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II.

Lord! Thou rememberest the night, when thy nation
Stood fronting her foe by the red-rolling stream;
On Egypt thy pillar frown'd dark desolation,
While Israel bask'd all the night in its beam.

III.

So, when the dread clouds of anger enfold Thee,
From us, in thy mercy, the dark side remove;
While shrouded in terrors the guilty behold Thee,
Oh! turn upon us the mild light of thy love!

1

WERE NOT THE SINFUL MARY'S TEARS.
AIR-Stevenson.

I.

WERE not the sinful Mary's tears
An offering worthy Heaven,
When o'er the faults of former years
She wept and was forgiven?

II.

When, bringing every balmy sweet
Her day of luxury stored,
She o'er her Saviour's hallow'd feet
The precious pèrfume pour'd ;—

III.

And wiped them with that golden hair,

Where once the diamond shone,

Though now those gems of grief were there
Which shine for God alone!

IV.

Were not those sweets, so humbly shed,-
That hair, those weeping eyes,
And the sunk heart, that inly bled,-
Heaven's noblest sacrifice?

1 "And it came between the came of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these." -Exod. xiv. 20. My application of this passage is borrowed from some late prose writer, whose name I am ungrateful enough to forget.

2 Instead of "On Egypt" here, it will suit the music better to sing "On these;" and in the third line of the next verse, "While shrouded" may, with the same view, be altered to "While wrapped."

V.

Thou, that hast slept in error's sleep,
Oh! wouldst thou wake in heaven,
Like Mary kneel, like Mary weep,

66

Love much," and be forgiven!

AS DOWN IN THE SUNLESS RETREATS.

AIR-Haydn.

I.

As down in the sunless retreats of the ocean,
Sweet flowers are springing no mortal can see,
So, deep in my soul the still prayer of devotion,
Unheard by the world, rises silent to Thee;
My God! silent to Thee;

Pure, warm, silent to Thee.

So, deep in my soul the still prayer of devotion,
Unheard by the world, rises silent to Thee!

II.

As still, to the Star of its Worship, though clouded,
The needle points faithfully o'er the dim sea,
So, dark as I roam, in this wintry world shrouded,
The hope of my spirit turns trembling to Thee;
My God! trembling to Thee;

True, fond, trembling to Thee!—

So, dark as I roam, in this wintry world shrouded,
The hope of my spirit turns trembling to Thee!

BUT WHO SHALL SEE.

AIR-Stevenson.

I.

BUT who shall see the glorious day,
When, throned on Zion's brow,
The Lord shall rend that veil away,
Which hides the nations now?"

"Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much."-St. Luke vii. 47.

2"And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations."-Isaiah xxv. 7.

When earth no more beneath the fear
Of His rebuke shall lie;1

When pain shall cease, and every tear
Be wiped from every eye!?

II.

Then, Judah! thou no more shalt mourn
Beneath the heathen's chain;

Thy days of splendour shall return,
And all be new again."-

The Fount of Life shall then be quaff'd,
In peace, by all who come,*
And every wind that blows shall waft
Some long-lost exile home!

ALMIGHTY GOD.

CHORUS OF PRIESTS.

AIR-Mozart.

I.

ALMIGHTY God! when round thy shrine
The palm-tree's heavenly branch we twine,5
(Emblem of life's eternal ray,

And love that "fadeth not away"):—
We bless the flowers, expanded all,
We bless the leaves that never fall,
And trembling say,-"In Eden thus
The Tree of Life may flower for us!"

1 "The rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth."Isaiah xxv. 8.

2. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; neither shall there be any more pain."-Rev. xxi. 4.

3And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new."Rev. xxi. 5.

4 "And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."-Rev. xxii. 17. 5The Scriptures having declared that the Temple of Jerusalem was a type of the Messiah, it is natural to conclude that the Palms, which made so conspicuous a figure in that structure, represented that Life and Immortality which were brought to light by the gospel."-Observations on the Palm as a Sacred Emblem, by W. Tighe.

6 "And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm-trees and open flowers."-1 Kings vi. 29.

II.

When round thy cherubs, smiling calm
Without their flames, we wreathe the palm,
O God! we feel the emblem true,-
Thy mercy is eternal too!

Those cherubs, with their smiling eyes,
That crown of palm which never dies,
Are but the types of Thee, above,-
Eternal Life and Peace and Love!

O FAIR!-O PUREST!
SAINT AUGUSTINE TO HIS SISTER.2
AIR-Moore.

I.

O FAIR! O purest! be thou the dove,
That flies alone to some sunny grove;
And lives unseen, and bathes her wing,
All vestal white, in the limpid spring.
There, if the hovering hawk be near,
That limpid spring in its mirror clear
Reflects him, ere he can reach his prey,
And warns the timorous bird away.
Oh! be like this dove;

O fair! O purest! be like this dove.

II.

The sacred pages of God's own Book
Shall be the spring, the eternal brook,
In whose holy mirror, night and day,
Thou wilt study heaven's reflected ray:-
And should the foes of virtue dare,
With gloomy wing to seek thee there,
Thou wilt see how dark their shadows lie
Between heaven and thee, and trembling fly!
Oh! be like the dove;

O fair! O purest! be like the dove.

1 "When the passover of the tabernacles was revealed to the great lawgiver in the Mount, then the cherubic images which appeared in that structure were no longer surrounded by flames; for the tabernacle was a type of the dispensation of mercy by which Jehovah confirmed his gracious covenant to redeem mankind." - Observations on the Palm.

2 In St. Augustine's treatise upon the advantages of a solitary life, addressed to his sister, there is the following fanciful passage, from which the reader will perceive the thought of this song was taken:-Te, soror, nunquam volo esse securam, sed timere semperque tuam fragilitatem habere suspectam, ad instar pavidæ columbæ frequentare vivos aquarum et quasi in speculo accipitris cernere supervolautis effigiem et cavere. Rivi aquarum sententiæ sunt scripturarum, quæ de limpidissimo sapientiæ fonte profluentes," &c., &c.-De Vit. Ere

mit. ad Sororem.

LALLA ROOKH.

In the eleventh year of the reign of Aurungzebe, Abdalla, King of the Lesser Bucharia, a lineal descendant from the Great Zingis, having abdicated the throne in favour of his son, set out on a pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Prophet; and, passing into India through the delightful valley of Cashmere, rested for a short time at Delhi on his way. He was entertained by Aurungzebe in a style of magnificent hospitality, worthy alike of the visitor and the host, and was afterwards escorted with the same splendour to Surat, where he embarked for Arabia. During the stay of the Royal Pilgrim at Delhi, a marriage was agreed upon between the Prince, his son, and the youngest daughter of the Emperor, Lalla Rookh;'-a princess described by the poets of her time, as more beautiful than Leila, Shirine, Dewildé, or any of those heroines whose names and loves embellish the songs of Persia and Hindostan. It was intended that the nuptials should be celebrated at Cashmere; where the young King, as soon as the cares of empire would permit, was to meet, for the first time, his lovely bride, and, after a few months' repose in that enchanting valley, conduct her over the snowy hills into Bucharia.

The day of Lalla Rookh's departure from Delhi was as splendid as sunshine and pageantry could make it. The bazaars and baths were all covered with the richest tapestry; hundreds of gilded barges upon the Jumna floated with their banners shining in the water; while through the streets groups of beautiful children went strewing the most delicious flowers around, as in that Persian festival called the Scattering of the Roses; till every part of the city 1 Tulip-cheek.

2

2 Gul Reazee.

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