THE LABOURER'S NOON-DAY HYMN.

If true unto thyself thou wast,

What were the proud one's scorn to thee?
A feather, which thou mightest cast
Aside, as idly as the blast

The light leaf from the tree.

No:-uncurbed passions, low desires,
Absence of noble self-respect,
Death, in the breast's consuming fires,
To that high nature which aspires
For ever, till thus checked;

These are thine enemies-thy worst;
They chain thee to thy lowly lot:
Thy labour and thy life accursed.
O, stand erect! and from them burst!
And longer suffer not!

Thou art thyself thine enemy!

The great!-what better they than thou?
As theirs, is not thy will as free?

Has God with equal favours thee
Neglected to endow ?

True, wealth thou hast not-'tis but dust!
Nor place uncertain as the wind!
But that thou hast, which, with thy crust
And water, may despise the lust

Of both-a noble mind.

With this, and passions under ban,

True faith, and holy trust in God,

Thou art the peer of any man.
Look up, then that thy little span
Of life may be well trod!

165

GALLAGHER.

XXXIV. THE LABOURER'S NOON-DAY HYMN.

"No man can complain that his calling takes him off from his religion; his calling itself, and his very worldly employment in honest trades and offices, is a serving of God; and, if it be moderately pursued and according to the rules of Christian prudence, will leave void spaces enough for prayers and retirements of a more spiritual religion."Jeremy Taylor.

Derivations.

Etymology.

Syntax.

1

Ur to the throne of God is borne
The voice of praise at early morn ;
And he accepts the punctual hymn,
Sung as the light of day grows dim.

Nor will he turn his ear aside
From holy offerings at noon-tide;
Then, here reposing,' let us raise
A song of gratitude and praise.

What though our burden be not light,
We need not toil from morn to night;
The respite of the mid-day hour
Is in the thankful creature's power.

Blest are the moments, doubly blest,
That, drawn from this our hour of rest,
Are with a ready heart bestowed
Upon the service of our God!

Why should we crave a hallowed spot?
An altar is in each man's cot,

A church in every grove that spreads
Its living roof above our heads.

Look up to heaven! th' industrious sun
Already half his race hath run:
He cannot halt or go astray,
But our immortal spirits may.3

Lord! since his rising in the east,
If we have faltered or transgressed,
Guide from thy love's abundant source
What yet remains of this day's course.

Help with thy grace through life's short day,
Our upward and our downward way;

And glorify for us the west,

When we shall sink to final rest.

1. What does reposing agree with or qualify?

8. Why living

WORDSWORTH.

3. Fill up the ellipsis in this line?
4. What is the object of the verb

guide?

ALL HAVE GOT THEIR WORK TO DO.

167

XXXV. ALL HAVE GOT THEIR WORK TO DO.

"THE productive classes of the world are those who bless it by their work or their thought. He who invents a machine does no less a service than he who toils all day with his hands. Thus the inventors of the plough, the loom, and the ship, were deservedly placed among those whom society was to honour. But they also, who teach men moral and religious truth; who give them dominion over the world; instruct them to think, to live together in peace, to love one another, and pass good lives enlightened by wisdom, charmed by goodness, and enchanted by religion; they who build up a loftier population, making man more manly, are the greatest benefactors of the world. They speak to the deepest wants of the soul, and give men the water of life and the true bread from heaven. They are loaded with contumely in their life, and come to a violent end. But their influence passes like morning from land to land, and village and city grow glad in their light. That is a poor economy, common as it is, which overlooks these men. Parker.

WHY these murmurs and repinings,

Who can alter what is done?
See the Future brightly shining,

There are goals yet to be won

Grieving is at best a folly,
Oftentimes it is a sin,

When we see a glaring error

We should a reform begin;

We must all be up and stirring,
With determination true;
Young and old men, rich and poor men,
All have got their work to do.

Though we see, on looking round us,
Man to wickedness is prone,
Though the snares of vice surround us,
Virtue's paths but rarely known,

Well we know that in our nature

Is a spark of life divine;

We must free the soul from thraldon,

If we wish that spark to shine,

We must all be up and stirring,

With determination true;

Young and old men, rich and poor men,

All have got their work to do.

Life is but a scene of labour,
Every one's his task assigned,
We must each assist our neighbour
When we see him lag behind;
We must strive by education
Man's condition to improve,
And bind men of every station
In a bond of mutual love.
All must then be up and stirring,

With determination true;

Young men, old men, rich men, poor men,

Ye all have your work to do.

ERNEST WATмOUGH.

XXXVI. THE DREAM OF THE FUTURE.

"THE idea once conceived and verified, that great and noble ends are to be achieved, by which the condition of the whole human species shall be permanently bettered, by bringing into exercise a sufficient quantity of sober thoughts, and by a proper adaptation of means, is of itself sufficient to set us earnestly on reflecting what ends are truly great and noble, either in themselves, or as conducive to others of a still loftier character; because we are not now, as heretofore, hopeless of attaining them. It is not now equally harmless and insignificant, whether we are right or wrong; since we are no longer supinely and helplessly carried down the stream of events, but feel ourselves capable of buffetting at least with its waves, and, perhaps, of riding triumphantly over them: for why should we despair, that the reason which has enabled us to subdue all nature to our purposes, should (if permitted and assisted by the providence of God) achieve a far more difficult conquest; and ultimately find some ineans of enabling the collective wisdom of mankind to bear down those obstacles which individual short-sightedness, selfishness, and passion, opposed to all improvements, and by which the highest hopes are continually blighted, and the fairest prospects marred.”— Sir John Herschel.

OH! 'tis a pleasant dream (if dream it be)
Of man the bright'ning prospect to foresee :
Far more of nature shall he daily know;
Far mightier o'er her powers his mastery grow.
How many evils shall become more light!
How many more, perhaps, be vanquished quite!
How many comforts added to the store,
That bounteous Providence had given before!
Not to the selfish, indolent, and blind,
Who trust whate'er they wish to beg, or find,
But only to the wise, who can discern
That we are born our happiness to earn.

SHARP.

AROUSE THee, soul.

XXXVII. PROGRESS THE LAW OF NATURE.

169

"THERE is nothing so revolutionary, because there is nothing so unnatural and so convulsive to society, as the strain to keep things fixed, when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress; and the causes of all the evils of the world may be traced to that natural but most deadly error of human indolence and corruption, that our business is to preserve and not to improve. It is the ruin of us all alike, individuals, schools, and nations." Arnold.

I, To herd with narrow foreheads, vacant of our glorious gains,
Like a beast with lower pleasures, like a beast with lower pains!
Mated with a squalid savage-what to me were sun or clime?
I the heir of all the ages, in the foremost files of time-
I that rather held it better men should perish one by one,
Than that earth should stand at gaze like Joshua's moon in
Ajalon!

Not in vain the distance beacons. Forward, forward let us

range.

Let the great world spin for ever down the ringing grooves of change.

Thro' the shadow of the globe we sweep into the younger day: Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay. TENNYSON.

*

**

XXXVIII. AROUSE THEE, SOUL!

"EVERY man has at times in his mind the ideal of what he should be, but is not. This ideal may be high and complete, or it may be quite low and insufficient; yet in all men that really seek to improve, it is better than the actual character. Perhaps no one is satisfied with himself, so that he never wishes to be wiser, better, and more holy. Man never falls so low that he can see nothing higher than himself. This ideal man which we project, as it were, out of ourselves, and seek to make real; this Wisdom, Goodness, and Holiness, which we aim to transfer from our thoughts to our life, has an action, more or less powerful, on each man, rendering him dissatisfied with present attainments, and restless, unless he is becoming better. With some men it takes the rose out of the cheek, and forces them to wander a long pilgrimage of temptations before they reach the delectable mountains of Tranquillity, and find 'Rest for the Soul,' under the Tree of Life." - Theodore Parker.

AROUSE thee, Soul!

God made not thee to sleep

Thy hour of earth in doing nought-away;

He gave thee power to keep.

O! use it for His glory, while you may.

Arouse thee, Soul!

L