12.

JUDAS'S INFANCY.

"The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born."—Matt. xxvi. 24.

ALAS! that o'er the pangs of birth,
The consecrated throes, whereby
Eden revives, should breed on earth
Untemper'd agony!

Yet sure as frail repenting Eve

For pardon knelt of yore, and now

Adoring kneels, there to receive,

Where all the world shall bow,

From fruit of her own favour'd womb,

The peace, the home, her wandering lost :

Sure as to blessed Mary come

The Saints' and Martyr's host,

To own, with many a thankful strain, The Channel of undying bliss,

The bosom where the Lord hath laid, The hand that held by His;

Sure as her form for evermore
The glory and the joy shall wear,
That rob'd her, bending to adore

The babe her chaste womb bare ;

So surely throes unblest have been, And cradles where no kindly star Look'd down-no Angel's eye serene, To gleam through years afar.

Did not our Lord speak out His ban,
The Christ for His betrayer mourn?
"Alas! good were it for that man
If he had ne'er been born."

Nor may we doubt, His Mother mild Upon that bosom pitying thought, Where Judas lay, a harmless Child, By gold as yet unbought.

But Time, as holy sages sing,

When earth and sin have waxed old,

A direr progeny will bring,

The last foe of the fold.

Of mortal seed, of woman bred,
The Antichrist, they write, will be,
From a soft bosom duly fed,

Rock'd on a loving knee.

High grace at first to Judas came—
Who knows but he, the Man of Sin,

In the baptismal wave and flame

May his dread cause begin?

O ye who wait with hearts too light
By Font or Cradle, fear in time!
O let not all your dreams be bright,
Here in Earth's wayward clime!

From the foul dew, the blighting air,
Watch well your treasure newly won.
Heaven's child and yours, uncharm'd by prayer,
May prove Perdition's son.

13.

THE SAINT'S INFANCY.

"And all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel."

WHERE is the brow to bear in mortals' sight
The Crown of pure angelic Light?

And where the favoured eye

Through the dim air the radiance to descry?
An infant on its mother smiling,

Wash'd from the world and sin's defiling,
And to Faith's arm restored, while yet

With the blest dew its cheeks are wet.Then Christ hath sworn seraphic Light shall be, There, eyes the Light to see.

He who vouchsafed to kindle that pure glow

Will feed it night and day, we know,

By duteous fear of sin

Fann'd into flame the virgin heart within,

Till once again at Angel's warning

Heaven-gates shall part as clouds of morning,

And the confirming Spirit pour

His glory where young hearts adore : There is Heaven's Light; there, if true Pastors be, Are eyes, the Light to see.

And what if there some favoured one should kneel, Whom in His time the Lord will seal,

High in the Mount to draw

Light uncorrupt from His pure fontal Law,
Then 'mid his brethren bear unknowing

The lustre keen within him glowing,
But veil it, when he feels their gaze,

As Moses veil'd the Sinai rays ?

Blest, who so shines and blest the thoughtful few, Who see that brightness true.

Wouldst thou the tide of grace should higher flow, The angelic ray more glorious show?

Wait for His trial hour,

His willing Saints in His dread day of Power.