"When the Holy One, the Glorious One, returns in might and power, And the long-oppressed world emerges, from out her darksome hour; Her darksome hour of grief, and death, and bitter pain, When the Holy One, the Blessed One, returns to earth again. Where the hosts of Satan trod, bright angels shall descend, And loved ones, and vanished ones, their steps shall hither wend. They come from the silent land, where they have waited long, And sweet as mortals never heard shall be their choral song. We too shall sing with them, for the curse shall pass away, And earth look brighter far than on her natal day, When the Lord for whom we waited in glory comes to reign, And many whom we dearly loved do follow in his train."--M. R. [Illustration] [Illustration: THE GOSPEL TREE.] The Gospel-Tree. Lone, beside the forest rill, Stands an old tree reft and broken; 'Neath its scant boughs waving still, Words of faith and hope were spoken, In time of dearth and bitter woe, At least six hundred years ago.--M. R. Britain was anciently divided into a variety of states, which bore the names of those who dwelt in them, or else had reference to some peculiarity of situation or of climate. When the Romans gained the ascendancy, they put aside the way-marks of the olden times, and divided their new territories into Britannia Barbara, Prima, and Secunda, with such lesser partitions as pleased them best. Then came the Saxons. They, too, made changes, and he who returned after some years' absence to the shores of Britain, sought in vain for the places which he remembered in early life, and with which the dearest associations were connected. The plains and rivers, the hills and valleys, still remained, and above them extended the blue heavens, for men could not dry up the fountain of the one, nor vary the aspect of the other, nor cause the glorious moon and planets to forsake their prescribed bounds. All else was changed. Most of the towns and villages had new names given them, and from out the chaos of war and time arose the seven kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy. Minor changes followed, and when Alfred united the whole country under his paternal sway, he projected a final division of the kingdom into counties, with well-defined boundaries and names.