The Golden Keys each eve and morn
I see them with a heart forlorn

Lest they should Iron prove to me-
O set my heart at liberty.

May I seize what Thou dost give,
Seize tremblingly and live.

B.

XVII.

"He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly."

FEAR NOT: for He hath sworn:

Faithful and true His name :

The glorious hours are onward borne ;

'Tis lit, th' immortal flame ;

It glows around thee; kneel, and strive, and win Daily one living ray-'twill brighter glow within.

YET FEAR the time is brief;

The Holy One is near;

And like a spent and withered leaf

In autumn-twilight drear,

Faster each hour, on Time's unslackening gale,

The dreaming world drives on, to where all vision fail.

Surely the time is short:

Endless the task and art

To brighten for the ethereal court

A soil'd earth-drudging heart.But He, the dread Proclaimer of that hour, Is pledged to thee in Love, as to thy foes in Power.

His shoulders bear the Key:
He opens-who can close?
Closes-and who dare open ?-He

Thy soul's misgiving knows.

If He come quick, the mightier sure will prove His Spirit in each heart that timely strives to love.

Then haste Thee, Lord! Come down,
Take Thy great Power, and reign!
But frame Thee first a perfect Crown

Of spirits freed from stain,

Souls mortal once, now match'd for evermore,

With the immortal gems that form'd Thy wreath before.

Who in Thy portal wait,

Free of that glorious throng,
Wondering, review their trial-state,
The life that erst seemed long;

Wondering at His deep love, who purg'd so base And earthly mould so soon for th' undefiled place.

ΑΜΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΡΧΟΥ, ΚΥΡΙΕ ΙΗΣΟΥ.

7.

3.

AFFLICTION.

XVIII.

DAVID AND JONATHAN.

"Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women."

O HEART of fire! misjudged by wilful man,
Thou flower of Jesse's race!

What woe was thine, when thou and Jonathan
Last greeted face to face!

He doom'd to die, thou on us to impress
The portent of a blood-stained holiness.

Yet it was well-for so, mid cares of rule
And crime's encircling tide,

A spell was o'er thee, zealous one, to cool
Earth-joy and kingly pride;

With battle-scene and pageant, prompt to blend
The pale calm spectre of a blameless friend.

Ah! had he lived, before thy throne to stand,

Thy spirit keen and high,

Sure it had snapped in twain love's slender band,

So dear in memory;

Paul's strife unblest,* its serious lesson gives,

He bides with us who dies, he is but lost who lives.

8.

XIX.

"Blessed be ye poor."

I HAVE been honoured and obeyed,
I have met scorn and slight;
And my heart loves earth's sober shade
More than her laughing light.

For what is rule but a sad weight

Of duty and a snare?

What meanness, but with happier fate

The SAVIOUR's Cross to share?

This my hid choice, though not from heaven,
Moves on the heavenward line;

Cleanse it, good Lord, from sinful leaven,

And make it simply Thine.

* Acts xv. 39.

d.