Hail, holy _love_! ethereal essence, hail! Heaven’s earliest offspring, earliest visitant From thence to earth, here latest found to soothe Man’s burdened heart, with pains and griefs oppressed, (Sad fruit of disobedience,) thou, ere time His race had yet begun, the glorious plan Of mercy didst devise, the day of grace, That with mild lustre dawned in Eden’s shades, What time primeval sinners strove to hide (Vain subterfuge!) from God’s all-piercing eye Their guilt and shame; and thousand promises With kindling radiance on the raptured mind Of patriarchs, and kings, and prophets rose, And saints expectant. _S. Stennet._ _Love_ never fails: though knowledge cease, Though Prophecies decay, _Love_, Christian _love_, shall still increase, Shall still extend her sway. Here dimly, through life’s shadowy glass, We strain our infant eyes; Soon shall the earth-born vapours pass, And light, unclouded, rise; Then Hope shall sink in changeless doom, Then Faith’s bright race be o’er, But Thou, Eternal _Love_, shalt bloom More glorious than before. _W. Peter._ Before the sparkling lamps on high Were kindled up, and hung around the sky: Before the sun led on the circling hours, Or vital seeds produced their active powers; Before the first intelligences strung Their golden harps and soft preludiums sung To _Love_, the mighty cause whence their existence sprung, Th’ ineffable Divinity His own resemblance meets in thee. By this thy glorious lineage thou dost prove Thy high descent--for God Himself is _Love_. _Mrs. Rowe._ LOWLINESS. Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the _lowly_: but the proud He knoweth afar off.--Psalm cxxxviii. 6. When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the _lowly_ is wisdom.--Proverbs, xi. 2. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory; but in _lowliness_ of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.--Philippians, ii. 3. The man whose eye Is ever on himself, doth look on one The least of nature’s works, one who might move The wise man to that scorn which wisdom holds Unlawful ever. O be wiser, Thou! Instructed that true knowledge leads to love; True dignity abides with him alone, Who in the silent hour of inward thought, Can still suspect, and still revere himself In _lowliness_ of heart. _Wordsworth._