6 Here trace the moss-grown stones,

Where rest their mould'ring bones,
Again to rise;

And let thy sons be led

To emulate the dead,

While o'er their tombs they tread

With moisten'd eyes.

7 Sons of renowned sires,
Join in harmonious choirs,
Swell your loud songs;
Daughters of peerless dames,
Come with your mild acclaims,
Let their revered names

Dwell on your tongues.

172

L. M.

J. F. CLARKE.

Feast of the Reformation.

1 For all thy gifts we praise thee, Lord,
With lifted song and bended knee,

But now our thanks are chiefly poured
For those who taught us to be free.

2 For when the soul lay bound below
A heavy yoke of forms and creeds,
And none thy word of truth could know,
O'ergrown with tares and choked with weeds;

3 When God's free grace was basely sold,
False prophets taught and priests bore rule;

When robbers climbed in Jesus' fold,
And bigots sat in Jesus' school; –

4 Thy strength, O Lord! in that dark night
By mouths of babes thou didst ordain;
And thy free truth went forth with might,
Not empty to return again.

5 The monarch's sword, the prelate's pride,
The church's curse, the empire's ban,
By one poor monk were all defied,
Who never feared the face of man.

6 Half-battles were the words he said,
Each born of prayer, baptized in tears;
And routed by them, backward fled
The errors of a thousand years.

7 The glittering sword of gospel light

Smote through the mass with lightning power; The sun of truth, with heavenly might, Consumed the stubble in an hour.

8 With lifted song and bended knee,
For all thy gifts we praise thee, Lord;
But chief for those who made us free,
The champions of thy holy word.

173

P. M.

Feast of the Reformation.

W. J. Fox.

1 PRAISE to the heroes who struck for the Right
When Freedom and truth were defended in fight:
Of blood-shedding hirelings the deeds are abhorred,
But the patriot smites with the sword of the Lord.

2 Praise to the martyrs' who died for the Right,
Nor ever bowed down at the bidding of might:
Their ashes were cast all abroad on the wind,
But more widely the blessings they won for mankind.

3 Praise to the sages, the teachers of Right,

Whose voice in the darkness said, "Let there be light!"

The sophist may gain the renown of an hour,
But wisdom is glory, while knowledge is power.

4 Heroes, martyrs, and sages, true prophets of Right! They foresaw, and they made man's futurity bright. Their fame would ascend, though the world sunk in flames;

Be their spirit on all who sing praise to their names!

174

C. M.

ROBERT NICOLL.

Feast of the Reformation.

1 AN offering to the shrine of power
Our hands shall never bring;

A garland on the car of pomp
Our hands shall never fling;
Applauding in the conqueror's path
Our voices ne'er shall be;

But we have hearts to honor those

Who bade the world go free!

2 Praise to the good, the pure,

the great,

Who made us what we are!

Who lit the flame which yet shall glow

With radiance brighter far.

Glory to them in coming time,

And through eternity,

Who burst the captive's galling chain,

And bade the world go free!

Charitable, Anniversary, Missionary and other Meetings.

175

7s. M.

J. NEWTON.

New Year.

1 WHILE with ceaseless course, the sun

Hasted through the former year,

Many souls their race have run,

Never more to meet us here:

Fixed in an eternal state,

They have done with all below;

We a little longer wait,

But how little none can know.

As the lightning from the skies

Darts, and leaves no trace behind, —