Oh! happy, if the Rich--the Vain--the Proud-- The plumed Actors in life’s motley crowd,-- Since pride is dust, and life itself a span,-- Would learn one Lesson from a poor _Blind_ Man. _Lisle Bowles._ I see, and yet I see not; outward things Are visible unto me: I behold The fresh, cool verdure of succeeding springs; The glories of the summer manifold; The forests rich with their autumnal gold; The creatures beautiful, that spread their wings In the warm sunshine; blossoms that unfold Bright as man’s hopes and vain imaginings. The glories of the universe are spread Before me, and I see them with delight: Yet am I _blind_ of heart, and cold, and dead To spiritual things. God grant me light To understand, and warmth to feel, and grace Thy message to receive--Thy wondrous power to trace. _Egone._ But in God’s temple the great lamp is out, And he must worship glory in the dark! Till death, in midnight mystery, hath brought The veiled soul’s re-illuminating spark-- The pillar of the cloud enfolds the Ark! And, like a man that prayeth underground In Bethlehem’s rocky shrine, he can but mark The lingering hours by circumstance and sound, And break, with gentle hymns, the solemn silence round. Yet still life’s better light shines out above! And in that village church, where first he learned To bear his cheerless doom, for heaven’s dear love, He sits, with wistful face, for ever turned To hear of those who heavenly pity earned; _Blind_ Bartimæus, and him desolate, Who for Bethesda’s waters vainly yearned: And only sighs, condemned so long to wait, Baffled and helpless still, beyond the Temple gate! _Mrs. Norton._ BLOOD. And Moses took the _blood_, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the _blood_ of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you.--Exodus, xxiv. 8. Deliver me from _blood_-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.--Psalm li. 14. By the _blood_ of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit.--Zechariah, ix. 11. God hath made of one _blood_ all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.--Acts, xvii. 26. Neither by the _blood_ of goats and calves, but by his own _blood_, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.--Hebrews, ix. 12. Almost all things are by the law purged with _blood_; and without shedding of _blood_ is no remission.--Hebrews, ix. 22. The _blood_ of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin.--I. John, i. 7.