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THE SAVIOUR'S BIRTH.

JOHN THE BAPTIST.

THE last and greatest herald of heaven's King,
Girt with rough skins, hies to the deserts wild,
Among that savage brood the woods forth bring,
Which he more harmless found than man, and mild;
His food was locusts, and what there doth spring,
With honey that from virgin hives distilled;
Parched body, hollow eyes, some uncouth thing,
Made him appear, long since from earth exiled,
There burst he forth; all ye whose hopes rely
On God, with me amidst these deserts mourn,
Repent, repent, and from old errors turn!
Who listened to his voice, obeyed his cry?
Only the echoes, which he made relent,
Rung from their flinty caves, Repent, repent!

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"O sola magnarum urbium."

EDWARD CASWALL, to whom we are indebted for many of the very best translations from the Latin, was born at Yately, Hampshire, England, July 15, 1814, and was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he was of marked proficiency in the classics. He took orders in the Church of England, but in 1847 was received into the Catholic Church at Rome. In 1850 he was admitted to the congregation of the Oratory at Birmingham, and later was re-ordained as priest.

BETHLEHEM! of noblest cities

None can once with thee compare; Thou alone the Lord from heaven Didst for us incarnate bear.

Fairer than the sun at morning

Was the star that told his birth; To the lands their God announcing, Hid beneath a form of earth.

By its lambent beauty guided,

See, the Eastern kings appear; See them bend, their gifts to offer, Gifts of incense, gold, and myrrh.

Offerings of mystic meaning!—

Incense doth the God disclose; Gold a royal child proclaimeth; Myrrh a future tomb foreshows.

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