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SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT.
FROM THE EPISTLE.
I
A world of deep and fervent thoughtGod's word doth to our gaze unfold—
Whate'er was done, or felt, or taught,
By saints and holy men of old;
Their faith and patience, hope and love,—
Their trials in this nether sphere—
And how they won their crown above
Through purifying sorrow here.
II
Nor is this all; for God hath given,To bless the mind's believing eye,
And lead the loving heart to heaven,
The sunbright scroll of prophecy:—
Blest glimpses of the bliss to come
Hereafter to this world below,
When Truth and Love shall build their home
Where sin dwells now with shame and woe.
7
III
Six thousand years, in toil and pain,Hath all Creation travail'd sore;—
Six thousand years, alas! in vain,
Nor yet that weary travail o'er!
And well might strongest hearts give way
Beneath the incumbent weight of ill,
Which grows and gathers day by day,
Uncheck'd, unheal'd, triumphant still!
IV
Yet this must end;—deceit and guile,And violence, and lust, and hate
Shall not, for aye, God's world defile,
Nor lay its glories desolate.
We look for a new Earth and Heaven,
Where righteousness in peace shall dwell,
When He to penal flames hath given
This globe of ours, with death and hell.
FROM THE GOSPEL.
SONNET.
Though Heaven and Earth, like dreams, should pass away,Christ's word remaineth stedfast:—from their base
The hills may be up-rent, and know their place
No longer,—the great light which rules the day
Be quench'd,—the seas, burnt up, no more obey
Their rayless mistress,—each created race
Of beast, bird, insect, vanish from the face
Of Nature, sunk, herself, in deep decay;—
But nought which He hath spoken e'er shall fail;—
Truth, goodness, mercy, wisdom, cannot die,
Nor aught in Earth or Heaven or Hell prevail
To mar His word, who from his throne on high
Came down and suffer'd in this tearful vale,
To save lost Man through all eternity.
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