Here camps, with wide embattled force, Here gates and bulwarks stop their course; He storms the mounds, the bulwark falls: The harp lies strewed with ruined walls.

See his broad sword flies o'er the strings, And mows down nations with their kings: From every chord His bolts are hurled, And vengeance smites the rebel world.

ABRAHAM'S FAITH.

LYRA APOSTOLICA.

And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

THE better portion didst thou choose, great heart,
Thy God's first choice, and pledge of Gentile grace!
Faith's truest type, he with unruffled face

Bore the world's smile, and bade her slaves depart;
Whether a trader, with no trader's art,

He buys in Canaan his first resting-place,-
Or freely yields rich Siddim's ample space,—
Or braves the rescue and the battle's smart,
Yet scorns the heathen gifts of those he saved.

Oh, happy in their soul's high solitude,

Who commune thus with God, and not with earth!
Amid the scoffings of the world enslaved,

A ready prey, as though in absent mood

They calmly move, nor hear the unmannered mirth.

EVENTIDE.

ANONYMOUS.

And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at eventide.-GENESIS xxiv. 63.

SWEET evening hour! Sweet evening hour!
That calms the air and shuts the flower,

That brings the wild bee to its nest,

The infant to its mother's breast.

Sweet hour! that bids the labourer cease,

That gives the weary beast release,

And sends them home, and crowns them there

With rest and shelter, food and care.

Oh season of soft sounds and hues,
Of twilight walks among the dews,
Of feelings calm and converse sweet,
And thoughts too shadowy to repeat !

Yes, lovely hour! thou art the time
When feelings flow and wishes climb;
When timid souls begin to dare,

And God receives and answers prayer.

EVENTIDE.

Then, trembling through the dewy skies,
Look out the stars, like thoughtful eyes

Of angels, calm, reclining there,
And gazing on the world of care.

Sweet hour! for heavenly musing made,
When Isaac walked, and Daniel prayed;
When Abram's offering God did own,
And Jesus loved to be alone.

83

THE GOINGS FORTH OF GOD.

OTWAY CURRY.

For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.-ROMANS i. 20.

GOD walketh on the earth. The purling rills
And mightier streams before Him glance away,
Rejoicing in His presence. On the plains
And spangled fields, and in the mazy vales,
The living throngs of earth before Him fall
With thankful hymns, receiving from His hand
Immortal life and gladness. Clothed upon

With burning crowns, the mountain heralds stand,
Proclaiming to the blossoming wilderness

The brightness of His coming, and the power
Of Him who ever liveth, All in All!

God walketh on the ocean. Brilliantly
The glassy waters mirror back His smiles;
The surging billows and the gambolling storms
Come crouching to His feet. The hoary deep,