THE MOTHER'S DREAM, ON THE DEATH OF HER FIRST-BORN. BY W. M. HETHERINGTON, A. M. Author of "Scottish Pastorals." SHE slept;-for sorrow wanes away The pain, the sighs, the tears of day She slept; and o'er her slumbering mind Swept, like the rustling summer-wind, The music of a little tongue Went thrilling thro' her breast; Sweet as the lays by angels sung, That lull the good to rest. Soft kisses fann'd her cheek and eyes, Light touches gently still'd her sighs, Again, that little voice's swell And on her ear those accents fell- "If from thine earthly coronet "Thine earthly harp has lost a string, Unjarred by one false tone; Oh! list! new strung its full notes ring For aye before the throne! "The rose-bud from thy topmost bough Is cropp'd, unblown, away; In Paradise its beauties now Expands in endless day. "One life-germ from thy heart is wrung, And keen the pang may be ; Rejoice! in heaven that germ has sprung To immortality!" Peace to the Mother's yearning breast, EPITAPH ON AN INFANT. PURE is the dew-drop on the thorn, It dieth into day: Purer than dews, my little One! Brighter than stars wert thou, The Day that ends not round thee shone, Heaven's glories hide thee now! W. M. H. NONCONFORMITY TO THE WORLD. A CHAPTER FROM "THE EARLY CHRIS TIANS; OR, THE ASPECT AND SPIRIT BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE PASTOR OF BLAMONT." Ir is true, that an abandonment of the peculiar maxims and manners of the world bas been inculcated and practised by different sects and individuals; that from Diogenes in his tub to the mendicant Brahmin with all his contorted positions, a certain opposition to the tenets and practices of the multitude has ever been exemplified. But it is no less true, that the principle influencing the conduct of every nonconformist to the world, except the Christian, has been infallibly that of self,-it is this which has constituted the mainspring of all their singularity, this the orb around which their motives have invariably revolved. Christianity, however, whilst it enjoins an estrangement from the popular sentiments and appearances of mankind, in its present degenerate aspect, has a far different centre of evolution, and is directed by far purer and loftier motives. Its votaries, by their abstraction from the habits and spirit of the world, neither pay homage to themselves, nor demand its being rendered to them by others. On the contrary, the Christian's conduct, in this particular, is an evidence of allegiance to a sovereign whose kingdom is not of this world,-whose empire, instead of being characterised by oppression and discord and sensual gratification, is one of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost: it is an acknowledgment of the absolute supremacy of another power than that which has usurped Įdominion on earth,-a mark of submission |