In kind ambush alway lying He besets thy bed and path, Christ before His Altar standing, Whoso nearest to Him press, Open-handed, eagle-eyed, They may best that Arm abide, When, the last dread lightnings wielding, He shall lift it, and decree, "Go, ye churls of soul unyielding, Where nor gift nor prayer shall be.” JESUS in His babes abiding Shames our cold ungentle ways, Joys and treasures newly found. Nought enjoy but what they share; Grudging thought and care and moiling Live not in their pure glad air. Strange the law of Love's combining !— As with wild winds moaning round Tones from lute or harp entwining Make one thread of solemn sound ; As calm eve's autumnal glow As in landscape leaf or stone, Cloud or flower, at random thrown, Helps the sadness or the glory ; So the gift of playful child May recall thy natal story, Church of Salem undefiled! How the new-born Saints, assembling As before the Apostles' feet Son of holiest consolation, When thou turn'dst thy land to gold, And thy gold to strong salvation, Type of Priest and Monarch, casting And the treasure everlasting And their names in blazonry, And their forms from storied panes Gleam athwart their own loved fanes, Whether great ones much are bringing, Bring thine all, thy choicest treasure, Thou shalt climb where skies are steep. 16. CHURCH BELLS. "Let the hills hear thy voice." "WAKE me to-night, my mother dear, The Christmas Bells, so soft and clear, To high and low glad tidings tell, Came to undo what we had done, How God the Paraclete, Who in the chaste womb framed the Babe so sweet, In power and glory came, the birth to aid and greet. |