A SUMNER EVENING.
HOW fine has the day been! How bright was the sun! '
How lovely and joyful the course that he run,
Though he rose in a mist when his race he begun,
And there followed some droppings of rain!
But now the fair traveler's come to the west,
His rays are all gold, and his beauties are best:
He paints the gay sky as he sinks to his rest,
And foretells a bright rising again.
Just such is the Christian; his course he begins,
Like the sun in a mist, when he mourns for his sins,
And melts into tears; then he breaks out and shines,
And travels his heavenly way:
But when he comes nearer to finish his race,
Like a fine setting sun, be looks richer in grace,
And gives a sure hope at the end of his days,
Of rising in brighter array.
—Isaac Watts.