32 THE EVERLASTING LOVE. THE EVERLASTING LOVE. “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."-JER. XXXI, 3. How TENDER is Thy love, O Lord! To come to Thee, their Priest and King, Just as they are, in mean array, Not to the rich and great alone, To bring the outcast wanderers in, For these the banquet Thou prepared, With gracious words Thou welcomed them, Clothed them in garments meet; For those Thou'd chosen for Thy guests, And bade with Thee to eat. Well may their "joy be full," who thus For them, and from Thy hand, O Lord, Partaken of the oil and wine Known every want supplied; And with th' "abundance of Thy house" To sup with Thee, O gracious One! How honored they and blest, Who know Thy loving favor, shown As to a royal guest! Such wondrous grace, so freely shown, y? How can we e'er repay! What gift can we, Thy little ones, Upon Thy altar lay? Thou hast done all, O King of saints, And marvelous Thy ways; To Thee be all the honor given, The glory and the praise? 33 A. R. PAUL. 34 AN INVITATION TO THE COUNTRY. AN INVITATION TO THE COUNTRY. ALREADY, close by our summer dwelling, The blue-bird chants from the elm's long branches, The south wind wanders from field to forest, Come, daughter mine, from the gloomy city, Though many a flower in the wood is waking, She pushes upward the sward already, No lays so joyous as these are warbled From wiry prison in maiden's bower; No pampered bloom of the green-house chamber Has half the charm of the lawn's first flower. MY CREED. Yet these sweet sounds of the early season, Are only sweet when we fondly listen, And only fair when we fondly gaze. There is no glory in star or blossom, Till looked upon by a loving eye; There is no fragrance in April breezes, Till breathed with joy as they wander by. Come, Julia dear, for the sprouting willows, 35 W. C. BRYANT. MY CREED. I HOLD that Christian grace abounds Of love to men. I hold all else named piety A selfish scheme, a vain pretense; Circumference? 36 MY CREED. This I moreover hold, and dare Affirm where'er my rhyme may go: Whether it be the lullabies That charm to rest the nestling bird, Whether the dazzling and the flush 'Tis not the wide phylactery, Nor stubborn fast, or stated prayers, That make us saints; we judge the tree And when a man can live apart I know the blood about his heart Is dry as dust. ALICE CARY. |