SUNSET. PART II. "A setting sun Should leave a track of glory in the skies." THE Christian in life's even Shall shine serenely bright, As in the autumnal heaven Mild rainbow tints at night, When the last shower is stealing down, And ere they sink to rest, The sunbeams weave a parting crown, For some sweet woodland nest. The promise of the morrow Is glorious on that eve; Dear as the holy sorrow When good men cease to live; When, brightening ere it die away, Mounts up their altar flame, Still tending with intenser ray To Heaven, whence first it came. Say not it dies, that glory, 'Tis caught unquenched on high; Those saintlike brows so hoary Shall wear it in the sky. No smile is like the smile of death, When, all good musings past, Rise, wafted with the parting breath, The sweetest thought the last. KEBLE. FROM morn, to eve-by day, by night, God's mercies I review; The retrospection brings delight, And grateful feelings too. For these, my God, an altar now I raise, This heart the altar, and the incense praise. E. H. DYING THOUGHTS. My greatest grief, my greatest joy, When standing on the brink of death, How much my Lord has done for me: How little I have done for Him. "Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." Luke xxiv. 29. 'TIS gone, that bright and orbed blaze, In darkness and in weariness The traveller on his way must press; Sun of my soul! thou Saviour dear, To hide thee from thy servant's eyes. When round thy wondrous works below My searching rapturous glance I throw, Tracing out wisdom, power, and love, In earth or sky, in stream or grove ;— Or by the light thy words disclose Where not too deep for mortal sense; When with dear friends sweet talk I hold, And all the flowers of life unfold; Let not my heart within me burn, When the soft dews of kindly sleep E 3 |