XXV.

"There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts, iv. 12.

NATURE'S defect, the ground-work of our woe,
Shadowed in all religions grandly forth,

We find

from the rude Sagas of the north, To the high visions bright with India's glow. This, then, as knowledge which ourselves do know Too sadly this is not the boon to earth

Which makes the Bible so divinely worth,
Or Thou didst come, O Saviour, to bestow!
'Tis the dear love, that, pointing the disease,
Doth also whisper of the remedy;

'Tis the high gift of all that best agrees
With our soiled nature and its sovereign cry,
Forgiveness-restoration means to rise

Out of ourselves. And these Christ's Word alone supplies.

XXVI.

"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." St. Mark, ii. 27.

I LOVE thee, Day of God! If rather not

We christen thee, with Christ, the Day of Man!

And thee as offspring of our nature scan,

The very need and yearning of our lot
That, once in seven days, our toil forgot,

We rest; not only the tired artisan,

But all who keep our being's healthful plan,
Lest mind or body overstrained we blot.
When shall we learn that God for His own sake
Nothing commands? that arbitrary powers
Dwell not in Him? that all the gain is ours
When He an ordinance for man doth make:
Chief when He tells us that, one day in seven,
We need a foretaste of our rest in Heaven?

XXVII.

"Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free." Galatians, v. 1.

ARE we beneath the Law of Liberty,

Or old Judean bondage?

Has the Son

Of God in vain for us the chains undone
That bound us to our nature's slavery?
To pant and strive, yet never once be free;
To labor, as in dreams, at deeds begun
But never ended; all that fancy won
To see dissolved in airy vacancy

Is this to last for ever? Shame, oh shame!
So much of beauty that we will not seize
Upbraids us. When, as now, our thwarted aim
Turns back God's remedies to our disease
Again - when broken is the loveliest charm

Of all our toiling days when Sabbaths harm!

XXVIII.

"Which of you shall have an ass, or an ox, fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day?" St. Luke, xiv. 5.

WISDOM profound! But do we know it yet!
Alas, beneath our dread of Sabbath-works
Of love and need, a dread deception lurks,
And makes a mischief of a benefit!

What would Christ say, if now His feet were set
Again on earth? He, who from mercy's debt,
Ev'n to an ox or ass, absolved not man

By Sabbath-law? How would He clear His plan
Unto our eyes? now, when our hearts forget

All that we owe our fellow-beings

Love,

And care for all ; - Love, that all care bestows
That none shall suffer by a day's repose,

And setteth human welfare far above
The pre-conceived notions we can bring
To force God's Book to our interpreting.

XXIX.

"It pleased the Father by him to reconcile all things unto himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven." Colossians, i. 19, 20.

WHERE spreads not Thy dominion, Saviour dear?
Where is not Thy salvation's glory thrown?

In heaven Thou wert — to earth Thou camest downHell was dissolved before Thee. The vast tear

Of all creation Thou away didst clear,
And turn to music the tremendous groan
And travail of the birth that's laid upon
Whatever is not God! . . Thrilled out of fear,
The air by Thee was touched with rapture's glow!
At the brightness of Thy presence Earth did move
Her burthens to cast off- and put on love!

The sea saw that, and fled from her deep woe.

Heaven laughed, and glittered, as if fresh with morn ; God gave a glorious smile

and Hope was born!

XXX.

"Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God." Ephesians, iv. 30.

EARTH'S giants, to be strong, must touch the Earth,Heaven's children must grasp Heaven! Forfeit not The high prerogative of thy great lot,

Thou soul, that once hast ta'en from Christ thy birth!

Sensual delights not only will make dearth
Within thee; but thy tender God forgot

Will grieve, because thou form'st a thoughtless plot
To mar creation's end

thy joy and mirth.

Oh, say, what threatening of a wrath to come
Can move thee like thy own upbraiding heart
Whispering thou hast returned upon thy doom

To pierce thy Saviour with a newer dart.

Ingratitude! that word Heaven's self might dim! God means thee well-wilt thou mean ill to Him!

XXXI.

"Marvel not that I said, Ye must be born again." St. John, iii. 7.

BORN out of God, with pain and bitter tears,
Back unto God we must be born again,
Also with struggle and reluctant pain!
Our mortal days are types of greater years;
And all that to our body's eye appears
In this great universe of loss and gain
Shadows our inner life, and is a chain
That ever linketh us by hopes and fears
By Terror and by Trust - by Life and Death
With grandeur. All this world is but a womb
Unto another. As we draw our breath,
We weep as infants do when first they come
Into this orb. So strive we in our thirst

To drink Heaven's air, which pains us at the first.

XXXII.

His banner over me was love." Cant. ii. 4.

He who loves best knows most. Then why should I
Let my tired thoughts so far, so restless run,
In quest of knowledge underneath the sun,
Or round about the wide-encircling sky!
Nor earth nor heaven is read by scrutiny!
But touch me with a Saviour's love divine,
I pierce at once to wisdom's inner shrine,