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CHARLES WESLEY.

STANZAS FROM "THE TRUE USE | Visit, then, this soul of mine,

OF MUSIC."

LISTED into the cause of sin,
Why should a good be evil?
Music, alas! too long has been

Pressed to obey the devil-
Drunken, or lewd, or light, the lay
Flowed to the soul's undoing
Widened, and strewed with flowers,
the way

Down to eternal ruin.

Who on the part of God will rise,

Innocent sound recover

Fly on the prey, and take the prize,
Plunder the carnal lover-
Strip him of every moving strain,

Every melting measure-
Music in virtue's cause retain,
Rescue the holy pleasure?

Come, let us try if Jesus' love
Will not as well inspire us;
This is the theme of those above-
This upon earth shall fire us.
Say, if your hearts are tuned to sing
Is there a subject greater?
Harmony all its strains may bring;
Jesus' name is sweeter.

THE ONLY LIGHT.

CHRIST, whose glory fills the skies,
Christ, the true, the only Light,
Sun of Righteousness, arise,
Triumph o'er the shades of night!
Day-spring from on high, be near!
Day-star, in my heart appear!

Dark and cheerless is the morn
Unaccompanied by Thee;
Joyless is the day's return

Till Thy mercy's beams I see;
Till they inward light impart,
Glad my eyes and warm my heart.

Pierce the gloom of sin and grief! Fill me, Radiancy Divine,

Scatter all my unbelief!
More and more Thyself display,
Shining to the perfect day.

JESUS, LOVER OF MY SOUL. Jesus, lover of my soul,

Let me to Thy bosom fly, While the nearer waters roll,

While the tempest still is nigh! Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, Till the storm of life is past: Safe into Thy haven guideO receive my soul at last!

Other refuge have I none

Hangs my helpless soul on Thee; Leave, ah! leave me not alone Still support and comfort me. All my trust on Thee is stayed, Cover my defenceless head All my help from Thee I bring:

With the shadow of Thy wing.

Wilt Thou not regard my call?

Wilt Thou not regard my prayer? Lo! I sink, I faint, I fall

Lo! on Thee I cast my care; Reach me out Thy gracious hand, While I of Thy strength receive! Hoping against hope I stand

Dying, and behold I live.

Thou, O Christ, art all I want

More than all in Thee I find; Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, Heal the sick, and lead the blind. Just and holy is Thy nameI am all unrighteousness; False, and full of sin I am:Thou art full of truth and grace.

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THINK not some knowledge rests with thee alone.
Why, even God's stupendous secret, Death,
We one by one, with our expiring breath,
Do, pale with wonder, seize and make our own.
The bosomed treasures of the earth are shown
Despite her careful hiding; and the air
Yields its mysterious marvels in despair,

To swell the mighty storehouse of things known.

In vain the sea expostulates and raves;
It cannot cover from the keen world's sight
The curious wonders of its coral caves.
And so, despite thy caution or thy tears,
The prying fingers of detective years
Shall drag thy secret out into the light.

BLANCO WHITE.

TO NIGHT.

MYSTERIOUS Night! when our first | And lo! creation widened in man's

parent knew

Thee from report divine, and heard

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view.

Who could have thought such darkness lay concealed

Within thy beams, O Sun! or who could find,

While fly, and leaf, and insect lay revealed,

That to such countless orbs thou madest us blind!

Why do we, then, shun Death with anxious strife ?

If Light can thus deceive, wherefore not Life?

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From vanity,

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Come, Disappointment, come!

Thou art not stern to me; Sad monitress! I own thy sway, A votary sad in early day,

I bend my knee to thee.

From sun to sun

My race will run,

And point to scenes of bliss that I only bow and say, My God, Thy

never, never die.

will be done.

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