Never shines a ray so bright Like the Star of Bethlehem. Grief's dark clouds may o'er us roll, And sorrow's tears in torrents flow; Still, through all these clouds and storms, Shines this purest heavenly gem, With a ray that kindly warms The Star that rose in Bethlehem. When we cross the roaring wave That rolls on life's remotest shore; When we look into the grave, And wander through this world no more; This, the lamp whose genial ray, Like some brightly-glowing gem, Points to man his darkling way The Star that rose in Bethlehem. Let the world be sunk in sorrow, Smiling in the rosy west; This, her beacon, Hope displays; Shines, with Faith's serenest rays, When this gloomy life is o'er, - We enjoy the heaven of love,- O! what rays of love divine Gild the Star of Bethlehem! Percival. V. WHEN, marshall'd on the nightly plain, Can fix the sinner's wandering eye. Hark! hark! to God the chorus breaks, Once on the raging seas I rode, The storm was loud, the night was dark, The ocean yawn'd, and rudely blow'd The wind that toss'd my foundering bark. Deep horror then my vitals froze, It was the Star of Bethlehem. It was my guide, my light, my all, And through the storm, and danger's thrall, port of peace. It led me to the I'll sing, first in night's diadem, For ever and for ever more, The Star!-the Star of Bethlehem! H. K. White. CHILDHOOD OF JESUS. I. "After three days they found him in the temple."- Luke ii. 46. ABASHED be all the boast of age, O wisdom, whose unfading power To frame, in nature's earliest hour, Yet didst not Thou disdain awhile But, in thy Father's own abode, So may our youth adore thy name, Heber. II. THE MOTHER AND THE CHILD. [The following lines do not illustrate, and are not founded upon any particular passage in the Gospels: but those who appreciate their touching and simple beauty, the parent who has "an angel in heaven,” AMONG green pleasant meadows Was set a marble image Of the Virgin and her Child. There oft on summer evenings, To play beside the image Oft sat his mother by him, And now from highest heaven 3 -as well as - will excuse |