64

Oh those seats of bliss and glory,

And those myriads bright and fair!
Choirs of men, and choirs of angels!
Oh how joyful to be there!

Glorious city, I would hail thee!
Bright abode of rest, on high!
Light and peace for all thy people,
Flood thy streets, and fill thy sky.

Every dweller in that city

Shines in robes all chaste and fair;
With the law of love complying,
All one badge of union bear.

There none toil, in doubt or darkness,
None are tempted, none distressed;
All are healed, and saved, and joyful,
Heirs of all, of God possessed!

THOMAS A'KEMPIS, 1380-1471.

END OF PART FIRST.

PART II.

SONGS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

B B

CHRISTIANAE VITAE CARMINA.

LXV

VITA CHRISTIANA.

VITA, per quam vivo, sine qua morior; vita,

per quam resuscitor, sine qua pereo; vita per quam gaudio sine qua tribulor: Vita vitalis dulcis et amabilis, semperque memorialis. Ubi quaeso es? ubi Te inveniam, ut in me deficiam et in Te subsistam? Prope esto mihi in animo, prope in corde, prope in ore, prope in auxilio; quia amore langueo, quia sine Te morior, quia Te recolens suscitor. . . . Ubi es absconditus, pulcher quem desidero ? Odorem Tuum haurio, vivo et gaudio; Te autem non video.

Vocem tuam audio et revivisco. Sed cur faciem tuam abscondis? Forte dicis "non videbit me homo et vivet" (Ex. xxxiii. 20). Eia, Domine, moriar ut Te videam. Videam, ut hic moriar. Nolo vivere volo mori; dissolvi cupio et esse cum Christo.

AUGUSTINI, Opera VI., 1263.

SONGS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

65

CHRISTIAN LIFE.

My Life! Fount of my being!
MY

All joy Thou makest mine;
Life, without which I perish,
Joy, without which I pine.

Thou Life of lives, most loving!
Come nigh and live in me;
That I of self all-weary,

May find my all in Thee.

Almighty Life where art Thou?
'Come nigh,' my faint soul cries;
On thoughts of Thee it liveth,
But without Thee it dies.

Thy voice I hear, and quickly,
Life cometh back to me;
But when Thy face Thou hidest,
I hear, but cannot see.

Lord hast Thou said that no one,

Can live who seeth Thee?

O then, behold me willing,

To die that I may see.

If I but see by dying,

My heart in death would cry: "Tis better far to see Thee,

And so, I long to die.'

AUGUSTINE, b. 354, d. 430.