THE FAREWELL.

DEAD be my heart to all below,
To mortal joys and mortal cares:
To sensual bliss that charms us so
Be dark, my eyes, and deaf my ears.

Here I renounce my carnal taste,
Of the fair fruit that sinners prize :
Their paradise shall never waste
One thought of mine but to despise.

All earthly joys are over-weigh'd
With mountains of vexatious care;
And where's the sweet that is not laid
A bait to some destructive snare!

Be gone for ever, mortal things!
Thou mighty mole-hill, earth, farewell!
Angels aspire on lofty wings,

And leave the globe for ants to dwell.

Come Heaven, and fill my vast desires, My soul pursues the sovereign good: She was all made of heavenly fires, Nor can she live on meaner food.

GOD ONLY KNOWN TO HIMSELF.
STAND and adore! how glorious He
That dwells in bright eternity!
We gaze, and we confound our sight,
Plunged in the abyss of dazzling light.

Thou sacred One, Almighty Three,
Great Everlasting Mystery,
What lofty numbers shall we frame
Equal to thy tremendous name?

Seraphs, the nearest to the throne,
Begin, and speak the Great Unknown:
Attempt the song, wind up your strings,
To notes untry'd, and boundless things.

You, whose capacious powers survey
Largely beyond our eyes of clay :
Yet what a narrow portion too
Is seen, or known, or thought by you?

How flat your highest praises fall
Below the immense Original!
Weak creatures we, that strive in vain
To teach an uncreated strain.

Great God, forgive our feeble lays,
Sound out thine own eternal praise;
A song so vast, a theme so high,
Calls for the voice that tuned the sky.

PARDON AND SANCTIFICATION.
My crimes awake; and hideous fear
Distracts my restless mind;
Guilt meets my eyes with horrid glare,
And hell pursues behind.

Almighty vengeance frowns on high,
And flames array the throne;
While thunder murmurs round the sky,
Impatient to be gone.

Where shall I hide this noxious head;
Can rocks or mountains save?

Or shall I wrap me in the shade

Of midnight and the grave?

Is there no shelter from the eye
Of a revenging God?

Jesus, to thy dear wounds 1 fly,
Bedew me with thy blood.

Those guardian drops my soul secure,
And wash away my sin;
Eternal justice frowns no more,
And conscience smiles within.

I bless that wondrous purple stream
That whitens every stain;
Yet is my soul but half redeem'd,
If Sin the tyrant reign.

LORD, blast his empire with thy breath,
That cursed throne must fall;
Ye flattering plagues, that work my death,
Fly, for I hate you all.

SOVEREIGNTY AND GRACE.

THE Lord! how fearful is his name!
How wide is his command?
Nature, with all her moving frame,
Rests on his mighty hand.

Immortal glory forms his throne,
And light his awful robe;
Whilst with a smile, or with a frown,
He manages the globe.

A word of his almighty breath
Can swell or sink the seas:

Build the vast empires of the earth,
Or break them as he please.

Adoring angels round him fall
In all their shining forms,

His sovereign eye looks through them all,
And pities mortal worms.

His bowels, to our worthless race,

In sweet compassion move;
He clothes his looks with softest grace,
And takes his title, Love.

Now, let the Lord for ever reign,
And sway us as he will;
Sick, or in health, in ease or pain,
We are his favourites still."

No more shall peevish passion rise,

The tongue no more complain: "Tis sovereign love that lends our joys, And love resumes again.

THE LAW AND GOSPEL.
"CURS'D be the man, for ever curs'd,
That doth one wilful sin commit;
Death and damnation for the first,
Without relief, and infinite.'

Thus Sinai roars; and round the earth
Thunder, and fire, and vengeance flings;
But Jesus, thy dear gasping breath,
And Calvary, say gentler things.

"Pardon and grace, and boundless love,
Streaming along a Saviour's blood,
And life, and joys, and crowns above,
Dear purchased by a bleeding God.""

Hark, how he prays, (the charming sound
Dwells on his dying lips) " Forgive;"
And every groan, and gaping wound,
Cries "Father, let the rebels live."

Go, you that rest upon the law,
And toil, and seek salvation there;
Look to the flames that Moses saw,
And shrink, and tremble, and despair.

But I'll retire beneath the cross;
Saviour, at thy dear feet I lie:
And the keen sword that justice draws,
Flaming and red, shall pass me by.

SEEKING A DIVINE CALM IN A RESTLESS WORLD.

O Mens, quæ stabili fata Regis vice, &c. CASIMIR, Book iii. Ode 25.

ETERNAL Mind, who rules the fates Of dying realms, and rising states, With one unchanged decree,

While we admire thy vast affairs, Say, can our little trifling cares Afford a smile to thee?

Thou scatters honours, crowns, and gold;
We fly to seize, and fight to hold

The bubbles and the ore:
So emmets struggle for a grain ;
So boys their petty wars maintain
For shells upon the shore.

Here a vain man his sceptre breaks,
The next a broken sceptre takes,

And warriors win and lose;
This rolling world will never stand,
Plunder'd and snatch'd from every hand,
As power decays or grows.

Earth's but an atom; greedy swords
Carve it among a thousand lords,

And yet they can't agree:

Let greedy swords still fight and slay;
I can be poor; but Lord, I pray
To sit and smile with thee.

HAPPY FRAILTY.

"How meanly dwells the immortal mind!
How vile these bodies are!
Why was a clod of earth design'd
T'enclose a heavenly star?

'Weak cottage where our souls reside!
This flesh a tottering wall;
With frightful breaches gaping wide
The building bends to fall.

All round it storms of trouble blow,
And waves of sorrow roll;

Cold waves and winter storms beat through,
And pain the tenant-soul.

Alas! how frail our state!' said I ;

And thus went mourning on,

Till sudden from the cleaving sky

A gleam of glory shone.

My soul all felt the glory come,

And breath'd her native air;

Then she remember'd heaven her home,
And she a prisoner here.

Straight she began to change her key,
And joyful in her pains,
She sung the frailty of her clay,

In pleasurable strains.

"How weak the prison's where I dwell!
Flesh but a tottering wall,
The breaches cheerfully foretell
The house must shortly fall.

"No more, my friends, shall I complain,
Though all my heart-strings ake;
Welcome disease and every pain,
That makes the cottage shake.
"Now, let the tempest blow all round,
Now swell the surges high,

And beat this house of bondage down,
To let the stranger fly.

"I have a mansion built above,
By the eternal Hand;
And should the earth's old basis move,
My heavenly house must stand.

"Yes, for 'tis there my Saviour reigns,
(I long to see the God)
And his immortal strength sustains
The courts that cost him blood.'

Hark, from on high the Saviour calls: on the Saviour

Devotion breaks the prison-walls,
And speeds my last remove.

LAUNCHING INTO ETERNITY. It was a brave attempt! adventurous he, Who in the first ship broke the unknown sea:

And leaving his dear native shores behind,
Trusted his life to the licentious wind.
I see the surging brine: the tempest raves,
He on a pine-plant rides across the waves,
Exulting on the edge of thousand gaping graves:
He steers the winged boat, and shifts the sails,
Conquers the flood, and manages the gales.

Such is the soul that leaves this mortal land, Fearless when the great Master gives command. Death is the storm; she smiles to hear it roar, And bids the tempest waft her to the shore : Then, with a skilful helm she sweeps the seas, And manages the raging storm with ease;

(Her faith can govern death) she spreads her wings
Wide to the wind, and as she sails she sings,
And loses by degrees the sight of mortal things.
As the shores lessen, so her joys arise,

The waves roll gentler, and the tempest dies,
Now vast eternity fills all her sight,

She floats on the broad deep with infinite delight,
The seas for ever calm, the skies for ever bright.

A PROSPECT OF THE RESURRECTION.
How long shall death the tyrant reign,
And triumph o'er the just,

While the rich blood of Martyrs slain
Lies mingled with the dust?

When shall the tedious night be gone?
When will our Lord appear?

Our fond desire would pray him down,
Our love embrace him here.

Let faith arise and climb the hills,
And from afar descry
How distant are his chariot-wheels,
And tell how fast they fly.

Lo, I behold the scattering shades,
The dawn of heaven appears,
The sweet immortal morning spreads
Its blushes round the spheres.

I see the Lord of Glory come,
And flaming guards around:
The skies divide to make him room,
The trumpet shakes the ground.

I hear the voice, Ye dead arise,
And lo, the graves obey,
And waking saints with joyful eyes
Salute th' expected day.

They leave the dust, and on the wing
Rise to the middle air,

In shining garments meet their King,
And low adore him there.

O may my humble spirit stand

Amongst them clothed in white;
The meanest place at his right hand
Is infinite delight.

How will our joy and wonder rise,
When our returning King

Shall bear us homeward through the skies
On love's triumphant wing?

AD DOMINUM NOSTRUM ET SERVATOREM

JESUM CHRISTUM.

ODA.

TE, grande Numen, corporis incola,
Te, magna magni progenies patris,
Nomen verendum nostri Iesu

Vox, citharæ, calami sonabunt.

Aptentur auro grandisonæ fides,
Christi triumphos incipe barbite,
Fractosque terrores A verni,

Victum Erebum, domitamque mortem

"Testor paternum numen, et hoc caput
Equale testor," dixit; et ætheris
Inclinat ingens culmen, alto
Desiliitque ruens Olympo.

Mortale corpus impiger induit
Artusque nostros, heu tenues nimis
Nimisque viles! Vindicique

Corda dedit fodienda ferro,

Vitamque morti; proh dolor! O graves Tonantis iræ! Olex satis aspera! Mercesque peccati severa

Adamici, vetitique fructus.

Non pœna lenis! Quo ruis impotens !
Quo musa! largas fundere lachrymas,
Bustique Divini triumphos

Sacrilego temerari fletu ?

Sepone questus, læta Deum cane
Majore chorda. Psalle sonorius
Ut ferreas mortis cavernas

Et rigidam penetravit aulam.

Sensere Numen regna feralia,
Mugit barathrum, contremuit chaos,
Dirum fremebat rex gehennæ,
Perque suum tremebundus Orcum
Late refugit."Nil agis impie,
Mergat vel imis te Phlegethon vadis
Hoc findet undas fulmen," inquit,
Et patrios jaculatus ignes
Trajecit hostem. Nigra silentia
Umbræque flammas æthereas pavent
Dudum perosæ, ex quo corusco
Præcipites cecidere cælo.

Immane rugit jam tonitru; fragor
Late ruinam mandat: ab infimis
Lectæque designata genti

Tartara disjiciuntur antris.

Heic strata passim vincula, et heic jacent
Unci cruenti, tormina mentium
Invisa; ploratuque vasto

Spicula mors sibi adempta plangit.

En, ut resurgit victor ab ultimo
Ditis profundo, curribus aureis
Astricta raptans monstra noctis

Perdomitumque Erebi tyrannum.

Quanta angelorum gaudia jubilant
Victor paternum dum repetit polum ?
En qualis ardet, dum beati

Limina scandit ovans Olympi!

lo triumphe plectra seraphica,
Io triumphe grex hominum sonet.

CASIMIR. BOOK I. OD. 19. IMITATED.

Urit me patriæ decor, &c.

THE beauty of my native land
Immortal love inspires;

I burn, I burn with strong desires,
And sigh, and wait the high command.
There glides the moon her shining way,
And shoots my heart through with a silver ray,
Upward my heart aspires:

A thousand lamps of golden light Hung high, in vaulted azure, charm my sight, And wink and beckon with their amorous fires.

O ye fair glories of my heavenly home,

Bright sentinels who guard my Father's court, Where all the happy minds resort,

When will my Father's chariot come?

Must ye for ever walk the ethereal round,

For ever see the mourner lie

An exile of the sky,

A prisoner of the ground!

Descend some shining servants from on high,

Build me a hasty tomb:

A grassy turf will raise my head;

The neighbouring lilies dress my bed;

And shed a cheap perfume.

Here I put off the chains of death,
My soul too long has worn:

Fide Horat. Lib. I, Od. 3.

A CHRISTIAN church once at Montpelier stood,
And nobly spoke the builder's zeal for God.
It stood the envy of the fierce dragoon,
But not deserved to be destroy'd so soon;
Yet Lewis, the wild tyrant of the age,
Tears down the walls, a victim to his rage.
Young faithful hands pile up the sacred stones
(Dear monument!) o'er their dead fathers' bones;
The stones shall move when the dead fathers rise,
Start up before the pale destroyer's eyes,
And testify his madness to th' avenging skies.

TWO HAPPY RIVALS, DEVOTION AND
THE MUSE.

WILD as the lightning, various as the moon,
Roves my Pindaric song:

Here she glows like burning noon
In fiercest flames, and here she plays
Gentle as star-beams on the midnight seas;
Now in a smiling angel's form,
Anon she rides upon the storm,

Loud as the noisy thunder, as a deluge strong.
Are my thoughts and wishes free,
And know no number nor degree?
Such is the muse: lo, she disdains
The links and chains,

Measures and rules of vulgar strains And o'er the laws of harmony, a sovereign queen she reigns.

The muse ascends the heavenly car,

[divine.

And climbs the steepy path and means the throne

Then she leaves my fluttering mind

Clogg'd with clay, and unrefined,
Lengths of distance far behind:
Virtue lags with heavy wheel;
Faith has wings, but cannot rise,
Cannot rise,
Swift and high

As the winged numbers fly,
And faint Devotion panting lies
Half way up th' ethereal hill.

O why is Piety so weak,

And yet the muse so strong? When shall the hateful fetters break That have confined me long? Inward a glowing heat I feel,

A spark of heavenly day;

But earthly vapours damp my zeal,
And heavy flesh drags me the downward way.
Faint are the efforts of my will,

And mortal passion charms my soul astray.
Shine, thou sweet hour of dear release,

Shine from the sky,

And call me high

To mingle with the choirs of glory and of bliss.
Devotion there begins the flight,

Awakes her sons, and guides the way:
There love and zeal divine and bright

Trace out new regions in the world of light,

And scarce the boldest muse can follow or obey.

I'm in a dream, and fancy reigns,

She spreads her gay delusive scenes;
Or is the vision true?

Behold Religion on her throne,

In awful state descending down,

And her dominions vast and bright within my spa

cious view.

I feel mine airy power loose from the cumbrous And with a joyful haste obey

Religion's high command:

What lengths, and heights, and depths unknown!
Broad fields with blooming glory sown,
And seas, and skies, and stars her own,

In an unmeasured sphere!
What heavens of joy, and light serene,
Which nor the rolling sun has seen,
Where nor the roving muse has been
That greater traveller!

A long farewell to all below,
Farewell to all that sense can show,
To golden scenes, and flowery fields,
To all the worlds that fancy builds,
And all that poets know.

Now the swift transports of the mind,

Leave the fluttering muse behind,

A thousand loose Pindaric plumes tly scattering down the wind.

Amongst the clouds I lose my breath,

The rapture grows too strong;
The feeble powers that Nature gave
Faint and drop downward to the grave;
Receive their fall, thou treasurer of Death;

I will no more demand my tongue,
Till the gross organ well-refined

[mind,

Can trace the boundless flights of an unfetter d And raise an equal song.

The following Poems of this Book are peculiarly dedicated to Divine Love.

THE HAZARD OF LOVING THE CREA-
TURES.

WHERE'ER my flattering passions rove
I find a lurking snare;

"Tis dangerous to let loose our love
Beneath th' eternal Fair.

Souls whom no tie of friendship binds,
And partners of our blood,

Seize a large portion of our minds,
And leave the less for God.

Nature has soft but powerful bands,
And reason she controls;

While children, with their little hands,
Hang closest to our souls.

Thoughtless they act th' old Serpent's part;
What tempting things they be!

Lord, how they twine about our heart,
And draw it off from thee!

Our hasty wills run blindly on,
Where rising passion rolls;

And thus we make our fetters strong,
To bind our slavish souls.

Dear Sovereign, break these fetters off,
And set our spirits free;
God in himself is bliss enough,
For we have all in Thee.

DESIRING TO LOVE CHRIST.
COME, let me love: or, is my mind
Harden'd to stone, or froze to ice?
I see the blessed Fair One bend
And stoop t' embrace me from the skies!

O! 'tis a thought would melt a rock,
And make a heart of iron move,
That those sweet lips, that heavenly look,
Should seek and wish a mortal love!

I was a traitor doom'd to fire,
Bound to sustain eternal pains;
He flew on wings of strong desire,
Assumed my guilt, and took my chains.

Infinite grace! almighty charms!
Stand in amaze, ye whirling skies,
Jesus the God, with naked arms,
Hangs on a cross of love, and dies.

Did pity ever stoop so low,
Dress'd in Divinity and blood?
Was ever rebel courted so
In groans of an expiring God?

Again he lives; and spreads his hands,
Hands that were nail'd to torturing smart;
"By these dear wounds,' says he; and stands
And prays to clasp me to his heart.

Sure I must love; or, are my ears Still deaf, nor will my passion move? Then let me melt this heart to tears; This heart shall yield to death or love.

THE HEART GIVEN AWAY..

Is there are passions in my soul,
(And passions sure there be)
Now they are all at thy control,
My Jesus, all for Thee.

If love, that pleasing power, can rest
In hearts so hard as mine,
Come, gentle Saviour, to my breast,
For all my love is thine.

Let the gay world with treacherous art,
Allure my eyes in vain:

I have convey'd away my heart,
Ne'er to return again.

I feel my warmest passions dead
To all that earth can boast:
This soul of mine was never made
For vanity and dust.

Now I can fix my thoughts above,
Amidst their flattering charms,
Till the dear Lord that hath my love
Shall call me to his arms.

So Gabriel, at his King's command,
From yon celestial hill,

Walks downward to our worthless land,
His soul points upward still.

He glides along by mortal things,
Without a thought of love,

Fulfils his task, and spreads his wings
To reach the realms above.

MEDITATION IN A GROVE.

SWEET muse, descend and bless the shade,
And bless the evening grove;
Business, and noise, and day are fled,
And every care but love.

But hence, ye wanton young and fair,
Mine is a purer flame:

No Phyllis shall infect the air
With her unhallowed name.

Jesus has all my powers possest,
My hopes, my fears, my joys:
He, the dear Sovereign of my breast,
Shall still command my voice.

Some of the fairest choirs above
Shall flock around my song,
With joy to hear the name they love
Sound from a mortal tongue.

His charms shall make my numbers flow,
And hold the falling floods,
While silence sits on every bough,

And bend the listening woods.

I'll carve our passion on the bark,
And every wounded tree
Shall drop and bear some mystic mark
That Jesus died for me.

The swains shall wonder when they read, Inscribed on all the grove,

That Heaven itself came down and bled To win a mortal's love.

THE FAIREST AND THE ONLY

BELOVED.

HONOUR to that diviner ray

That first allured my eyes away
From every mortal fair;

All the gay things that held my sight