Dear tokens of a pardoning God, We hail ye, one and all, As when our fathers walk'd abroad, Freed from their twelvemonths' thrall. How joyful from th' imprisoning ark Not blither, after showers, the Lark Some home-bound sailors spring to shore, What wins their first and fondest gaze And keeps it through a thousand days? Love imag'd in that cordial look On souls that sin and earth forsook And what most welcome and serene Dawns on the Patriarch's eye, In all th' emerging hills so green, In all the brightening sky? What, but the gentle rainbow's gleam, Lord, if our fathers turn'd to thee Wondering frail man thy light should see Where is our love, and where our hearts, The Son of God in radiance beam'd But we may face the rays that stream'd There, parted into rainbow hues, In sweet harmonious strife, We see celestial love diffuse Its light o'er Jesus' life. God, by His bow, vouchsafes to write As every lovely hue is Light, ASH-WEDNESDAY. When thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, bat unto thy Father which is in secret. St. Matthew vi. 17. "YES-deep within, and deeper yet "The rankling shaft of conscience hide, “Quick let the swelling eye forget "The tears that in the heart abide. "Calm be the voice, the aspect bold, "No shuddering pass o'er lip or brow, “For why should Innocence be told "The pangs that guilty spirits bow? "The loving eye that watches thine 66 "Close as the air that wraps thee round— "Since never of thy sin it found? "And wherefore should the heathen see P "What chains of darkness thee enslave, P Wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? Joel ii. 17. "And mocking say, Lo, this is he "Who own'd a God that could not save?" Thus oft the mourner's wayward heart Our sighs, and gently whisper all! Else let us keep our fast within, Till Heaven and we are quite alone, Nor fear lest sympathy should fail— |