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And I would read the rules of sacred life,
Persuade the troubled soul to patience,
The husband care, and comfort to his wife,
To child and servant due obedience,

Faith to the friend, and to the neighbour peace,
That love might live, and quarrels all might cease.

Pray for the health of all that are diseased,
Confession unto all that are convicted,
And patience unto all that are displeased,
And comfort unto all that are afflicted,
And mercy unto all that have offended,
And grace to all, that all may be amended.

EDMUND WALLER.

Born, 1605; Died, 1687.

THE seas are quiet when the winds are o’er:
So calm are we when passions are no more;
For then we know how vain it was to boast
Of fleeting things, so certain to be lost.

Clouds of affection from our younger eyes
Conceal that emptiness which age descries ;
The soul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd,
Lets in new lights through chinks that time has made.

Stronger by weakness, wiser, men become,

As they draw near to their eternal home:

Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view,

That stand upon the threshold of the new.

JOHN MILTON.

Born, 1608; Died, 1674.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION TO THE ANGELS.

No sooner had the' Almighty ceased, but—all
The multitude of angels, with a shout,

Loud as from numbers without number, sweet
As from blest voices, uttering joy-heaven rung
With jubilee, and loud hosannas fill'd
The' eternal regions. Lowly reverent

Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground,
With solemn adoration, down they cast

Their crowns, inwove with amarant and gold;
Immortal amarant! a flower which once

In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life,
Began to bloom; but soon for man's offence

To heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows,
And flowers aloft, shading the fount of life,

And where the river of bliss through midst of heaven
Rolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream :
With these, that never fade, the spirits elect
Bind their resplendent locks, inwreathed with beams;
Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright
Pavement, that like a sea of jasper shone,
Impurpled with celestial roses, smiled.

Then, crown'd again, their golden harps they took,-
Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side

Like quivers hung,-and with preamble sweet
Of charming symphony they introduce

Their sacred song, and waken raptures high:
No voice exempt; no voice but well could join
Melodious part, such concord is in heaven.

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'Thee, FATHER," first they sung, "Omnipotent, Immutable, Immortal, Infinite,

Eternal King; Thee, Author of all being,
Fountain of light, Thyself invisible,

Amidst the glorious brightness where Thou sitt'st
Throned inaccessible, but when Thou shad'st
The full blaze of Thy beams, and through a cloud
Drawn round about Thee, like a radiant shrine,
Dark with excessive bright, Thy skirts appear:
Yet dazzle heaven, that brightest seraphim
Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes."
"Thee," next they sung, "of all creation first,
Begotten Son, Divine Similitude!

In whose conspicuous countenance, without cloud
Made visible, the' Almighty Father shines,
Whom else no creature can behold: on Thee
Impress'd, the' effulgence of His glory abides;
Transfused on Thee His ample Spirit rests:
He heaven of heavens, and all the powers therein,
By Thee created; and by Thee threw down
The' aspiring dominations. Thou that day
Thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare ;
Nor stop Thy flaming chariot-wheels, that shook
Heaven's everlasting frame, while o'er the necks
Thou drov'st of warring angels disarray'd.
Back from pursuit Thy powers with loud acclaim
Thee only extoll'd, Son of Thy Father's might,
To execute fierce vengeance on His foes;
Not so on man: him, through their malice fallen,

Father of mercy and grace! Thou didst not doom
So strictly, but much more to pity incline.
No sooner did Thy dear and only Son
Perceive Thee purposed not to doom frail man
So strictly, but much more to pity inclined,
He, to appease Thy wrath, and end the strife
Of mercy and justice in Thy face discern'd,
Regardless of the bliss wherein He sat
Second to Thee, offer'd Himself to die
For man's offence. O unexampled love!
Love nowhere to be found less than divine!
Hail, Son of God, Saviour of men! Thy name
Shall be the copious matter of my song
Henceforth, and never shall my harp Thy praise
Forget, nor from Thy Father's praise disjoin."

INVOCATION TO LIGHT.

HAIL, holy Light! offspring of heaven first-born! Or of the' eternal co-eternal beam!

May I express thee unblamed? since God is light,
And never but in unapproached light

Dwelt from eternity; dwelt then in thee,
Bright effluence of bright essence increate !
Or hear'st thou rather, pure ethereal stream,
Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun,
Before the heavens, thou wert, and at the voice
Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest

The rising world of waters dark and deep,
Won from the void and formless infinite.
Thee I revisit safe,

And feel thy sovereign vital lamp: but thou
Revisit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;

So thick a drop serene hath quench'd their orbs,
Or dim suffusion veil'd! Yet not the more
Cease I to wander where the Muses haunt
Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill,
Smit with the love of sacred song: but chief
Thee, Sion, and the flowery brooks beneath,
That wash thy hallow'd feet, and warbling flow,
Nightly I visit:

Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move
Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird
Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid
Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year
Seasons return; but not to me returns
Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn,
Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose,
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine:
But cloud instead, and ever-during dark
Surrounds me! from the cheerful ways of men
Cut off; and for the book of knowledge fair,
Presented with a universal blank

Of nature's works, to me expunged and rased,
And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out!
So much the rather Thou, celestial Light,
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate; there plant eyes; all mist from thence
Purge and disperse; that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight.

SATAN'S SOLILOQUY.

O THOU, that, with surpassing glory crown'd,
Look'st from thy sole dominion, like the god
Of this new world; at whose sight all the stars

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