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LITANY.

  Saviour, when in dust to Thee
  Low we bend the adoring knee;
  When, repentant, to the skies
  Scarce we lift our weeping eyes,—­
  O, by all Thy pains and woe
  Suffered once for man below,
  Bending from Thy throne on high,
  Hear our solemn litany!

  By Thy helpless infant years;
  By Thy life of want and tears;
  By Thy days of sore distress
  In the savage wilderness;
  By the dread mysterious hour
  Of the insulting tempter’s power,—­
  Turn, O, turn a favoring eye,
  Hear our solemn litany!

  By the sacred griefs that wept
  O’er the grave where Lazarus slept;
  By the boding tears that flowed
  Over Salem’s loved abode;
  By the anguished sigh that told
  Treachery lurked within Thy fold,—­
  From Thy seat above the sky
  Hear our solemn litany!

  By Thine hour of dire despair;
  By Thine agony of prayer;
  By the cross, the nail, the thorn,
  Piercing spear, and torturing scorn;
  By the gloom that veiled the skies
  O’er the dreadful sacrifice,—­
  Listen to our humble cry,
  Hear our solemn litany!

  By Thy deep expiring groan;
  By the sad sepulchral stone;
  By the vault whose dark abode
  Held in vain the rising God;
  O, from earth to heaven restored,
  Mighty, reascended Lord,—­
  Listen, listen to the cry
  Of our solemn litany!

SIR ROBERT GRANT.

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THE CHRIST.

  He might have reared a palace at a word,
  Who sometimes had not where to lay His head. 
  Time was when He who nourished crowds with bread,
  Would not one meal unto Himself afford. 
  He healed another’s scratch, His own side bled;
  Side, hands and feet with cruel piercings gored. 
  Twelve legions girded with angelic sword
  Stood at His beck, the scorned and buffeted. 
  Oh, wonderful the wonders left undone! 
  Yet not more wonderful than those He wrought! 
  Oh, self-restraint, surpassing human thought! 
  To have all power, yet be as having none! 
  Oh, self-denying love, that thought alone
  For needs of others, never for its own!

RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH.

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ABIDE WITH ME.

  Abide with me!  Fast falls the eventide;
  The darkness deepens:  Lord, with me abide! 
  When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
  Help of the helpless, O abide with me!

  Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
  Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away: 
  Change and decay in all around I see;
  O thou, who changest not, abide with me!

  Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word. 
  But as thou dwelt with thy disciples, Lord,
  Familiar, condescending, patient, free,—­
  Come, not to sojourn, but abide, with me!