Ir was a summer night,
And I looked upon the sky,
When suddenly a light

Flashed in its splendour by.
I watched the red flash pass
On its shining path of flame,
And a wish rose in my heart,

That mine might be the same. It left its native sky,

And when it touched the earth, There rose a pillar of fire,

As 'twere a spirit's birth; And stronger grew my wish, Till as I passed next day, Where fell that radiant light, But blackened ashes lay;

The forest oak was sear,

The grass had lost its green: Reproof!-how could I wish

Such course for me had been?

2

It was one summer night,
I sailed on the wide sea far,
And our pilot and our hope

Was the gleam of one pale star.
It had risen unmarked, what time
The red sun touched the brine ;
But a thousand rich clouds shone,
And it won no gaze of mine.
Now eve after eve I watched

That sweet star's guiding light ; And my heart learnt a meeker lesson From the quiet presence of night; And such, I said, be my fateA calm and a lowly one, But passed in blessing and peace, As that fair star has done. Oh! what is the brightest hour That ever to earth was given, To the beauty of that mild light, Which is direct from heaven!

MESSIAH'S ADVENT.

"He came unto his own, and his own received him not."

ST. JOHN i. 11.

He came not in his people's day

Of miracle and might,

When awe-struck nations owned their sway,

And conquest crowned each fight;-
When Nature's self with wonder saw
Her ancient power, her boasted law,
To feeble man give way—

The elements of earth and heaven,
For Israel stayed-for Judah riven !

Pillar and cloud Jehovah gave,
High emblems of his grace ;

And clave the rock, and smote the wave,
Moved mountains from their place ;--
But judgment was with mercy blent-
In thunder was the promise sent-
Fierce lightning veiled his face;
The jealous God-the burning law-
Were all the chosen people saw.

Behold them-pilgrim tribes no more—
The promised land their own;
And blessings theirs of sea and shore,
To other realms unknown:

From age to age a favoured line

Of mighty kings, and seers divine,

A temple and a throne :

Not then, but in their hour of shame,

Woe, want, and weakness-then "He came.”

Not in the earthquake's rending force,

Not in the blasting fire,

Not in the strong wind's rushing course,
Came He, their soul's desire!
Forerunners of his coming these,
Proclaiming over earth and seas,

As GOD, his might and ire :

The still, small voice-the hovering dove,
Proved him Messiah-spoke him "Love !"

Of life the way, of light the spring
Eternal, undefiled;

Redeemer, Prophet, Priest, and King

Yet came he as a child!

And Zion's favoured eye grown dim,

Knew not her promised Lord in Him,

The lowly and the mild!

She saw the manger, and the tree,
And scornful cried-" Can this be He!"

M.

TIME SHALL PASS AWAY.

BY JAMES EDMESTON.

"And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by Him who liveth for ever and ever, and who created heaven and the things which therein are, and the earth and the things which therein are, and the sea and the things which are therein, that there should be TIME no longer.”

REV. X. 5, 6.

MORE awful than the rushing of those wings

Which in one night the pride of Egypt slew;
More awful than the voice which burst the springs
Of hidden waters, when the tempest blew,
And black clouds, like a funeral pall, were spread
Over a world of dying and of dead.

TIME!-what a word is that! It comprehends
All we have ever known, or can conceive→→→
Possessions, passions, relatives, and friends,

And all the feelings and the things which weave
The web of consciousness-these shall be past,
Changed, and for ever, for that one loud blast
Shall shut up all! Time shall no longer be,
But henceforth measureless eternity!