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And vap'rous as the Libyan air adust,
Began to parch that temperate clime; whereat
On either hand the hast'ning angels caught
Our lingering parents; and to th' eastern gate
Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast
To the subjected plain; then disappeared.
They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld
Of Paradise, so late their happy seat,

Waved over by that flaming brand; the gate
With dreadful faces thronged, and fiery arms.
Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon;
The world was all before them where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide;
They hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way. Milton.

Oft hast thou heard our elder patriarchs tell
How Adam once by disobedience fell;
Would that my tongue were gifted to display
The terror and the glory of that day,

When seized and stricken by the hand of death,
The first transgressor yielded up his breath!

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With him his noblest sons might not compare
In Godlike features and majestic air;
Not out of weakness rose his gradual frame,
Perfect from his Creator's hand he came;
And as in form excelling, so in mind
The sire of men transcended all mankind;
A soul was in his eye, and in his speech,
A dialect of heaven no art could reach;
For oft of old to him the evening breeze
Had borne the voice of God among the trees;
Angels were wont their songs with his to blend,
And talk with him as their familiar friend.
But deep remorse for that mysterious crime,
Whose dire contagion through elapsing time
Diffused the curse of death beyond control,
Had wrought such self-abasement in his soul,
That he whose honour was approached by none,
Was yet the meekest man beneath the sun.

J. Montgomery.

ADMONITION.

THE Lord hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day. --Jeremiah, xlii. 19.

And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.--Romans, xv. 14.

Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.--I. Corinthians, x. 11.

THOU Power Supreme! who aiming to rebuke
Offenders, dost put off the gracious look,
And clothe thyself in terrors, like the flood
Of ocean roused into his fiercest mood,
Whatever discipline Thy will ordain

For the brief course that must for me remain;
Teach me with quick-eared spirit to rejoice
In admonitions of thy softest voice!

Whate'er the path these mortal feet may trace,
Breathe through my soul the blessing of Thy grace;
Glad, through a perfect love, a faith sincere,
Drawn from the wisdom that begins with fear;
Glad to expand, and, for a season, free
From finite cares, to rest absorbed in Thee.

In every copse and sheltered dell,
Unveiled to the observant eye,

Are faithful monitors, who tell

Wordsworth.

How pass the hours and seasons by.

The green-robed children of the spring,
Will mark the periods as they pass;
Mingle with leaves time's feathered wing,
And bind with flowers his silent glass.

Thus in each flower and simple bell,
That in our path betrodden lie;
Are sweet remembrancers, who tell
How fast the winged moments fly.

Charlotte Smith.

ADORATION.

HOLY, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. Revelations, iv. 8.

Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.Revelations, v. 13.

IN ardent adoration joined,
Obedient to Thy holy will.
Let all my faculties combined

Thy just desires, O God, fulfil!
From thee derived, Eternal King,

To thee our noblest powers we bring:

O, may thy hand direct our wandering way!

O, bid thy light arise, and chase the clouds away!

Lorenzo de Medici.

Ye who spurn His righteous sway,
Yet, oh yet, He spares your breath;
Yet His hand, averse to slay,

Balances the bolt of death.

Ere that dreadful holt descends,
Haste before His feet to fall;
Kiss the sceptre He extends,
And adore Him "Lord of all."

Sir R. Grant.

Eternal Power, whose high abode
Becomes the grandeur of a God,
Infinite lengths beyond the bounds
Where stars revolve their little rounds.
Thee, while the first archangel sings,
He hides his face behind his wings,
And ranks of shining thrones around,
Fall worshipping and spread the ground.
Lord, what shall earth and ashes do?
We would adore our Maker too;
From sin and dust to Thee we cry,
The Great, the Holy, and the High.

Wesley.

ADVENT.

PREPARE ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.-Isaiah, xl. 3, 4, 5.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.-Isaiah, lxi. 1, 2.

Let the floods clap their hands, let the hills be joyful together before the Lord; for He cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall He judge the world, and the people with equity.-Psalm xcviii. 8, 9.

WELL then, my soul, joy in the midst of pain;
Thy Christ, that conquered hell, shall from above
With greater triumph yet return again,

And conquer His own justice with His love-
Commanding earth and seas to render those
Unto His bliss, for whom he paid His woes.

Henry Wotton.

When Thou, attended gloriously from Heaven,
Shall in the sky appear, and from Thee send
The summoning archangels to proclaim
The dread tribunal, forthwith from all winds
The living, and forthwith the cited dead
Of all past ages, to the general doom
Shall hasten.

Milton.

Come then, and added to thy many crowns,
Receive yet one, the crown of all the Earth,
Thou who alone art worthy! It was thine
By ancient covenant, ere Nature's birth;
And thou hast made it thine by purchase since,
And overpaid its value with thy blood.

Thy saints proclaim thee king; and in their hearts
Thy title is engraven with a pen

Dipped in the fountain of eternal love.

Thy saints proclaim thee king; and thy delay
Gives courage to their foes, who could they see
The dawn of thy last advent long desired,
Would creep into the bowels of the hills
And flee for safety to the falling rocks.

Cowper.

Messiah comes!-Let furious discord cease;
Be peace on earth before the Prince of Peace!
Disease and anguish feel His blest control,
And howling fiends release the tortured soul!
The beams of gladness Hell's dark caves illume,
And mercy broods above the distant gloom.

Bishop Heber.

The Lord shall come! the earth shall quake;
The mountains to their centre shake;
And withering from the vault of night,
The stars shall pale their feeble light.

The Lord shall come! but not the same
As once in lowliness he came;
A silent Lamb before His foes,
A weary man and full of woes.

The Lord shall come! a dreadful form,
With rainbow wreath, and robes of storm;
On cherub wings and wings of wind,
Appointed Judge of all mankind!

Bishop Heber.

The chariot! the chariot! its wheels roll on fire,
As the Lord cometh down in the pomp of his ire;
Self-moving it drives on its pathway of cloud,

And the heavens with the burthen of Godhead are

bowed!

The glory! the glory! by myriads are pour'd
The host of the angels to wait on their Lord,
And the glorified saints and the martyrs are there,
And all who the palm-wreath of victory wear.
H. H. Milman.

Messiah comes! ye rugged paths be plain!
The Shiloh comes! ye towering cedars bend;
Swell forth, ye valleys; and, ye rocks, descend;
The withered branch let balmy fruits adorn,
And clustering roses twine the leafless thorn;
Burst forth, ye vocal groves, your joy to tell-
The God of Peace redeems His Israel.

C. H. Johnson.

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