7.

CHURCH WINDOWS.

"The Lord my God shall come, and all the Saints with Thee: and it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark.”

OFT have I heard our elders say,

How sad the autumnal hour,
How rude the touch of stern decay,
How fast the bright hues melt away
In mountain, sky, and bower!

Yet is it dear delight to me

The rustling leaves to tread,

To heap and toss them wild and free,

Their fragrance breathe, and o'er them see

Soft evening lustre shed.

And some will say, 'tis drear and cold

In holy Church to kneel

With one or two, Christ's little fold,

With blind and lame, with poor and old,

There met for Him to heal.

Nay, look again: the Saints are there;
Christ's ever-glowing Light

Through heavenly features grave and fair

Is gleaming; all the lonely air

Is thronged with shadows bright.

The Saints are there the Living Dead, The Mourners glad and strong;

The sacred floor their quiet bed,

Their beams from every window shed,

Their voice in every song.

And haply where I kneel, some day,
From yonder gorgeous pane

The glory of some Saint will play :

Not lightly may it pass away,

But in my heart remain.

13

8.

RELICS AND MEMORIALS.

"As the shadow of a great Rock in a weary land."

THE Twelve holy men are gathered in prayer,
The Psalm mounts on high, the Spirit descends :

A keen silent thrilling is round them in air,

A Power from the Highest with thought and word

blends.

They pass by the way, to sight poor

and mean.

How glorious the train that streams to and fro !

The blind, dumb, halt, withered, by hundreds are

seen,

The prisoners of Satan lie chained where they go.

O lay them but where the shadow may fall
Of Christ's awful Saint, to prayer as he speeds:
The mighty love-token all fiends shall appal,
A gale breathe from Eden, assuaging all needs.

Or bring where they lie Paul's girdle or vest:
One touch and one word: the pain fleets away,
The dark hour of frenzy is charmed into rest :-
The hem of Christ's garment all creatures obey.

Christ is in His Saints: from Godhead made Man
The virtue goes out, the whole world to bless,
O'er lands parched and weary that shadow began
To spread from Saint Peter, and ne'er shall
grow less.

See Acts, iv. and v.

9.

CARVED ANGELS.

"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones: for in Heaven their angels do always behold the Face of My Father."

GREATEST art Thou in least, O Lord,
And even thy least are great in Thee:

A mote in air, a random word,

Shall save a soul if Thou decree :

Much more their presence sweet,

Whom with an oath Thou didst into thy Kingdom greet.

A little child's soft sleeping face

The murderer's knife ere now hath staid:

The adulterous eye, so foul and base,

Is of a little child afraid.

They cannot choose but fear,

Since in that sign they feel God and good Angels

near.