373

Blest is the Love that seeks to raise
And stay and strengthen those who fall;
Till, taught by him who, for our sake,
Bore every form of Life's distress,
With every passing year we make
The sum of human sorrows less.
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

1835.

CHRISTIAN UNITY AND PROGRESS.

"Igjennem Nat og Trængsel."

The REV. SABINE BARING-GOULD was born at Exeter, England, in 1834, and is rector of East Mersea, Essex. He was a contributor to the People's Hymnal," and has published works on folk-lore and other subjects. The hymn below is a translation from the Danish of BERNHARDT SEVERIN INGEMANN, a distinguished poet, who was born at Thorkildstrup, Island of Falster, May 28, 1789. He was professor of the literature and language of his native country in Zealand, Denmark, from 1822. He died in 1862.

THROUGH the night of doubt and sorrow,
Onward goes the pilgrim band,
Singing songs of expectation,

Marching to the promised land.
And before us through the darkness
Gleameth clear the guiding light;
Brother clasps the hand of brother,
And steps fearless through the night.

One the light of God's dear presence,
Never in its work to fail,
Which illumes the wild rough places
Of this gloomy haunted vale.
One the object of our journey,

One the faith which never tires,
One the earnest looking forward,

One the hope our God inspires.

One the strain which mouths of thousands
Lift as from the heart of one;
One the conflict, one the peril,

One the march in God begun;
One the gladness of rejoicing
On the Resurrection shore,
With one Father o'er us shining
In his love forevermore.

Go we onward, pilgrim brothers;
Visit first the cross and grave,
Where the cross its shadow flingeth,
Where the boughs of cypress wave.
Then a shaking as of earthquakes,

Then a rending of the tomb,
Then a scattering of all shadows
And an end of toil and gloom.

BERNHARDT SEVERIN INGEMANN. Translated
by REV. SABINE BAKING-GOUld, 1867.

CHRISTIAN LOVE.

O quam juvat fratres, Deus!

JEAN BAPTISTE DE SANTEUL, called SANTOLIUS VICTORINUS, was born at Paris, May 12, 1630, and became distinguished as an author and hymn-writer. Many of his pieces are in the Breviaries of Paris and Cluny. He died at Dijon, Aug. 5. 1697. His works were published at Amsterdam in 1695, in twelve volumes.

O LORD, how joyful 't is to see
The brethren join in love to thee!
On thee alone their heart relies;

Their only strength thy grace supplies.

How sweet, within thy holy place,
With one accord to sing thy grace,
Besieging thine attentive ear
With all the force of fervent prayer.

Oh, may we love the house of God,
Of peace and joy the blest abode ;
Oh, may no angry strife destroy
That sacred peace, that holy joy!

The world without may rage, but we
Will only cling more close to thee,
With hearts to thee more wholly given,

More weaned from earth, more fixed on heaven.

Lord, shower upon us from above
The sacred gift of mutual love;

Each other's wants may we supply,

And reign together in the sky.

SANTOLIUS VICTORINUS, 1660.

Translated by

JOHN CHANDler, 1837.

BENJAMIN BEDDOME, who is represented in most of the hymn-books, was born in Warwickshire, Jan. 23, 1717. His father was the minister of the Baptist Church in Bristol, and the son entered the Baptist College in that city In 1743 he became pastor of the Baptist Church at Bourton-on-the-Water, and occupied the position until his death, Sept. 3, 1795 His hymns were edited, and much altered, by the celebrated Robert Hall, in 1817. It has been said of his hymns, that, like many "which at first are not very attractive, they become impressive and useful on closer acquaintance. A single idea, often brought out with the terseness and simplicity of the Greek epigram, constitutes the basis of each piece." LET party names no more

The Christian world o'erspread; Gentile and Jew, and bond and free, Are one in Christ, their Head.

Among the saints on earth

Let mutual love be found;

Heirs of the same inheritance,

With mutual blessings crowned.

Let envy, child of hell!

Be banished far away :

Those should in strictest friendship dwell, Who the same Lord obey.

Thus will the church below

Resemble that above;

Where streams of endless pleasure flow,

And every heart is love.

BENJAMIN BEddome.

CHRISTIAN FRIENDSHIP.

How blest the sacred tie that binds,

In union sweet, according minds !

How swift the heavenly course they run, Whose hearts, whose faith, whose hopes are one!

To each the soul of each how dear!
What jealous love, what holy fear!
How doth the generous flame within
Refine from earth and cleanse from sin!

Their streaming tears together flow
For human guilt and mortal woe;
Their ardent prayers together rise,
Like mingling flames in sacrifice.

Together oft they seek the place
Where God reveals his awful face;
How high, how strong, their raptures swell,
There's none but kindred souls can tell.

1769.

UNIVERSAL PRAYER.

CHILDREN of God, high privilege have we, For whom, throughout the world, all fellow

saints

Exalt to heaven their prayers continually:
Not lonely kneel we, nor unpitied faints.
Our heart; nor unaccompanied our low plaints
Ascend a mighty chain of sympathy
Binds Christian men together, and acquaints
Their souls with love and thoughtful charity.
O joy that we, who pray for all, by all
Commended are to God in daily prayer:
Yea, now, as in time past, and yet again
Through time to come, that Church which
shall not fall,

From night to morn breathes forth upon the air
Meek intercession for the sons of men !

SIR AUBREY DE VERE.

375

CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD.

1 JOHN iii. 13, 14.

THE clouds that wrap the setting sun
When autumn's softest gleams are ending,
Where all bright hues together run

In sweet confusion blending:
Why, as we watch their floating wreath,
Seem they the breath of life to breathe?
To Fancy's eye their motions prove
They mantle round the Sun for love.

When up some woodland dale we catch
The many-twinkling smile of ocean,
Or with pleased ear bewildered watch
His chime of restless motion;
Still as the surging waves retire
They seem to gasp with strong desire,
Such signs of love old Ocean gives,
We cannot choose but think he lives.

Wouldst thou the life of souls discern?
Nor human wisdom nor divine
Helps thee by aught beside to learn;

Love is life's only sign.
The spring of the regenerate heart,
The pulse, the glow of every part,
Is the true love of Christ our Lord,
As man embraced, as God adored.

But he, whose heart will bound to mark
The full bright burst of summer morn,
Loves too each little dewy spark

By leaf or floweret worn :
Cheap forms and common hues, 't is true,
Through the bright shower-drop meet his view:
The coloring may be of this earth;
The lustre comes of heavenly birth.

Even so, who loves the Lord aright,
No soul of man can worthless find;
All will be precious in his sight,

Since Christ on all hath shined:
But chiefly Christian souls; for they,
Though worn and soiled with sinful clay,
Are yet, to eyes that see them true,
All glistening with baptismal dew.

Then marvel not, if such as bask

In purest light of innocence.
Hope against hope, in love's dear task,
Spite of all dark offence.

If they who hate the trespass most,
Yet, when all other love is lost,
Love the poor sinner, marvel not;
Christ's mark outwears the rankest blot.

No distance breaks the tie of blood; Brothers are brothers evermore;

Nor wrong, nor wrath of deadliest mood,

That magic may o'erpower; Oft, ere the common source be known, The kindred drops will claim their own, And throbbing pulses silently Move heart towards heart by 'sympathy.

So is it with true Christian hearts;
Their mutual share in Jesus' blood
An everlasting bond imparts

Of holiest brotherhood:
Oh, might we all our lineage prove,
Give and forgive, do good and love,
By soft endearments in kind strife
Lightening the load of daily life!

There is much need; for not as yet

Are we in shelter or repose, The holy house is still beset

With leaguer of stern foes; Wild thoughts within, bad men without, All evil spirits round about,

Are banded in unblest device, To spoil love's earthly paradise.

Then draw we nearer day by day,

Each to his brethren, all to God; Let the world take us as she may,

We must not change our road; Not wondering, though in grief, to find The martyr's foe still keep her mind; But fixed to hold love's banner fast, And by submission win at last.

JOHN FAWCETT was born in Yorkshire, England, Jan. 6, 1739, and became a Baptist minister in 1765. In 1772 he was called to a large church, and was preparing to leave his little flock, the farewell sermon having been preached, when the love and tears of his people prevailed upon him to unload the wagons and remain with them. In commemoration of the circumstance the following hymn was written. It has been useful on many occasions of a touching nature. In 1782 Dr. Fawcett published a hymn-book, comprising a number of serviceable pieces, but marked by the highest attributes of poetry. He died in 1817.

If there be one who longs to find
Where all the purer blisses are enshrined, -
A happy resting-place of virtuous worth,
A blessed paradise on earth:

Let him survey the joy-conferring union
Of brothers who are bound in fond communion,
And not by force of blood alone,
But by their mutual sympathies are known,
And every heart and every mind relies
Upon fraternal, kindred ties.

O blest abode, where love is ever vernal, Where tranquil peace and concord are eternal, Where none usurp the highest claim,

But each with pride asserts the other's fame! Oh, what are all earth's joys, compared to thee,

Fraternal unanimity?

E'en as the ointment, whose sweet odors blended,

From Aaron's head upon his beard descended, Which hung awhile in fragrance there, Bedewing every individual hair,

And falling thence, with rich perfume ran o'er The holy garb the prophet wore :

So doth the unity that lives with brothers Share its best blessings and its joys with others, And makes them seem as if one frame Contained their minds, and they were formed the same,

And spreads its sweetest breath o'er every part,

Until it penetrates the heart.

E'en as the dew, that, at the break of morning,
All nature with its beauty is adorning,
And flows from Hermon calm and still,
And bathes the tender grass on Zion's hill,
And to the young and withering herb resigns
The drops for which it pines :

So are fraternal peace and concord ever
The cherishers, without whose guidance never
Would sainted quiet seek the breast,
The life, the soul of unmolested rest,-
The antidote to sorrow and distress,
And prop of human happiness.

Ah! happy they whom genial concord blesses!
Pleasure for them reserves her fond caresses,
And joys to mark the fabric rare,
On virtue founded, stand unshaken there ;

streams meander,

Tranquillity and inward joy.