Writ in the climate of heaven, in the language spoken by

angels.

You, in like manner, ye children beloved, he one day shall

gather,

Never forgets he the weary ;-then welcome, ye

hereafter!

loved ones,

Meanwhile forget not the keeping of vows, forget not the promise,

Wander from holiness onward to holiness; earth shall he heed not;

Earth is but dust and heaven is light; I have pledged you to heaven.

God of the Universe, hear me! thou fountain of Love everlasting,

Hark to the voice of thy servant! I send up my prayer to thy heaven !

Let me hereafter not miss at thy throne one spirit of all these,

Whom thou hast given me here! I have loved them all like a father.

May they bear witness for me, that I taught them the way of salvation,

Faithful, so far as I knew of thy word; again may they know me,

Fall on their Teacher's breast, and before thy face may I place them,

Pure as they now are, but only more tried, and exclaiming with gladness,

Father, lo! I am here, and the children, whom thou hast given me !"

Weeping he spake in these words; and now at the beck of the old man

Knee against knee they knitted a wreath round the altar's enclosure.

Kneeling he read then the prayers of the consecration, and softly

With him the children read; at the close, with tremulous

accents,

Asked he the peace of heaven, a benediction upon

them.

Now should have ended his task for the day; the following

Sunday

Was for the young appointed to eat of the Lord's holy

Supper.

Sudden, as struck from the clouds, stood the Teacher silent and laid his

Hand on his forehead, and cast his looks upward; while thoughts high and holy

Flew through the midst of his soul, and his eyes glanced with wonderful brightness.

"On the next Sunday, who knows! perhaps I shall rest in the grave-yard!

Some one perhaps of yourselves, a lily broken untimely, Bow down his head to the earth; why delay I? the hour is accomplished.

Warm is the heart;-I will so! for to-day grows the harvest of heaven.

What I began accomplish I now; for what failing therein is I, the old man, will answer to God and the reverend father. to me only, ye children, ye denizens new-come in heaven,

Are ye ready this day to eat of the bread of Atonement? What it denoteth, that know ye full well, I have told it you often.

Of the new covenant a symbol it is, of Atonement a token, Stablished between earth and heaven. Man by his sins and transgressions

Far has wandered from God, from his essence.

the beginning

'Twas in

Fast by the Tree of Knowledge he fell, and it hangs its crown o'er the

Fall to this day; in the Thought is the Fall; in the Heart the Atonement.

Infinite is the Fall, the Atonement infinite likewise.

See! behind me, as far as the old man remembers, and

forward,

Far as Hope in her flight can reach with her wearied pinions.

Sin and Atonement incessant go through the lifetime of mortals.

Brought forth is sin full-grown; but Atonement sleeps in our bosoms

Still as the cradled babe; and dreams of heaven and of angels,

Cannot awake to sensation; is like the tones in the harp's

strings,

Spirits imprisoned, that wait evermore the deliverer's

finger.

Therefore, ye children beloved, descended the Prince of Atonement,

Woke the slumberer from sleep, and she stands now with eyes all resplendent,

Bright as the vault of the sky, and battles with Sin and

o'ercomes her.

Downward to earth he came and transfigured, thence reascended,

Not from the heart in like wise, for there he still lives in the Spirit,

Loves and atones evermore. So long as Time is, is Atonement.

Therefore with reverence receive this day her visible token.

Tokens are dead if the things do not live. The light everlasting

Unto the blind man is not, but is born of the eye that has vision.

Neither in bread nor in wine, but in the heart that is hallowed

Lieth forgiveness enshrined; the intention alone of amend

ment

Fruits of the earth ennobles to heavenly things, and removes all

Sin and the guerdon of sin. Only Love with his arms wide extended,

Penitence weeping and praying; the Will that is tried, and whose gold flows

Purified forth from the flames; in a word, mankind by Atonement

Breaketh Atonement's bread, and drinketh Atonement's wine-cup.

But he who cometh up hither, unworthy, with hate in his bosom,

Scoffing at men and at God, is guilty of Christ's blessed body,

And the Redeemer's blood! To himself he eateth and drinketh

Death and doom! And from this, preserve us, thou heavenly Father!

Are ye ready, ye children, to eat of the bread of Atone

ment ?"

Thus with emotion he asked, and together answered the children

Yes! with deep sobs interrupted.

supplications,

Then read he the due

Read the Form of Communion, and in chimed the organ

and anthem;

O! Holy Lamb of God, who takest away our transgressions,

Hear us! give us thy peace! have mercy, have mercy

upon us!

Th' old man, with trembling hand, and heavenly pearls on his eyelids,

Filled now the chalice and paten, and dealt round the mystical symbols.

O! then seemed it to me, as if God, with the broad eye of mid-day,

Clearer looked in at the windows, and all the trees in the churchyard

Bowed down their summits of green, and the grass on the graves 'gan to shiver.

But in the children, (I noted it well; I knew it) there

ran a

Tremor of holy rapture along through their icy-cold members.

Decked like an altar before them, there stood the green earth, and above it

Heaven opened itself, as of old before Stephen; they saw there

Radiant in glory the Father, and on his right hand the Redeemer.

Under them hear they the clang ef harpstrings, and angels from gold clouds

Beckon to them like brothers, and fan with their pinions of purple.

Closed was the Teacher's task, and with heaven in their hearts and their faces,

Up rose the children all, and each bowed him, weeping full sorely,

Downward to kiss that reverend hand, but all of them pressed he

Moved to his bosom, and laid, with a prayer, his hands full of blessings,

Now on the holy breast, and now on the innocent tresses.