—­Luke 8:52.

Oh true, “she is not dead, but sleepeth—­”
  Her dust alone is here;
The spirit pure that Heavenward leapeth,
  Hath gone to bliss fore’er.

’Twas but a fragile flower that lent
  Its sweets to earth a day;
From Heaven’s parterre ’twas kindly sent,
  But ’twas not here to stay.

Weep not, fond mother, that lost one;
  ’Tis clasped in angel’s arms—­
From earth’s dread trials passed and gone,
  ’Tis decked in seraph’s charms.

See how it beckons thee to come,
  And taste its rapture there;—­
No longer linger o’er that tomb—­
  To join it let’s prepare.

THE DECREE.

And the king said, bring me a sword.  And they brought a sword before the king.  And the king said, divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.  Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord give her the living child, and in no wise slay it.

    —­I Kings 3:24-36.

Hark! did you not hear that loud shriek? 
  Ah! do you not see that wild eye? 
List—­do you hear that mother speak
  For her son that is doom’d to die?

Behold the eloquence of love! 
  A mother for her child distress’d: 
A gush of feeling from above
  Invades and fills her yearning breast.

That flood of tears,—­those wringing hands,
  Mark her abandonment of soul,
As, list’ning to the king’s commands,
  Her grief refuses all control.

My child! my child!—­(tho’ she betray it,)
  “The living child” give to my foe! 
’Where is my child?—­Oh! do not slay it! 
  Let me my arms around it throw!’

Thus nature’s impulse bursting forth,
  Reveals the mother’s kindred blood,
And stamps upon her claim the truth: 
  Whilst foil’d the guilty claimant stood.

Such love breathes not in courts, where meet
  Soft, studied ease and pamper’d vice: 
As soon you’ll find the genial heat
  Of nature’s sun in fields of ice!

And that fond soul was one like she
  Who bathed the Saviour’s feet with tears: 
And hers, like Mary’s ecstasy,
  Flows from the influence of prayers: 

For, Solomon had sought of God
  Not hoards of wealth, nor “length of days:” 
But holy unction from His rod,
  The bright indwelling of Truth’s rays.

A VIEW FROM MOUNT CARMEL.

And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees.  And said to his servant, ‘Go up now, look towards the sea.’  And he went up, and looked, and said, ‘There is nothing.’  And he said, Go again seven times.  And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand.

    —­I Kings 18:42,41.