Accept it, Lord, and say, this thou hadst rather;
Stamp it, and on this sordid metal make
Thy holy image, and it shall outshine

The beauty of the golden mine.

Jeremy Taylor.

WHEN JORDAN HUSHED HIS WATERS STILL.

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HEN Jordan hushed his waters still, And silence slept on Zion's hill; When Salem's shepherds through the night Watched o'er their flocks by starry light,

Hark! from the midnight hills around,
A voice, of more than mortal sound,
In distant hallelujahs stole,

Wild murmuring o'er the raptured soul.

Then swift to every startled eye,

New streams of glory gild the sky;
Heaven bursts her azure gates, to pour
Her spirits to the midnight hour.

On wheels of light, on wings of flame,
The glorious hosts to Zion came;

High heaven with songs of triumph rung,
While thus they smote their harps and sung:

"O Zion! lift thy raptured eye: The long-expected hour is nigh;

The joys of nature rise again;

The Prince of Salem comes to reign.

See Mercy, from her golden urn,

Pours a rich stream to them that mourn;
Behold, she binds, with tender care,
The bleeding bosom of Despair.

He comes to cheer the trembling heart,
Bids Satan and his host depart;
Again the day-star gilds the gloom,
Again the bowers of Eden bloom.

O Zion! lift thy raptured eye:
The long-expected hour is nigh;
The joys of nature rise again;
The Prince of Salem comes to reign."

Thomas Campbell.

WATCHMAN! TELL US OF THE NIGHT.

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"ATCHMAN! tell us of the night,

What its signs of promise are. Traveller! o'er yon mountain's height, See that glory-beaming star.

Watchman! does its beauteous ray

Aught of hope or joy foretell?

Traveller! yes; it brings the day,

Promised day of Israel.

Watchman! tell us of the night;
Higher yet that star ascends.
Traveller! blessedness and light,
Peace and truth, its course portends.

Watchman! will its beams alone
Gild the spot that gave them birth?
Traveller! ages are its own;

See, it bursts o'er all the earth!

Watchman! tell us of the night,
For the morning seems to dawn.
Traveller darkness takes its flight;
Doubt and terror are withdrawn.

Watchman! let thy wanderings cease;
Hie thee to thy quiet home:

Traveller! lo, the Prince of Peace,
Lo, the Son of God, is come!

John Bowring.

Calvary, the Mount.

CALVARY.

EE where the Author of all life is dying:

O fearful day! he dead, what hope of living? See where the hopes of all our lives are buying. O cheerful day! they bought, what fear of grieving?

Love, love for hate, and death for life is giving :
Lo, how his arms are stretched abroad to grace thee,
And, as they open stand, call to embrace thee:
Why stay'st thou then, my soul! O, fly, fly, thither
haste thee.

His radious head with shameful thorns they tear,
His tender back with bloody whips they rent,
His side and heart they furrow with a spear,
His hands and feet with riving nails they tent,
And, as to disentrail his soul they meant,

They jolly at his grief, and make their game,
His naked body to expose to shame,

That all might come to see, and all might see that came.

Whereat the Heaven put out his guilty eye
That durst behold so execrable sight,
And sabled all in black the shady sky,

And the pale stars, struck with unwonted fright,
Quenched their everlasting lamps in night:

And at his birth, as all the stars Heaven had
Were not enow, but a new star was made;
So now, both new, and old, and all away did fade.

Giles Fletcher.

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MATER DOLOROSA.

EEPING stood his mother, sighing
By the cross where Jesus, dying,
Hung aloft on Calvary;

Through her soul, in sorrow moaning,

Bowed in grief, in spirit groaning,
Pierced the sword in misery.

Filled with grief beyond all others,
Mother blessed among mothers
Of the God-begotten Son!
How she sorroweth and grieveth,
Trembling as she thus perceiveth
Dying her unspotted one!

Who could there refrain from weeping,
Seeing Christ's dear mother keeping
In her grief, so bitterly?

Who could fail to share her anguish,
Seeing thus the mother languish,
Lost in woe so utterly?

For the trespass of his nation
She beheld his laceration,

By their scourges suffering.
She beheld her dearest taken,
Crucified and God-forsaken,

Dying by their torturing.

Mother, fountain of affection,
Let me share thy deep dejection,

Let me share thy tenderness;
Let my heart, thy sorrow feeling,
Love of Christ, the Lord, revealing,
Be like thine in holiness!

All his stripes, O, let me feel them,
On my heart forever seal them,