Then mourn we not with drooping heart
Though half the globe may seem to part

Our prayers from home and friends.
Our matins meet their even song,
And the dread Offering, all day long,
All prayer, all duty blends.

The Eucharist of God's dear Son,
Like Him undying,

Is mighty, worlds and hearts in one
For ever tying.

Wherefore in solemn cheer we pass

(Now that the Church hath turned her glass) From year to dawning year.

All years to Him are one: and thou,

In virtue of thy first dread vow

Signing thyself in fear,

Make haste, dear child, and onward press

To high Communion :—

Thy fragments He will glean, and bless

With perfect union.

X. Holy

Seasons and Days.

1.

CHRISTMAS EVE: VESPERS.

"If it bear fruit, well: if not, then after that Thou shalt cut it down."

THE duteous sun hath ceased to keep

The vigil of his wondrous birth, Who in few hours, while sinners sleep, Shall dawn on thankless earth.

The sun is set, the stars begin

Their stations in His watch on high, As once around that Bethlehem inn;

The vesper hour is nigh.

A little maid with eager gaze

Comes hurrying to the House of Prayer, Shaping in heart a wild green maze

Of woodland branches there.

One look, a cloud comes o'er her dream:
No burnished leaves, so fresh and clear,
No berries with their ripe red gleam:-
"There is no Christmas here."

What if that little maiden's Lord,
The awful Child on Mary's knee,

Even now take up the accusing word:-
"No Christmas here I see.

"Where are the fruits I yearly seek, As holy seasons pass away,

Eyes turned from ill, lips pure and meek, A heart that strives to pray ?

"Where are the glad and artless smiles,
Like clustering hollies, seen afar
At eve along the o'ershaded aisles,

With the first twilight star?"

Spare, gracious Saviour, me and mine:
Our tardy vows in mercy hear,
While on our watch the cold skies shine
Of the departing year.

Ere we again that glimmering view,
Cleansed be our hearts and lowly laid;
The unfruitful plant do Thou renew,
And all beneath its shade.

By winter frosts and summer heats,
By prunings sharp and waterings mild,
Keen airs of Lent, and Easter sweets,
Tame Thou the sour and wild.

And dare we ask for one year more?
Yea, there is hope: One waits on high
To tell our contrite yearnings o'er,
And each adoring sigh.

If He in Heaven repeat our vow,

We copying here His pure dread Will,

O dream of joy!—the withered bough

May blush with fruitage still.

2.

CHRISTMAS EVE: COMPLINE.

"Rejoice in the Lord alway."

REJOICE in God alway,

With stars in Heaven rejoice,

Ere dawn of Christ's own day
Lift up each little voice.

Look up with pure glad eye,

And count those lamps on high.

Nay, who may count them? on our gaze

They from their deeps come out in ever widening

maze.

Each in his stand aloof

Prepares his keenest beam,

Upon that hovel roof,

In at that door, to stream,