Darkness is Thinning.

DARKNESS is thinning; shadows are retreating:
Morning and light are coming in their beauty.
Suppliant seek we, with an earnest outcry,
God the Almighty!

So that our Master, having mercy on us,
May repel languor, may bestow salvation,
Granting us, Father, of Thy loving kindness
Glory hereafter !

This of His mercy, ever blessed Godhead,
Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, give us-
Whom through the wide world celebrate for ever
Blessing and glory!

ST. GREGORY THE GREAT. (Latin.)

Translation of JOHN MASON NEALE.

Rules and Lessons.

WHEN first thy eies unveil, give thy soul leave
To do the like; our bodies but forerun
The spirit's duty. True hearts spread and heave
Unto their God, as flow'rs do to the sun.
Give Him thy first thoughts then; so shalt thou keep
Him company all day, and in Him sleep.

Yet never sleep the sun up. Prayer shou'd
Dawn with the day. There are set, awful hours
"Twixt heaven and us. The manna was not good
After sun-rising; far-day sullies flowres.
Rise to prevent the sun; sleep doth sins glut,
And heaven's gate opens when this world's is shut.

Walk with thy fellow-creatures; note the hush And whispers amongst them. There's not a spring Or leafe but hath his morning hymn. Each bush And oak doth know I AM. Canst thou not

sing?

O leave thy cares and follies! go this way, And thou art sure to prosper all the day.

Serve God before the world; let Him not go,
Until thou hast a blessing; then resigne
The whole unto Him; and remember who
Prevail'd by wrestling ere the sun did shine.
Poure oyle upon the stones; weep for thy sin;
Then journey on, and have an eie to heav'n.

Mornings are mysteries: the first world's youth,
Man's resurrection, and the future's bud
Shroud in their births; the crown of life, light,
truth

Is stil'd their starre, the stone, and hidden food.
Three blessings wait upon them, two of which
Should move: they make us holy, happy, rich.

When the world's up, and ev'ry swarm abroad,
Keep thou thy temper; mix not with each clay;
Dispatch necessities; life hath a load
Which must be carri'd on, and safely may.
Yet keep those cares without thee, let the heart
Be God's alone, and choose the better part.

Through all thy actions, counsels, and discourse,
Let mildness and religion guide thee out;
If truth be thine, what needs a brutish force?
But what's not good and just ne'er go about.

Wrong not thy conscience for a rotten stick; That gain is dreadful which makes spirits sick.

To God, thy countrie, and thy friend be true;
If priest and people change, keep thou thy ground.
Who sels religion is a Judas Jew;

And, oathes once broke, the soul cannot be sound.
The perjury's a devil let loose: what can

Tie up his hands, that dares mock God and man?

Yet fly no friend, if he be such indeed;
But meet to quench his longings and thy thirst;
Allow your joyes religion; that done, speed,
And bring the same man back thou wert at first.
Whoso returns not, cannot pray aright,
But shuts his door, and leaves God out all night.

To heighten thy devotions, and keep low All mutinous thoughts, what business e'er thou hast,

To thy sure trot; a constant, humble mind
Is both his own joy, and his Maker's too;
Let folly dust it on, or lag behind.
A sweet self-privacy in a right soul
Out-runs the earth, and lines the utmost pole.

To all that seek thee bear an open heart;
Make not thy breast a labyrinth or trap;
If tryals come, this wil make good thy part,
For honesty is safe, come what can hap;

It is the good man's feast, the prince of flowres
Which thrives in storms, and smels best after

showres.

Seal not thy eyes up from the poor; but give
Proportion to their merits, and thy purse:
Thou may'st in rags a mighty prince relieve,
Who when thy sins call for 't, can fence a curse.
Thou shalt not lose one mite. Though waters
stray,

The bread we cast returns in fraughts one day.

Spend not an hour so as to weep another,

For tears are not thine own; if thou giv'st words, Dash not with them thy friend, nor heav'n; O smother

A viperous thought; some syllables are swords. Unbitted tongues are in their penance double ; They shame their owners, and their hearers trouble.

Injure not modest bloud, while spirits rise

In judgement against lewdness; that's base wit, That voyds but filth and stench. Hast thou no prize

But sickness or infection? stifle it.

Who so makes his jest of sins, must be at least,
If not a very devill, worse than beast.

Birds sing, beasts feed, fish leap, and th' earth stands fast;

Above are restles motions, running lights,
Vast circling azure, giddy clouds, days, nights.

When seasons change, then lay before thine eys His wondrous method; mark the various scenes In heav'n; hail, thunder, rainbows, snow, and ice,

Calmes, tempests, light, and darknes by His means. Thou canst not misse His praise: each tree, herb, flowre,

Are shadows of His wisedome and His pow'r.

To meales when thou doest come, give Him the praise

Whose arm supply'd thee; take what may suffice.
And then be thankful; O admire His ways
Who fils the world's unempty'd granaries!
A thankless feeder is a theif, his feast
A very robbery, and himself no guest.

High-noon thus past, thy time decays: provide Thee other thoughts; away with friends and mirth;

The sun now stoops, and hastes his beams to hide
Under the dark and melancholy earth.
All but preludes thy end. Thou art the man
Whose rise, height, and descent is but a span.

Yet, set as he doth, and 'tis well. Have all
Thy beams home with thee; trim thy lamp, buy
oyl,

And then set forth, who is thus drest, the fall
Furthers his glory, and gives death the foyl.
Man is a summer's day; whose youth and fire
Cool to a glorious evening, and expire.

India, Egypt, Araby,

Asia, Greece, and Tartary, Carmel-tracts and Lebanon,

With the Mountains of the Moon,

From whence muddy Nile doth run;
Or, wherever else you won,
Breathing in one vital air-
One we are though distant far.

Rise at once- - let's sacrifice!
Odors sweet perfume the skies.
See how heavenly lightning fires
Hearts inflamed with high aspires;
All the substance of our souls
Up in clouds of incense rolls!
Leave we nothing to ourselves
Save a voice what need we else?
Or a hand to wear and tire
On the thankful lute or lyre.
Sing aloud! His praise rehearse
Who hath made the universe.

HENRY MORE.

The Elder Scripture. THERE is a book, who runs may read, Which heavenly truth imparts, And all the lore its scholars need — Pure eyes and loving hearts.

The works of God, above, below,
Within us, and around,
Are pages in that book, to show
How God himself is found.

The glorious sky, embracing all,
Is like the Father's love;
Wherewith encompassed, great and small
In peace
and order move.

The dew of heaven is like His grace:
It steals in silence down;
But where it lights, the favored place
By richest fruits is known.

Two worlds are ours: 'tis only sin
Forbids us to descry

The mystic heaven and earth within,
Plain as the earth and sky.

FATHER, Thy wonders do not singly stand, Nor far removed where feet have seldom strayed;

Around us ever lies the enchanted land,

In marvels rich to Thine own sons displayed; In finding Thee are all things round us found; In losing Thee are all things lost beside; Ears have we, but in vain strange voices sound; And to our eyes the vision is denied ; We wander in the country far remote,

Mid tombs and ruined piles in death to dwell; Or on the records of past greatness dote, And for a buried soul the living sell; While on our path bewildered falls the night That ne'er returns us to the fields of light.

JONES VERY.

For New-Year's Day. ETERNAL source of every joy! Well may Thy praise our lips employ, While in Thy temple we appear Whose goodness crowns the circling year.

While as the wheels of nature roll, Thy hand supports the steady pole; The sun is taught by Thee to rise, And darkness when to veil the skies.

The flowery spring at Thy command
Embalms the air, and paints the land;
The summer rays with vigor shine
To raise the corn, and cheer the vine.

Thy hand in autumn richly pours
Through all our coasts redundant stores;
And winters, softened by Thy care,
No more a face of horror wear.