At length the boldest springs: but ere he cleave The flashing waters, eye and thought grow dim; Too rash it seems, the firm green earth to leave: Heaven is beneath him : shall he sink or swim? Far in boundless depth he sees The rushing clouds obey the gale, Oh mark him well, ye candidates of Heaven, Ye know not where :-His signal now is given, Once for all now seal your choice, With Christ to tread the boisterous sea." And dare we come ? since he, the trusted Saint, Who with one only shared the Lord's high love, Shrank from the tossing gale, and scarce with faint And feeble cry toward the Saviour strove. Bathing. Yes we answer the dread call, He will stay the frail heart's fall, His arm will onward, upward draw. 191 O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt? Shall in the Heavens remembered be, Faith the Three Denials sore O'erpaying with Confessions Three. Strange power of mighty Love! if Heaven allow Meeting her Lord, with cross and bleeding brow, And feel the cold waves for His sake ; All her giving of no worth, Yet, till she give, her heart will ache. *St. John xxi. 7. ENACTING HOLY RITES. "Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." THEY talk of wells in caverns deep, Whose waters run a wondrous race Far underground, and issuing keep Our floating tokens, bright or base. Those waves emerging far away, True to their fount, the likeness bear Of fancies nurtur'd many a day, How in the end their course they wear Into the light of Manhood free : The hidden soul breaks out, and we In careless mien, in careworn face, The long-forgotten Infant wondering trace. Enacting Holy Rites. 193 Oh, many a joyous mother's brow Is sadden'd o'er when sports are rife, But if a holier task engage His busy dream,—if clad in white She see him turn some hallow'd page, Dimly enact some awful rite, Then high beyond the loftiest Heaven And darker than the gloomiest deep The fears that in her boding bosom creep. She sees in heart an empty Throne, And falling, falling far away, Him whom the Lord had placed thereon : She hears the dread Proclaimer say, "Cast ye the lot, in trembling cast ;* Guide it towards some serious brow, His Creed rehearsing to the roar Or with a child's deep earnestness Showing his mates how Saints baptize and bless. * Acts i. "Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, on a certain day being in his own house, cast his eyes towards the sea, and seeing afar off boys playing on the shore, and enacting a Bishop and the customs of the Church, as long as he saw nothing too adventurous in their play, was pleased with what he saw, and amused himself with their doings. But when they touched even upon the Mysteries, he was troubled, and summoning the Clergy, made them observe the boys: whom having caused to be brought before him, he interrogated about their play, and the kind of things said and done therein;..and they informed him that Athanasius was their Bishop and director, and that he had baptized some of the lads who were unchristened. Of these Alexander made careful inquiry, what had been asked of them, or done to them, by him who was Priest in their game, and what they answered, and were taught to say. And finding that all the |