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LEAD, kindly Light, amid the encircling 'Tis warmth and light, 't is love, 't is home,

gloom,

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Rest, calm and sweet, for which I pine: From Thee I came, to Thee I comeHow shall thy dwelling-place be mine?

Ah! who is this that takes my hand? That lifts me from the pit and mire? That heals, consoles, and makes me stand, And gives the rest that I desire?

Dear Son of God! Thy blessed face

Shows where the hungry soul may flee. Thy heart is home and dwelling-place, And I am satisfied with Thee?

PHILLIPS BROOKS.

[U. S. A.]

O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM.

O LITTLE town of Bethlehem,

How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent hours go by.

Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;

The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee to-night.

For Christ is born of Mary,
And, gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together

Proclaim the holy birth!
And praises sing to God the King,
And peace to men on earth.

How silently, how silently,

The wondrous gift is given ! So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heaven. No ear may hear His coming; But in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive him still, The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem, Descend to us, we pray! Cast out our sin and enter in ; Be born in us to-day.

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I have listened, like David's great son, to the voice of the beast and the bird; To the voice of the trees and the grass; yea, a voice from the stones I have heard;

And the sun and the moon, and the stars in their courses, reëcho the word!

And one word speak the bird and the beast, and the hyssop that springs in the wall,

And the cedar that lifts its proud head upon Lebanon, stately and tall, And the rocks, and the sea, and the stars, and" Know!" is the message of all.

For the answer has ever been nigh unto him who would question and learn

How to bring the stars near to his gaze; in what orbits the planets must turn; Why the apple must fall from the bough; what the fuel that sun-fires burn.

Whence came life? In the rocks is it writ, and no finger hath graven it there?

Whence came light? Did its motions arise without bidding? Will science declare

That the law ruling all hath upsprung from Nomind, that abideth Nowhere ?

"Yea, I know!" cried the true man of old. And whosoe'er wills it may

know.

"My Redeemer - He liveth!" I seek for a sign of His presence, and, lo !

As He spoke to the light, and it was, so He speaks to my soul, and I know!

WASHINGTON GLADDEN.

[U. s. A.]

ULTIMA VERITAS.

IN the bitter waves of woe,
Beaten and tossed about
By the sullen winds that blow

From the desolate shores of doubt, ·

When the anchors that faith had cast Are dragging in the gale,

I am quietly holding fast

To the things that cannot fail.

I know that right is right; That it is not good to lie; That love is better than spite, And a neighbor than a spy.

I know that passion needs

The leash of a sober mind; I know that generous deeds Some sure reward will find;

That the rulers must obey;
That the givers shall increase;
That Duty lights the way

For the beautiful feet of Peace:

In the darkest night of the year,

When the stars have all gone out; That courage is better than fear; That faith is truer than doubt.

And fierce though the fiends may fight,
And long though the angels hide,

I know that Truth and Right
Have the universe on their side;

CHARLOTTE M. PACKARD.

And that somewhere beyond the stars,
Is a Love that is better than fate:
When the Night unlocks her bars
I shall see Him, and I will wait.

CHARLOTTE M. PACKARD.

[U. s. A.]

VESPERS.

O SHADOW in a sultry land!

The tenderest and best, Whose love, unfolding like the night Brings quietude and rest Glimpse of the fairer life to be,

In foretaste here possessed.

From aimless wanderings we come ;
From driftings to and fro :
The wave of being mingles deep
Amid its ebb and flow;
The grander sweep of tides serene
Our spirits yearn to know.

That which the garish day had lost,
The twilight vigil brings,
While softlier the vesper bell

Its silver cadence rings;
The sense of an immortal trust!
The brush of angel-wings!

Drop down behind the solemn hills,

O Day, with golden skies! Serene above its fading glow, Night, starry-crowned, arise! So beautiful may heaven be, When life's last sunbeam dies!

MARGARET ELIZABETH

SANGSTER.

[U. S. A.]

IN COMMON DAYS.

IN days supreme, of fond delight,

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When happy thoughts within us dwell, ROSE HAWTHORNE LATHROP.

Like vestals robed in stainless white,

Who time their footsteps by the swell Of sweet-voiced bells upon the air, Then have we least the need for prayer.

In days obscured by veiling folds

Of grief, or clouded o'er with dread,

[U. S. A.]`

LOVE NOW

THE sanctity that is about the dead

To make us love them more than late when here.

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