ST. JOHN BAPTIST'S DAY.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers unto the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers. Malachi iv. 5, 6.

TWICE in her season of decay
The fallen Church hath felt Elijah's eye
Dart from the wild its piercing ray:
Not keener burns, in the chill morning sky,
The herald star,

Whose torch afar

Shadows and boding night-birds fly.

Methinks we need him once again,
That favour'd seer-but where shall he be found?
By Cherith's side we seek in vain,

In vain on Carmel's green and lonely mound:
Angels no more

From Sinai soar,

On his celestial errands bound.

But wafted to her glorious place

By harmless fire, among the ethereal thrones,
His spirit with a dear embrace

Thee the lov'd harbinger of Jesus owns,
Well-pleas'd to view

Her likeness true,

And trace, in thine, her own deep tones.

Deathless himself, he joys with thee To commune how a faithful martyr dies, And in the blest could envy be,

He would behold thy wounds with envious eyes, Star of our morn,

Who yet unborn c

Didst guide our hope, where Christ should rise.

Now resting from your jealous care For sinners, such as Eden cannot know, Ye pour for us your mingled prayer, No anxious fear to damp Affection's glow, Love draws a cloud'

From you to shroud

Rebellion's mystery here below.

e St. Luke i. 44. The Babe leaped in her womb for joy.

X

And since we see, and not afar,

The twilight of the great and dreadful day,

Why linger, till Elijah's car

Stoop from the clouds? Why sleep ye? rise and pray, Ye heralds seal'd

In camp or field

Your Saviour's banner to display.

Where is the lore the Baptist taught,
The soul unswerving and the fearless tongue?
The much-enduring wisdom, sought
By lonely prayer the haunted rocks among?
Who counts it gain“

d

His light should wane,

So the whole world to Jesus throng?

Thou Spirit who the Church didst lend Her eagle wings, to shelter in the wild,

We pray thee, ere the Judge descend, With flames like these, all bright and undefil'd, Her watchfires light,

To guide aright

Our weary souls, by earth beguil'd.

d St. John iii. 30. He must increase, but I must decrease.

Revelations xii. 14.

So glorious let thy Pastors shine,

That by their speaking lives the world may learn

First filial duty, then divine',

That sons to parents, all to Thee may turn ;
And ready prove

In fires of love,

At sight of Thee, for aye to burn.

ST. PETER'S DAY.

When Herod would have brought him out, the same night Peter was sleeping. Acts xii. 6.

THOU thrice denied, yet thrice belov'd",

Watch by thine own forgiven friend;

In sharpest perils faithful prov'd,

Let his soul love thee to the end.

Malachi iv. 6. He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,

and the heart of the children to the fathers.

St. Luke i. 17. To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

St. John xxi. 15, 16, 17.

The prayer is heard-else why so deep
His slumber on the eve of death?
And wherefore smiles he in his sleep
As one who drew celestial breath?

He loves and is belov'd again

Can his soul choose but be at rest? Sorrow hath fled away, and Pain

Dares not invade the guarded nest.

He dearly loves, and not alone:

For his wing'd thoughts are soaring high Where never yet frail heart was known To breathe in vain affection's sigh.

He loves and weeps-but more than tears Have seal'd thy welcome and his loveOne look lives in him, and endears

Crosses and wrongs where'er he rove:

That gracious chiding look ", Thy call
To win him to himself and Thee,
Sweetening the sorrow of his fall
Which else were ru'd too bitterly.

h St. Luke xxii. 61.