'rence went ; As though, so led, the steps could ne'er be blind onc^. The staff broke ; and, o'erthrown, We rose, and walked alone. Our heart, like summer-tendril, clings To earth, replete with sacramental graces ; Death breathes upon our lovely things ; The friend, the child, look down with angel-faces ; Then we uplift the cry, " Give peace, and let us die." Thou knowest always what is best, Our souls, down-lying on loved earth, to gather ; Perfect this meetness in our breast ; We will lie still, and give thee thanks, O Father ! Till, with the ransomed throng, Life flowers into sonjj. ■#*Mh$ s **^Mh^^Jt >"- 176 SABBATH HI MB 8. t Trinity;. XXIV. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, "Will ye also go away ? Then Simon Peter answered him. Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. — -Ions vl 67. 63. 0! " OME faithless hearts have fled : They could not bear the pureness, or the scorning, And went away, as from among the dead Foul things of darkness go when breaketh morning. " And will ye leave me too ? On whom my love hath lighted, with long yearning Of tenderest grace and truth, such as the dew Hath for the flowers it cools 'mid tropic burning ? " Ye, whom I loved to teach, Familiar things for heavenly symbols taking, Clothing all nature with diviner speech ; Will ye go, like the world, your Lord forsaking ? " We bow 'neath Thy rebuke. As children, grieved at some kind mother's chiding. Who see her love come flashing through her look, As suns through mist — more welcome for the hiding. SABBATH CHIMES. Ah ! whither can we go ? (Dismayed and startled, as by sudden thunder ;) Who but thyself can " life eternal " show ? We ask, bewildered in our grief and wonder. 177 I J We must some refuge find : The human cannot waste its life in sighing, Nor gaze upon the sun till smitten blind, Nor ever ask, where all forbears replying. Great nature hath no balms ; O'erarching skies sound forth no glad evangel ; And misereres mingle with the psalms The tired earth singeth to her pitying angel. W. Denials cannot change That dread unknown which lies beyond our seeing ? God hath united ; we may not estrange This dying life and that eternal being. Death comes — but what beyond ? Some Stygian shore ? some weird-like rest or roaming \ Or is it home, where welcomes warm and fond Glance through the lattice, and light up the gloaming ' f O life ! eternal life ! Prize of the bounding spirit's vast ambition ; Hail to the warrior's doom or martyr's strife, If we mav hope for this enrapturing vision ! 20 SW^ 17 & SABBATH CHIMES. To whom shall we repair ? Mute are the oracles — the olden sages Mock with their dumb lips our imploring prayer, Which, answerless, moans downward through the ages. No light ! no rest below ! Our hearts are weary, and our voices falter ; Ah whither shall our anguished spirits go ? Lord ! be thy love our plea — thy cross our altar ! All, all we want are thine ! Greek beauty, Roman rev'rence, in thee blended, And nature glows into a holy shrine ; And form is spirit's robe — and doubt is ended. We seek no other rest ; But as the swan smoothes down her ruffled pinion In the wave-mirror of the lakelet's breast, We, blest and calm, repose in thy dominion. % ■ f The truth of all we see Speaks from thy lips — all discords reconciling ; Jesus, our Lord ! we pray, we cling to thee, Stoop from thy throne, and bless us with thy smilin< That smile were present heaven Let down upon the soul, no longer lonely, All darkness banished if thyself be given ; We see, need, long for naught — save " Jesus only." m T SABBATH CHTUES. 179 Trinity;. xxv. It shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remain- eth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone that is written among the living in Jerusalem : when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. — Isaiah iv, 3, 4. pfj'HILE fast the darkling year decays, And speed our hurrying moments on, ~ -^ Shall not the ancient symbols blaze, - - , In blessing, on our guarded ways, Till from the desert gone ? 1 f Or must we rise to holy deed, Ere in our van the cloud will go Through each wild waste our steps to lead ' Or ere shall shine, for nightly need, The mystic pillar's glow ? Then, Lord, each wishful heart prepare Thy promised presence soon to win ; Nor e'en thy sharper trials spare : "We will or sword or burning bear, So we be purged of sin. 180 SABBATH CHIMES. 'Twere easy, 'mid the battle's blast, To front the foe without dismay, When music plays, and friends stand fast ; — But, when on lonelier warfare cast, 'Tis harder to obey. To pine aloof, 'mid victories won — To lose the guerdon, dearly prized — The work, we longed to compass, done, Accomplished by some meaner one Whose aid our strength despised- m To be content in hermit cells, Nor murmur in our helpless thrall, While from the warrior bosom swells The pride in which all valor dwells, And sounds the bugle-call — To work, like lightnings on the dark, And leave no trace, nor memory long, No friend to bid the world to hark Its newest teacher ; none to mark, Or set our names in song- To sit while stealthy slander tears, As children rags, our good repute, Until we breathe in poisoned airs, And know no healing, save in prayers, Yet be sublimely mute — *** SABBATH CHIMES. 181 To feel that all our cherished joys, And luxuries of happy tears. Are gone, like a forgotten voice, Or like an inftint's broken toys, Wrecks of the golden years — Ay. these are heights of faith and hope To which but few have strength to climb And those who earthward delve and grope Are faint of heart and limb to cope "With such a toil sublime. O for the power these heights to scale, These Xebos of the prophet's fate. Where airs from heaven are on the gale, And from the crest, without a vail. We see the jasper gate ! For this, until the haggard morn. We wrestle in unequal strife ; And when with our long labor worn. In Peniel-strength we h lift the horn," Like athletes, crowned for life- it For this — all welcome pain and loss, If through their pangs Thy presence came ! Be ours the baptism of the cross ! If else Ave may not lose the dross, Enkindle Thou the flame ! — ,; 182 SABBATH CHIMES. \ But that the tire ma}- surely burn All sordid, sensual thought away. Lord ! by the furnace watch, and yearn, Till from the silver's heart return Thine image, bright as day. O teach us lowly to remain, Without one murmur at thy feet ; Nor of the heaviest cross complain, Till thou each docile spirit train Into thy will complete ! MH& . S ABB AT H C H IMF & 181 'i'riiiitij. XXVI. And he brought him to JeEus. — John i. 42. >* HI.. sjsHERE is a love defies the years To loose its clasp, or quench its fire : \ love which peril more endears. Like flames which blaze in tempests higher. A love which bears its steadfast part The readiest when "tis needed most. And shows alike its brother-heart "Mid sneers of blame and smiles of boast. And when one soul, of truth in quest. S