"T WAS Sabbath morn. I crossed the dewy lawn
Which glittered as it were a bed of pearls.
The every wild-flower that I frequent met,
Breathed forth a bland perfume, as 't were incense
Offered unto the Lord. The little rill,

Descending from the neighboring sylvan heights
In wild meanderings, struck the notes of praise

In light reverberatory swells, as oft

The crystal waters plashed its pigmy banks.
The echoing carol of the birds, as 't were

The talisman of songs angelic, made

My heart-strings vibrate. Though in a strange land, Earth seemed to me a paradise. Nature,

In all the varied forms presented, sang

In strains of eloquence the praise of God.

Clad neatly, coming o'er the lea. Curious

To know the object of their mission, I

With quickened step, my course directed toward

The youthful throng. But ere I reached them, they

Had to the village school-house entered in,

Where they were wont to meet each Sabbath day, To learn the law of God and list the gospel.

I followed them. And as I entered in

Amid the solemn silence of the place,

A voice proclaimed out of the Book of God,
"Thy testimonies, Lord, are very sure :
Holiness thy house becomes forever."

The assembly knelt. The fervent prayer, as 't were
The priestly offering of the man of God,
Ascended in behalf of his sweet charge,

Who, with hands clasped, as if withheld from aught
Of earth, to grasp the horns of God's own altar,
And eyelids closed upon the things of time
Their mental eyes on views celestial fixed-
In accents simple yet devout, sent forth
A suitable response, "Amen, amen.”
Methought I heard a voice angelic say,
"Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for lo!
The place whereon thou stand'st is holy ground!

And then a heavenly order did pervade

The place, throughout the simple recital
Of God's own testimony of his Son,

"In him I am well pleased," (although Christ doth
Declare himself to be God's equal Son;
Such testimony is resistless, sure,
He is the very God!) Each little mind
Seemed to receive the impress of the truths
It uttered forth. The teachers' faces shone
With beams of holy cheerfulness. Their brows,
Haloed with glory to the Lord, whose sheen
Was there concentred from those infant minds
Betrayed hearts gladdened in a cause in which
Angelic interest ever on the alert

To note its progress, strikes up choruses,

Whose thrillings echo through Heaven's wide domain At every triumph;- e'en eternal Truth.

Then rose the strains of simple melody,

Whose thrilling power e'en touched my inmost soul. Methought I were transported e'en to Heaven.

But suddenly an angel's whisper warned,

"This is not Heaven. Know thou, O man! the bliss That waits the faithful of these worshippers,

In Heaven, is not conceived by man.

My lyre, submit to yet one gentle touch!—
The sun has sunk into his gorgeous couch;
The cricket now resumes its lonely trill;
The groves break forth with notes of whip-poor-will;
The leaves are well nigh falling from the trees;
And melancholy floats upon the breeze :—
O, quick resound thy joyful notes to soothe

My saddened soul, and let those notes be smooth.

O sweet, O sweet is the moon-lit retreat,
The cottage in the lawn;

Near to the grove at the lattice I love,

To list to the echoing horn.

And sweet, O sweet, where with dew-drops replete

The glittering woodbine grows,

To catch at the dawn a glimpse of the fawn,

As bounding forth he goes.

Yet sweeter still the perfumes that distill
From wild-flowers in the grove,

And the primroses bland in the lily hand
Of the fair one I love.

But sweetest of all when darkness doth fall
And mantle eve with night,

Is the soft retreat beside which I meet
The Fountain of all light!

"Tis here of the cares of earth and its snares

My soul doth Heaven divest ;

I seek pardoning love as it flows from above,
And gently sink to rest.

"Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.".

I knew him from his infancy; when scarce
He'd tasted of the atmosphere of earth,
Or glanced upon its witching vanities;
And when his loveliness was traced in looks
Of dimpled pleasantness, and in the flash
Of sympathy that marked each motion of
His deep-blue eye.

JESUS CHRIST

I knew him too when years

Of boyhood called out all those sympathies

Which infancy bespoke, and which would grace
Him of maturer years: when excellence,

In all its varied luxuriance,

Verged to perpetual blossoming; and when
The vigor of his intellect defied

All rivalry.

And when upon his brow

The years of manhood stole, he was my fellow.
I loved him. And I loved to mark the strong
And more than manly traits and lineaments
Of his expanded nobleness But oh !

The bold relief in which Christianity

Stood forth, emblazoned by the pure and bright
And growing emanations of his path,

This was his noblest feature: for, his was
A purer spirit, sanctified from birth,

And his example mirrored forth his Saviour's.
We trode the chequered path of life for years
Together but the providence of God
Called us to part, and plainly marked to each
His destination. But the road, in all

Its numerous meanderings, lay not

So plainly pencilled. Nor rose as yet did bloom, Nor thorn extort the rise of murmuring.

His was a harder lot.

But his pure spirit

Nothing daunted - drank the bitterest springs,
And quaffed the miasm of a host of foes
To God" dead in their trespasses and sins."
Foul calumny assailed him; and with art
Native to hell, threw barricades around
His spotless character. And he was doomed,
For time, to willing isolation for,

Another Lot, "he vexed his righteous soul
From day to day, with men's unlawful deeds."

In all his trials God forsook him not.

His cavern

his perpetual fane

was owned

Of God; and oft contained the mercy-cloud.

Its long stalactites dropped fresh blessings down;
And the prismatic tints that played upon
The spar, at every float and flickering

Of his lone taper, oft reminded him

Of ONE" that keepeth covenant,' nor forgets

To mingle mercy with the cup of woe.

He was the priest, and the wide world his people — His altar nature built his incense

prayers

From the pure censer of his soul went up

From day to day: and he dispensed the bread

Of life to thousands, who unwittingly

Received it at his hands: his dooms-men's chains