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TEARS.

"Jesus wept."-John, xi. 35.

NOT worthless are the tears,

When pure their fountain-head, Which human hopes and fears Compel us oft to shed.

In grief or joy they tell

Far more than words can teach ;

Their silence hath a spell
Beyond the power of speech.

In joy, though bright and brief, Its essence they make known; And how they soften grief

The mourner's heart will own.

Yet tears there are which fall,
Claiming a holier birth;
Which come not at the call

Of time's brief woe or mirth.

Tears which are shed, alone, For God's all-pard'ning love ; But to the mourner known,

And Him who dwells above.

Can there be drops more pure,
More precious, holy yet;
Whose record shall endure

"Till time's last sun be set?

Yes! Tears once fill'd His eye,
Beside a mortal's grave,
Who left his throne on high,

The lost to seek and save.

And fresh, from age to age, Their memory shall be kept;

While man shall bless the

page

Which tells that JESUS wept!

QUICKENED, but helpless.

"And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, 'Loose him, and let him go."-John, xi. 44.

Is it not thus, in spirit, to this day,

With souls whom thou, O Lord, hast call'd from

death,

Who, powerless, helpless, fetter'd, thus obey
The summons of thy yet life-giving breath?

Are there not those who, as in graves have lain, Dead to the life which Thou alone canst give, Until thy Spirit has recall'd again

Their souls, as from the dead, and bade them live?

The voice hath been obey'd: obey'd so far,
That vital consciousness hath own'd thy will;
But much remains thy triumph yet to mar,

And death's enthralments keep us prisoners still.

Our grave-clothes cling around us; we are bound, And blinded by the trappings worn so long; Thy word once more must speak, and by its sound Render the quicken'd, but still helpless strong.

Let not thy glorious work be incomplete;
Thyself our perfect Resurrection show,
And deign the gracious mandate to repeat,
Which then pronounc'd, "Loose him, and let
him go."

PHILIP'S REQUEST.

"Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us."-John, xiv. 8.

HADST thou so long with Jesus been,
Beheld the mighty wonders done,
Yet ne'er through faith's strong vision seen
The Father dwelling in the Son?

Had not the dead been rais'd to life,

The lame, the blind, the deaf been heal'd? Had not the waves' tumultuous strife,

Still'd by His voice, their Lord reveal'd?

The words He utter'd day by day,
Could'st thou so darkly, dimly scan,
As not by glimpses to survey

The Deity but veil'd in man?

Yet, who shall chide thee? Are not we
Oft shadow'd by as dense a cloud,
As in that earlier day, from thee,
Thy Lord's divinity could shroud?

The gospel page without, is spread,

Revealing truths then dimly shown, Ere Christ ascended from the dead, That man the Comforter might own.

Within the heart, his light and grace
Would now reveal his glory there,
Making that heart his dwelling-place,
A temple meet for praise and prayer.

But, like thyself, we would discern,
By outward vision, One divine,
When holier faith would have us learn
God's presence in his inward shrine.

Oh, may our hearts no longer wrong
The gracious words that answer'd Thee!
Have I been with you, then, so long,

And ask ye yet your Lord to see?

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