HYMN FOR CHRISTMAS. OH! lovely voices of the sky Which hymn'd the Saviour's birth, Are ye not singing still on high, Wherewith, in time gone by, Ye bless'd the Syrian swains, Oh! clear and shining light, whose beams That hour Heaven's glory shed, Around the palms, and o'er the streams, And on the shepherd's head. Be near, through life and death, As in that holiest night Of hope, and joy, and faith Oh! clear and shining light! Oh! star which led to Him, whose love Brought down man's ransom freeWhere art thou?-'midst the host above, May we still gaze on thee? In heaven thou art not set, Thy rays earth may not dim ; Send them to guide us yet, Oh! star which led to Him! CHRIST STILLING THE TEMPEST. "But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves; for the wind was contrary." St. Matthew, xiv. 24. FEAR was within the tossing bark, And men stood breathless in their dread, And baffled in their skill But One was there, who rose and said And the wind ceas'd-it ceas'd!-that word The troubled billows knew their Lord, And sank beneath his eye. 108 CHRIST STILLING THE TEMPEST. And slumber settled on the deep, And silence on the blast, As when the righteous falls asleep, Thou that didst rule the angry hour, And tame the tempest's mood Oh! send thy spirit forth in power, Thou that didst bow the billow's pride, Speak, speak to passion's raging tide, Speak and say "Peace, be still!" CHRIST'S AGONY IN THE GARDEN. He knelt the Saviour knelt and pray'd, When but His Father's eye Look'd through the lonely garden's shade, The Lord of all, above, beneath, Was bow'd with sorrow unto death. The sun set in a fearful hour, The skies might well grow dim, When this mortality had power So to o'ershadow Him! That He who gave man's breath might know, He knew them all-the doubt, the strife, The faint, perplexing dread, The mists that hang o'er parting life, |