Full many a dreary anxious hour,

We watch our nets alone

In drenching spray, and driving shower, And hear the night-bird's moan:

At morn we look, and nought is there;
Sad dawn of cheerless day!

Who then from pining and despair
The sickening heart can stay?

There is a stay-and we are strong;

Our Master is at hand,

To cheer our solitary song,

And guide us to the strand,

In his own time: but yet awhile
Our bark at sea must ride;

Cast after cast, by force or guile
All waters must be tried:

By blameless guile or gentle force,

As when He deign'd to teach

(The lode-star of our Christian course) Upon this sacred beach.

Should e'er thy wonder-working grace

Triumph by our weak arm,

Let not our sinful fancy trace

Aught human in the charm:

To our own nets' ne'er bow we down,
Lest on the eternal shore

The angels, while our draught they own,
Reject us evermore :

Or, if for our unworthiness

Toil, prayer, and watching fail,

In disappointment Thou canst bless,

So love at heart prevail.

b Habakkuk i. 16. They sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense

unto their drag.

c St. Matth. xiii. 49.

SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord and Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin: thou shalt not die. 2 Samuel xii. 23.

WHEN bitter thoughts, of conscience born,
With sinners wake at morn,

When from our restless couch we start,
With fever'd lips and wither'd heart,

Where is the spell to charm those mists away,
And make new morning in that darksome day?
One draught of spring's delicious air,

One stedfast thought, that God is there.

These are thy wonders, hourly wrought",

Thou Lord of time and thought,

Lifting and lowering souls at will,
Crowding a world of good or ill

d See Herbert's Poems, p. 160.

Into a moment's vision: even as light

Mounts o'er a cloudy ridge, and all is bright, From west to east one thrilling ray Turning a wintry world to May.

Wouldst thou the pangs of guilt assuage?

Lo here an open page,

Where heavenly mercy shines as free,
Written in balm, sad heart, for thee.

Never so fast, in silent April shower,
Flush'd into green the dry and leafless bowers,
As Israel's crowned mourner felt

The dull hard stone within him melt.

The absolver saw the mighty grief,

And hasten'd with relief;

"The Lord forgives; thou shalt not die :”'Twas gently spoke, yet heard on high, And all the band of angels, us'd to sing In heaven, accordant to his raptur'd string, Who many a month had turn'd away With veiled eyes, nor own'd his lay,

c And all this leafless and uncolour'd scene

Shall flush into variety again.

Cowper.

Now spread their wings, and throng around

To the glad mournful sound,

And welcome, with bright open face,

The broken heart to love's embrace. The rock is smitten, and to future years Springs ever fresh the tide of holy tears And holy music, whispering peace Till time and sin together cease.

There drink and when ye are at rest,
With that free Spirit blest,

Who to the contrite can dispense
The princely heart of innocence,
If ever, floating from faint earthly lyre,
Was wafted to your soul one high desire,
By all the trembling hope ye feel,
Think on the minstrel as ye kneel :

Think on the shame, that dreadful hour
When tears shall have no power,

f The fifty-first Psalm.

g Ps. li. 12. 66

Uphold me with thy free Spirit." The original word

seems to mean "ingenuous, princely, noble." Read Bishop Horne's Paraphrase on the verse.