TIMES OF THE OLD FAITH.

(PUBLISHED 1858.)

BE not too hasty to condemn the times
That built up holy shrines on every hand,
And still and hallowed places through the land,
So that the air was musical with chimes.

Be not too hasty to condemn the times
That made a flower memorial of a saint;
With purest aim the painter taught to paint,,
And lit with grace of art the Christian climes.

Be not too hasty to condemn the men,

Who, passing from the cloistral haunts of prayer, Shed words and deeds of blessing everywhere, With charity we scarce shall see again;

Who gave to God with no reluctant hand,

Raised Gothic fanes to vie with forest groves, With paintings, sculptures, lined the still alcoves, And fragrant air with sweetest chauntings fanned.

Be not too hasty to condemn the men

Who the most sacred fire of knowledge kept Alight; while all the world in darkness slept, The noble volumes grew beneath their pen.

Nor yet those women who for quiet cells

Forsook earth's pleasant foolishness, to keep
Their hearts on things above, for sins to weep,
And fill with sound of hymns surrounding dells.

If we are right in faith, they were in deed;
If needs be, pity,-let us not condemn;

Their works were good, if they o'ervalued them ; Their hearts were right, if not quite right their creed.

THY PEOPLE LIKE A FLOCK.

FOR His flock beloved once bleeding,

Now His guidance Jesus yields;
By the stillest waters leading,

Leading to the greenest fields.

John. x. 11.

Ps. xxiii. 3.

Ps. xxiii. 2.

Eze, xxxiv. 13, 14.

Guiding through the paths of danger, Ps. xxiii. 4.
Rugged steep, and shifting shore ;

To the painful ways no stranger,

He has trod them all before.

Is. liii. 3.

Is. liii. 7.

Those whom tempests scattered blindly Eze. xxxiv. 12.
In the dark and cloudy day,

These He seeks, and gently, kindly,
Leads them to the olden way.

Is. xl. 11.

Eze. xxxiv. 11.

Some were lost, and these He findeth, Eze. xxxiv. 16.

Wilful wanderers e'en doth seek;

Ps, xxiii. 3.

Painful wounds He gently bindeth,
Gives new strength unto the weak.

Ps. cxlvii. 2.

Is. xl, 29.

THE CHURCH AND THE WORK.

(PUBLISHED MAY 30TH, 1857.)

UPON a holy hill,

Above the troubled world, the church is set,
The nations' ever-glorious coronet;

Where, alway calm and still,

Removed from thought of ill,

The priests of God in consecrated ground

Dwell peacefully, and serve the gifts of love around.

D

And thither oft they come,

Who fell before dark sorrow's stern array;
In quiet here their hurt lives pass away
With smiles upon their doom;

Still duty, tender gloom,

Bring to their souls unutterable calm,

And saintly blessing here,-above, a martyr's palm.

There are, who in their youth

Still hear the whisperings of a Voice Divine;
See in these days a new Shekinah shine
Above the house of truth;

Who, serving God in sooth,

Give to the work high aim and affluent heart,
And, casting self behind, attain the better part.

To such, calm day by day,

Are infants brought in their young dawn of good,
To feel the sacred Cross and hallowed flood:

The priest soon hears them say

The Church's Creed, and pray;

Until, beneath the consecrated hand,

In Confirmation do the young disciples stand.

Before him soon they kneel,

And taste the holy bread and holy wine;
And know the fulness of the love divine
In that mysterious meal :
Anon, he sets the seal

Of God on matrimony's sacred kiss ;

While weekly from his lips they hear the word of bliss.

And by the dying bed

He speaks forgiving grace from God above,
And serves the parting sacrament of love :
Through Jordan are they led,

And chastened tears are shed,

As he commits the dust to kindred dust,
In holy faith of life, and resurrection trust.

And so, in peaceful life,

He softly treads the consecrated aisles,
Beneath the tender light of angels' smiles;
Apart from worldling's strife,

And paths with danger rife,

Wrapt in the garb of God, his passions rest, And ever blessing glides his life, and ever blest.