So, separate from the world, his breast
Might duly take and strongly keep
The print of Heaven, to be express'd
Ere long on Sion's steep*.

There one by one his spirit saw

Of things divine the shadows bright,
The pageant of God's perfect law;
Yet felt not full delight.

Through gold and gems, a dazzling maze,
From veil to veil the vision led,
And ended, where unearthly rays
From o'er the Ark were shed.

Yet not that gorgeous place, nor aught
Of human or angelic frame,
Could half appease his craving thought;
The void was still the same.

"Shew me thy glory, gracious Lord!

""Tis Thee," he cries, "not thine, I seek'."—

k See that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee

Nay, start not at so bold a word

From man, frail worm and weak:

The spark of his first deathless fire
Yet buoys him up, and high above
The holiest creature, dares aspire
To the Creator's love.

The eye in smiles may wander round,

Caught by earth's shadows as they fleet;

But for the soul no help is found,
Save Him who made it, meet.

Spite of yourselves, ye witness this",
Who blindly self or sense adore ;
Else wherefore leaving your own bliss
Still restless ask ye more?

This witness bore the saints of old

When highest rapt and favour'd most,

Still seeking precious things untold,

Not in fruition lost.

Pensees de Pascal, part 1. art. viii.
Q

Canaan was theirs, and in it all

The proudest hope of kings dare claim;
Sion was theirs; and at their call

Fire from Jehovah came.

Yet monarchs walk'd as pilgrims still

In their own land, earth's pride and grace;

And seers would mourn on Sion's hill

Their Lord's averted face.

Vainly they tried the deeps to sound
Even of their own prophetic thought,
When of Christ crucified and crown'd
His Spirit in them taught:

But He their aching gaze repress'd,

Which sought behind the veil to see,

For not without us fully bless'd"
Or perfect might they be.

The rays of the Almighty's face

No sinner's eye might then receive;

n Hebrews xi. 40. That they without us should not be made perfect.

Only the meekest man found grace

To see his skirts and live.

But we as in a glass espy

The glory of His countenance, Not in a whirlwind hurrying by The too presumptuous glance,

But with mild radiance every hour, From our dear Saviour's face benign Bent on us with transforming power, Till we, too, faintly shine.

Sprinkled with His atoning blood Safely before our God we stand, on the rock the Prophet stood,

As

Beneath His shadowing hand.—

Bless'd eyes, which see the things we see!
And yet this tree of life hath prov'd
To many a soul a poison tree,
Beheld, and not belov'd.

• Exod. xxxiii. 20-23.

So like an angel's is our bliss

(Oh! thought to comfort and appal)
It needs must bring, if us'd amiss,
An angel's hopeless fall.

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER

TRINITY.

And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. St. Luke xvii. 17, 18.

TEN cleans'd, and only one remain!

Who would have thought our nature's stain
Was dyed so foul, so deep in grain?

Even He who reads the heart,

Knows what He gave and what we lost,

Sin's forfeit, and redemption's cost,—
By a short pang of wonder cross'd
Seems at the sight to start :

Yet 'twas not wonder, but His love
Our wavering spirits would reprove,