Who cometh, arrayed in priestly guise,
Full-charged with embassy divine, Of noble mien, of princely port,
Of lofty brow and look benign? The mother stays the uplifted hand;—
The culprit turned, and quickly ran And refuge sought, and shelter found
Beneath cloak of the holy man.
Calm, clear and firm the warning fell
"Forgive! if thou wouldst be forgiven; Whose heart doth harbor angry thoughts
Can ne'er as penitent be shriven. Forgive thy son! this once forgive!
His surety I shall gladly be; Or, if justice claimeth punishment,
Then—visit his crimes on me."
In centre of a glittering throng
The reverend Father stately stands; And, in the name of the Triune God,
He upraiseth his sacred hands. Whilst, leader in that vast array,
Whose torches brighten wave and shore, Is he whose faults were answered for;
The saved of many years before.
So we, in our rebel sin-nature,
Pine under the chastening rod; And fly with our burden of evil
From wrath of a just-dealing God, To hide in Christ's sheltering raiment
Of righteousness, inwove with peace; To find, in a sinless substitute,
The sin-fettered soul's release.
So we, when our Great High Priest shall come,
Begirt of power, enrobed of state, And the peoples of ten thousand isles
With eager joy His advent wait, Shall hail, with a heartsong of rapture,
His step on our sin-furrowed strand; Shall march, with the grand triumphal throng,
In the glow of a God-lit land.
A CHRISTMAS MEMORY.
Hail Christmas! beacon ever bright;
Athwart the way-worn years; Full lustred of celestial light,
Thy white-robed dawn appears. Blest season! when our much beloved
Around one altar meet; When voices from the spirit-land
Our longing spirits greet.
In tender memories arise,
Sunlit, the days of old, When radiant vistas oped the skies
And streaked earth's grey with gold. Beneath a lofty castle dome
Three fair young dreamers smile; And, fraught of love, the light of home,
The flitting hours beguile.