What though no record carved in stone What though beneath their tread unknown, 'Twas thy last wish thy sleep should be: An hundred years their course have told, Nor yet thy children's love grows cold. An hundred years thy sun hath set- That holy treasure shall embrace. Now shall they deck thy costly shrine, And kneel, where thou didst kneel, in prayer, And know, by many a precious sign, Thy spirit's blest communion there. Proudly the anthem's swelling strain Mounts up, from faithful hearts outpoured, The answering shout, "Praise ye the LORD." Praise ye the LORD-Whose marshalled host Be made, the GOD of Love and Light! Praise Him-Whose Saints at His behest Blest Father of the mighty dead! IV. JULY 20.-S. MARGARET, VIRGIN AND MARTYR. Little more is known of this holy Virgin, than that, boldly confessing the true faith before a Pagan Governor, she suffered Martyrdom at Antioch in Pisidia, towards the end of the third century. It is the prime of summer, and the earth Looks up all glorious to the cloudless sky, A Christian Virgin through the crowded street O blessed maid! to whom such grace was given, How like a banner in her feeble hold, Feeble, yet oh! how strong, the Cross is borne ; Scared by the symbol grasped in that weak hand, Those ancient records of triumphant faith, How sternly they our languid hearts reprove! The spirit, in its weakness, still by Thee With fainting steps our daily paths we tread, Yet ever when we taste the bitter spring To shame our slumbering faith, that needeth more, V. JULY 22.-S. MARY MAGDALENE. Whether S. Mary of Magdala be the same as the sinner who anointed the feet of our LORD, and as Mary the sister of Lazarus, is not certain, nor is it important for us to know. But we may commemorate them as one, and say with the Abbat of old,— "Blessed is she who anointed the feet of JESUS; more blessed she who anointed the LORD's head; but most blessed, who prepared the precious dew for His whole body." Nor must we forget that it was permitted to S. Mary Magdalene, out of whom our LORD had cast seven devils, to be the first witness of His Resurrection. In the first Prayer Book of King Edward VI., a Collect, Epistle, and Gospel were appointed for this day. O Blessed LORD! in mercy sent Thou, when of old a sinner strove She was a sinner, yet she brake The box of nard for JESUS' sake; GOD spake the word when man reproved— A sinner, yet she loved to lave The feet of Him Who came to save, And when the precious blood was shed, She saw the strange and solemn sight, She heard the words of joy and fear, VI. JULY 26.-S. ANNE, MOTHER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. The sacred history is silent regarding the Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary: a very early tradition tells us that their names were Joachim and Anne; it is enough for us to know that such persons existed, in order to preserve their memory. In the mediæval representations on stained glass or otherwise, Š. Anne is usually exhibited as teaching the Blessed Virgin from a book. The Church in faith holds on her way Of gems, whose light shall never fade, And as with sad yet hopeful tears For heavenly harvest sown,- On mournful hearts and lone, These, high above the world's dim air, And Angels love their watch to keep O'er some the flowers of memory bloom; Whose names from earth have passed away, And thus if Christians, love-beguiled, Thine earthly course would know,- We know not of thy tender years, That bore thee, when thy toil was done, To homes that ne'er decay. But though e'en fondest memory fail, For whoso on the Eternal One, These see thee in thy life's glad morn, When age forgot its weariness, And, as when first upon thee smiled, And watch each fresh and wondrous grace, These gladly, as the men of old, As thou wast wont thy child to lead And they can tell what joys were thine, With blessed gifts of heaven, The soul that dwells with Saints above, The purity, the hope, the love, That nought of earth may leaven. |