His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His work in vain :
God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain.

WILLIAM COWPER, 1731-1800.

TO THE DAISY.

BRIGHT flower, whose home is everywhere!
A pilgrim bold in Nature's care,

And all the long year through, the heir

Of joy or sorrow,

Methinks that there abides in thee

Some concord with humanity,

Given to no other flower I see
The forest thorough!

Is it that man is soon deprest?
A thoughtless thing! who, once unblest,
Does little on his memory rest

Or on his reason,

D

And thou wouldst teach him how to find
A shelter under every wind,

A hope for times that are unkind
And every season?

Thou wanderest the wide world about,
Uncheck'd by pride or scrupulous doubt,
With friends to greet thee, or without,
Yet pleased and willing;

Meek, yielding to the occasion's call,
And all things suffering from all,

Thy function apostolical

In peace fulfilling.

W. WORDSWORTH, 1770-1850.

THERE IS A POWER AND PRESENCE

IN THE WOODS!

BROODS there some spirit here?

The summer leaves hang silent as a cloud,
And o'er the pools, all still and darkly clear,
The wild wood-hyacinth with awe seems bow'd;
And something of a tender cloistral gloom
Deepens the violet's bloom.

The very light, that streams

Through the dim dewy veil of foliage round,
Comes, tremulous with emerald-tinted gleams,
As if it knew the place were holy ground:
And would not startle, with too bright a burst,
Flowers, all divinely nursed.

Wakes there some spirit here?

A swift wind, fraught with change, comes rushing by,
And leaves and waters, in its wild career,
Shed forth sweet voices-each a mystery!
Surely some awful influence must pervade
These depths of trembling shade!

Yes, lightly, softly move!

There is a Power, a Presence in the woods;
A viewless Being, that with life and love
Informs the reverential solitudes :

The rich air knows it, and the mossy sod-
Thou, Thou art here, my God!

And if with awe we tread

The minster-floor, beneath the storied pane,
And 'midst the mouldering banners of the dead;
Shall the green voiceful wild seem less Thy fane,
Where Thou alone hast built-where arch and roof
Are of Thy living woof?

The silence and the sound

In the lone places breathe alike of Thee;
The temple-twilight of the gloom profound,

The dew-cup of the frail anemone,

The reed by every wandering whisper thrill'd-
All, all with Thee are fill'd!

Oh, purify mine eyes,

More and yet more, by love and lowly thought,
Thy presence, Holiest One! to recognise

In these majestic aisles which Thou hast wrought!
And, 'midst their sea-like murmurs, teach mine ear
Ever Thy voice to hear!

And sanctify my heart

To meet the awful sweetness of that tone,
With no faint thrill or self-accusing start,
But a deep joy the heavenly Guest to own!
Joy, such as dwelt in Eden's glorious bowers
Ere sin had dimm'd the flowers.

Let me not know the change

O'er nature thrown by Guilt!—the boding sky, The hollow leaf-sounds ominous and strange, The weight wherewith the dark tree-shadows lie! Father! oh keep my footsteps pure and free,

To walk the woods with Thee!

ANONYMOUS.

GOD THE COMFORTER.

OH, Thou! who dry'st the mourner's tear,
How dark this world would be,
If, when deceived and wounded here,
We could not fly to Thee!

The friends, who in our sunshine live,
When winter comes, are flown;
And he who has but tears to give,
Must weep those tears alone.
But Thou wilt heal that broken heart,
Which like the plants that throw
Their fragrance from the wounded part,
Breathes sweetness out of woe.

When joy no longer soothes or cheers,
And even the hope that threw
A moment's sparkle o'er our tears,
Is dimm'd and vanish'd too,

Oh, who would bear life's stormy doom,

Did not Thy Wing of Love

Come, brightly wafting through the gloom

Our Peace-branch from above?

Then sorrow, touch'd by Thee, grows bright With more than rapture's ray;

As darkness shews us worlds of light

We never saw by day!

THOMAS MOORE, 1779-1852.