CHRISTIAN HOPE.
"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things that are from above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above; for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."—St. Paul.
If with the Lord your hope doth rest,
With Christ who reigns above,
Loose from its bonds your captive breast,
And heavenward point its love.
Yes, heavenward. Ye're of holy birth,
Bid your affections soar
Above the vain delights of Earth
Which fading, bloom no more.
Seek ye some pure and thornless rose?
Some friend with changeless eye?
Some fount whence living water flows?
Go, seek those things on high.
Thither bid Hope a pilgrim go,
And Faith her mansion rear,
Even while amid this world of woe
Ye shed the stranger's tear.
If Folly tempts or Sin allures,
Be dead to all their art,
So shall eternal life be yours
When time's brief years depart.