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And methought as I looked on her fair young face,
Beaming with beauty and truth and grace,
How cold and heartless the world must be,
That could sully such spotless purity!

Years rolled by: in her maiden pride
She stood, a gentle and trusting bride-
How beautiful still! though a softening shade
O'er the dazzling hue of that beauty played,
While the tender glance of her soft blue eye
Told of a love that could not die :

And I prayed as I gazed on her placid brow,
Pure as a wreath of new-fallen snow,
That sorrow, the sorrow that comes to all,
Lightly and gently on her might fall.

Again I saw her: Time had been there,
Tipping with silver her golden hair;

He had breathed on her cheek, and its rosy hue
Was gone, but her heart was pure and true,
As when first I met her a budding flower,
Or a gentle maid in her bridal hour.

As mother and wife she had borne her part,
With the faith and hope of a loving heart;
And now when nature, with years opprest,
Looks and longs for her quiet rest,
With holy trust in her Father's love,
Awaiting a summons from above,
She lingers with us, as if to show
To the faint and weary ones below,
How oft to the faithful soul 'tis given
To taste on earth of the joys of heaven.

MARGARET L. BAILEY.

This shall my Employment be. MAN is a busy thing, and he

Will deal in all sorts of affairs,
Weighty and trivial; each may be,
The subject of his greatest cares:
But this shall my employment be,
Still to be busied, Lord, with thee.
Some are all spirit, and will fly
At nothing lower than a throne;
The proudest spires of dignity

They, in their hopes, have made their own;
But this shall my employment be,

To seek my honour all from thee.

Some that are sprung from coarser clay
Adore a paint-disguised face,

And daily their devotion pay
To spotted beasts, or else as base:
But this shall my employment be,
Duly to serve and wait on thee.

Some so enhance the price of gold,
They judge their souls to be but dross;
And are so saving, that they hold
The air, the breath, a mighty loss:
But this shall my employment be,
I will love nothing like to thee.

Some are so loyal to the book
Till they can criticise, and tell
How
many steps old Time has took
Since our great father Adam fell :

But this shall my employment be,
Better to know myself and thee.

ΑΝΟΝ.

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The Lighting of the Lamps.
NOW the stars are lit in heaven,

We must light our lamps on earth :
Every star a signal given

From the God of our new birth :
Every lamp an answer faint,

Like the prayer of mortal Saint.

Mark the hour and turn this way,
Sons of Israel, far and near!
Wearied with the World's dim day,
Turn to Him whose eyes are here,
Open, watching day and night,
Beaming unapproached light!

With sweet oil-drops in His hour
Feed the branch of many lights,
Token of protecting power,

Pledg'd to faithful Israelites,
Emblem of the anointed Home,
When the glory deigns to come.
Watchers of the sacred flame,

Sons of Aaron! serve in fear,-
Deadly is th' avenger's aim,

Should th' unhallowed enter here;
Keen His fires, should recreants dare
Breathe the pure and fragrant air.

There is One will bless your toil-
He who comes in Heaven's attire,
Morn by morn, with holy oil;

Eve by eve, with holy fire!
Pray!-your prayer will be allowed,
Mingling with His incense cloud!

ANON.

The Royal Offspring of a Second Birth.

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O now the soul's sublimed, her sour desires Are recalcined in heaven's well tempered fires;

The heart restored, and purged from drossy nature,

Now finds the freedom of a new-born creature;
It lives another life, it breathes new breath,
It neither fears nor feels the sting of death.
Like as the idle vagrant, (having none,)
That bold adopts each house he views his own,
Makes every purse his chequer, and at pleasure,
Walks forth and taxes all the world like Cæsar;
At length, by virtue of a just command,
His sides are lent to a severer hand;
Whereon his pass, not fully understood,
Is taxed in a manuscript of blood;

Thus passed from town to town, until he come,
A sore repentant to his native home:
E'en so the rambling heart, that idly roves
From crimes to sin, and uncontrolled, removes

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From lust to lust, when wanton flesh invites,
From old worn pleasures, to new choice delights,
At length, corrected by the filial rod

Of his offended, and his gracious God,

And lashed from sins to sighs, and by degrees
From sighs to vows, from vows to bended knees;
From bended knees, to a true pensive breast;
From thence to torments, not by tongues exprest,
Returns; and (from his sinful self exiled,)
Finds a glad Father; He, a welcome child :
Oh! then it lives! Oh! then it lives involved
In secret raptures; pants to be dissolved:
The royal offspring of a second birth,
Sets ope to heaven, and shuts the door to earth.
If love-sick Jove commanded clouds should hap
To rain such showers as quickened Danae's lap;
Or dogs, (far kinder than their purple master,)
Should lick his sores, he laughs nor weeps the
faster.

If earth, heaven's rival, dart her idle ray,

To heaven 'tis wax, and to the world 'tis clay.
If earth present delights, it scorns to draw;
But like the jet unrubbed, disdains that straw;
No hope deceives it, and no doubt divides it,
No grief disturbs it, and no error guides it,
No good contemns it, and no virtue blames it,
No guilt condemns it, and no folly shames it,
No sloth besots it, and no lust enthrals it,
No scorn afflicts it, and no passion galls it;
It is a carcanet of immortal life,

An ark of peace, the lists of sacred strife,

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