OUT of the bosom of the dark, deep tomb
Each year before the bar of truth ye come,
Ye sacred Ashes!-and I went to hear,

Ye witness 'gainst me, with your speech severe.
"No, no," ye cry,
"thou could'st not now be known
For him of yore. Where is thy proud youth flown?
Where is thy strength ?-thine early promise where?—
Where the bright ringlets of thy golden hair?"
Convinced and motionless, I silent stand,

As though my latest moment were at hand,
And trembling, gird me for the parting hour,

When that dread sentence comes with awful power,
From whence lies no appeal-that to the earth
I must return, from which I had my birth.

TO SINNERS.

SONNET CLXXXII.

IT will it will come soon! O listen, then,
The dreadful day of wrath will come, ye fools!
When the last trumpet shall call forth the dead
Out of their graves to rise, and meet their Judge!
And each immortal spirit,-re-arranged
In its once mortal vesture,-shall return,
The good, to heaven; the wicked, to the land
Where everlasting death shall be their doom.
O ere the dawning of that dreadful day,
Confess your sins to God, and be forgiven!
Have faith in God, and do the works of faith,
So, amid horror and dismay, on you,
The light may shine,-as when the face of God
Was veiled in clouds and darkness to his foes;
But on his chosen shone in light and joy.

THE ADVENT.

"The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple."--Mal. iii. 1. "They brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord."-Luke ii. 22.

CAME He arrayed in dazzling flame,

Whilst thunders pealed his lofty name?

Or past He in a whirlwind by?

Whilst far within the arched fane
Rung deep and dread the holiest strain-
The seraph's anthem high?

A second time did Sinai dare
His awful majesty to bear

To hear his trumpet's sound?
Whilst Jordan's swelling waves declare
The Lord himself descended there?
And shook the trembling ground.

He came but not around him wait
Attendant, from heaven's golden gate,
Guardian archangels bright and high;
Though legions there his will await,
Not one attends his low estate
Of all heaven's hierarchy!

Cease thy mysterious theme, weak lute!
Well may each thrilling chord be mute,-
God comes to his abode !

Presents Himself, a woman's child,
Helpless and poor, yet undefiled,
Unto Himself-as God!

Lyra Apostolica.

Γνοῖεν δ', ὡς δὴ δηρὸν ἐγὼ πολέμοιο πέπαυμαι.

NO. XX.

THE LORD THY GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE."

1.-NADAB AND ABIHU.

"AWAY, or ere the Lord break forth!
The pure ætherial air

Cannot abide the spark of earth,

"Twill lighten, and not spare.”

"Nay, but we know our call divine,
We feel our hearts sincere;

What boots it where we light the shrine.
If bright it blaze and clear?"

God of the unconsuming fire,

On Horeb seen of old,

Stay, Jealous One, thy burning ire

It may not be controll'd.

The Lord breaks out, th' unworthy die

Lo! on the cedar floor

The rob'd and mitred corses lie

Be silent and adore.

E. H.

Yet sure a holy seed were they,
Pure hands had o'er them past,
Cuirass and crown, their bright array,
In Heaven's high mould were cast.

Th' atoning blood had drench'd them o'er,
The mystic balm had seal'd.
And may the blood atone no more,
No charm the anointing yield?

Silence, ye brethren of the dead,
Ye Father's tears, be still:
But chuse them out a lonely bed
Beside the mountain rill;

Then bear them as they lie, their brows
Scath'd with th' avenging fire,
And wearing (sign of broken vows)
The blest, the dread attire.

Nor leave unwept their desert grave,
But mourn their pride and thine
Oft as rebellious thought shall crave
To question words divine.

Nor burns it only then:

The poor that are not poor in heart,-
Who say, "The bread of Christian men,

We loathe it, o'er and o'er again,"

The murmurers in the camp, must feel the blazing dart.

Far from the Lord's tent door,

And therefore bold to sin, are they :

"What should we know of Faith's high lore!"

Oh! plead not so-there's wrath in store,

And temper'd to our crimes the lightnings find their way.

The promised fields and vineyards fair?
Lo! wise of heart and keen of sight

Are these-ye cannot blind them quite-
Not as our sires are we: we fear not open light.”

KORAH.

"And we too, Levites though we be,
We love the song of liberty.

Did we not hear the Mountain Voice
Proclaim the Lord's impartial choice?
The camp is holy, great and small,
Levites and Danites, one and all.
Our God his home in all will make-
What if no priestly finger strake
Or blood or oil o'er robe or brow,
Will He not hear his people's vow?
Lord of all Earth, will he no sign
Grant but to Aaron's haughty line?

Our censers are as yours: we dare you to the shrine."
Thus spake the proud at prime of morn,

Where was their place at eve? Ye know,
Rocks of the wild in sunder torn,

And altars scath'd with fires of woe!
Earth heard and sank, and they were gone,
Only their dismal parting groan

The shuddering ear long time will haunt.
Thus rebels fare: but ye profane,
Who dar'd th' anointing Power disdain
For freedom's rude unpriestly vaunt;

Dire is the fame for you in store:
Your molten censers evermore

Th' atoning altar must inlay ;
Memorial to the kneeling quires
That Mercy's God hath judgment fires
For high-voic'd Korahs in their day.

4.-ELIJAH AND THE MESSENGERS OF AHAZIAH.

OH! surely Scorner is his name,
Who to the church will errands bring
From a proud world or impious king,
And, without fear or shame,

In mockery own them "men of God,"

O'er whom he gaily shakes the miscreant spoiler's rod.

But if we be God's own indeed,

Then is there fire in Heaven, be sure,
And bolts deep-wounding, without care,
For the blasphemer's seed,-

Wing'd are they all, and aimed on high,

Against the hour when Christ shall hear his martyrs' cry.

Oh! tell me not of royal hosts-
One hermit, strong in fast and prayer,
Shall gird his sackcloth on, and scare
Whate'er the vain earth boasts:
And thunder-stricken chiefs return

To tell their Lord how dire the church's lightnings burn.

CORRESPONDENCE.

The Editor begs to remind his readers that he is not responsible for the opinions
of his Correspondents.

1

THE CONVOCATION OF THE PROVINCE OF CANTERBURY.

NO. III.

I AM fearful of tiring the reader with the minute details of the quarrel which took place in the convocations of 1700 and following years, yet it has been my object, as it shall be in the sequel, to confine my account of it to those points which involved some question of right or privilege between the two houses, or between both and the crown. In continuing the history, I will only remark that such a dissention scarcely can occur again. It arose from a new upper house being grafted by a new king on an old clergy; whereas, in a settled state of things, there is a regular and close connexion between the bishops and the lower house, the members of the latter being appointed for the most part either by the crown or the episcopal bench. I say it scarcely can recur; because it is not to be supposed that the great body of the clergy will ever again find themselves called upon to shift their allegiance to new bishops at the command of a foreigner scarcely seated on the throne.

Comparing the two houses with each other, the dignified and temperate conduct of the upper house forces itself upon the notice of the reader. However, it should be remembered that nothing is so easy as composure, good humour, and good sense, when we have matters in the main our own way. Let those laugh who win, is a familiar proverb. The bishops were at this time on the winning side; they had the king with them, and their political principles had gained the victory. Besides, a sort of constitutional tranquillity and clearDess of head are often the attendants on the cold, unenthusiastical temper which had, at that era, triumphed in church and state, as may be illustrated in the case of some well-known writers of that and a more recent date. At the same time, there were members of the upper house as free from the charge of placidity and insensibility as any of the lower. On one occasion, Burnet, whose writings had been attacked by the lower house, was provoked to interpose, in answer to a question from the prolocutor to the archbishop, on some immaterial point of dissention," This is fine, indeed, the lower house will not allow a committee to inspect their books, and now they demand to see ours!" and on the prolocutor replying that he asked nothing but what he was concerned to know, and what of right he might demand, Burnet returned, "This is according to your usual insolence." "Insolence, my lord!" said the prolocutor, "do you give me that word ?" "Yes, insolence!" replied the historian, "you deserve that word and worse. Think what you will of yourself, I know what you are." VOL. VII.-Jun. 1835.

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