NATURE OF HEAVEN.

No funeral knell

Blends with the breeze of spring its mournful tone, Bidding henceforth the balmy breezes tell

Of loved ones gone.

O'er the cold brow

No bitter tears of agony are shed;

None o'er the still, pale form, in anguish bow,
Whence life has fled.

"No graves are there,"

Nor sunny slope, green turf, or quiet grot,
Those sad mementoes of departure bear,
For death is not.

That fearful foe!

Here, ever bearing from us those we love,
Resistless as his power is owned below,
Has none above.

No! in the tomb

Ends his dominion; there his power is o'er, And they who safely tread its path of gloom Shall die no more!

"No graves are there;"

Father, we thank thee that there is a clime Guarded alike from death, and grief, and care, Untouched by Time.

We praise Thy name

That from the dust and darkness of the tomb
We can look up in faith, and humbly claim
Our future home.

Hasten the day

When, passing death's dark vale without a fear,
We, as we reach that heavenly home, may say
No graves are here!

ATTRACTIONS OF HEAVEN.

N

O sickness There

No weary wasting of the frame away, No fearful shrinking from the midnight air, No dread of summer's bright and fervid ray !

No hidden grief,

No wild and cheeriess vision of despair;
No vain petition for a swift relief,

No tearful eye, no broken heart are There!

Care has no home

Within that realm of ceaseless praise and song;
Its surging billows toss and melt in foam,
Far from the mansions of the spirit-throng.

The storm's black wing

Is never spread athwart celestial skies;

Its wailings blend not with the voice of Spring,
As some too tender floweret fades and dies.

No night distils

Its chilling dews upon the tender frame;
No morn is needed There! the light which fills
The land of glory, from its Maker came.

No parted friends

O'er mournful recollections have to weep-
No bed of death-enduring love attends,
To watch the coming of a pulseless sleep!

No withered flower,

Or blasted bud, celestial gardens know!
No scorching blast or fierce descending shower
Scatters destruction like a ruthless foe.

No battle-word

Startles the sacred hosts with fear and dread;
The song of Peace, Creation's morning heard,
Is sung wherever angel footsteps tread!

Let us depart,

If home like this await the weary soul!

Look up, thou stricken one! Thy wounded heart Shall bleed no more at sorrow's stern control.

With Faith our guide,

White-robed and innocent, to tread the way,-
Why fear to plunge in Jordan's rolling tide,
And find the Haven of eternal day?

THU

ALLUREMENTS OF HEAVEN.

E. H. BICKERSTETH.

HUS Heaven is gathering, one by one, in its capacious breast,

All that is pure and permanent, and beautiful and blest; The family is scattered yet, though of one home and

heart,

Part militant in earthly gloom, in heavenly glory part; But who can tell the rapture, when the circle is com

plete,

And all the children, scattered now, before the Father meet?

One fold-one Shepherd-one employ-one universal home!

"Lo, I come quickly." Even so-" Amen-Lord Jesus, come!"

I

REUNION.

BISHOP MANT.

COUNT the hope no day-dream of the mind,
No vision fair, of transitory hue,—

The souls of those whom once on earth we knew
And loved, and walked with, in communion kind,
Departed hence, again in Heaven to find!

Such hope to nature's sympathies is true: And such, we deem, the holy word to view Unfolds, an antidote for grief designed;

One drop from comfort's well. 'Tis true we read
The book of life; but if we read it not amiss,
By God prepared, fresh treasures shall succeed,
To kinsmen, fellows, friends, a vast abyss
Of joy, nor aught the longing spirit need
To fill its measure of enormous bliss!

KNOW AS WE ARE KNOWN.

BISHOP KEN.

HE saints on earth, when sweetly they converse,

TH

And the dear favors of kind Heaven rehearse,

Each feels the other's joys, both doubly share
The blessings which devoutly they compare.
If saints such mutual joy feel here below,

When they each other's heavenly foretastes know,—
What joys transport them at each other's sight,
When they shall meet in the empyrean height!
Friends e'en in Heaven one happiness would miss,
Should they not know each other, when in bliss.

THE MEETING-PLACE.

HORATIUS BONAR.

WHERE the faded flower shall freshen—

Freshen never more to fade;

Where the faded sky shall brighten

Brighten never more to shade;