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Whose radiant smiles make Nature gay-
He poured on me his kindly ray,

And ripen'd my nascent powers-
He ripen'd my nascent powers to yield
The ruddy fruit, Earth's generous feast,
And golden harvests to crown the field
With plenty for man and beast.

“And when I had done my gracious duty,
My work of love, by Heaven assigned,
To benefit and bless mankind,

I laid aside my robes of beauty;
And wintry age, with footstep slow,
Orept stealthily o'er my frame; and now
I die, and to my grave

In the mystic Past I go!

My pall the darkness of the night,
My winding-sheet the snow!

"Yet many changes have I seen Within my life's brief span,

And many a giant stride, I ween,

In the onward march of man-
In the onward march of man, and mind
Which, spite of Force and Fraud,
Must ever advance till its goal it find
In Freedom, and Truth, and God.

"As ivy o'er an old mansion grown
Conceals the ruin it rests upon,
And shelters from every battering blast
The wall o'er which its mantle is cast,

And holds erect by its firm embrace

The tower which else would quake to its base

So many a throne, defended alone

By its venerable age,

Has seemed to mock at every shock
Of a down-trod people's rage.

"Yet many such-thank Heaven for the sight!— In my short life I've seen o'erthrown!

For, with brawny arm and firm-planted foot, Wielding aloft a weapon bright

The two-edged sword of Freedom and RightThe People have cleft the Ivy's root,

And the Ruin has tumbled down!

"But Time rolls on from day to day
Carrying Kings and Years away
On its resistless stream.
So, like a bygone dream,
I die, and to my grave
In the mystic Past I go;
My pall the darkness of the night,
My winding-sheet the snow!

"Yet I have filled with bounding gladness
Full many an ardent soul,

And have often dried the tear of sadness
Ere it had time to roll.

I have fulfilled the dearest vows

Of many a loving pair,

And chased the cloud from many brows,
Furrowed by anxious care.

With many a smile I've viewed men's joys,
And strewed their path with flowers;
And o'er their sorrows I have wept
In sympathetic showers.

"And many, I ween, in my tears have seen
A rainbow bright and gay;

And the symbol fair has chased Despair,
And bade them pant, and strive, and dare,
And struggle on along Life's rough way,

In hope of a better day.

But Seasons must fall, and Years must roll,
Before they can reach that happy goal;
And now that I've wrought my mission high
In pointing them thus to the rainbow'd sky,
I die, and to my grave

In the mystic Past I go;

My pall the darkness of the night,
My winding-sheet the snow!

"Yet not all lone is my final hour;

My death-bed is not all sad.

While I linger on earth I am cheered by the mirth

Of those I have rendered glad.

And many will stand by my grave and think,

As they see me pass o'er Eternity's brink,

That many a Year may pass them by,

And none be so true a friend as I.

"The sound of the bell which tolls my knell Is borne upon the blast.

'Ding-dong! Ding-dong!'-I cannot stay long
My moments are fleeting fast!

Then, Man, take heed to my solemn rede,
Ere yet my time be past.

In my short course behold
An emblem of thy life-

An emblem so bright that, studied aright,
'Tis with instruction rife.

"Like to my early Spring

Fair Childhood's charms appear-
Now radiant awhile with a beaming smile,
Now dropping the transient tear;—
A time of budding promise and bloom,
Of opening mind and powers,

Of ever-changeful light and gloom,

Of sunshine mingled with showers.

"Warm as the Summer glow,

And free as the Summer air,

Is youth, the bright season of opening reason;
A time, too, of trembling and fear;

The time when the blade which the Spring has made

Is opening into ear,

And every breath may bring life or death

To the growing character.

"So heed Instruction in Childhood's time,

And Wisdom pursue in thy youthful prime,

That in the Autumn of riper days

Thou may'st bring forth fruit to thy Maker's praise; And while thy powers are in their beauty,

Strive to thy fellows to do thy duty.

"Thus, like me, in thine age thou shalt not be sad,

But be gladdened by those thou hast rendered glad;

And when 'tis thy turn to go, like me,

Into the great Eternity,

Many a friend by thy bed shall sigh,

And watch thy departure with tearful eye.

But cleansed in His blood from every stain,
Who died on Calvary's cross for men,
And trusting in Mercy that's all Divine,
About thee the glories of Heaven shall shine,

And all within shall be hallowed peace,
And Death shall be only a sweet Release.
For, quitting the changeful scenes of Time,
Thy soul shall reach a happier clime-
Shall soar aloft to regions blest,
Where the weary spirit is ever at rest.

"But Time will not linger, and lo! his finger
On the Dial mine hour doth tell!

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The clock gives warning! my grave is yawning!
Hark to the tolling bell!

O Man, take warning! Thy grave may be yawning
Ere the next Year dies!

Farewell!"

The clock struck twelve, and the pealing bells

Proclaimed that the Year was dead!

And still the breeze in the leafless trees

Wailed mournfully over my head.
Now faint was its tone as a lover's moan,
Or a maiden's sigh of fear;
Now loud and high as the doleful cry
Of mourners round a bier.

Yet in every whisper of the gale,
And in every roaring blast,
One voice it uttered, one solemn tale,
As on in its career it passed.
It was as though some warning sprite
Spake to me out of the darkling night,
So real were the tones and clear.
And thus in my ear did the spirit say
'Remember, O man, to thy life's last day,
The Song of the Dying Year!"

What the Human Heart most ants.

T is our doubt of God which has made us, in some moments, wish and even long that death may prove to be death indeedthe long, long eternal sleep-if no explanation of its existence can be given us beyond what science or reason have yet offered. The heart turns desperately to bay. We fight wildly for the existence of Eternal Love and Mercy in the Universe. LEIGH MANN.

The Uses of Temptation.

BY THE REV. T. M. MORRIS, OF IPSWICH.

"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him."-JAMES i. 12.

E have here a beatitude which the world does not covet, which the world, indeed, does not understand. We are not told that all who are tempted are blessed, for that would be to pronounce a benediction on all mankind. The blessing is promised to those who endure temptation, who take a right view of it, who put it to its right use, who make it answer God's design. The word is not, "Blessed is the man that is tempted," but "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation."

With the idea of temptation every part of God's Word makes us familiar. We have God described as tempting man—that is, trying, proving him, putting him to the test; his obedience, faith, patience, character. Man is described as tempting God, provoking Him to anger and jealousy; trying how far he may presume with impunity upon God's forbearance and clemency. We read of temptation arising within a man's own nature. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own heart's lust and enticed." Man is tempted by the seductions and allurements continually presented by the world in which he lives. Man is tempted by Satan, the mastertempter, whom we may conceive of as marshalling all the adverse forces which are brought up against us. Indeed, the idea of temptation is co-extensive with the sphere of man's life, and is inseparable from the manifold circumstances which combine to make up that state of probation which man's life, in this world, is from first to last. In all these different applications of the word, we see at once that the fundamental idea is that of trial. We often find it convenient to distinguish between the words, but it is well to remember that every trial is a temptation, and every temptation a trial.

God places us in circumstances of trial, and we suffer these, which should only have acted as so many tests of character, to become incen

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