[Illustration: THE MAGI ON THE WAY TO BETHLEHEM.] Rejoice, all ye believers, And let your lights appear; The evening is advancing, And darker night is near; The Bridegroom is arising, And soon He draweth nigh: Up! pray, and watch, and wrestle! At midnight comes the cry. The watchers on the mountain Proclaim the Bridegroom near; Go meet Him as He cometh, With hallelujahs clear: The marriage feast is waiting, The gates wide-open stand; Up, up, ye heirs of glory! The Bridegroom is at hand. Our hope and expectation, O Jesus, now appear; Arise, thou Sun so longed for O'er this benighted sphere! With heart and hands uplifted, We plead, O Lord, to see The day of earth's redemption, That brings us unto Thee. --_Laurenti._ JOINED TO CHRIST. Joined to Christ in mystic union, We Thy members, Thou our Head, Sealed by deep and true communion, Risen with Thee, who once were dead-- Saviour, we would humbly claim All the power of this Thy name. Instant sympathy to brighten All their weakness and their woe, Guiding grace their way to lighten, Shall Thy loving members know; All their sorrows Thou dost bear, All Thy gladness they shall share. Make Thy members every hour For Thy blessed service meet; Earnest tongues, and arms of power, Skilful hands, and hastening feet, Ever ready to fulfil All Thy word and all Thy will. Everlasting life Thou givest Everlasting love to see; They shall live because Thou livest, And their life is hid with Thee. Safe Thy members shall be found, When their glorious Head is crowned! --_Frances Ridley Havergal._ "_Till He come!_"--Oh, let the words Linger on the trembling chords, Let the "little while" between In their golden light be seen: Let us think how heaven and home Lie beyond that, "_Till He come!_" When the weary ones we love Enter on that rest above, When their words of love and cheer Fall no longer on our ear, Hush! be ev'ry murmur dumb, It is only "_Till He come!_" Clouds and darkness round us press; Would we have one sorrow less? All the sharpness of the cross, All that tells the world is loss, Death, and darkness, and the tomb, Pain us only "_Till He come!_" See, the feast of love is spread, Drink the wine and eat the bread; Sweet memorials, till the Lord Call us round His heavenly board, Some from earth, from glory some, Severed only "_Till He come!_" --_E. W. Bickersteth._ "Forever with the Lord!" So, Jesus, let it be; Life from the dead is in that word; 'Tis immortality. Here, in the body pent, Absent from thee I roam: Yet nightly pitch my moving tent A day's march nearer home. My father's house on high, Home of my soul! how near, At times, to faith's aspiring eye, Thy golden gates appear!