morn!

Oh spring to light! auspicious babe, be born! See, nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring,

With all the incense of the breathing spring!
See lofty Lebanon his head advance;
See nodding forests on the mountains dance;
See spicy clouds from lowly Sharon rise,
And Carmel's flowery top perfumes the skies!
Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers:
Prepare the way! a God, a God appears!
A God, a God! the vocal hills reply-
The rocks proclaim the approaching deity.
Lo, earth receives Him from the bending
skies!

The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more;
But useless lances into scythes shall bend,
And the broad falchion in a plough-share end.
Then palaces shall rise; the joyful son
Shall finish what his short-lived sire begun;
Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield,
And the same hand that sowed shall reap the
field;

The swain in barren deserts with surprise
Sees lilies spring and sudden verdure rise;
And starts, amidst the thirsty wilds, to hear
New falls of water murmuring in his ear.
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulrush
nods;

rise!

With heads declined, ye cedars, homage pay! Be smooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods, give way!

thorn,

The spiry fir and shapely box adorn;
To leafless shrubs the flowery palms succeed,
And odorous myrtle to the noisome weed;

The steer and lion at one crib shall meet, And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet.

The smiling infant in his hand shall take
The crested basilisk and speckled snake—
Pleased, the green lustre of the scales survey,
And with their forked tongue shall innocent-
ly play.

Rise, crowned with light, imperial Salem, rise!

Exalt thy towery head, and lift thine eyes!
See a long race thy spacious courts adorn;
See future sons and daughters, yet unborn,
In crowding ranks on every side arise,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies!
See barbarous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;
See thy bright altars thronged with prostrate
kings,

And heaped with products of Sabean springs!
For thee Idume's spicy forests blow,
And seeds of gold in Ophir's mountains

glow.

See heaven its sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day!
No more the rising sun shall gild the morn,
Nor evening Cynthia fill her silver horn;
But lost, dissolved in thy superior rays,
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze,
O'erflow thy courts; the Light Himself shall
shine

Revealed, and God's eternal day be thine!
The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke de-

cay,

Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away; But fixed His word, His saving power re

mains;

Thy realm for ever lasts, thy own Messiah reigns!

ALEXANDER POPE.

TWELFTH DAY, OR THE EPIPHANY.

THAT SO Thy blessed birth, O Christ,
Might through the world be spread about,
Thy star appeared in the east,
Whereby the Gentiles found Thee out;
And offering Thee myrrh, incense, gold,
Thy three-fold office did unfold.

Or he had lately left the upper sphere, And had read all the sovereign schemes and divine riddles there.

CHARLES LAMB.

THE REIGN OF CHRIST ON EARTH.

HAIL to the Lord's anointed-
Great David's greater Son!
Hail, in the time appointed,
His reign on earth begun!

He comes to break oppression,
To set the captive free,
To take away transgression,
And rule in equity.

He comes with succor speedy
To those who suffer wrong;
To help the poor and needy,

And bid the weak be strong;
To give them songs for sighing,

Their darkness turn to light, Whose souls, condemned and dying, Were precious in His sight.

By such shall He be feared
While sun and moon endure-

Beloved, obeyed, revered;

For He shall judge the poor, Through changing generations, With justice, mercy, truth, While stars maintain their stations Or moons renew their youth.

He shall come down like showers
Upon the fruitful earth,
And love, joy, hope, like flowers,
Spring in His path to birth;
Before Him, on the mountains,
Shall peace, the herald, go,
And righteousness, in fountains.
From hill to valley flow.

Arabia's desert-ranger

To Him shall bow the knee, The Ethiopian stranger

His glory come to see; With offerings of devotion

Ships from the isles shall meet, To pour the wealth of ocean

In tribute at His feet.

Kings shall fall down before Him,

And gold and incense bring; All nations shall adore Him, His praise all people sing; For He shall have dominion O'er river, sea, and shore, Far as the eagle's pinion

Or dove's light wing can soar.

For Him shall prayer unceasing,
And daily vows, ascend-
His kingdom still increasing,

A kingdom without end;
The mountain dews shall nourish
A seed in weakness sown,
Whose fruit shall spread and flourish,
And shake like Lebanon.

O'er every foe victorious,

He on His throne shall rest, From age to age more glorious, All-blessing and all-blest; The tide of time shall never

His covenant remove; His name shall stand for ever; That name to us is-love.

749

JAMES MONTGOMERY.

"JESUS SHALL REIGN."

JESUS shall reign where'er the sun
Does his successive journeys run,—
His kingdom spread from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

From north to south the princes meet
To pay their homage at His feet,
While western empires own their Lord,
And savage tribes attend His word.

To Him shall endless prayer be made,
And endless praises crown His head;
His name like sweet perfume shall rise
With every morning sacrifice.

People and realms of every tongue
Dwell on His love with sweetest song,
And infant voices shall proclaim
Their early blessings on His name.

ISAAC WATTS