FORGIVENESS.

XV.

THE THREE ABSOLUTIONS.

"And there shall in nowise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life."

EACH morn and eve, the Golden Keys

Are lifted in the sacred hand,

To shew the sinner on his knees

Where heaven's bright doors wide open stand.

On the dread Altar duly laid

The Golden Keys their witness bear,
That not in vain the Church hath pray'd,

That He, the Life of Souls, is there.

1. In the Daily Service. 2. In the Communion. 3. In the Visitation of the Sick.

Full of the past, all shuddering thought,
Man waits his hour with upward eye-*
The Golden Keys in love are brought
That he may hold by them and die.

But touch them trembling; for that gold
Proves iron in the unworthy hand,

To close, not ope, the favour'd fold,

To bind, not loose, the lost soul's band.

"And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that

heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come.

And who

soever will, let him take of the waters of life freely."

O LORD, I hear, but can it be

The gracious word was meant for me?
O Lord, I thirst, but who shall tell
The secret of that living well,

By whose waters I may rest

And slake this lip unblest?

Vid. Death-bed Scenes, "The Barton Family." § 3.

O Lord, I will, but cannot do,

My heart is hard, my faith untrue :
The Spirit and the Bride say, Come,
The eternal ever-blessed Home

Ope'd its portals at my birth,
But I am chained to earth:

The Golden Keys each eve and morn
I see them with a heart forlorn

Lest they should Iron prove to me

O set my heart at liberty.

May I seize what Thou dost give,

Seize tremblingly and live.

В.

XVII.

"He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly."

FEAR NOT: for He hath sworn:

Faithful and true His name :

The glorious hours are onward borne ;

"Tis lit, th' immortal flame;

It glows around thee; kneel, and strive, and win Daily one living ray-'twill brighter glow within.

YET FEAR: the time is brief;

The Holy One is near;

And like a spent and withered leaf

In autumn-twilight drear,

Faster each hour, on Time's unslackening gale, The dreaming world drives on, to where all vision fail.

Surely the time is short:

Endless the task and art

To brighten for the ethereal court

A soil'd earth-drudging heart.—

But He, the dread Proclaimer of that hour, Is pledged to thee in Love, as to thy foes in Power.

His shoulders bear the Key:

He opens-who can close?
Closes-and who dare open ?-He

Thy soul's misgiving knows.

If He come quick, the mightier sure will prove His Spirit in each heart that timely strives to love.

Then haste Thee, Lord! Come down,
Take Thy great Power, and reign!
But frame Thee first a perfect Crown

Of spirits freed from stain,

Souls mortal once, now match'd for evermore, With the immortal gems that form'd Thy wreath before.

Who in Thy portal wait,

Free of that glorious throng,
Wondering, review their trial-state,
The life that erst seemed long;

Wondering at His deep love, who purg'd so base And earthly mould so soon for th' undefiled place.

ΑΜΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΡΧΟΥ, ΚΥΡΙΕ ΙΗΣΟΥ.

Y.

B.