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468

FISHERS OF MEN.

They have cast their nets again and again,
And now call to us on shore,

If our feeble prayers seem only in vain,
We will pray, and pray the more.

Though the storm is loud, and our voice is drowned

By the roar of the wind and sea,

We know that more terrible tempests found

Their ruler, O Lord, in Thee.

See, they do not pause, they are toiling on,
Yet they cast a loving glance

On the star above, and ever anon
Look up through the blue expanse.

O Mary, listen! for danger is nigh,
And we know thou art nearer then;
For thy Son's dear servants to thee we cry,
Sent out as fishers of men.

O watch-as of old thou didst watch the boat

On the Galilean lake,

And grant that the fishers may keep afloat,

Till the nets, o'ercharged, shall break.

Adelaide A. Proctor.

Bathing.

THE May winds gently lift the willow leaves;
Around the rushy point comes weltering slow
The brimming stream; alternate sinks and heaves
The lily-bud where small waves ebb and flow.
Willow-herb and meadow-sweet!

Ye, the soft gales that visit there,

From your waving censers greet

With stores of freshest, balmiest air.

Come bathe the steaming noontide hour invites ;
Even in your face the sparkling waters smile,-
Yet on the brink they linger, timid wights,
Pondering and measuring; on their gaze the while
Eddying pool and shady creek

Darker and deeper seem to grow:

On and onward still they seek,

Where sport may less adventurous show.

At length the boldest springs: but ere he cleave
The flashing waters, eye and head grow dim;
Too rash it seems, the firm green earth to leave:

Heaven is beneath him: shall he sink or swim?

470

BATHING.

Far in boundless depths, he sees
The rushing clouds obey the gale,
Trembling hands and tottering knees
All in that dizzy moment fail.

Oh mark him well, ye candidates of heaven,
Called long ago to float in Jesus' ark
Ye know not where:-His signal now is given,
The Lord draws near upon the waters dark:
To your eager ear the voice

Makes awful answer: Come to me:

Once for all now seal your choice,

With Christ to tread the boisterous sea.

And dare we come ? since he, the trusted saint,
Who with one only shared the Lord's high love,
Shrank from the tossing gale, and scarce with faint
And feeble cry toward the Saviour strove.

Yes, we answer the dread call,

Not fearless, but in duteous awe;

He will stay the frail heart's fall,

His arm will onward, upward draw.

O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?
Spare not for him to walk the midnight wave,
On the dim shore at morn to seek him out,

Work 'neath his eye, and near him make thy grave.
So backslidings past, no more

Shall in the Heavens remembered be,

Faith the three denials sore

O'erpaying, with confessions three.

BATHING.

Strange power of mighty love! if heaven allow
Choice, on the restless waters rather found,
Meeting her Lord with Cross and bleeding brow
Than calmly waiting on the guarded ground!
Yearning ever to spring forth,

And feel the cold waves for his sake ;

All her giving of no worth,

Yet till she give, her heart will ache.

471

Lyra Innocentium.

The Sans of Zebedee.

RASH was the tongue, and unadvisedly bold,
Which sought, Salome, for thy favored twain
Above their fellows, in Messiah's reign
On right, on left, the foremost place to hold.
More rash, perhaps, and bolder that which told
Of power the Saviour's bitter cup to drain,
And passing stretch of human strength sustain
His bath baptismal. Lord, by thee enrolled
Thy servant, grant me thy almighty grace
My destined portions of thy grief to bear.
Even as thou wilt! But chiefly grant thy face
Within thy glory's realm to see, whene'er
Most meet thy wisdom deems; whate'er the place
It must be blest, for thou my God art there.

Mant.

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