THE WIDOW OF NAIN.

SHE weeps! and bitter are the tears that roll
In quick succession down her pallid cheek.
Why flow those tears so copiously? Why heaves
That aching breast so sad, so deep a sigh?
Gaze on the passing train! Upon that bier
Is borne a loved one to the cold, dark tomb;
The young lies there, all pale and motionless.
His father's pride, his mother's hope and joy;
He sleeps, he sleeps in death! the eyes which erst
Sparkled with brightness, and return'd the fond,
The searching, glance of her who gave him birth,
Return that look no more. The tongue's sweet talk
Is hush'd in chilling silence. The arm whereon
The mourner oft did lean, no more performs
Its friendly part; and faded is the grace
Of that fair form, which through each stage of life
She watch'd with all a mother's love and hope.
Hers is no common woe. That sable bier
Bears to the grave all she held dear on earth.
"She was a widow!" The lord of day,
In glory clothed, and like a giant, strong
And mighty, had run many a course;
The silvery moon through numerous nights
Had in her brightness walk'd, and richly cast
On each poor traveller's path her wish'd-for beams;
Since he, who joy'd in all the mourner's joys,
And grieved in all her griefs, and with her bare
Life's burdens, bow'd beneath Death's iron hand :
Under the grass-clothed turf he calmly slept.
One only joy remain'd; one only hope,
To smooth her journey to the vale of death,-
Her son, her only son! But, ah! the stroke,
Like that which fell upon her other self,
Had fall'n on him, and fall'n as fatally.

She weeps! heart-rending is her tale of woe:-
"Blasted my fairest hopes; my hoary head
Shall be brought down with sorrow to the grave."
Hush, mourner, hush thy wail! Be calm'd thy grief!
And wipe those burning tears away. Hope dawns;
And hope not vain. Behold the Prince of life!
His heart, a heart which glow'd with love for man,
For rebel man, is "moved with tenderness.

He speaks, who gave to every being birth;
He speaks,

66

Young man, say to thee, Arise!"

The fiat of Omnipotence is heard,

Heard and obey'd. Affrighted, conquering Death
The victor's palm to our Immanuel yields;

His prey resigns. "He that was dead sat up."
And He who raised him gave him to his mother.
Hail! Source of joy! Hail! God of matchless power!
Hail! Husband to the widow! Friend of man!
Thy tenderness, and love, and power we sing
In strains which emulate the melody

Of music flowing from the golden harps

Of angels bright and pure, in heaven's fair clime. Tiverton.

G. W. C.

ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG LADY.

SERAPHIM! who surround the throne
Suffused with heaven's effulgent light,
Who pour out music's richest tone
In holy rapturous delight;

Ye who have drunk at Mercy's fount,
Whose streaming waters ever flow,
Saw ye a radiant spirit mount

Above the sacred covenant bow?*

For we have lost an angel here:

She must have sprung, with ardent love,
To meet your kindred spirits there,

And tread the glittering courts above.
Does, then, a bright, unfading wreath
Encircle her immortal brow?

And does she adoration breathe
Before the Great Eternal, now?

She loved the solemn, soften'd hush
And calmness of the Sabbath, here;
The sanctuary's music-gush

With thrilling sweetness met her ear.
But in your glorious home she gains
An endless Sabbath's deep repose;
Nor shall her harp's exalted strains
In dying cadence ever close.

With what ecstatic joy she hail'd

The bursting rays of heaven-born light
Which, when the powers of darkness fail'd,
Made all her earthly pathway bright!

But 'tis with gratitude we know

From Truth's illumined pages fair,
That beams of undimm'd glory glow
Upon her happy spirit there.

* Ezek. i. 26-28.

Roche, Printer, 25, Hoxton-square, London.

LAMBDA.

ONE of the most dangerous influences of political party is found in the prejudices which it creates, and which either furnish standards according to which judgment is pronounced on subjects presented for decision, or which govern the arrangement and investigation of evidence which is to guide the decision, even when a more correct standard is employed. And these prejudices are by no means confined to the passing transactions of the day. Events which, from the time that has elapsed since their occurrence, would seem to have become the property of impartial history, are either regarded as having some connexion with existing circumstances, or as presenting some analogy or resemblance to them; and praise or censure will be awarded, not as truth may decide, but as the seeming interests of party may require.

That variety of opinions is thus found to exist in reference to the same facts or characters, though itself an evil of no common magnitude, is yet only one of the least of the evils which this spirit occasions. Its effects on the individual mind are most to be deplored. No one can read holy writ with proper attention, without being deeply convinced, that one of the principal elements of that moral character, the cultivation of which the word of God enjoins, and the posVOL. VII. Second Series. E