Diffusive dread thro' love and wedded bliss,
Thrilling them into finer tenderness.

Then Memory disclosed her face divine,

That like the calm nocturnal lights doth shine
Within the soul, and shows the sacred graves,
And shows the presence that no sunlight craves,
No space, no warmth, but moves among them all;
Gone and yet here, and coming at each call,
With ready voice and eyes that understand,
And lips that ask a kiss, and dear responsive hand.
Thus to Cain's race death was tear-watered seed
Of various life and action-shaping need.

GEORGE ELIOT, The Legend of Tubal.

April 9.

EASTER DAY.

THE foe behind, the deep before,

Our hosts have dared and past the sea:
And Pharaoh's warriors strew the shore,
And Israel's ransomed tribes are free.

Lift up, lift up, your voices now!
The whole wide world rejoices now:
The Lord hath triumphed gloriously:
The Lord shall reign victoriously!

Happy morrow, turning sorrow
Into peace and mirth!

Bondage ending, love descending
O'er the earth.

Seals assuring, guards securing,

Watch His earthly prison :

Seals are shattered, guards are scattered,
Christ hath risen.

No longer must the mourners weep,
Nor call departed Christians dead;
For death is hallowed into sleep,
And every grave becomes a bed.

Now once more Eden's door
Open stands to mortal eyes;

For Christ hath risen, and man shall rise.
Now at last, all things past,

Hope and joy and peace begin :
For Christ hath won, and man shall win.

It is not exile, rest on high;

It is not sadness, peace from strife: To fall asleep is not to die :

To dwell with Christ is better life.

Where our banner leads us, we may safely go :
Where our Chief precedes us, we may face the foe:
His right Arm is o'er us, He our guide will be :
Christ hath gone before us; Christians, follow ye!

He shall soon deliver from every woe,
Alleluia,

If His paths ye tread :
Pleasures as a river, shall round you flow,
Alleluia,

Where ye see your Head.

With loins upgirt, and staff in hand,
And hasty mien, and sandalled feet,
Around the Paschal Feast we stand,
And of the Paschal Lamb we eat.

So shall He collect us, direct us, protect us,
From Egypt's strand :

So shall He precede us, and feed us, and lead us
To Canaan's land.

Toils and foes assailing, friends quailing, hearts

failing,

Shall threat in vain :

If He be providing, presiding, and guiding
To Him again.

Christ our Leader, Monarch, Pleader, Interceder,
Praise we and adore :
Exultation, veneration, gratulation,
Bringing evermore.

Once despised, and once rejected,
Was this stone; that now, elected,

To a corner-stone perfected,

As a glorious trophy stands erected. Amen.

J. M. NEALE.

April 10.

THE LAMB.

LITTLE lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee,
Gave thee life and bade thee feed
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?

Little lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Little lamb, I'll tell thee
Little lamb, I'll tell thee :
He is called by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb,
He is meek, and He is mild,
He became a little child.
I a child and thou a lamb,
We are called by His name.

Little lamb, God bless thee!
Little lamb, God bless thee!

April 11.

WILLIAM BLAKE.

THE BOY AND THE ANGEL.

MORNING, evening, noon, and night, "Praise God," sang Theocrite.

Then to his poor trade he turned,
Whereby the daily meal was earned.

Hard he laboured, long and well;
O'er his work the boy's curls fell.

But ever, at each period,

He stopped, and sang, "Praise God!"

Then back again his curls he threw,
And cheerful turned to work anew.

Said Blaise, the listening monk, "Well done;
I doubt not thou art heard, my son;

"As well as if thy voice to-day

Were praising God, the Pope's great way.

"This Easter Day, the Pope at Rome Praises God from Peter's dome."

Said Theocrite, "Would God that I
Might praise Him, that great way, and die!"

Night passed, day shone,

And Theocrite was gone.

With God a day endures alway,
A thousand years are but a day.

God said in heaven, "Nor day nor night
Now brings the voice of my delight."

Then Gabriel, like a rainbow's birth,
Spread his wings and sank to earth;

Entered in flesh, the empty cell,

Lived there, and played the craftsman well;

And morning, evening, noon, and night,
Praised God in place of Theocrite.

And from a boy, to youth he grew :
The man put off the stripling's hue :

The man matured and fell away
Into the season of decay;

And ever over the trade he bent,
And ever lived on earth content.

(He did God's will; to him, all one
If on the earth or in the sun.)

God said, "A praise is in thine ear ;
There is no doubt in it, no fear;

"So sing old worlds, and so

New worlds that from my footstool go.

"Clearer loves sound other ways: I miss my little human praise.'

H