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,
Trembling hands and tottering knees,
All in that dizzy moment fail.

Oh mark him well, ye candidates of Heaven,
Called long ago to float in JESUS' ark

Ye know not where :-His signal now is given,
The Lord draws near upon the waters dark :

Το

your eager prayer the Voice

Makes awful answer: "Come to Me :

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.

Yes we answer the dread call,
Not fearless, but in duteous awe :

He will stay the frail heart's fall,

His arm will onward, upward draw.

O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?
Spare not for Him to walk the midnight wave,

On the dim shore at morn to seek Him out,*
Work 'neath His Eye, and near Him make thy

grave.

So backslidings past no more

Shall in the Heavens remembered be,

Faith the Three Denials sore

O'erpaying with Confessions Three.

Strange power of mighty Love! if Heaven allow
Choice, on the restless waters rather found,
Meeting her Lord, with cross and bleeding brow,
Than calmly waiting on the guarded ground!
Yearning ever to spring forth

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.
So in the child's light play we read
The portion to the man decreed ;
His future self he hastes to prove
In art, in toil, in warfare, or in love.

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.

Oh, many a joyous mother's brow

Is sadden'd o'er when sports are rife, And watching by, she seems e'en now The tale to read of coming strife. Through lawless camp, o'er ocean wild, Her prophet eye pursues her child,

Scans mournfully her Poet's strain,

Fears, for her Merchant, loss alike and gain.

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
The flight that to her hopes is given,
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,

66

Cast ye the lot, in trembling cast ;*
The Traitor to his place hath past."-

Strive ye with Prayer and Fast to guide
The dangerous Glory where it shall abide :

Guide it towards some serious brow,
In love and patience lowly bent,
Some youthful Athanase,† e'en now
Upon his future task intent;

His Creed rehearsing to the roar
Of billows on the lonely shore,

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