the Lord in His inquiry uses the Greek word to express the highest or inmost degree of love, Peter uses a Greek word for a more external love, that of friendship. He does not, therefore, compare his love for the Lord with that of his companions, for he could not know their feelings, but he is humbled as to his exalted opinion of himself. That Peter at this time, before the descent of the Holy Spirit, was still unconverted, as he was at the period of the Lord's betrayal, (Luke xxii. 31, 32.) is most evident not only from the history in the Gospels, but from what Swedenborg says in No. 443 of his Apoc. Explic., where referring to this passage, he adds—“ But presently after [the Lord's address to him], when he turned himself from the Lord, and was INDIGNANT at John's following Jesus, by whom was signified the good of charity, [he is not called, as just before," Simon, son of Jonas, but] Peter only; and by Peter is then signified truth without good, or faith separate from charity. For Peter in this sense means "falsity and the want of faith," thus, surely, self-deception; for it was the self-righteous opinion of Peter that he loved the Lord more than the rest of the apostles.

And now I adduce my authorities. Among others, they are-Hewlett, Elsley, Lightfoot, Grotius, Hammond, Livermore, Dr. A. Clarke, in loci, and Hoole's Greek Gospels, Oxford ed. Dr. Carpenter translates the sentence-"Lovest thou me more than these Do?" (Apostol. Harmony, p. 300.) Dr. Campbell writes as follows:-"I incline rather to this second interpretation, 'Lovest thou me more than these men [thy fellowdisciples] love me?'" (Gosp., vol. ii., p. 713, ed. 1825) Geoghegan, in a note in his Greek Testament, says "The sense of the question is, 'Dost thou love me more than these do?'" and cites Dr. Campbell in favour of his opinion.

Birmingham.

E. M.

Poetry.
SAPPHO.

[This poem was suggested by a beautiful statue,—the work of the sculptor Duprés, at Florence,-of the world-famed Greek poetess Sappho; who, being deserted by her lover, is said to have committed suicide, by leaping from a rock into the sea.]

Marvellous Sappho! Triumph of the art

That wakes a soul in marble! The crushed heart

Of Woman, in her utterest hopelessness

Looks forth in thee-nay! looks not forth !—we guess,
We feel it, in this numb collapse of life,

O'ertaxed by love's last agony. The strife

Is over now; the very consciousness
Of anguish, baffled in its own excess,
Fades from the brow and vacant-closing eye;
The lip still quivering with a last-drawn sigh
Involuntary; the low-drooping head
(Not bowed, but drooping) lax, ungarlanded;
The hand, loose-lying on the slackened knee,-
Yea, but each slight, soft, nerveless curve to see,
Who could misread thy story? Who mistake
Exhaustion's apathy, from which to wake.
Is but despair, and that last, fatal leap!

"No!" said one there beside me, as, in deep Delight of admiration rapt, I stood;

66

Praise it not! Like it not! It is not good

"To image Woman thus! Let sculptors show "Her fair face bright in flower-crowned Hebe-glow, "Or riper matronhood of modest joys,

"Whose pure smile sheds a quiet o'er the noise "Of man's fierce jarrings; or in pensive calm, "Which 'mid all sorrow tells of sorrow's balm; "Or even in the agony sublime,

66

"The martyrdom, heroic through all time, "Of woman's patient watch beneath the cross Herself may not endure! But oh! this loss "Of all true Womanhood-this soulless mood "Of hopeless, abject weakness-understood "Aright, what speaks it? Woman, self-betrayed "To coward, slavish passion, disarrayed

"Of all her gracious self-rule, chaste as free""Tis hateful, terrible!"

"But these things be!"

I answered with a sigh.

Yet spak'st thou sooth!

It is not good, it is not Woman's truth

To her high, heavenly birthright, so to stake
Her all on any cast, for any sake

To gamble with, as thus to be o'erthrown

By any loss! Let then her voice disown,

Henceforth, the slander man writ on her brow,
(Ay! but a man your Milton!) calling now
To witness men and angels, that God's hand
Which made the Man most ripe to understand,
The Woman most to love, that so the twain
Might seeing love, and loving yet see plain,
Created not, as his conceit would plan,

The man for God, the woman for the man,*
But male and female both, as equal men,
To know, and love, and serve, their Lord first, then
Each other, as true neighbours. Boots not prate
Of Eve's transgression! Must ye learn so late,
The curse that fell on Eve, (dire curse! to own
The sway of Adam, fallen!) bears sway alone
With fallen Adam? All too just the meed
Which, for her first allegiance spurned, decreed
A baser servitude; but balm is yet

In Gilead! To the curse a term is set,

And Eve expires in Mary! Ay, so! She

Who bare the Christ, the Truth that makes man free,
Deem ye He left her bound? But lest ye doubt,
Listen! Divine lips speak it broadly out:

"Behold! my mother, sister, brother—all

"Who do my Father's will."

So doth He call

To one high level of kiuship in His name
The Woman with the Man; nor till her claim,

Divinely chartered thus, be understood,
Till she herself in act shall make it good,
By life and heart supremely dedicate
To Him, ere earthly tie assert its weight,
And in His service win such mastery
O'er self, and man's or guile or tyranny,
As in God's love to walk erect and free
Though man's love fail her, may she cease to be
His toy, or victim-as we see her here!
Ponder this well, my sisters! nor give ear

(As Woman in her fond humility

Is prone) to plea of specious flattery,

"He for God only, she for God in him."-See MILTON'S Paradise Lost.

That weakness, ignorance, dependence make

Your chiefest charm in Man's sight; rather take
More thought, for that shall keep you faithful, pure,
And pleasing in God's sight,-which, be ye sure,
Obedience to no earthly lord may do!

Or can ye serve two masters?

And for you,

True Men and Brethren! deem not Woman's gain
Shall be your loss! Which labour of the twain
Bears best returns, and richest-slave? or free?
Be just, then! as true men should ever be,
And true love is, which man ne'er cherished yet
But he in love his lordship did forget

(For true love yearns to give, to serve, to bless!
Self-love to rule, be worshipped, and possess);
And, owning Woman, even as Man, endowed
With special gifts-preeminent allowed
Each in what lacks the other, each to each
Superior, yet inferior-cease to o'erreach
This sweet, diverse equality, designed
In fullest freedom each to each to bind.
And this be your reward! To find once more
Beside you, not an image to adore,

-

A petted queen on sufferance (so her face
Be fair enough!) a pastime to embrace
In idle hours; a helpless load to bear
Along life's dusty ways beset by care;
A gilded merchandize to buy or sell;

A drudge to trample on, nor slave to quell,-
But a true, God-made help-meet, in your need
Who comfort and sweet help shall lend indeed,
Needing not yours to stand by, though she cling
Thereto for dear love's sake; meet, not to fling
Dead weights of household selfishness i'the scale
'Gainst higher duties' claim, nor, when ye fail,
Make failure hopeless with her helpless wail;
But to keep pure your spirits from world's rust,
Re-nerve you for new efforts by her trust,
Strong in her sheltered love-sphere's inner life,
When evils wage without their deadly strife,

[Enl. Series.-No. 101, vol. ix.]

15

To save you from yourselves; not bring her dower
Of weakness to abet the tempter's power;

Nor, when ye stumble, drag you wholly down.
With curse of her undoing-which now each town
Throughout our Christian (?) country far and wide,
Fills with more dire soul-wreck and suicide
Than Pagan Sappho's! And this wreck, alas!
Man's proud supremacy hath brought to pass
Unchallenged! Cease then, cease! to grasp at sway
Where each should vie with other to obey;
Or if ye needs must rule still, pleading Man
As born to empire, henceforth (for ye can
By God's help!) rule yourselves! Aspire to be
Lords of your passions!-and leave Woman free!

Free-nowise for her pride or self-will's sake;
Only a heavenlier yoke than Man's to take;
That she beside him freely may adore,
And serve him better, loving him the more,
But wiselier; learning henceforth to rejoice
In being so worthy of a true Man's choice,
As rather die unchosen than bestow

Her grace on one unapt true worth to know.
So shall, to crown life's joys, be oftener given
The happy home which foretaste yields of heaven;
Love's heaven-born blossoms cease on earth to bear
Infernal fruit of ashes and despair;

And happier Christian Sapphos, undismayed

When cherished visions from their fond grasp fade,
Fixing Faith's eye serene 'mid tears and strife,
Find in the bitterest cup, not death-but life!

A MOTHER'S PRAYER. *

Jesus, merciful and loving,

With the angels at command,

Place this little lamb, this evening,

With some kind and tender hand.

* These lines were the spontaneous outpouring of a young mother's heart for her only child, an infant boy. They were composed shortly before, and were found in the pocket of her dress after, her decease.