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+Project Gutenberg's Poems on Serious and Sacred Subjects, by William Hayley
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: Poems on Serious and Sacred Subjects
+ Printed only as Private Tokens of Regard, for the Particular
+ Friends of the Author
+
+Author: William Hayley
+
+Posting Date: October 13, 2014 [EBook #8948]
+Release Date: September, 2005
+First Posted: August 29, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POEMS ON SERIOUS, SACRED SUBJECTS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Graham Smith and the PG Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+POEMS ON SERIOUS AND SACRED SUBJECTS,
+
+
+PRINTED ONLY AS PRIVATE TOKENS OF REGARD,
+
+FOR THE PARTICULAR FRIENDS OF THE AUTHOR.
+
+
+
+....nec pia cessant
+In tumulo officia.
+
+MILTONI MANSUS.
+
+
+A Christian's kindness ends not in the tomb.
+
+Chichester:
+
+PRINTED AT THE PRIVATE PRESS OF W. MASON.
+
+1818.
+
+
+ON THE FEAR OF DEATH:
+
+AN EPISTLE TO A LADY.
+
+1768.
+
+THE FEAR OF DEATH.
+
+
+Thou! whose superior, and aspiring mind
+Can leave the weakness of thy sex behind;
+Above its follies, and its fears can rise,
+Quit the low earth, and gain the distant skies:
+Whom strength of soul and innocence have taught
+To think of death, nor shudder at the thought;
+Say! whence the dread, that can alike engage
+Vain thoughtless youth, and deep-reflecting age;
+Can shake the feeble, and appal the strong;
+Say! whence the terrors, that to death belong?
+Guilt must be fearful: but the guiltless too
+Start from the grave, and tremble at the view.
+The blood-stained pirate, who in neighbouring climes,
+Might fear, lest justice should o'ertake his crimes,
+Wisely may bear the sea's tempestuous roar,
+And rather wait the storm, than make the shore;
+But can the mariner, who sailed in vain
+In search of fancy'd treasure on the main,
+By hope deceiv'd, by endless whirlwinds tost,
+His strength exhausted, and his viands lost,
+When land invites him to receive at last
+A full reward for every danger past:
+Can he then wish his labours to renew,
+And fly the port just opening to his view?
+Not less the folly of the timorous mind,
+Which dreads that peace, it ever longs to find;
+Which worn with age, and tost in endless strife
+On this rough ocean, this tempestuous life,
+Still covets pain, and shakes with abject fear,
+When sickness points to death, and shews the haven near.
+The love of life, it yet must be confest,
+Was fixed by Nature in the human breast;
+And Heaven thought fit that fondness to employ.
+To teach us to preserve the brittle toy.
+But why, when knowledge has improv'd our thought,
+Years undeceived us, and affliction taught;
+Why do we strive to grasp with eager hand,
+And stop the course of life's quick-ebbing sand?
+Why vainly covet, what we can't sustain?
+Why, dead to pleasure, would we live to pain?
+What is this sentence, from which all would fly?
+Oh! what this horrible decree--to die?
+Tis but to quit, what hourly we despise
+A fretful dream, that tortures as it flies.--
+But hold my pen!--nor let a picture stand
+Thus darkly coloured by this gloomy hand:
+Minds deeply wounded, or with spleen opprest,
+Grow sick of life, and sullen sink to rest:
+But when the soul, possest of its desires,
+Glows with more warmth, and burns with brighter fires;
+When friendship soothes each care, and love imparts
+Its mutual raptures to congenial hearts;
+When joyful life thus strikes the ravish'd eye,
+'Tis then a task, a painful task to die.
+See! where Philario, poor Philario! lies,
+Philario late the happy, as the wise!
+Connubial love, and friendship's pleasing power
+Fill'd his good heart, and crown'd his every hour:
+But sickness bids him those lost joys deplore,
+And death now tells him, they are his no more.
+Blest in each name of Husband, Father, Friend,
+Must those strong ties, those dear connexions end?
+Must be thus leave to all the woes of life
+His helpless child, his unprotected wife?
+While thus to earth these lov'd ideas bind,
+And tear his lab'ring--his distracted mind:
+How shall that mind its wretched fate defy?
+How calm his trouble, and how learn to die?
+In vain would Faith before his eyes display
+The opening realms of never-ending day;
+Superior love his faithful soul detains
+Bound, strongly bound, in Adamantine chains.
+But lo! the gates of pitying Heaven unfold:
+A form, that earth rejoices to behold.
+Descends: her energy with sweetness join'd,
+Speaks the bright mission for relief design'd:
+See! to Philario moves the flood of light;
+And Resignation bursts upon his sight:
+See! to the Cross, bedew'd with sacred gore,
+Humbly she points, and bids the world adore;
+Then sweetly breathing in his soul inspires
+A Christian spirit, and devout desires.--
+Hark! his last wish, his dying pray'r's begun:
+"Lord, as in Heaven, on earth thy will be done!"
+Calm is his soul; his painful struggles cease;
+He bows adoring, and expires in peace.
+O! Resignation; thou unerring guide
+To human weakness, and to earthly pride,
+Friend to Distress, who canst alone controul
+Each rising tumult in the mad'ning soul;
+'Tis thine alone from dark despair to save,
+To soothe the woes of life, and terrors of the grave:
+Thro' this rough world assist me with thy power!
+Calm every thought! adorn my latest hour,
+Sustain my spirit, and confirm my mind,
+Serene tho' feeling, chearful tho' resign'd!
+And thou! my friend, while thus in artless verse
+Thy mind I copy, and thy thoughts rehearse;
+Let one memorial, tho' unpolish'd, stand
+Rais'd to thy friendship by this grateful hand!
+By partial favour let my verse be tried,
+And 'gainst thy judgement let thy love decide!
+Tho' I no longer must thy converse share,
+Hear thy kind counsel, see thy pleasing care;
+Yet mem'ry still upon the past shall dwell,
+And still the wishes of my heart shall tell:
+O! be the cup of joy to thee consign'd,
+Of joy unmix'd, without a dreg behind!
+For no rough monitor thy soul requires,
+To check the frenzy of too rash desires;
+No poignant grief, to prove its latent worth,
+No pain to wean it from the toys of earth;
+Thy soul untroubled can alike survey
+This gloomy world, and Heaven's immortal day:
+Then while the current of thy blood shall flow,
+While Heaven yet lends thee to thy friends below;
+Round thee may pleasure spread a chearful scene,
+Mild as thy heart, and as thy soul serene!
+And O! when Time shall bid thee yield thy breath,
+And take thy passage thro' the gates of death,
+May that last path without a pang be trod,
+And one short sigh conduct thee to thy God!
+
+
+
+
+FELPHAM:
+
+AN EPISTLE TO HENRIETTA OF LAVANT.
+
+1814.
+
+
+FELPHAM.
+
+Hail Felpham! Hail! in youth my favorite scene!
+First in my heart of villages marine!
+To me thy waves confirm'd my truest wealth,
+My only parent's renovated health,
+Whose love maternal, and whose sweet discourse
+Gave to my feelings all their cordial force:
+Hence mindful, how her tender spirit blest
+Thy salutary air, and balmy rest;
+Thee, as profuse of recollections sweet,
+Fit for a pensive veteran's calm retreat,
+I chose, as provident for sure decay,
+A nest for age in life's declining day!
+Reserving Eartham for a darling son,
+Confiding in our threads of life unspun:
+Blind to futurity!--O blindness, given
+As mercy's boon to man from pitying Heaven!
+Man could not live, if his prophetic eyes
+View'd all afflictions, ere they will arise.
+Think, gentle friend, who saw'st, in chearful hour
+Thy poet planning a sequestered tower,
+And gayly rearing, in affection's pride,
+His little villa by the ocean's side;
+Encircled then by friendly artists, three,
+Full of sweet fancy, and of social glee,
+Think what sensations must have pierc'd his breast
+Had a prophetic voice this truth exprest:
+O'er thy new fabric ere six year's have fled
+Lonely thou'lt mourn all these dear inmates dead.
+The unrelenting grave absorb'd them all,
+And in the shade of this domestic wall,
+Which, as it rose re-echoed to their voice,
+And heard them in gay presages rejoice
+Of future studies, works of special note!
+That each, to deck these precincts, would devote.
+Here robb'd of them, their leader, and their friend,
+Of their kind visions feels the mournful end,
+Afflicted, and alone!--Yet not alone!
+Their hovering spirits make this scene their own.
+O sweet prerogative of love sublime!
+Which so can soften destiny, and time,
+That grief-worn hearts, by Fancy's charm revive!
+The lost are present! the deceas'd alive!
+Yes! ye dear buried inmates of my mind!
+Your converse still within these walls I find;
+In hours of study, and in hours of rest,
+You still to me my purest thoughts suggest:
+My heart's propensities you cherish still
+To Heaven thanksgiving! and to earth good-will!
+In you I still behold affection's smile,
+Which can all troubles of the heart beguile;
+I hear your kind approvance of my zeal,
+When, anxious all your merits to reveal,
+Having consign'd your bones to sacred earth,
+My mind aspir'd to memorize your worth.
+Grateful employment of the feeling soul!
+That, in despite of sorrow's dark controul
+Keeps the pure form of deathless virtue bright
+By just commemoration's soothing light!
+For such employment thou wast aptly made,
+Thou dear sequester'd cell! in whose calm shade
+Thy lonely bard might suit his plaintive strain,
+To solemn music from the murmuring main!
+Belov'd marine retreat! I oft recall
+The night, I first repos'd within thy wall:
+A night devoted, at a friend's desire,
+To touch the chords of a sepulchral lyre!
+Touch'd not in vain!--The faithful tribute brought
+To cureless grief the lenitive, she sought;
+And Lushington, thro' tearful anguish, smil'd
+On truth's memorial of her darling child.
+Little I thought, when eager to bestow
+The heart's pure offering on parental woe,
+How soon my filial pride, and friend most dear,
+Would claim the "meed of a melodious tear."
+Dear sacred shades of Cowper! and my Son!
+Who, in my fond affection, liv'd as one!
+Congenial inmates! on whose loss I found
+The sweetest light of life in darkness drown'd!
+Oft have ye witness'd, while, in this calm cell,
+Ye watch'd the lonely bard, ye lov'd so well,
+Oft have ye witness'd, how his struggling mind
+Labour'd affliction's fetters to unbind,
+Ere his o'er-burthen'd faculties could cope
+With that ambitious task of tender hope,
+To render justice to you both; and frame }
+Memorials worthy of each honour'd name: }
+A debt the heart must feel! & truth, and nature claim! }
+Your smile, dear visionary guests of night!
+O'er my nocturnal hours breath'd new delight;
+Made me exult in labour, plann'd for you!
+Its progress from your inspiration grew:
+The toil was sweet, that your approvance cheer'd;
+For what your love inspir'd, that love endear'd.
+Nor unregarded by the fair, and great,
+Was your recluse in this sequester'd state;
+When I began, by just records, to prove
+How Cowper merited our country's love;
+The loveliest regent of poetic taste;
+First of the fair; with all attractions grac'd!
+Friend of the muses! and herself a muse!
+Her bright eyes dimm'd with sorrow's sacred dews,
+The high-born beauty, in whose lot combin'd
+All--that could charm and grieve a feeling mind,
+Shar'd with me, in my cell, some pensive hours;
+Herself most eloquent on Cowper's powers,
+Urg'd to his willing Eulogist his claim
+To public gratitude, and purest fame.
+The memoir, as by gradual toil it grows,
+Endears the tranquil scene, in which it rose;
+And sheds, since public favor blest the page,
+A soothing lustre on my letter'd age.
+The dues of faithful memory fondly paid
+To him, devotion's bard! dear sacred shade!
+Then my paternal hand was prompt to raise
+To that blest pupil, who had shar'd his praise
+A similar record of tender truth;
+The genuine portraiture of studious youth--
+Task of such pleasing pain, as pierc'd the heart
+Of Daedalus, the sire of antient art!
+When, in fond zeal, his busy hand begun
+To mould the story of his hapless son,
+But falter'd, while, o'erwhelm'd in mournful thought,
+He work'd, and wept upon the work, he wrought.
+Ah peerless youth! whose highly-gifted hand
+Could all varieties of skill command,
+Ere illness undermin'd thy powers to use
+The Sculptor's chizzel, and the Painter's hues!
+Had thy ascending talents, unenchain'd,
+Of studious life the promis'd zenith gain'd,
+Confederate arts would then have joy'd to see
+Their English Michael Angelo in thee.
+But never be it by true love forgot,
+Thou hast a higher, and a happier lot!
+The prime of blessings, in a world like this,
+Is early transit to the realms of bliss:
+Thence thy pure spirit oft will charm to rest
+Those pangs of fond regret, that pierce my breast,
+When recollection mournfully surveys
+Unfinish'd products of thy studious days.
+Ah what a host of filial fair designs:
+Where, springing from the heart, the fancy shines,
+Thy enterprising mind had here bestow'd,
+To honour Felpham as thy sire's abode!
+All to thy mental eyes were present here;
+The scene, we join'd to deck, all yet endear,
+Tho' hardly embrios of plastic grace,
+Many yet want their features, and their place.
+These vacant circlets, that still court mine eye,
+Can I survey, without a bursting sigh,
+When fond remembrance tells me that from these
+Thy filial hand, tho' robb'd of strength and ease,
+Yet inly conscious of ingenious power,
+Resolv'd, in labour's first reviving hour,
+To fashion portraits claiming just regard,
+The Tuscan sculptor! and the Grecian bard!
+Whom 'twas thy hope in marble to create
+As honour'd guardians of thy poet's gate;
+There is no spot within this Villa's bound,
+E'en to the Turret's topmost airy round,
+Which thy kind fancy, that no ills could check.
+With sweet ideal projects fail'd to deck:
+Eager to fix around, below, above,
+Proofs of thy skill, and monuments of love!
+Thy gay activity how passing sweet,
+Ere this arising structure was complete!
+When 'twas our joy its scaffolds to ascend,
+And mark how bright its varied views extend;
+To search how far the glass-assisted eye
+May scenes of splendor, and of peace, descry!
+The first, where, blazing in the gorgeous west,
+The sun delights on Vecta's hills to rest,
+And gild those fleets, that, when they cease to roam;
+Come fraught with glory to her favorite home;
+The second, where, in softer northern light,
+Eartham, lov'd little hill, allures the sight,
+And towering woods, that crown the loftier Nore,
+Salute our seamen, as they near the shore!
+Ye scenes, that live in memory's regard.
+Whose quiet beauty charm'd your pensive bard!
+In hopes his eye might long delight to trace,
+Tho' distant, visible, your rural grace;
+In hopes of tender love, not idle pride!
+He rear'd his turret by the ocean's side,
+Lofty, tho' little! that his sight might still
+Enjoy sweet intercourse with Eartham-hill;
+Where, while his heart with pure ambition glow'd,
+The filial artist plann'd his own abode;
+And by a telegraph, his skill design'd,
+Endearing mark of his inventive mind,
+He meant to hold, as mutual wants require,
+Constant communion with his absent sire:
+Fair purpose! furnishing much kind employ,
+And oft a subject of ideal joy
+To hearts, forbid by mercy to foresee,
+How soon the heaven-taught youth, by heaven's decree
+Must leave the favorite hill, that charm'd his eyes,
+In early transit to serener skies!
+Angel! yet visible to mental sight!
+Still let me, pensive in my Turret's height,
+Whose view of heaven unbroken, unconfin'd
+Fixes the lifted eye and fills the mind;
+Let love, ascending from earth's dark abyss,
+Still commune with thee in thy scene of bliss!
+Sole meditation on thy heavenly worth.
+Transcending all the social joys of earth;
+To purest fancy giving boundless scope,
+Turns worldly trouble to celestial hope.
+ My stedfast friend! unchang'd by chance and time!
+Pure in the wane of life, as in its prime;
+
+Dear Henrietta, to whom justice pays
+Her cordial tribute in these local lays;
+'Tis the prime privilege of souls like thine,
+To feast on heavenly thoughts in life's decline.
+Faith to thy veteran bard exults to bring
+Her living water from the Christian spring;
+Hence the sweet vision, soft as evening's ray,
+Shedding enchantment o'er the close of day:
+Hence the persuasion, which all time endears,
+That our true friendship, firm thro' changeful years,
+In scenes exempt from clouds of pain and strife,
+Has sure expectancy of endless life.
+
+
+
+
+Epistle
+
+TO THE BISHOP OF LANDAFF.
+
+
+Christmas Day, 1811.
+
+Epistle.
+
+Thy fav'rite Prelate haste, my verse! to greet
+Adorning nature in his sylvan seat!
+His southern hermit, his unchanging friend,
+Sends him such tribute, as the heart may send,
+Love, that, in honouring a peaceful sage,
+Invokes all blessings on his hallowed age.
+Though many a mountain rears its head between
+His wood-crown'd mansion, and my cell marine,
+In mental vision I his form survey
+Thro' various periods of our vital day;
+Now as his manly figure struck my sight,
+When first I heard his voice, with new delight,
+Imparting science, or celestial truth,
+With Latin eloquence, to English youth;
+And now, as when, o'erpowering sceptic strife
+In his mild vigor of maturer life:
+His liberal spirit gain'd the world's applause,
+The mitred champion of the Christian cause!
+Oh ever friendly to a guileless bard,
+Whose pure ambition sought thy kind regard;
+How fervently I wish, that verse of mine,
+Nor vain, nor languid, tho' in life's decline,
+Might thro' thy heart the cheering glow diffuse,
+That friendship welcomes from no venal muse,
+When worth time-honour'd, still as frank as youth,
+Owns that her words of praise are words of truth!
+Benign Landaff! to liberal arts a friend!
+May all those arts thy well-earned fame attend!
+Grateful for all thy kindness to his sire,
+My filial sculptor, with Promethean fire,
+While yet a boy, confess'd a proud design,
+To make thy spirit in his marble shine;
+And, with expression eloquently just,
+Charm future Christians by thy breathing bust,
+That, hope, with many a plan devoutly bold,
+The great disposer of our days controll'd;
+Saw tortured youth angelically calm,
+And call'd the martyr to his heav'nly palm.
+If love, inherent in a parent's heart,
+Sighs for that lost Marcellus of his art,
+Still can I joy, that with rare length of days,
+Heaven yet allows my hallow'd friend to raise,
+(And with his own more energetic hand
+Whose works the ravages of time withstand,)
+A portrait of himself:--thou much-lov'd sage!
+Far yet extend that biographic page,
+Where conscious of existence well employ'd,
+And mental treasures gratefully enjoy'd,
+Thy virtuous age will morally display
+The various labours of thy useful day:
+And in thy own rich eloquence enshrin'd,
+Leave thy instructive life, a lesson for mankind!
+
+
+
+
+Epistle
+
+TO JOHN SARGENT, ESQ.
+
+OCTOBER, 1814.
+
+Epistle.
+
+Friend of my vernal and autumnal day,
+In life's gay bloom, and in its slow decay:
+Sargent! who leav'st thy hermit's studious cell,
+To act thy busier part, and act it well,
+In courts of rural justice to preside,
+In temperate dignity unstain'd with pride.
+Oft let us meet, that friendship's honour'd chain,
+In its extension may new lustre gain;
+So let us, cheer'd by memory's social blaze,
+Live o'er again our long-departed days.
+I thank kind Heaven, that made the pleasure mine
+Beneath my roof to see thy virtues shine;
+When Providence thy fondest wishes crown'd,
+Casting thy lot on fair, and southern ground:
+When the gay songs of Eartham's friendly grove
+Proclaim'd the triumph of thy prosperous love--
+Tis sweet to plant a friend in genial land,
+And see his branches round the world expand!
+I share thy joy, the heart's parental feast
+To learn thy filial pilgrim in the East,
+Thy youthful Harry, is among the prime,
+Whom learning honours in her Indian clime:
+Nor less the joy to hear thy eldest-born,
+Whom gifts of sacred eloquence adorn,
+Has, with Cicestria's liberal applause,
+Those gifts exerted in the noblest cause:
+Pleas'd to promote the most sublime emprise
+That Christian charity could e'er devise;
+To blend her votaries of every name
+In one harmonious universal aim;
+To make the word of God, that truest wealth,
+The heart's nutrition, and the spirit's health
+As common as the food, by heavenly power
+Pour'd from the skies, a life-preserving shower,
+On deserts pour'd, in hopeless hunger's track,
+When He, who gather'd little, felt no lack.
+My friend of many years! we both have found
+Darkness and sunshine on the chequer'd ground,
+In different paths appointed to our feet:
+You in the world--your host in his retreat!
+Yet blest be Heaven, that grants us to behold
+Wonders of Providence like those of old,
+When mortals in the waste, they murmuring trod,
+Saw, and rever'd the guidance of their God,
+We have beheld, and with one heart and voice
+Hail'd the bright scene, that bids the globe rejoice;
+Nature releas'd from devastation's flood,
+And peace emerging from a sea of blood.
+Wonders yet happier to devotion's eyes
+In blissful vision will now widely rise,
+From pure diffusive zeal in Britain sprung,
+Bidding the Gospel speak in every tongue;
+Till its effect earth's utmost bounds attest,
+Jesus enthron'd in every human breast,
+And all his subjects, as his mercy will'd,
+Feeling within themselves his joy fulfill'd.
+Yes, my time-honoured friend, with one accord
+We bless the promised advent of our Lord,
+In heavenly prospect, tho' we still sustain
+Our unexhausted share of earthly pain.
+But whatsoever ills yet undisplay'd
+May o'er our eve of life throw deeper shade,
+We have the constant comfort to possess
+An antidote against the mind's distress;
+
+That settled trust in Providence divine.
+Which lets the Christian at no lot repine:
+But, when most tried, his faith's prime power employ,
+And make affliction minister to joy.
+We both have past thro' many a troubled day,
+And felt adversity's heart-searching sway:
+But when most wounded, both have kiss'd the rod,
+And blest the pangs assign'd us by our God;
+To wean us from a world, which, Nature sees,
+None estimate aright, or quit with ease,
+But souls Heaven-taught, that, free from doubt's alarm,
+Hail death their herald to the Saviour's arms.
+We both, my friend, in mind sedate and firm
+Enter'd with thankfulness life's latest term.
+And I might claim (could years such right assume)
+First to attain the quiet of the tomb;
+There show me still the friendship of our youth,
+And still speak of me with indulgent truth.
+May'st thou, less worn by griefs of many a year,
+Still rich in filial gems, that earth endear!
+Thy public duties long with grace discharge,
+Esteem'd and honour'd by the world at large.
+Thy elder, idler friend that world may spare,
+And yet allow his name a station there;
+For he long literary zeal has shown,
+To honour merit, that surpassed his own:
+And hop'd to live beyond his mortal days,
+In England's memory, and friendship's praise.
+High hopes! o'er which his holier thoughts aspire,
+And make the peace of God his paramount desire.
+
+
+
+
+Epistle.
+
+TO MRS. HANNAH MORE
+
+ON
+
+_Her Recent Publication--Practical Piety._
+
+
+JUNE 1811.
+
+Epistle
+
+Hail! hallow'd sister! of a saintly band!
+Whose hearts in homage to their God expand!
+Who, by the kind Urania taught to sing.
+See palms celestial in their culture spring;
+And, while devotion wafts them to the skies,
+Teach weaker mortals on their wings to rise!
+Hannah! whom truth, with a parental smile,
+Ranks with her favorites of our letter'd isle;
+Thou in wide fields, by tribes of learning fill'd,
+By folly vainly view'd, by wisdom till'd;
+Where grain and weed arise in mingled birth,
+To nourish, or oppress, the race of earth;
+Well hast thou ply'd thy task of virtuous toil,
+And reap'd distinction's tributary spoil:
+Long has thy country, with a fond acclaim,
+Joy'd in thy genius, gloried in thy fame;
+Progressive talents in thy works beheld,
+Thine earlier volumes by thy last excell'd!
+The noblest motive sway'd thy moral pen,
+Intent to meliorate the sons of men
+From that now distant year, when faith design'd
+Thy sacred dramas for the youthful mind;
+To this rich season of thy honour'd age,
+When, with the fervour of a Christian sage,
+Thine eve of life, with dews from Heaven impearl'd
+Shows piety in practice to the world.
+Well I remember, tho' long years have past,
+Long years with dark calamity o'ercast,
+Well I remember, and with grateful pride,
+How to my heart thy friendly verse supplied
+The glow of exultation; for thy praise
+Shed gracious honour on my sportive lays.
+When 'twas my aim to clear from thorns of strife
+The budding roses of domestic life,
+And teach young nymphs, in irritation's hour,
+To triumph over spleen's insidious power.
+O that, while glowing with celestial hope,
+Gently we haste down life's autumnal slope,
+Each well convinc'd, and with a mind serene,
+From long experience of our chequer'd scene,
+Convinc'd no blessings of this earth transcend
+The countless value of a Christian friend;
+O that just sympathy, and warm esteem,
+Kindling to vivid inspiration's beam.
+Would to my lyre, tho' in an aged hand,
+Supply, at gratitude's devout command,
+Praise, such as purest minds delight to hear,
+When truth and nature prove that praise sincere!
+But vain such wishes, for in virtue's cause
+Thou hast receiv'd angelical applause:
+No thirst for weaker praise that mind can feel,
+Which Porteus cheer'd with evangelic zeal:
+Porteus, complete in every graceful part!
+A bard in spirit! with a hermit's heart!
+In heaven's pure service never cold, or faint,
+Till new existence glorified the saint!
+How sweet with those, whom still on earth we prize,
+To bless a recent inmate of the skies!
+On buried friends to let fond memory dwell,
+And grateful truth their bright endowments tell!
+Careless, if envy, with a spleenful sneer,
+Reviles that eulogy she bates to bear,
+Saying with freedom's ill-assum'd pretence,
+'Tis noxious flattery, o'erwhelming sense.
+Peace! scornful pride! nor with malignant aim
+Belie the voice of consecrated fame,
+Thy subtlest arts, the pious to debate.
+End, with strict justice, in thy own disgrace.
+How weak were friendship could she shake with dread
+Of thy detraction 'gainst her worthies dead!
+No! such detraction makes her zeal more just
+To every claim of their yet speaking dust.
+Save me, good heaven! and all whom I regard,
+(Or hasty muse, or irritable bard,)
+Save us, good heaven! in mild and temperate age,
+From wounded vanity's vindictive rage!
+To genuine friendship pure delight is given,
+Next to the favor of approving heaven;
+And that delight is most sublimely felt.
+When nature in vain tears, has ceased to melt:
+When sorrow, quell'd by purer love's controul,
+To sweet reflection yields the chasten'd soul,
+Contemplating, thro' clouds to sunshine turn'd,
+The sure beatitude of those--she mourn'd:
+This sunshine yet to us the heavens assign
+In Porteus, still thy friend! in Cowper, mine!
+When tender fancy, on affection's plume,
+Emerging from the shadows of the tomb
+Aspires to trace, in visionary flight,
+The just made perfect, thro' the realms of light!
+How glows the soul, with more than earthly joy,
+In fondly imaging their blest employ!
+How oft, dear Cowper! at the close of day,
+When contemplation sheds her mental ray,
+I seem, through optics of the mind to see
+Thy sainted spirit, from incumbrance free!
+Marking how quick, in various hearts, arise
+Those seeds of virtue, that thy verse supplies!
+What joy, not speakable by mortal tongue,
+What praises, to the harp of seraph sung,
+May glad thee, now repaid for all thy woes,
+While boundless vision to thy spirit shows
+How e'en thy earthly song, by heaven inspired.
+Attain'd the glorious aim, thy heart desired:
+Destin'd to spread, uncrampt by time or space,
+Progressive goodness thro' the human race!
+Thou monitor! by youth and age revered!
+By wisdom prized! to tenderness endear'd!
+While men and angels bid thy fame extend,
+And nature owns thee her benignant friend;
+Could there be mortals so perversely blind,
+As coarsely to revile thy tender mind,
+Basely applying, with malignant glee,
+The hateful title Misanthrope, to thee!
+Let just oblivion wrap in endless night
+Such baleful fruits of worth-defaming spight:
+Truth ne'er could Cowper's want of zeal reprove,
+As fervent as a saint in friendly love.
+Hannah! to whose effulgent mind belong
+Continual plaudits from the sons of song,
+Be witness how, in his sequester'd bowers,
+Cowper acknowledging thy various powers,
+Ever on thee, thy verse, thy prose, bestow'd
+Applause, where cloudless admiration glow'd
+With warmth, that jealousy could ne'er perplex;
+He praised thee, as the glory of thy sex,
+In verbal power, in intellectual grace,
+Never inferior to man's lordly race!
+Congenial spirits, warm'd with kindly zeal,
+Each others merits ye were sure to feel
+For one, true virtue's favorite employ,
+Her happiest exercise! her highest joy.
+One glorious motive sway'd each active mind
+Whether the bard, to rhymes no more confin'd,
+Rapidly sketch'd with glance intensely keen,
+His bird's-eye prospect of our human scene,
+Or the fair moralist, in polish'd prose,
+Describ'd the living manners as they rose.
+One glorious motive clear in each we prize.
+Bright as the vestal flame, which never dies.
+The philanthropic wish, from heaven inspir'd,
+That keeps the toiling mind in toil untir'd;
+The wish, unstain'd by every selfish aim.
+Free from the thirst of lucre and of fame;
+The wish most valued, when best understood,
+To make the pen an instrument of good,
+Recalling mortals lost in false delight,
+To find true favour in their Saviour's sight.
+The Bard, enfranchised from his earthly fate,
+Now soars, from this probationary state
+To join the seraphs of sublimer tone,
+Whose harps are vocal round the Almighty throne:
+On earth his laurels no destruction fear
+From cold neglect, or envy's blighting leer.
+Verse, in whose influence the good rejoice,
+Is sure to echo from the human voice,
+While praise, as faithful as the mystic dove,
+Flows from the lips, of gratitude and love.
+Cowper still lives, to truth's clear optics given,
+Endear'd to earth, and recompens'd by heaven!
+And O dear lady! who like him, canst feel
+For erring mortals anxious friendly zeal,
+And deck, like him, thy monitory page
+With charms attractive both to youth and age,
+Whose pure instruction, with a skill refin'd,
+Suits both the lowly, and the lofty mind:
+Like Cowper, thou canst bear, with calm disdain,
+While pity saves thee from resentment's pain,
+The dark insidious enmity of those
+Who, self-entitled friends, and secret foes,
+If they applaud thy talents, still deride
+Thy warm devotion, as fanatic pride,
+Tho' such devotion, undebased by art,
+Proves its clear source in tenderness of heart;
+Sincerely Christian, it forgives the lie
+That dares its nature, and its truth deny.
+When, rich in honours, as in length of days,
+And satisfied with just affection's praise,
+Thy spirit to a purer world ascends,
+To share the fellowship of sainted friends,
+May this sweet vision of the blest be thine,
+To trace how widely, with a guide divine.
+Thy active mind, while resident below,
+In soften'd hearts taught piety to grow,
+Aiding benighted souls to view the day,
+And drive depravity's dark clouds away:
+What bliss, to welcome in those realms of light
+Young angels! owning thou hast helped their flight,
+And from the Saviour of the world to hear
+"Those, who befriended earth--to heaven are dear!"
+
+
+
+
+Monitory Verses
+
+_To a Young Lady, who indulged too gloomy
+ideas of our sublunary state._
+
+Dear nymph of a feeling, and delicate mind!
+Whose eye the rash tears of timidity blind,
+When fancy alarm'd takes a heart-chilling hue,
+And the prospect of life is all dark in thy view,
+Let me, as thy monitor, mild and sincere,
+To thy spirit the gift of existence endear!
+And shew thee, if darkened by fear or chagrin,
+The sunshine of friendship can gild every scene!
+Those, who true to the Ruler of every hour,
+Rely on his mercy, and trust in his power;
+
+Whatso'er is their lot, may, by viewing it right,
+Convert all its darkness to visions of light
+When mortals of hope the fair presage assume,
+Even death's sable pall is no object of gloom:
+They smile on the path which their best friends have trod,
+And rejoice, when they feel, they are summon'd to God.
+Be it long, my young friend, ere such joy can be thine,
+First embrace all the gifts, faith exults to resign.
+The best prelude to death is, without mental strife.
+To be grateful for all the pure pleasures of life:
+And many pure pleasures to mortals are given,
+Sick or well, rich or poor, by the bounty of heaven,
+If we all draw them forth (by well acting our part,)
+From that mine of delight, an affectionate heart!
+
+
+
+
+Epistle
+
+TO A FRIEND, ON THE DIVINITY OF OUR SAVIOUR.
+
+_Inconcussa tenens dubio vestigia mundo._.
+
+1815.
+
+Epistle.
+
+Dear Disputant! whose mind would boldly soar,
+And all theology's domain explore!
+I love the candid fervency of soul,
+That scorns a dogmatist's austere controul;
+Let liberal scholars, as they surely ought,
+Claim, and allow, a latitude of thought!
+As friends I honour, with a love benign,
+Many, whose creeds may vary far from mine:
+Secure from error I no mortal deem;
+But all, who truly seek for truth, esteem.
+Yet with a mild regret, and kind concern
+I see temerity's ambition burn,
+When zeal, self-blinded in a mental mist,
+Denies, that hallow'd mysteries exist;
+And deems, that reason, which no fears appall,
+Has self-sufficiency to clear them all:
+Tis reas'ning pride, not reason, just, and sore.
+Which in religion finds no point obscure;
+Which, measuring Godhead with an earthly line,
+Would rob the Saviour of his rights divine.
+There are, who call Him, by their dreams beguil'd,
+Mere man; of mortal geniture the child!
+Tho' sanction'd, by his Sire's almighty breath,
+His Son! a sovereign o'er life, and death!
+'Tis not for mortals, in their transient hour,
+To pierce the secrets of primordial power;
+Or guess, how God, on his eternal throne,
+To filial spirit could impart his own:
+But how can earth deny, by truth unblam'd,
+Divinity, that Heaven itself proclaim'd.
+Reason opposes pride's degrading plan.
+To sink the Saviour to a simple man:
+Were He no more, could He, so born, presume
+With Heaven to mediate for all nature's doom?
+No! for, so born, Himself must then require
+A mediator with th' eternal Sire:
+Disclaim his Godhead, you at once imply
+His deeds are doubtful, and his word a lie.
+If not a God, most guilty of mankind,
+His doctrine tends the human race to blind.
+Surpassing e'en the fiend, who caus'd our fall,
+By sharing worship with the Sire of all!
+O ye! whose reas'ning pride can so mistake
+The truths, He meekly spoke for mercy's sake!
+More humbly grateful, learn ye to rejoice
+In all the dictates of his cheering voice!
+Who, to console his grief-dejected flock,
+Show'd, how their faith is built upon a rock;
+And, in the closing of his earthly strife,
+Made manifest Himself as Lord of Life!
+And tho' to death, the most disgraceful, driven,
+Possessing all the powers of earth, and Heaven.
+Pure source of light! and safety to the lost,
+Without Thee on a sea of darkness tost!
+Sovereign of grace, and kindness so sublime,
+Thou view'st with pity their ungrateful crime,
+Who, while they load Thee with degrading praise,
+Would darken in thy crown its heavenly rays.
+And O! how truly pitiable are those,
+By nature mild, nor truth's intended foes,
+Whose strange illusion yet miscalls Thee, man,
+Tho' chosen to fulfil redemption's plan!
+Who of Thy Godhead want that sacred sense,
+That cordial glow of gratitude intense,
+Which forms the bliss of their enlighten'd zeal,
+Who all the merits of thy mercy feel!
+Who hail Thee quitting thy bright throne above,
+Sublime example of celestial love!
+To clear, for them, a debt, they could not pay,
+And change their darkness to eternal day!
+How passing sweet to pure devotion's soul,
+Are proofs of thy unlimited controul!
+While the true Christian's mental eyes survey
+Thy heavenly origin, and healing sway.
+Only begotten Son of Sire supreme,
+Whose quickening bounty was thy vital beam,
+Ere nature lived, when, with thy filial aid,
+The vast foundation of all worlds was laid!
+When the paternal God was pleas'd to see
+A blight reflection of Himself in Thee!
+The splendour of his glory! form'd to share
+His purest power, his providential care,
+And, in consummating his gracious will,
+At length annihilate all cureless ill!
+To faith's pure eyes how ravishingly clear
+Signs of her Lord's Divinity appear!
+While earth and Heaven invite her to behold
+How the fair series of those signs unfold!
+A blest Redeemer, and without a trace
+Of man's corruption in his ruin'd race,
+Announc'd by mercy to our fallen sire,
+Soon made that contrite criminal respire:
+Age after age, of prophecy the breath.
+Softening the horrors in the doom of death,
+While nature strove with sin's dark woes to cope,
+Shed thro' her lighten'd heart religious hope.
+Thro' patriarchal times, in vision clear,
+Types of the great Deliverer appear:
+At length, when centuries have roll'd away.
+And faith stands watching for her promis'd day,
+She sees her Saviour from a virgin sprung,
+His advent by attending angels song!
+And wisdom usher'd by the guiding Star,
+Hails Him, with gifts of homage, from afar.
+The voice of Heaven proclaims his promis'd birth,
+And conscious nature feels her friend on earth.
+His uninstructed youth divinely sage,
+Transcends the knowledge of experienc'd age:
+The weak receive the strength, his will can give,
+The dead obedient to his mandate live,
+In power as mighty, as in mercy kind,
+He dies, the ransom of redeem'd mankind!
+Lord of Existence! He expires to prove
+His matchless effort of celestial love;
+And ratify, while He resigns his breath,
+His glorious conquest o'er the gates of death!
+A massive tomb receives his sacred corse;
+And foes would guard it with a watchful force:
+Vain boast of folly's disbelieving rout!
+Who thus confirm the Deity, they doubt!
+The grave beholds the heavenly victor rise,
+And soar triumphant to his native skies.
+His troubled servants still to calm and cheer
+See Him, in human tenderness appear!
+And while the slow of faith He mildly blames,
+"My Lord! my God!" his doubt-freed saint exclaims.
+Were He not God, and worthy of our trust,
+Could He admit such worship from the just?
+And bless the conscious of his heavenly right,
+Whose faith demands no evidence of sight?
+Yet grace divine full evidence has given;
+Witness! Thou earth! by his dread sufferings riven!
+Witness! Thou speaking firmament above!
+When God proclaim'd Him offspring of his love!
+Pleas'd to that blessed offspring to impart
+Prerogative divine, dominion of the heart!
+Exulting angels hail his sovereign sway;
+Attest his glory, his commands obey;
+And usher Him, whom e'en the demons own
+As Earth's Redeemer, to his heavenly throne:
+Thence, while mankind receive a second birth,
+He ratifies the word, He spoke on earth;
+And pleas'd to see his rescued servants live,
+He gives them, what the world had not to give;
+Internal peace! the duteous mind's repose!
+With powers to foil the most malignant foes!
+This vital sunshine of enlighten'd hearts,
+This to his firm adherents He imparts;
+When duly grateful for his kind controul,
+They bless his empire o'er the willing soul,
+For in his own, as in his Father's name,
+He claims their boundless love; a righteous claim!
+A claim, in which the proofs of Godhead shine!
+Celestial attributes! and grace divine!
+Hear how beyond the scope of mortal voice,
+He bids his servants in his word rejoice,
+Bids them for every good on Him depend!
+As dearer far than every earthly friend,
+Regard Him, parents, children far above;
+And die with transport to secure his love.
+Were He mere man, must not such orders seem
+Distracted arrogance, an impious dream?
+So of men's lives He only might dispose;
+From whose divinity their safety flows,
+Who left the bosom of His heavenly Sire,
+To merit, what none other might acquire,
+A sacred right with that dread Sire to plead,
+To change the doom, his justice had decreed,
+And save the guilty from perdition's storm;
+Celestial victim in a human form!
+Whose mediation, soft'ning wrath supreme,
+Taught nature to revive, in mercy's beam.
+Gracious Restorer of a race condemn'd,
+Tho' by the thankless tribes revil'd, contemn'd.
+Yet gratitude, and truth, who round Thee fly,
+With all thy menial angels of the sky,
+Viewing thy gifts with rapturous amaze,
+Hail thy beneficence with heavenly praise:
+All bear eternal witness, that Thou art
+Justly a Sovereign in the human heart.
+Man cannot yield too much, when, at thy call
+To Thee his grateful zeal resigns his all;
+Whate'er be may resign, yet more he gains,
+While in his heart his blest Redeemer reigns;
+By thy kind words he is inform'd aright,
+And Thee exulting owns his path, his light!
+Whether we ponder, with a mind serene,
+The gracious marvels of thy earthly scene,
+Or the firm promise to thy servants given,
+Just ere they saw Thee re-ascend to Heaven;
+Or the fulfilment of thy grand bequest,
+The promis'd Comforter of man distrest!
+That spirit, which, as man's unfailing friend,
+'Twas thine, from thy celestial throne, to send
+The Spirit of thy Sire! of truth! and peace!
+By whose blest influence base passions cease;
+And Christians, worthy of their Lord, combine
+In the pure bond of charity divine!
+Conscious from whom, their new sensations flow!
+To whom their renovated hearts they owe!
+And conscious, while their heavenly, guide they bless,
+Their gratitude is safe from all excess!
+In sentient beings, if their love and zeal
+Should rise proportion'd to the aid, they feel,
+Unbounded, as thy benefits, should be
+The thankful homage of our hearts to Thee.
+Divine Deliverer! whose grace bestows
+Exemption from unutterable woes!
+Such gifts on men, as they can ne'er requite,
+Made, from the slaves of darkness, sons of light!
+Thou filial Deity! whose merits rise
+To such amazing height in human eyes,
+A justly humble mind, that feels their sway
+Too great for earthly language to display,
+Conceives, e'en seraphs, tho' in glory's beam,
+May find their voice unequal to the theme!
+And seems to view them in their heavenly seat,
+Mute, from pure adoration, at thy feet:
+Thou blest Restorer of corrupted man
+From all the snares of Satan's dark divan!
+Thou, who with true compassion, hast survey'd
+Lost wanderers perishing without thy aid!
+To whose pure eyes all wonders are reveal'd,
+That live in mortals, from themselves conceal'd!
+Who view'st with favor, when they most aspire,
+Their narrow faculties, and vast desire!
+O prosper, and sustain my anxious thought,
+Pondering thy attributes, as mortals ought!
+That while I strive to make thy nature known,
+My zeal may tend to purify my own.
+Pardon the daring aim of grateful love,
+If, in research, man's intellect above,
+I vainly seek such heavenly things to know,
+As Thou to mortals hast not deign'd to show,
+Veiling the mode of thy celestial birth
+From beings blind to mysteries of earth!
+Thy geniture, and thy redeeming power
+Transcend the known extent of nature's dower:
+But pity weak mortality--that tries
+To reach, what may elude all human eyes!
+The knowledge man desires, is found by none:
+The Eternal Sire, He only, knows the Son:
+Taught by this truth, be it our wish alone
+To know Him, only as he would be known,
+By grace divine! his bounty's blest effect
+On those, who hail Him with devout respect!
+Thou filial Deity in manly shape!
+Whose eye no deeds, no thoughts of man, escape!
+Thy servants have no wound, Thou dost not feel,
+No sorrow, that thy aid can fail to heal!
+In all the trials, I was born to bear,
+Many, and sharp, have fallen to my share;
+I bless them, leading me to feel, and see,
+Our sweetest comfort is our trust in Thee.
+Calm acquiescence in thy sacred will
+Becomes an antidote to every ill;
+As tasks, ensuring favour in thy sight,
+Grief turns to joy, and anguish to delight;
+Till all the chasten'd heart exults to bless
+A Martyr's triumph o'er subdued distress!
+Saviour! whose image pure maternal prayer,
+Fix'd in my heart, with just dominion there,
+Thou never banish'd thence! tho' in my youth,
+I heard rash sceptics, scoffing at thy truth,
+Deride thy Gospel, and thy deeds revile,
+As the false tales of an impostor's guile:
+Blest! that no impious wit had power to blind
+Thy dawn of favour in my opening mind!
+There, in maturer seasons, grief, and pain,
+As heavenly agents, have confirmed thy reign.
+My spirit's guardian! soother of my woes!
+Still of my chequer'd days illume the close!
+All mortals feel, their trespasses require
+An Intercessor with th' eternal Sire;
+And on their minds thy cheering favours shine,
+Who feel, thou art an arbiter divine;
+Who thy dominion o'er the soul confess,
+And, as their final Judge, thy Godhead bless!
+Deign to befriend me in my dying hour!
+Thou clear Vicegerent of thy Father's power!
+And, while, within a grateful heart, I own
+My hopes to view Thee on thy heavenly throne.
+With all thy merits on my soul imprest,
+May faith's firm wings convey me to thy breast!
+ Such, friendly disputant of studious mind!
+Ever to good, in active life, inclind!
+Such are my thoughts, my views, my hopes, my creed,
+Adverse, I own, to those, for which you plead!
+And which, to speak without reserve, I deem
+A rash surmise, a dark Socinian dream!
+Tho' tenets diversely our fancy strike,
+May both, in purity of heart alike,
+Still trust the hope, to that endowment given,
+To reach the glorious certainty of Heaven!
+Where, when the pardon'd round their Lord unite
+Their errors will be lost in beatific light.
+
+
+
+
+A COLLECTION OF HYMNS
+
+1817.
+
+
+_Hymn to Humility_
+
+ Of all the Christian virtues chief
+ With modest charms, and mild relief,
+Most apt to heal the wounds of pride, and spleen,
+ To thee, humility; I bend;
+ O let me feel, thou art my friend!
+Rule thou my bosom, as its gentle queen!
+
+ 'Tis thine benignly to repress
+ All proud conceit, all vain excess;
+To give the chasten'd mind its proper tone;
+ To make it keep in sight
+ The worth of others with delight,
+And never look too fondly on its own.
+
+ Teach me, with active zeal, to wake
+ At nature's sigh, for pity's sake,
+When pride in dreams of apathy will nod!
+ Still guided by thy Christian breath,
+ Keep me, thro' scenes of life, and death,
+To mortals kind, and dutiful to God.
+
+
+
+_Hymn to Contrition._
+
+Tenderest Herald of the sky,
+ Nature's safeguard from perdition,
+Friend of sweet, tho' tearful eye,
+ Call'd by angels meek Contrition--
+
+Bid me with a due concern
+ Sigh for recollected error,
+And to purer conduct turn,
+ Full of hope, and free from terror!
+
+All, who have thy succour tried.
+ Near to Heaven's expanding portal,
+Blessing Thee, their chosen guide,
+ Joy, in ceasing to be mortal.
+
+Hand-maid of the Saviour's throne,
+ Sent by Him to check depression,
+Make my chasten'd soul thy own,
+ Guarding it from all transgression.
+
+
+
+_Hymn to the Saviour._
+
+Saviour! pure source of life and zeal intense,
+Whose words were peace, whose deeds benificence,
+Around thy servant ever may I see
+The sunshine of the soul deriv'd from Thee.
+
+While their true faith enlighten'd Christians prove,
+By mutual aid, and evangelic love,
+By sins environ'd, may we strive alone
+To pardon others, and repent our own.
+
+So may we, comforted by words from Heaven,
+That clearly prove the penitent forgiven,
+With trust beyond the confidence of youth,
+Rest on our guardian God--the God of Truth!
+
+
+
+
+TWO HYMNS
+
+Written for the Asylum of Female Orphans.
+
+I.
+
+Parent to those, whose infant days
+ No human parent know;
+To thee, O Charity! the praise
+ Of filial love shall flow.
+
+Base want, and vice, a foe to all!
+ Round us their snares had thrown.
+Had not thy arm, at pity's call,
+ Embrac'd us for thine own.
+
+O blest the land! where all to Thee
+ A tender homage pay!
+Where indigence and wealth agree
+ To venerate thy sway!
+
+That land the wrath of Heaven may spare.
+ When ruthless nations groan;
+Her guarded orphan's grateful prayer
+ May rise to mercy's throne.
+
+Parent to those, whose infant days
+ No human parent know;
+To Thee, O Charity, the praise
+ Of filial love shall flow.
+
+II.
+
+We have no parent but our God;
+ Yet will we not in grief despair;
+For He this vale of sorrow trod,
+ To make the desolate his care.
+
+The voice of innocence and youth,
+ To Thee, meek Saviour! may ascend;
+Thou God of Tenderness, and Truth,
+ Of Infancy Thou art the Friend.
+
+Thro! tears, that fill the orphan's eye,
+ With humble confidence we see
+Calamity, an holy tie!
+ That binds our helpless tribe to Thee.
+
+For charity, angelic power!
+ Thy fav'rite delegate below!
+Makes industry, our peaceful dower!
+ A guard from indigence and woe.
+
+We have no parent, but our God;
+ In Him we trust, who reigns above:
+Children He blest, when here He trod,
+ And we are children of his love.
+
+
+
+_A Morning Hymn._
+
+Awake my soul! in cheerful mood,
+ Thy matin thanks to pay!
+The God, who gives thee rest, and food,
+ Directs thee to be gay.
+
+The Jewish world was dark, and cold,
+ There doubts and fears annoy:
+Thy Shepherd to his happier fold
+ Brings light, and peace, and joy.
+
+Cease then, O Christian! cease to grieve
+ In tempest, or in calm!
+Smile on affliction, and receive
+ Her consecrated palm!
+
+
+
+_A Collection of Hymns._
+
+
+Hymn written for the Rev. Mr. Walker, of
+Chichester.
+
+Where may zeal due succour find,
+Man, for thy unguarded mind?
+To shield thee, when temptations reign,
+From folly's snare, and vice's bane?
+
+The law of God, a Saviour's law,
+Justly heard with grateful awe,
+That alone pure light supplies
+To the simple, and the wise.
+
+He, whose heart, however tried,
+Keeps the word of God his guide,
+He walks secure, and undismay'd
+Amid misfortune's darkest shade.
+
+He, tho' tempests round Him roll,
+Feels a sacred calm of soul;
+Breathing, to his latest breath,
+Joy in life, and hope in death.
+
+
+_Hymn._
+
+Since the Evening of Life will soon close,
+ While I live, may I justly incline
+To diffuse peace of heart among those,
+ Whose lives may be guided by mine!
+
+To Christ may I lead them to own
+ The charms of his tender controul,
+And with gratitude gaze on His throne.
+ Whom to serve is the joy of the soul!
+
+
+_Hymn to the Creator._
+
+Source of all kind, all potent thought!
+ Thou God of Goodness, and of Power!
+In Thee my soul, by trouble taught,
+ Shall trust, as in protection's tower.
+
+The surest friend, the safest guard,
+ In thy sweet mercy may I see!
+And solitude itself regard,
+ As blessed intercourse with Thee!
+
+Lord! in whose hands are life, and death,
+ So let me live, so let me die,
+That love may grace my vital breath,
+ And faith, and hope, my final sigh!
+
+
+_Hymn on Charity._
+
+Nor faith, nor hope, whate'er their force,
+Can aught avail the soul,
+Should charity not guide its course
+To glory's heavenly goal.
+The songs of wisdom, tho' they soar
+To notes that seraphs swell,
+If she be wanting, are no more
+Than folly's tinkling bell.
+
+A thousand shapes, as bright as morn,
+Sweet Charity assumes,
+And all the hues of Heaven adorn
+Her variegated plumes.
+'Tis she with consolation's voice
+That stills affliction's storm,
+She bids despairing want rejoice
+In bounty's radiant form.
+
+But with what semblance is she seen,
+That more her power endears,
+Than when with mild instruction's mien
+Her infant train she rears?
+Then she the earth-bound spirit lifts
+Above the valley's clod,
+Then gives the richest of her gifts,
+The knowledge of her God.
+
+
+_Hymn for Christmas Day._
+
+Saviour inspire the voice of earth,
+To hail the day that gave Thee birth;
+The Heavens resound in blest accord,
+Hosanna! to the highest! praise the Lord.
+
+Let hymns of gratulation flow
+From Adam's race redeem'd from woe;
+For Paradise to man restored,
+Hosanna! to the highest! praise the Lord.
+
+Wisdom, and power, and peace proclaim
+The new-born Saviour's blessed name,
+His glory stars to stars record,
+Hosanna! to the highest! praise the Lord.
+
+Nature to Him in homage fall;
+He comes--the Judge, the Lord of all:
+His welcome sound on every chord,
+Hosanna! to the highest! praise the Lord.
+
+
+_Hymn to the Saviour._
+
+Lord, who in mercy's tender tone
+ Invitest every child of dust,
+To seek protection from thy throne,
+ And in thy guardian grace to trust.
+
+To thy true votary impart
+ Hope, from all doubt, all terror free,
+Make every movement of my heart
+ A glow of gratitude to Thee!
+
+
+_Hymn._
+
+Lord whose eyes every heart in existence survey,
+Who canst regulate all with thy merciful sway,
+From mine may thy grace, as a guardian, discard
+Whatever might render it--selfish and hard:
+O keep it from evil propensities free,
+Ever mild to mankind, ever grateful to Thee:
+This heart ever feels, with thy image imprest,
+The more it is Christian--the more it is blest!
+
+
+_Hymn._
+
+Make us, O God! in whom we breathe, and move,
+Worthy to love Thee, and to win thy love!
+Thy word informs us how thy love is won,
+By grateful trust in thy beloved Son!
+Through every season may such trust encrease!
+We know it duty, and we feel it peace.
+
+FINIS.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Poems on Serious and Sacred Subjects, by
+William Hayley
+
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+Project Gutenberg's Poems on Serious and Sacred Subjects, by William Hayley
+
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+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: Poems on Serious and Sacred Subjects
+ Printed only as Private Tokens of Regard, for the Particular
+ Friends of the Author
+
+Author: William Hayley
+
+Release Date: September, 2005 [EBook #8948]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on August 29, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POEMS ON SERIOUS AND SACRED ***
+
+
+
+
+Jonathan Ingram, Graham Smith and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+POEMS ON SERIOUS AND SACRED SUBJECTS,
+
+
+PRINTED ONLY AS PRIVATE TOKENS OF REGARD,
+
+FOR THE PARTICULAR FRIENDS OF THE AUTHOR.
+
+
+
+....nec pia cessant
+In tumulo officia.
+
+MILTONI MANSUS.
+
+
+A Christian's kindness ends not in the tomb.
+
+Chichester:
+
+PRINTED AT THE PRIVATE PRESS OF W. MASON.
+
+1818.
+
+
+ON THE FEAR OF DEATH:
+
+AN EPISTLE TO A LADY.
+
+1768.
+
+THE FEAR OF DEATH.
+
+
+Thou! whose superior, and aspiring mind
+Can leave the weakness of thy sex behind;
+Above its follies, and its fears can rise,
+Quit the low earth, and gain the distant skies:
+Whom strength of soul and innocence have taught
+To think of death, nor shudder at the thought;
+Say! whence the dread, that can alike engage
+Vain thoughtless youth, and deep-reflecting age;
+Can shake the feeble, and appal the strong;
+Say! whence the terrors, that to death belong?
+Guilt must be fearful: but the guiltless too
+Start from the grave, and tremble at the view.
+The blood-stained pirate, who in neighbouring climes,
+Might fear, lest justice should o'ertake his crimes,
+Wisely may bear the sea's tempestuous roar,
+And rather wait the storm, than make the shore;
+But can the mariner, who sailed in vain
+In search of fancy'd treasure on the main,
+By hope deceiv'd, by endless whirlwinds tost,
+His strength exhausted, and his viands lost,
+When land invites him to receive at last
+A full reward for every danger past:
+Can he then wish his labours to renew,
+And fly the port just opening to his view?
+Not less the folly of the timorous mind,
+Which dreads that peace, it ever longs to find;
+Which worn with age, and tost in endless strife
+On this rough ocean, this tempestuous life,
+Still covets pain, and shakes with abject fear,
+When sickness points to death, and shews the haven near.
+The love of life, it yet must be confest,
+Was fixed by Nature in the human breast;
+And Heaven thought fit that fondness to employ.
+To teach us to preserve the brittle toy.
+But why, when knowledge has improv'd our thought,
+Years undeceived us, and affliction taught;
+Why do we strive to grasp with eager hand,
+And stop the course of life's quick-ebbing sand?
+Why vainly covet, what we can't sustain?
+Why, dead to pleasure, would we live to pain?
+What is this sentence, from which all would fly?
+Oh! what this horrible decree--to die?
+Tis but to quit, what hourly we despise
+A fretful dream, that tortures as it flies.--
+But hold my pen!--nor let a picture stand
+Thus darkly coloured by this gloomy hand:
+Minds deeply wounded, or with spleen opprest,
+Grow sick of life, and sullen sink to rest:
+But when the soul, possest of its desires,
+Glows with more warmth, and burns with brighter fires;
+When friendship soothes each care, and love imparts
+Its mutual raptures to congenial hearts;
+When joyful life thus strikes the ravish'd eye,
+'Tis then a task, a painful task to die.
+See! where Philario, poor Philario! lies,
+Philario late the happy, as the wise!
+Connubial love, and friendship's pleasing power
+Fill'd his good heart, and crown'd his every hour:
+But sickness bids him those lost joys deplore,
+And death now tells him, they are his no more.
+Blest in each name of Husband, Father, Friend,
+Must those strong ties, those dear connexions end?
+Must be thus leave to all the woes of life
+His helpless child, his unprotected wife?
+While thus to earth these lov'd ideas bind,
+And tear his lab'ring--his distracted mind:
+How shall that mind its wretched fate defy?
+How calm his trouble, and how learn to die?
+In vain would Faith before his eyes display
+The opening realms of never-ending day;
+Superior love his faithful soul detains
+Bound, strongly bound, in Adamantine chains.
+But lo! the gates of pitying Heaven unfold:
+A form, that earth rejoices to behold.
+Descends: her energy with sweetness join'd,
+Speaks the bright mission for relief design'd:
+See! to Philario moves the flood of light;
+And Resignation bursts upon his sight:
+See! to the Cross, bedew'd with sacred gore,
+Humbly she points, and bids the world adore;
+Then sweetly breathing in his soul inspires
+A Christian spirit, and devout desires.--
+Hark! his last wish, his dying pray'r's begun:
+"Lord, as in Heaven, on earth thy will be done!"
+Calm is his soul; his painful struggles cease;
+He bows adoring, and expires in peace.
+O! Resignation; thou unerring guide
+To human weakness, and to earthly pride,
+Friend to Distress, who canst alone controul
+Each rising tumult in the mad'ning soul;
+'Tis thine alone from dark despair to save,
+To soothe the woes of life, and terrors of the grave:
+Thro' this rough world assist me with thy power!
+Calm every thought! adorn my latest hour,
+Sustain my spirit, and confirm my mind,
+Serene tho' feeling, chearful tho' resign'd!
+And thou! my friend, while thus in artless verse
+Thy mind I copy, and thy thoughts rehearse;
+Let one memorial, tho' unpolish'd, stand
+Rais'd to thy friendship by this grateful hand!
+By partial favour let my verse be tried,
+And 'gainst thy judgement let thy love decide!
+Tho' I no longer must thy converse share,
+Hear thy kind counsel, see thy pleasing care;
+Yet mem'ry still upon the past shall dwell,
+And still the wishes of my heart shall tell:
+O! be the cup of joy to thee consign'd,
+Of joy unmix'd, without a dreg behind!
+For no rough monitor thy soul requires,
+To check the frenzy of too rash desires;
+No poignant grief, to prove its latent worth,
+No pain to wean it from the toys of earth;
+Thy soul untroubled can alike survey
+This gloomy world, and Heaven's immortal day:
+Then while the current of thy blood shall flow,
+While Heaven yet lends thee to thy friends below;
+Round thee may pleasure spread a chearful scene,
+Mild as thy heart, and as thy soul serene!
+And O! when Time shall bid thee yield thy breath,
+And take thy passage thro' the gates of death,
+May that last path without a pang be trod,
+And one short sigh conduct thee to thy God!
+
+
+
+
+FELPHAM:
+
+AN EPISTLE TO HENRIETTA OF LAVANT.
+
+1814.
+
+
+FELPHAM.
+
+Hail Felpham! Hail! in youth my favorite scene!
+First in my heart of villages marine!
+To me thy waves confirm'd my truest wealth,
+My only parent's renovated health,
+Whose love maternal, and whose sweet discourse
+Gave to my feelings all their cordial force:
+Hence mindful, how her tender spirit blest
+Thy salutary air, and balmy rest;
+Thee, as profuse of recollections sweet,
+Fit for a pensive veteran's calm retreat,
+I chose, as provident for sure decay,
+A nest for age in life's declining day!
+Reserving Eartham for a darling son,
+Confiding in our threads of life unspun:
+Blind to futurity!--O blindness, given
+As mercy's boon to man from pitying Heaven!
+Man could not live, if his prophetic eyes
+View'd all afflictions, ere they will arise.
+Think, gentle friend, who saw'st, in chearful hour
+Thy poet planning a sequestered tower,
+And gayly rearing, in affection's pride,
+His little villa by the ocean's side;
+Encircled then by friendly artists, three,
+Full of sweet fancy, and of social glee,
+Think what sensations must have pierc'd his breast
+Had a prophetic voice this truth exprest:
+O'er thy new fabric ere six year's have fled
+Lonely thou'lt mourn all these dear inmates dead.
+The unrelenting grave absorb'd them all,
+And in the shade of this domestic wall,
+Which, as it rose re-echoed to their voice,
+And heard them in gay presages rejoice
+Of future studies, works of special note!
+That each, to deck these precincts, would devote.
+Here robb'd of them, their leader, and their friend,
+Of their kind visions feels the mournful end,
+Afflicted, and alone!--Yet not alone!
+Their hovering spirits make this scene their own.
+O sweet prerogative of love sublime!
+Which so can soften destiny, and time,
+That grief-worn hearts, by Fancy's charm revive!
+The lost are present! the deceas'd alive!
+Yes! ye dear buried inmates of my mind!
+Your converse still within these walls I find;
+In hours of study, and in hours of rest,
+You still to me my purest thoughts suggest:
+My heart's propensities you cherish still
+To Heaven thanksgiving! and to earth good-will!
+In you I still behold affection's smile,
+Which can all troubles of the heart beguile;
+I hear your kind approvance of my zeal,
+When, anxious all your merits to reveal,
+Having consign'd your bones to sacred earth,
+My mind aspir'd to memorize your worth.
+Grateful employment of the feeling soul!
+That, in despite of sorrow's dark controul
+Keeps the pure form of deathless virtue bright
+By just commemoration's soothing light!
+For such employment thou wast aptly made,
+Thou dear sequester'd cell! in whose calm shade
+Thy lonely bard might suit his plaintive strain,
+To solemn music from the murmuring main!
+Belov'd marine retreat! I oft recall
+The night, I first repos'd within thy wall:
+A night devoted, at a friend's desire,
+To touch the chords of a sepulchral lyre!
+Touch'd not in vain!--The faithful tribute brought
+To cureless grief the lenitive, she sought;
+And Lushington, thro' tearful anguish, smil'd
+On truth's memorial of her darling child.
+Little I thought, when eager to bestow
+The heart's pure offering on parental woe,
+How soon my filial pride, and friend most dear,
+Would claim the "meed of a melodious tear."
+Dear sacred shades of Cowper! and my Son!
+Who, in my fond affection, liv'd as one!
+Congenial inmates! on whose loss I found
+The sweetest light of life in darkness drown'd!
+Oft have ye witness'd, while, in this calm cell,
+Ye watch'd the lonely bard, ye lov'd so well,
+Oft have ye witness'd, how his struggling mind
+Labour'd affliction's fetters to unbind,
+Ere his o'er-burthen'd faculties could cope
+With that ambitious task of tender hope,
+To render justice to you both; and frame }
+Memorials worthy of each honour'd name: }
+A debt the heart must feel! & truth, and nature claim! }
+Your smile, dear visionary guests of night!
+O'er my nocturnal hours breath'd new delight;
+Made me exult in labour, plann'd for you!
+Its progress from your inspiration grew:
+The toil was sweet, that your approvance cheer'd;
+For what your love inspir'd, that love endear'd.
+Nor unregarded by the fair, and great,
+Was your recluse in this sequester'd state;
+When I began, by just records, to prove
+How Cowper merited our country's love;
+The loveliest regent of poetic taste;
+First of the fair; with all attractions grac'd!
+Friend of the muses! and herself a muse!
+Her bright eyes dimm'd with sorrow's sacred dews,
+The high-born beauty, in whose lot combin'd
+All--that could charm and grieve a feeling mind,
+Shar'd with me, in my cell, some pensive hours;
+Herself most eloquent on Cowper's powers,
+Urg'd to his willing Eulogist his claim
+To public gratitude, and purest fame.
+The memoir, as by gradual toil it grows,
+Endears the tranquil scene, in which it rose;
+And sheds, since public favor blest the page,
+A soothing lustre on my letter'd age.
+The dues of faithful memory fondly paid
+To him, devotion's bard! dear sacred shade!
+Then my paternal hand was prompt to raise
+To that blest pupil, who had shar'd his praise
+A similar record of tender truth;
+The genuine portraiture of studious youth--
+Task of such pleasing pain, as pierc'd the heart
+Of Daedalus, the sire of antient art!
+When, in fond zeal, his busy hand begun
+To mould the story of his hapless son,
+But falter'd, while, o'erwhelm'd in mournful thought,
+He work'd, and wept upon the work, he wrought.
+Ah peerless youth! whose highly-gifted hand
+Could all varieties of skill command,
+Ere illness undermin'd thy powers to use
+The Sculptor's chizzel, and the Painter's hues!
+Had thy ascending talents, unenchain'd,
+Of studious life the promis'd zenith gain'd,
+Confederate arts would then have joy'd to see
+Their English Michael Angelo in thee.
+But never be it by true love forgot,
+Thou hast a higher, and a happier lot!
+The prime of blessings, in a world like this,
+Is early transit to the realms of bliss:
+Thence thy pure spirit oft will charm to rest
+Those pangs of fond regret, that pierce my breast,
+When recollection mournfully surveys
+Unfinish'd products of thy studious days.
+Ah what a host of filial fair designs:
+Where, springing from the heart, the fancy shines,
+Thy enterprising mind had here bestow'd,
+To honour Felpham as thy sire's abode!
+All to thy mental eyes were present here;
+The scene, we join'd to deck, all yet endear,
+Tho' hardly embrios of plastic grace,
+Many yet want their features, and their place.
+These vacant circlets, that still court mine eye,
+Can I survey, without a bursting sigh,
+When fond remembrance tells me that from these
+Thy filial hand, tho' robb'd of strength and ease,
+Yet inly conscious of ingenious power,
+Resolv'd, in labour's first reviving hour,
+To fashion portraits claiming just regard,
+The Tuscan sculptor! and the Grecian bard!
+Whom 'twas thy hope in marble to create
+As honour'd guardians of thy poet's gate;
+There is no spot within this Villa's bound,
+E'en to the Turret's topmost airy round,
+Which thy kind fancy, that no ills could check.
+With sweet ideal projects fail'd to deck:
+Eager to fix around, below, above,
+Proofs of thy skill, and monuments of love!
+Thy gay activity how passing sweet,
+Ere this arising structure was complete!
+When 'twas our joy its scaffolds to ascend,
+And mark how bright its varied views extend;
+To search how far the glass-assisted eye
+May scenes of splendor, and of peace, descry!
+The first, where, blazing in the gorgeous west,
+The sun delights on Vecta's hills to rest,
+And gild those fleets, that, when they cease to roam;
+Come fraught with glory to her favorite home;
+The second, where, in softer northern light,
+Eartham, lov'd little hill, allures the sight,
+And towering woods, that crown the loftier Nore,
+Salute our seamen, as they near the shore!
+Ye scenes, that live in memory's regard.
+Whose quiet beauty charm'd your pensive bard!
+In hopes his eye might long delight to trace,
+Tho' distant, visible, your rural grace;
+In hopes of tender love, not idle pride!
+He rear'd his turret by the ocean's side,
+Lofty, tho' little! that his sight might still
+Enjoy sweet intercourse with Eartham-hill;
+Where, while his heart with pure ambition glow'd,
+The filial artist plann'd his own abode;
+And by a telegraph, his skill design'd,
+Endearing mark of his inventive mind,
+He meant to hold, as mutual wants require,
+Constant communion with his absent sire:
+Fair purpose! furnishing much kind employ,
+And oft a subject of ideal joy
+To hearts, forbid by mercy to foresee,
+How soon the heaven-taught youth, by heaven's decree
+Must leave the favorite hill, that charm'd his eyes,
+In early transit to serener skies!
+Angel! yet visible to mental sight!
+Still let me, pensive in my Turret's height,
+Whose view of heaven unbroken, unconfin'd
+Fixes the lifted eye and fills the mind;
+Let love, ascending from earth's dark abyss,
+Still commune with thee in thy scene of bliss!
+Sole meditation on thy heavenly worth.
+Transcending all the social joys of earth;
+To purest fancy giving boundless scope,
+Turns worldly trouble to celestial hope.
+ My stedfast friend! unchang'd by chance and time!
+Pure in the wane of life, as in its prime;
+
+Dear Henrietta, to whom justice pays
+Her cordial tribute in these local lays;
+'Tis the prime privilege of souls like thine,
+To feast on heavenly thoughts in life's decline.
+Faith to thy veteran bard exults to bring
+Her living water from the Christian spring;
+Hence the sweet vision, soft as evening's ray,
+Shedding enchantment o'er the close of day:
+Hence the persuasion, which all time endears,
+That our true friendship, firm thro' changeful years,
+In scenes exempt from clouds of pain and strife,
+Has sure expectancy of endless life.
+
+
+
+
+Epistle
+
+TO THE BISHOP OF LANDAFF.
+
+
+Christmas Day, 1811.
+
+Epistle.
+
+Thy fav'rite Prelate haste, my verse! to greet
+Adorning nature in his sylvan seat!
+His southern hermit, his unchanging friend,
+Sends him such tribute, as the heart may send,
+Love, that, in honouring a peaceful sage,
+Invokes all blessings on his hallowed age.
+Though many a mountain rears its head between
+His wood-crown'd mansion, and my cell marine,
+In mental vision I his form survey
+Thro' various periods of our vital day;
+Now as his manly figure struck my sight,
+When first I heard his voice, with new delight,
+Imparting science, or celestial truth,
+With Latin eloquence, to English youth;
+And now, as when, o'erpowering sceptic strife
+In his mild vigor of maturer life:
+His liberal spirit gain'd the world's applause,
+The mitred champion of the Christian cause!
+Oh ever friendly to a guileless bard,
+Whose pure ambition sought thy kind regard;
+How fervently I wish, that verse of mine,
+Nor vain, nor languid, tho' in life's decline,
+Might thro' thy heart the cheering glow diffuse,
+That friendship welcomes from no venal muse,
+When worth time-honour'd, still as frank as youth,
+Owns that her words of praise are words of truth!
+Benign Landaff! to liberal arts a friend!
+May all those arts thy well-earned fame attend!
+Grateful for all thy kindness to his sire,
+My filial sculptor, with Promethean fire,
+While yet a boy, confess'd a proud design,
+To make thy spirit in his marble shine;
+And, with expression eloquently just,
+Charm future Christians by thy breathing bust,
+That, hope, with many a plan devoutly bold,
+The great disposer of our days controll'd;
+Saw tortured youth angelically calm,
+And call'd the martyr to his heav'nly palm.
+If love, inherent in a parent's heart,
+Sighs for that lost Marcellus of his art,
+Still can I joy, that with rare length of days,
+Heaven yet allows my hallow'd friend to raise,
+(And with his own more energetic hand
+Whose works the ravages of time withstand,)
+A portrait of himself:--thou much-lov'd sage!
+Far yet extend that biographic page,
+Where conscious of existence well employ'd,
+And mental treasures gratefully enjoy'd,
+Thy virtuous age will morally display
+The various labours of thy useful day:
+And in thy own rich eloquence enshrin'd,
+Leave thy instructive life, a lesson for mankind!
+
+
+
+
+Epistle
+
+TO JOHN SARGENT, ESQ.
+
+OCTOBER, 1814.
+
+Epistle.
+
+Friend of my vernal and autumnal day,
+In life's gay bloom, and in its slow decay:
+Sargent! who leav'st thy hermit's studious cell,
+To act thy busier part, and act it well,
+In courts of rural justice to preside,
+In temperate dignity unstain'd with pride.
+Oft let us meet, that friendship's honour'd chain,
+In its extension may new lustre gain;
+So let us, cheer'd by memory's social blaze,
+Live o'er again our long-departed days.
+I thank kind Heaven, that made the pleasure mine
+Beneath my roof to see thy virtues shine;
+When Providence thy fondest wishes crown'd,
+Casting thy lot on fair, and southern ground:
+When the gay songs of Eartham's friendly grove
+Proclaim'd the triumph of thy prosperous love--
+Tis sweet to plant a friend in genial land,
+And see his branches round the world expand!
+I share thy joy, the heart's parental feast
+To learn thy filial pilgrim in the East,
+Thy youthful Harry, is among the prime,
+Whom learning honours in her Indian clime:
+Nor less the joy to hear thy eldest-born,
+Whom gifts of sacred eloquence adorn,
+Has, with Cicestria's liberal applause,
+Those gifts exerted in the noblest cause:
+Pleas'd to promote the most sublime emprise
+That Christian charity could e'er devise;
+To blend her votaries of every name
+In one harmonious universal aim;
+To make the word of God, that truest wealth,
+The heart's nutrition, and the spirit's health
+As common as the food, by heavenly power
+Pour'd from the skies, a life-preserving shower,
+On deserts pour'd, in hopeless hunger's track,
+When He, who gather'd little, felt no lack.
+My friend of many years! we both have found
+Darkness and sunshine on the chequer'd ground,
+In different paths appointed to our feet:
+You in the world--your host in his retreat!
+Yet blest be Heaven, that grants us to behold
+Wonders of Providence like those of old,
+When mortals in the waste, they murmuring trod,
+Saw, and rever'd the guidance of their God,
+We have beheld, and with one heart and voice
+Hail'd the bright scene, that bids the globe rejoice;
+Nature releas'd from devastation's flood,
+And peace emerging from a sea of blood.
+Wonders yet happier to devotion's eyes
+In blissful vision will now widely rise,
+From pure diffusive zeal in Britain sprung,
+Bidding the Gospel speak in every tongue;
+Till its effect earth's utmost bounds attest,
+Jesus enthron'd in every human breast,
+And all his subjects, as his mercy will'd,
+Feeling within themselves his joy fulfill'd.
+Yes, my time-honoured friend, with one accord
+We bless the promised advent of our Lord,
+In heavenly prospect, tho' we still sustain
+Our unexhausted share of earthly pain.
+But whatsoever ills yet undisplay'd
+May o'er our eve of life throw deeper shade,
+We have the constant comfort to possess
+An antidote against the mind's distress;
+
+That settled trust in Providence divine.
+Which lets the Christian at no lot repine:
+But, when most tried, his faith's prime power employ,
+And make affliction minister to joy.
+We both have past thro' many a troubled day,
+And felt adversity's heart-searching sway:
+But when most wounded, both have kiss'd the rod,
+And blest the pangs assign'd us by our God;
+To wean us from a world, which, Nature sees,
+None estimate aright, or quit with ease,
+But souls Heaven-taught, that, free from doubt's alarm,
+Hail death their herald to the Saviour's arms.
+We both, my friend, in mind sedate and firm
+Enter'd with thankfulness life's latest term.
+And I might claim (could years such right assume)
+First to attain the quiet of the tomb;
+There show me still the friendship of our youth,
+And still speak of me with indulgent truth.
+May'st thou, less worn by griefs of many a year,
+Still rich in filial gems, that earth endear!
+Thy public duties long with grace discharge,
+Esteem'd and honour'd by the world at large.
+Thy elder, idler friend that world may spare,
+And yet allow his name a station there;
+For he long literary zeal has shown,
+To honour merit, that surpassed his own:
+And hop'd to live beyond his mortal days,
+In England's memory, and friendship's praise.
+High hopes! o'er which his holier thoughts aspire,
+And make the peace of God his paramount desire.
+
+
+
+
+Epistle.
+
+TO MRS. HANNAH MORE
+
+ON
+
+_Her Recent Publication--Practical Piety._
+
+
+JUNE 1811.
+
+Epistle
+
+Hail! hallow'd sister! of a saintly band!
+Whose hearts in homage to their God expand!
+Who, by the kind Urania taught to sing.
+See palms celestial in their culture spring;
+And, while devotion wafts them to the skies,
+Teach weaker mortals on their wings to rise!
+Hannah! whom truth, with a parental smile,
+Ranks with her favorites of our letter'd isle;
+Thou in wide fields, by tribes of learning fill'd,
+By folly vainly view'd, by wisdom till'd;
+Where grain and weed arise in mingled birth,
+To nourish, or oppress, the race of earth;
+Well hast thou ply'd thy task of virtuous toil,
+And reap'd distinction's tributary spoil:
+Long has thy country, with a fond acclaim,
+Joy'd in thy genius, gloried in thy fame;
+Progressive talents in thy works beheld,
+Thine earlier volumes by thy last excell'd!
+The noblest motive sway'd thy moral pen,
+Intent to meliorate the sons of men
+From that now distant year, when faith design'd
+Thy sacred dramas for the youthful mind;
+To this rich season of thy honour'd age,
+When, with the fervour of a Christian sage,
+Thine eve of life, with dews from Heaven impearl'd
+Shows piety in practice to the world.
+Well I remember, tho' long years have past,
+Long years with dark calamity o'ercast,
+Well I remember, and with grateful pride,
+How to my heart thy friendly verse supplied
+The glow of exultation; for thy praise
+Shed gracious honour on my sportive lays.
+When 'twas my aim to clear from thorns of strife
+The budding roses of domestic life,
+And teach young nymphs, in irritation's hour,
+To triumph over spleen's insidious power.
+O that, while glowing with celestial hope,
+Gently we haste down life's autumnal slope,
+Each well convinc'd, and with a mind serene,
+From long experience of our chequer'd scene,
+Convinc'd no blessings of this earth transcend
+The countless value of a Christian friend;
+O that just sympathy, and warm esteem,
+Kindling to vivid inspiration's beam.
+Would to my lyre, tho' in an aged hand,
+Supply, at gratitude's devout command,
+Praise, such as purest minds delight to hear,
+When truth and nature prove that praise sincere!
+But vain such wishes, for in virtue's cause
+Thou hast receiv'd angelical applause:
+No thirst for weaker praise that mind can feel,
+Which Porteus cheer'd with evangelic zeal:
+Porteus, complete in every graceful part!
+A bard in spirit! with a hermit's heart!
+In heaven's pure service never cold, or faint,
+Till new existence glorified the saint!
+How sweet with those, whom still on earth we prize,
+To bless a recent inmate of the skies!
+On buried friends to let fond memory dwell,
+And grateful truth their bright endowments tell!
+Careless, if envy, with a spleenful sneer,
+Reviles that eulogy she bates to bear,
+Saying with freedom's ill-assum'd pretence,
+'Tis noxious flattery, o'erwhelming sense.
+Peace! scornful pride! nor with malignant aim
+Belie the voice of consecrated fame,
+Thy subtlest arts, the pious to debate.
+End, with strict justice, in thy own disgrace.
+How weak were friendship could she shake with dread
+Of thy detraction 'gainst her worthies dead!
+No! such detraction makes her zeal more just
+To every claim of their yet speaking dust.
+Save me, good heaven! and all whom I regard,
+(Or hasty muse, or irritable bard,)
+Save us, good heaven! in mild and temperate age,
+From wounded vanity's vindictive rage!
+To genuine friendship pure delight is given,
+Next to the favor of approving heaven;
+And that delight is most sublimely felt.
+When nature in vain tears, has ceased to melt:
+When sorrow, quell'd by purer love's controul,
+To sweet reflection yields the chasten'd soul,
+Contemplating, thro' clouds to sunshine turn'd,
+The sure beatitude of those--she mourn'd:
+This sunshine yet to us the heavens assign
+In Porteus, still thy friend! in Cowper, mine!
+When tender fancy, on affection's plume,
+Emerging from the shadows of the tomb
+Aspires to trace, in visionary flight,
+The just made perfect, thro' the realms of light!
+How glows the soul, with more than earthly joy,
+In fondly imaging their blest employ!
+How oft, dear Cowper! at the close of day,
+When contemplation sheds her mental ray,
+I seem, through optics of the mind to see
+Thy sainted spirit, from incumbrance free!
+Marking how quick, in various hearts, arise
+Those seeds of virtue, that thy verse supplies!
+What joy, not speakable by mortal tongue,
+What praises, to the harp of seraph sung,
+May glad thee, now repaid for all thy woes,
+While boundless vision to thy spirit shows
+How e'en thy earthly song, by heaven inspired.
+Attain'd the glorious aim, thy heart desired:
+Destin'd to spread, uncrampt by time or space,
+Progressive goodness thro' the human race!
+Thou monitor! by youth and age revered!
+By wisdom prized! to tenderness endear'd!
+While men and angels bid thy fame extend,
+And nature owns thee her benignant friend;
+Could there be mortals so perversely blind,
+As coarsely to revile thy tender mind,
+Basely applying, with malignant glee,
+The hateful title Misanthrope, to thee!
+Let just oblivion wrap in endless night
+Such baleful fruits of worth-defaming spight:
+Truth ne'er could Cowper's want of zeal reprove,
+As fervent as a saint in friendly love.
+Hannah! to whose effulgent mind belong
+Continual plaudits from the sons of song,
+Be witness how, in his sequester'd bowers,
+Cowper acknowledging thy various powers,
+Ever on thee, thy verse, thy prose, bestow'd
+Applause, where cloudless admiration glow'd
+With warmth, that jealousy could ne'er perplex;
+He praised thee, as the glory of thy sex,
+In verbal power, in intellectual grace,
+Never inferior to man's lordly race!
+Congenial spirits, warm'd with kindly zeal,
+Each others merits ye were sure to feel
+For one, true virtue's favorite employ,
+Her happiest exercise! her highest joy.
+One glorious motive sway'd each active mind
+Whether the bard, to rhymes no more confin'd,
+Rapidly sketch'd with glance intensely keen,
+His bird's-eye prospect of our human scene,
+Or the fair moralist, in polish'd prose,
+Describ'd the living manners as they rose.
+One glorious motive clear in each we prize.
+Bright as the vestal flame, which never dies.
+The philanthropic wish, from heaven inspir'd,
+That keeps the toiling mind in toil untir'd;
+The wish, unstain'd by every selfish aim.
+Free from the thirst of lucre and of fame;
+The wish most valued, when best understood,
+To make the pen an instrument of good,
+Recalling mortals lost in false delight,
+To find true favour in their Saviour's sight.
+The Bard, enfranchised from his earthly fate,
+Now soars, from this probationary state
+To join the seraphs of sublimer tone,
+Whose harps are vocal round the Almighty throne:
+On earth his laurels no destruction fear
+From cold neglect, or envy's blighting leer.
+Verse, in whose influence the good rejoice,
+Is sure to echo from the human voice,
+While praise, as faithful as the mystic dove,
+Flows from the lips, of gratitude and love.
+Cowper still lives, to truth's clear optics given,
+Endear'd to earth, and recompens'd by heaven!
+And O dear lady! who like him, canst feel
+For erring mortals anxious friendly zeal,
+And deck, like him, thy monitory page
+With charms attractive both to youth and age,
+Whose pure instruction, with a skill refin'd,
+Suits both the lowly, and the lofty mind:
+Like Cowper, thou canst bear, with calm disdain,
+While pity saves thee from resentment's pain,
+The dark insidious enmity of those
+Who, self-entitled friends, and secret foes,
+If they applaud thy talents, still deride
+Thy warm devotion, as fanatic pride,
+Tho' such devotion, undebased by art,
+Proves its clear source in tenderness of heart;
+Sincerely Christian, it forgives the lie
+That dares its nature, and its truth deny.
+When, rich in honours, as in length of days,
+And satisfied with just affection's praise,
+Thy spirit to a purer world ascends,
+To share the fellowship of sainted friends,
+May this sweet vision of the blest be thine,
+To trace how widely, with a guide divine.
+Thy active mind, while resident below,
+In soften'd hearts taught piety to grow,
+Aiding benighted souls to view the day,
+And drive depravity's dark clouds away:
+What bliss, to welcome in those realms of light
+Young angels! owning thou hast helped their flight,
+And from the Saviour of the world to hear
+"Those, who befriended earth--to heaven are dear!"
+
+
+
+
+Monitory Verses
+
+_To a Young Lady, who indulged too gloomy
+ideas of our sublunary state._
+
+Dear nymph of a feeling, and delicate mind!
+Whose eye the rash tears of timidity blind,
+When fancy alarm'd takes a heart-chilling hue,
+And the prospect of life is all dark in thy view,
+Let me, as thy monitor, mild and sincere,
+To thy spirit the gift of existence endear!
+And shew thee, if darkened by fear or chagrin,
+The sunshine of friendship can gild every scene!
+Those, who true to the Ruler of every hour,
+Rely on his mercy, and trust in his power;
+
+Whatso'er is their lot, may, by viewing it right,
+Convert all its darkness to visions of light
+When mortals of hope the fair presage assume,
+Even death's sable pall is no object of gloom:
+They smile on the path which their best friends have trod,
+And rejoice, when they feel, they are summon'd to God.
+Be it long, my young friend, ere such joy can be thine,
+First embrace all the gifts, faith exults to resign.
+The best prelude to death is, without mental strife.
+To be grateful for all the pure pleasures of life:
+And many pure pleasures to mortals are given,
+Sick or well, rich or poor, by the bounty of heaven,
+If we all draw them forth (by well acting our part,)
+From that mine of delight, an affectionate heart!
+
+
+
+
+Epistle
+
+TO A FRIEND, ON THE DIVINITY OF OUR SAVIOUR.
+
+_Inconcussa tenens dubio vestigia mundo._.
+
+1815.
+
+Epistle.
+
+Dear Disputant! whose mind would boldly soar,
+And all theology's domain explore!
+I love the candid fervency of soul,
+That scorns a dogmatist's austere controul;
+Let liberal scholars, as they surely ought,
+Claim, and allow, a latitude of thought!
+As friends I honour, with a love benign,
+Many, whose creeds may vary far from mine:
+Secure from error I no mortal deem;
+But all, who truly seek for truth, esteem.
+Yet with a mild regret, and kind concern
+I see temerity's ambition burn,
+When zeal, self-blinded in a mental mist,
+Denies, that hallow'd mysteries exist;
+And deems, that reason, which no fears appall,
+Has self-sufficiency to clear them all:
+Tis reas'ning pride, not reason, just, and sore.
+Which in religion finds no point obscure;
+Which, measuring Godhead with an earthly line,
+Would rob the Saviour of his rights divine.
+There are, who call Him, by their dreams beguil'd,
+Mere man; of mortal geniture the child!
+Tho' sanction'd, by his Sire's almighty breath,
+His Son! a sovereign o'er life, and death!
+'Tis not for mortals, in their transient hour,
+To pierce the secrets of primordial power;
+Or guess, how God, on his eternal throne,
+To filial spirit could impart his own:
+But how can earth deny, by truth unblam'd,
+Divinity, that Heaven itself proclaim'd.
+Reason opposes pride's degrading plan.
+To sink the Saviour to a simple man:
+Were He no more, could He, so born, presume
+With Heaven to mediate for all nature's doom?
+No! for, so born, Himself must then require
+A mediator with th' eternal Sire:
+Disclaim his Godhead, you at once imply
+His deeds are doubtful, and his word a lie.
+If not a God, most guilty of mankind,
+His doctrine tends the human race to blind.
+Surpassing e'en the fiend, who caus'd our fall,
+By sharing worship with the Sire of all!
+O ye! whose reas'ning pride can so mistake
+The truths, He meekly spoke for mercy's sake!
+More humbly grateful, learn ye to rejoice
+In all the dictates of his cheering voice!
+Who, to console his grief-dejected flock,
+Show'd, how their faith is built upon a rock;
+And, in the closing of his earthly strife,
+Made manifest Himself as Lord of Life!
+And tho' to death, the most disgraceful, driven,
+Possessing all the powers of earth, and Heaven.
+Pure source of light! and safety to the lost,
+Without Thee on a sea of darkness tost!
+Sovereign of grace, and kindness so sublime,
+Thou view'st with pity their ungrateful crime,
+Who, while they load Thee with degrading praise,
+Would darken in thy crown its heavenly rays.
+And O! how truly pitiable are those,
+By nature mild, nor truth's intended foes,
+Whose strange illusion yet miscalls Thee, man,
+Tho' chosen to fulfil redemption's plan!
+Who of Thy Godhead want that sacred sense,
+That cordial glow of gratitude intense,
+Which forms the bliss of their enlighten'd zeal,
+Who all the merits of thy mercy feel!
+Who hail Thee quitting thy bright throne above,
+Sublime example of celestial love!
+To clear, for them, a debt, they could not pay,
+And change their darkness to eternal day!
+How passing sweet to pure devotion's soul,
+Are proofs of thy unlimited controul!
+While the true Christian's mental eyes survey
+Thy heavenly origin, and healing sway.
+Only begotten Son of Sire supreme,
+Whose quickening bounty was thy vital beam,
+Ere nature lived, when, with thy filial aid,
+The vast foundation of all worlds was laid!
+When the paternal God was pleas'd to see
+A blight reflection of Himself in Thee!
+The splendour of his glory! form'd to share
+His purest power, his providential care,
+And, in consummating his gracious will,
+At length annihilate all cureless ill!
+To faith's pure eyes how ravishingly clear
+Signs of her Lord's Divinity appear!
+While earth and Heaven invite her to behold
+How the fair series of those signs unfold!
+A blest Redeemer, and without a trace
+Of man's corruption in his ruin'd race,
+Announc'd by mercy to our fallen sire,
+Soon made that contrite criminal respire:
+Age after age, of prophecy the breath.
+Softening the horrors in the doom of death,
+While nature strove with sin's dark woes to cope,
+Shed thro' her lighten'd heart religious hope.
+Thro' patriarchal times, in vision clear,
+Types of the great Deliverer appear:
+At length, when centuries have roll'd away.
+And faith stands watching for her promis'd day,
+She sees her Saviour from a virgin sprung,
+His advent by attending angels song!
+And wisdom usher'd by the guiding Star,
+Hails Him, with gifts of homage, from afar.
+The voice of Heaven proclaims his promis'd birth,
+And conscious nature feels her friend on earth.
+His uninstructed youth divinely sage,
+Transcends the knowledge of experienc'd age:
+The weak receive the strength, his will can give,
+The dead obedient to his mandate live,
+In power as mighty, as in mercy kind,
+He dies, the ransom of redeem'd mankind!
+Lord of Existence! He expires to prove
+His matchless effort of celestial love;
+And ratify, while He resigns his breath,
+His glorious conquest o'er the gates of death!
+A massive tomb receives his sacred corse;
+And foes would guard it with a watchful force:
+Vain boast of folly's disbelieving rout!
+Who thus confirm the Deity, they doubt!
+The grave beholds the heavenly victor rise,
+And soar triumphant to his native skies.
+His troubled servants still to calm and cheer
+See Him, in human tenderness appear!
+And while the slow of faith He mildly blames,
+"My Lord! my God!" his doubt-freed saint exclaims.
+Were He not God, and worthy of our trust,
+Could He admit such worship from the just?
+And bless the conscious of his heavenly right,
+Whose faith demands no evidence of sight?
+Yet grace divine full evidence has given;
+Witness! Thou earth! by his dread sufferings riven!
+Witness! Thou speaking firmament above!
+When God proclaim'd Him offspring of his love!
+Pleas'd to that blessed offspring to impart
+Prerogative divine, dominion of the heart!
+Exulting angels hail his sovereign sway;
+Attest his glory, his commands obey;
+And usher Him, whom e'en the demons own
+As Earth's Redeemer, to his heavenly throne:
+Thence, while mankind receive a second birth,
+He ratifies the word, He spoke on earth;
+And pleas'd to see his rescued servants live,
+He gives them, what the world had not to give;
+Internal peace! the duteous mind's repose!
+With powers to foil the most malignant foes!
+This vital sunshine of enlighten'd hearts,
+This to his firm adherents He imparts;
+When duly grateful for his kind controul,
+They bless his empire o'er the willing soul,
+For in his own, as in his Father's name,
+He claims their boundless love; a righteous claim!
+A claim, in which the proofs of Godhead shine!
+Celestial attributes! and grace divine!
+Hear how beyond the scope of mortal voice,
+He bids his servants in his word rejoice,
+Bids them for every good on Him depend!
+As dearer far than every earthly friend,
+Regard Him, parents, children far above;
+And die with transport to secure his love.
+Were He mere man, must not such orders seem
+Distracted arrogance, an impious dream?
+So of men's lives He only might dispose;
+From whose divinity their safety flows,
+Who left the bosom of His heavenly Sire,
+To merit, what none other might acquire,
+A sacred right with that dread Sire to plead,
+To change the doom, his justice had decreed,
+And save the guilty from perdition's storm;
+Celestial victim in a human form!
+Whose mediation, soft'ning wrath supreme,
+Taught nature to revive, in mercy's beam.
+Gracious Restorer of a race condemn'd,
+Tho' by the thankless tribes revil'd, contemn'd.
+Yet gratitude, and truth, who round Thee fly,
+With all thy menial angels of the sky,
+Viewing thy gifts with rapturous amaze,
+Hail thy beneficence with heavenly praise:
+All bear eternal witness, that Thou art
+Justly a Sovereign in the human heart.
+Man cannot yield too much, when, at thy call
+To Thee his grateful zeal resigns his all;
+Whate'er be may resign, yet more he gains,
+While in his heart his blest Redeemer reigns;
+By thy kind words he is inform'd aright,
+And Thee exulting owns his path, his light!
+Whether we ponder, with a mind serene,
+The gracious marvels of thy earthly scene,
+Or the firm promise to thy servants given,
+Just ere they saw Thee re-ascend to Heaven;
+Or the fulfilment of thy grand bequest,
+The promis'd Comforter of man distrest!
+That spirit, which, as man's unfailing friend,
+'Twas thine, from thy celestial throne, to send
+The Spirit of thy Sire! of truth! and peace!
+By whose blest influence base passions cease;
+And Christians, worthy of their Lord, combine
+In the pure bond of charity divine!
+Conscious from whom, their new sensations flow!
+To whom their renovated hearts they owe!
+And conscious, while their heavenly, guide they bless,
+Their gratitude is safe from all excess!
+In sentient beings, if their love and zeal
+Should rise proportion'd to the aid, they feel,
+Unbounded, as thy benefits, should be
+The thankful homage of our hearts to Thee.
+Divine Deliverer! whose grace bestows
+Exemption from unutterable woes!
+Such gifts on men, as they can ne'er requite,
+Made, from the slaves of darkness, sons of light!
+Thou filial Deity! whose merits rise
+To such amazing height in human eyes,
+A justly humble mind, that feels their sway
+Too great for earthly language to display,
+Conceives, e'en seraphs, tho' in glory's beam,
+May find their voice unequal to the theme!
+And seems to view them in their heavenly seat,
+Mute, from pure adoration, at thy feet:
+Thou blest Restorer of corrupted man
+From all the snares of Satan's dark divan!
+Thou, who with true compassion, hast survey'd
+Lost wanderers perishing without thy aid!
+To whose pure eyes all wonders are reveal'd,
+That live in mortals, from themselves conceal'd!
+Who view'st with favor, when they most aspire,
+Their narrow faculties, and vast desire!
+O prosper, and sustain my anxious thought,
+Pondering thy attributes, as mortals ought!
+That while I strive to make thy nature known,
+My zeal may tend to purify my own.
+Pardon the daring aim of grateful love,
+If, in research, man's intellect above,
+I vainly seek such heavenly things to know,
+As Thou to mortals hast not deign'd to show,
+Veiling the mode of thy celestial birth
+From beings blind to mysteries of earth!
+Thy geniture, and thy redeeming power
+Transcend the known extent of nature's dower:
+But pity weak mortality--that tries
+To reach, what may elude all human eyes!
+The knowledge man desires, is found by none:
+The Eternal Sire, He only, knows the Son:
+Taught by this truth, be it our wish alone
+To know Him, only as he would be known,
+By grace divine! his bounty's blest effect
+On those, who hail Him with devout respect!
+Thou filial Deity in manly shape!
+Whose eye no deeds, no thoughts of man, escape!
+Thy servants have no wound, Thou dost not feel,
+No sorrow, that thy aid can fail to heal!
+In all the trials, I was born to bear,
+Many, and sharp, have fallen to my share;
+I bless them, leading me to feel, and see,
+Our sweetest comfort is our trust in Thee.
+Calm acquiescence in thy sacred will
+Becomes an antidote to every ill;
+As tasks, ensuring favour in thy sight,
+Grief turns to joy, and anguish to delight;
+Till all the chasten'd heart exults to bless
+A Martyr's triumph o'er subdued distress!
+Saviour! whose image pure maternal prayer,
+Fix'd in my heart, with just dominion there,
+Thou never banish'd thence! tho' in my youth,
+I heard rash sceptics, scoffing at thy truth,
+Deride thy Gospel, and thy deeds revile,
+As the false tales of an impostor's guile:
+Blest! that no impious wit had power to blind
+Thy dawn of favour in my opening mind!
+There, in maturer seasons, grief, and pain,
+As heavenly agents, have confirmed thy reign.
+My spirit's guardian! soother of my woes!
+Still of my chequer'd days illume the close!
+All mortals feel, their trespasses require
+An Intercessor with th' eternal Sire;
+And on their minds thy cheering favours shine,
+Who feel, thou art an arbiter divine;
+Who thy dominion o'er the soul confess,
+And, as their final Judge, thy Godhead bless!
+Deign to befriend me in my dying hour!
+Thou clear Vicegerent of thy Father's power!
+And, while, within a grateful heart, I own
+My hopes to view Thee on thy heavenly throne.
+With all thy merits on my soul imprest,
+May faith's firm wings convey me to thy breast!
+ Such, friendly disputant of studious mind!
+Ever to good, in active life, inclind!
+Such are my thoughts, my views, my hopes, my creed,
+Adverse, I own, to those, for which you plead!
+And which, to speak without reserve, I deem
+A rash surmise, a dark Socinian dream!
+Tho' tenets diversely our fancy strike,
+May both, in purity of heart alike,
+Still trust the hope, to that endowment given,
+To reach the glorious certainty of Heaven!
+Where, when the pardon'd round their Lord unite
+Their errors will be lost in beatific light.
+
+
+
+
+A COLLECTION OF HYMNS
+
+1817.
+
+
+_Hymn to Humility_
+
+ Of all the Christian virtues chief
+ With modest charms, and mild relief,
+Most apt to heal the wounds of pride, and spleen,
+ To thee, humility; I bend;
+ O let me feel, thou art my friend!
+Rule thou my bosom, as its gentle queen!
+
+ 'Tis thine benignly to repress
+ All proud conceit, all vain excess;
+To give the chasten'd mind its proper tone;
+ To make it keep in sight
+ The worth of others with delight,
+And never look too fondly on its own.
+
+ Teach me, with active zeal, to wake
+ At nature's sigh, for pity's sake,
+When pride in dreams of apathy will nod!
+ Still guided by thy Christian breath,
+ Keep me, thro' scenes of life, and death,
+To mortals kind, and dutiful to God.
+
+
+
+_Hymn to Contrition._
+
+Tenderest Herald of the sky,
+ Nature's safeguard from perdition,
+Friend of sweet, tho' tearful eye,
+ Call'd by angels meek Contrition--
+
+Bid me with a due concern
+ Sigh for recollected error,
+And to purer conduct turn,
+ Full of hope, and free from terror!
+
+All, who have thy succour tried.
+ Near to Heaven's expanding portal,
+Blessing Thee, their chosen guide,
+ Joy, in ceasing to be mortal.
+
+Hand-maid of the Saviour's throne,
+ Sent by Him to check depression,
+Make my chasten'd soul thy own,
+ Guarding it from all transgression.
+
+
+
+_Hymn to the Saviour._
+
+Saviour! pure source of life and zeal intense,
+Whose words were peace, whose deeds benificence,
+Around thy servant ever may I see
+The sunshine of the soul deriv'd from Thee.
+
+While their true faith enlighten'd Christians prove,
+By mutual aid, and evangelic love,
+By sins environ'd, may we strive alone
+To pardon others, and repent our own.
+
+So may we, comforted by words from Heaven,
+That clearly prove the penitent forgiven,
+With trust beyond the confidence of youth,
+Rest on our guardian God--the God of Truth!
+
+
+
+
+TWO HYMNS
+
+Written for the Asylum of Female Orphans.
+
+I.
+
+Parent to those, whose infant days
+ No human parent know;
+To thee, O Charity! the praise
+ Of filial love shall flow.
+
+Base want, and vice, a foe to all!
+ Round us their snares had thrown.
+Had not thy arm, at pity's call,
+ Embrac'd us for thine own.
+
+O blest the land! where all to Thee
+ A tender homage pay!
+Where indigence and wealth agree
+ To venerate thy sway!
+
+That land the wrath of Heaven may spare.
+ When ruthless nations groan;
+Her guarded orphan's grateful prayer
+ May rise to mercy's throne.
+
+Parent to those, whose infant days
+ No human parent know;
+To Thee, O Charity, the praise
+ Of filial love shall flow.
+
+II.
+
+We have no parent but our God;
+ Yet will we not in grief despair;
+For He this vale of sorrow trod,
+ To make the desolate his care.
+
+The voice of innocence and youth,
+ To Thee, meek Saviour! may ascend;
+Thou God of Tenderness, and Truth,
+ Of Infancy Thou art the Friend.
+
+Thro! tears, that fill the orphan's eye,
+ With humble confidence we see
+Calamity, an holy tie!
+ That binds our helpless tribe to Thee.
+
+For charity, angelic power!
+ Thy fav'rite delegate below!
+Makes industry, our peaceful dower!
+ A guard from indigence and woe.
+
+We have no parent, but our God;
+ In Him we trust, who reigns above:
+Children He blest, when here He trod,
+ And we are children of his love.
+
+
+
+_A Morning Hymn._
+
+Awake my soul! in cheerful mood,
+ Thy matin thanks to pay!
+The God, who gives thee rest, and food,
+ Directs thee to be gay.
+
+The Jewish world was dark, and cold,
+ There doubts and fears annoy:
+Thy Shepherd to his happier fold
+ Brings light, and peace, and joy.
+
+Cease then, O Christian! cease to grieve
+ In tempest, or in calm!
+Smile on affliction, and receive
+ Her consecrated palm!
+
+
+
+_A Collection of Hymns._
+
+
+Hymn written for the Rev. Mr. Walker, of
+Chichester.
+
+Where may zeal due succour find,
+Man, for thy unguarded mind?
+To shield thee, when temptations reign,
+From folly's snare, and vice's bane?
+
+The law of God, a Saviour's law,
+Justly heard with grateful awe,
+That alone pure light supplies
+To the simple, and the wise.
+
+He, whose heart, however tried,
+Keeps the word of God his guide,
+He walks secure, and undismay'd
+Amid misfortune's darkest shade.
+
+He, tho' tempests round Him roll,
+Feels a sacred calm of soul;
+Breathing, to his latest breath,
+Joy in life, and hope in death.
+
+
+_Hymn._
+
+Since the Evening of Life will soon close,
+ While I live, may I justly incline
+To diffuse peace of heart among those,
+ Whose lives may be guided by mine!
+
+To Christ may I lead them to own
+ The charms of his tender controul,
+And with gratitude gaze on His throne.
+ Whom to serve is the joy of the soul!
+
+
+_Hymn to the Creator._
+
+Source of all kind, all potent thought!
+ Thou God of Goodness, and of Power!
+In Thee my soul, by trouble taught,
+ Shall trust, as in protection's tower.
+
+The surest friend, the safest guard,
+ In thy sweet mercy may I see!
+And solitude itself regard,
+ As blessed intercourse with Thee!
+
+Lord! in whose hands are life, and death,
+ So let me live, so let me die,
+That love may grace my vital breath,
+ And faith, and hope, my final sigh!
+
+
+_Hymn on Charity._
+
+Nor faith, nor hope, whate'er their force,
+Can aught avail the soul,
+Should charity not guide its course
+To glory's heavenly goal.
+The songs of wisdom, tho' they soar
+To notes that seraphs swell,
+If she be wanting, are no more
+Than folly's tinkling bell.
+
+A thousand shapes, as bright as morn,
+Sweet Charity assumes,
+And all the hues of Heaven adorn
+Her variegated plumes.
+'Tis she with consolation's voice
+That stills affliction's storm,
+She bids despairing want rejoice
+In bounty's radiant form.
+
+But with what semblance is she seen,
+That more her power endears,
+Than when with mild instruction's mien
+Her infant train she rears?
+Then she the earth-bound spirit lifts
+Above the valley's clod,
+Then gives the richest of her gifts,
+The knowledge of her God.
+
+
+_Hymn for Christmas Day._
+
+Saviour inspire the voice of earth,
+To hail the day that gave Thee birth;
+The Heavens resound in blest accord,
+Hosanna! to the highest! praise the Lord.
+
+Let hymns of gratulation flow
+From Adam's race redeem'd from woe;
+For Paradise to man restored,
+Hosanna! to the highest! praise the Lord.
+
+Wisdom, and power, and peace proclaim
+The new-born Saviour's blessed name,
+His glory stars to stars record,
+Hosanna! to the highest! praise the Lord.
+
+Nature to Him in homage fall;
+He comes--the Judge, the Lord of all:
+His welcome sound on every chord,
+Hosanna! to the highest! praise the Lord.
+
+
+_Hymn to the Saviour._
+
+Lord, who in mercy's tender tone
+ Invitest every child of dust,
+To seek protection from thy throne,
+ And in thy guardian grace to trust.
+
+To thy true votary impart
+ Hope, from all doubt, all terror free,
+Make every movement of my heart
+ A glow of gratitude to Thee!
+
+
+_Hymn._
+
+Lord whose eyes every heart in existence survey,
+Who canst regulate all with thy merciful sway,
+From mine may thy grace, as a guardian, discard
+Whatever might render it--selfish and hard:
+O keep it from evil propensities free,
+Ever mild to mankind, ever grateful to Thee:
+This heart ever feels, with thy image imprest,
+The more it is Christian--the more it is blest!
+
+
+_Hymn._
+
+Make us, O God! in whom we breathe, and move,
+Worthy to love Thee, and to win thy love!
+Thy word informs us how thy love is won,
+By grateful trust in thy beloved Son!
+Through every season may such trust encrease!
+We know it duty, and we feel it peace.
+
+FINIS.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Poems on Serious and Sacred Subjects
+by William Hayley
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POEMS ON SERIOUS AND SACRED ***
+
+This file should be named 7psss10.txt or 7psss10.zip
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