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النشر الإلكتروني

Hear we not, at seasons stealing
On the spirit's wakeful ear,
Songs of praise, their bliss revealing,
Who once mourn'd and suffer'd here?

Feel we not, at times, in sorrow—
Hopes whereon the heart can stay,
Prescient of a brighter morrow,
Which shall chase all griefs away?

Oh! if such the hopes attendant,
While we dimly, darkly see,
How unspeakably transcendant,
Must the full fruition be;-

When, eternity unfolding,

All the ransom'd hosts above, Face to face their Lord beholding,

Join in songs of praise and love.

THE EARTHY AND THE HEAVENLY.

"And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."-1 Corinthians, xv. 45.

CAN we, in our final change,
Hope this transformation strange,
If we know not, ere that hour,
Grace's renovating power?

If we bear about us still,
Earthy image, carnal will;
When the final trump shall sound,
Earthy we must still be found.

Flesh and blood cannot inherit
Kingdom of th' immortal Spirit;
Nor can souls corrupt through sin,
Incorruption hope to win.

Wouldst thou, then, hereafter be
From the earthy image free,
Christ thy spirit must prepare
One more heavenly here to bear.

Who such impress would entrust
To the grave's unconscious dust,
Heedless, until life be done,
If the work have been begun ?

Seek, oh, seek, ere life shall close,
Him whose Spirit power bestows!
Crave of Him that power to give,
Die to self, through Him to live.

They who thus their Lord have known,

Shall his resurrection own;

And their death, when they must die, Be absorb'd in victory.

Victory over all of earth,

Which once gave its likeness birth,
Conquest won by Him, whose grace
Stamp'd His image in its place.

A CHRISTIAN'S SAVOUR.

"For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish."-2 Corinthians, ii. 15.

MAN cannot of himself impart

This privilege divine,

Unto his own corrupted heart;
The work, O Lord, is thine.

Nor can he unto others' sense
That savour e'er make known,
Unless thy Spirit first dispense
Its virtue to his own.

He who another would invite
The rose's sweets to share,

Must, even though conceal'd from sight,
A rose about him bear,

How can the blind expect to teach The eye aright to see?

Or how, in eloquence of speech,

The dumb instructors be?

Nor can our unregenerate powers

That boon diffuse around, Which Jesus first must render ours, 'Till we in Him are found.

Lord! by thy Spirit, then, create
Our hearts in Him anew;
Restore us from our fall'n estate,
Our souls with grace imbue.

That so our spirits may give forth
His savour far and nigh,

Of life-in them who feel its worth;

Of death-in them who die.

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