Alleluia! strains of gladness,
Suit not souls with anguish torn;
Alleluia! sounds of sadness

Best become our state forlorn!
Our offences

We with bitter tears must mourn.

But our earnest supplication,
Holy GOD! we raise to Thee;
Visit us with Thy Salvation,
Make us all Thy joys to see.
Alleluia!

Ours at length this strain shall be. Amen.

23.

Septuagesima, &c.

HAPPY band of pilgrims,
If onward ye will tread

With JESUS as your fellow,
TO JESUS as your Head!

O happy, if ye labour

As JESUS did for men ;
O happy, if ye hunger
AS JESUS hunger'd then!

The Cross that JESUS carried,
He carried as your due;

The Crown that JESUS weareth,
He weareth it for you.

24.

The trials that beset you,
The sorrows ye endure,
The manifold temptations
That death alone can cure.

What are they, but His jewels
Of right celestial worth?
What are they but the ladder
Set up to Heaven on earth?

O happy band of pilgrims,
Look upward to the skies;
Where such a light affliction

M

Shall win you such a prize. Amen.

AKER of earth, to Thee alone

Perpetual rest belongs,

And the bright choirs around Thy Throne,

May pour their endless songs.

But we, as sinless now no more,

And doom'd to toil and pain,

Can we upon an alien shore

So sing the heavenly strain?

FATHER, Whose Promise binds Thee still
To heal the suppliant throng,
Grant us to mourn the deeds of ill
That banish us so long;

D

And, mourning, grant us faith to rest
Upon Thy Love and Care;
Till Thou restore us with the Blest,
The song of Heaven to share.

TO GOD the FATHER, GOD the SON,
And GOD the HOLY GHOST,
Great THREE IN ONE, be glory done,
By men and Angel-host. Amen.

25.

OVE suffers long, is just, sincere,
Forgiving, slow to blame;

Friend of the good, she grieves to hear
An erring brother's shame.
Meek, holy, free from selfish zeal,
To generous pity prone,
She envies not another's weal,
Nor triumphs in her own.

No evil, no suspicious thought
She harbours in her breast;
She tries us by the deeds we've wrought,
And still believes the best.

Love never fails; though Knowledge cease,
Though Prophecies decay,

Love, Christian Love, shall still increase,
Shall still extend her sway.

How dimly, through life's shadowy glass
We strain our infant eyes;

Soon shall the earth-born vapours pass,
And Light unclouded rise;

Then Hope shall sink in changeless doom,
Then Faith's bright race be o'er,
But thou, eternal Love, shalt bloom
More glorious than before. Amen.

26. ONCE

Lent.

NCE more the solemn season calls
A holy fast to keep;

And now within the temple walls
Both priest and people weep.

But vain all outward sign of grief,
And vain the form of prayer,
Unless the heart implore relief,
And penitence be there.

We smite the breast, we weep in vain,
In vain in ashes mourn,
Unless with penitential pain

The smitten soul be torn.

In sorrow true then let us pray
To our offended GOD,

From us to turn His wrath away,
And stay the uplifted rod.

O GOD, our JUDGE and FATHER, deign
To spare the bruised reed;

We pray for time to turn again,

For Grace to turn indeed.

Blest THREE IN ONE, to Thee we bow;
Vouchsafe us in Thy Love,

To gather from these fasts below
Immortal fruit above. Amen.