A SUMMER DAY IN WINTER. The winter wears a summer hue-. The sun is on the wave ; The sky is one unclouded blue; The winds forget to rave; The feathery frost melts fast away From every glittering stem ; Are dropping gold and gem. That ray the silver feet unlocks, Of all the tiny foods ; They leap again down o'er their rocks, And prattle through the woods. The cattle in the field rejoice, The birds upon the wing, And from the brake a doubtful voice Half warbles, Welcome Spring! The wave that flew o'er yester cliff, Is sleeping ’neath it now; And from its creek the summer skiff Steals out with timid prow. The anchored ships, their voyage o’er, Shake out their sails to dry : The fisher spreads his nets on shore, Beneath the glowing sky. The old man from his chimney nook Creeps out into the sun : All Nature wears her own sweet look Of spring-tide just begun. O earth, all fallen as thou art, How soon thy darkest day Can into life and beauty start Beneath thy monarch's ray ! Nor less the contrast that awakes The wintry soul within, When, Lord, thy gladdening Gospel breaks On nature's night of sin ? The Sun of Righteousness ascends; The clouds and storms depart; And heaven..born Grace implants and tends Her Eden in the heart. Yet earth's best joys are brief and base To those which Heaven supplies ; A summer smile on winter's face, A gleam through clouded skies. I would not spurn these wayside flowers, That strew my pathway home ; And bid their fulness come. G “ JESUS WEPT." ENLARGED FROM BEDDOME. Din Christ o’er sinners weep? And shall our cheeks be dry? Let floods of penitential grief Burst forth from every eye. The Son of God in tears The angels wondering see : Hast thou no wonder, O my soul ? He shed those tears for thee ! He wept that we might weep, Might weep our sin and shame, He wept to shew His love for us, And bid us love the same. |