No-rather steel thy melting heart Yes-let them pass without a sigh, And winds have rent thy sheltering bowers, The fire of God is soon to fall (Thou know'st it) on this earthly ball; Full many a soul, the price of blood, Mark'd by th' Almighty's hand for good, To utter death that hour shall sweepAnd will the Saints in Heaven dare weep? Then in his wrath shall GOD uproot And drown in rude tempestuous blaze Count o'er His mercies and thy sin. Pray only that thine aching heart, Snatch'd sudden from th' avenging rod, How wilt thou then look back, and smile Jeremiah xlv. 4, 5. The Lord saith thus: Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not, for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord; but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest. TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. And looking up to Heaven, He sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. St. Mark vii. 34. THE Son of God in doing good Was fain to look to Heaven and sigh: Seek joy unmix'd in charity? He look'd to Heaven, and sadly sigh'd- The joy of Heaven-accepted prayer! So o'er the bed where Lazarus slept O'erwhelming thoughts of pain and grief Over his sinking spirit sweep ;— "What boots it gathering one lost leaf "Out of yon sere and wither'd heap, "Where souls and bodies, hopes and joys, "All that earth owns or sin destroys, “Under the spurning hoof are cast, "Or tossing in th' autumnal blast?" The deaf may hear the Saviour's voice, The laggard soul, that will not wake, No eye but His might ever bear To gaze all down that drear abyss, Because none ever saw so clear The shore beyond of endless bliss: But that in such communion high What then shall wretched sinners do, Sin, as it is, shall meet their view, God turn his face for aye away? Lord, by thy sad and earnest eye, The dumb, deaf spirit from his place; Р |