Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage."-Ps. cxix: 54. The songs that cheer the pilgrim's way Sublimely swell, and sweetly die. They tell of joys unknown to earth, In that bright world which gave them birth, And as, when music wakes the strings, So, to the pilgrim exiled long From that blest home for which he sighs, The only joy-inspiring song, Is that which points him to the skies. And, sometimes, when its murmurs roll, And gently gliding to the soul, They hush all earthly cares to rest. There comes a soft, responsive note, That strain is not of earth; 'tis given To cheer the pilgrim's heart alone: It is the melody of heaven; It echoes from th' eternal throne. With transport that no tongue can tell, O pilgrim, catch the heavenly strain, Nor shalt thou be an exile long; Even now bright angels bid thee come, To join in that eternal song, To rest in thy eternal home. GOOD NIGHT. CHARLES THE FIRST. Close thine eyes and sleep secure, Then close thine eyes in peace, and sleep secure -no rest so sure. THE WISH AND THE PRAYER. BY ELLWOOD, THE FRIEND OF MILTON. O that mine eye might closed be, That by each word, each deed, each thought Make me more white than snow within ; BLESSED BE THY NAME. HOGG. Blessed be Thy name forever, Thou of life the guard and giver; Thou canst guard thy creatures sleeping, Heal the heart long broke with weeping God of stillness and of motion, Of the desert and the ocean, Of the mountain, rock, and river; Thou who slumberest not, nor sleepest, God of evening's parting ray, Of midnight's gloom, and dawning day, Like breathings of eternity; God of life! that fade shall never, THE BLESSING, I was within a house of prayer, where earth's children press There must be thought of bitterness. Oh! in the change of human life Then sweetly through the hallowed bound |