Let In The Light!

Let in the light! The sky is bright, The air is flowing free; The mountains glow,— The vale, below, Is holding jubilee.

Let in the light! Sad oversight To miss so sweet a morn;— The vision flies; Awake! arise! Each dawn is life reborn.

Let in the light! O, read aright The day’s Apocalypse; Its hours enfold The age of gold, And all thy dreams eclipse.

Let in the light! 'Twill soon be night;— Prize every moment given; With all thy might Serve thou the right, And leave the rest to Heaven.

THE LAW OF LOVE.

O, the sky is blue above me, And the earth beneath is green, And softly bright the flowing light Floods the boundless space between.

But what if the day should darken, And death’s dread shadows fall? I need not fear; with heaven so near, Why should the night appall?

’Tis but the peaceful portal Unto a morn immortal; For the light that once gladdened the garden’s deep gloom, At last shall transfigure all blight into bloom.

For over and under the soul’s sore strife Is the blessed law of an endless life; From the sod to the stars, and the stars to the sod, Sways the everlasting love of God.

SUPPLICATION.

A cup of pleasure passing sweet, Sometimes, this life of hopes and fears,— But oft, a fountain full of grief, O’erflowing still with lonely tears.

When brightest skies above us bend, Dark o’er our heads the tempest lowers;— At best, a sombre happiness, A partial light, at best, is ours.

What waits beyond,—of good or ill, We vainly struggle to discern;— Poor, sinful, blind, and comfortless, O pitying Christ! to Thee we turn.

Our only help and refuge, Thou;— Give joy for sorrow, peace for strife; We bring our burdened hearts to Thee, O Love divine! our Light, our Life.

OUR LIFE IS LENT.

Our life is Lent:— Our years are spent In penance for the past; Our songs are sighs; Our brightest skies With clouds are overcast.

Our life is Lent:— The old lament— “All, all is vanity;” And Youth, in tears, Awaits with fears The morrow’s mystery.

Our life is Lent:— Lord, we repent Each folly, fault, and fall; Our best resolve Do thou absolve,— Forgive, forget it all.

Our life is Lent:— Our hearts are rent, As we Thy gifts recount, And mark again, With bitter pain, “The pattern in the mount.”

Our life is Lent:— Our strength is spent; O holy Judge, and just, Receive our prayer,— Poor sinners spare; Remember we are dust.

Our life is Lent:— But Jesus went This way; in Him confide;— 'Twill soon be past; Then, for thy fast, Eternal Eastertide!

LENTEN LESSONS.

Not of one day or age alone, In unfeared Future far away,— But here, and now, the Great White Throne:— To-day, to-day, the Judgment-Day!

On every heart, O God, impress This truth,—for all souls given,— That heaven does not make holiness, But holiness makes heaven.

Thy rightful dower Earth cannot give; Far other, thou, than sun and sod;— The soul of man can only live By living in the life of God.

The creed of a contracted heart, The code of a self-serving will, Ne’er matched thy nature’s nobler part, Nor could thy being’s end fulfill.

Peace is not here; in vain thy quest;— Thou art not brother to the clod; The heart of man can only rest By resting on the heart of God.