But sure the rule's of no avail If placed so high that all must fail; That any can his neighbour love. THE ANSWERER. IX. Yes, such there are of heavenly mould, He, only he, the Scriptures prove, Then join, to make a perfect plan, This done, no more in vain you'll labour, If then the rule's too hard to please ye, "In vain shall feeble nature try." 'Tis true; but know a CHRISTIAN is a creature Who does things quite impossible to nature. AND JOYFUL ANTICIPATIONS: ON BEING IMPORTUNED BY A FRIEND TO WRITE VERSES WHEN I WAS VERY ILL. I WRITE in verse? how hard to ask! Expect to ask in vain, A hand unequal to the task, A head oppress'd with pain. I lov'd, indeed, the Muse when young, Yet dwell I oft on scenes long past, For Mem'ry still delights to trace The rigid Moralist was ours, At once both rough and kind. * * When the author asked Dr. Johnson why he put his hands behind him when the celebrated French infidel Abbé Raynal held out his hand to him, his answer was, "No, child; I will not shake hands with an Atheist to please you or any body else." Of Kennicott, the Hebrew sage, Reynolds! consummate was thy skill; Resemblance, colouring, grace. Facility, invention pure, In all thy works abound; Chaste Beattie! who can ever lose Bryant, sagacious and profound, Proved the dire plagues on Egypt's ground Though wit, though worth, no plea could find Their forfeit lives to save, Yet still their talents bless mankind, Their works survive the grave. This eminent Biblical scholar showed that the judgments inflicted on the Egyptians were in exact correspondence with the contemptible objects of their idolatrous worship. Then turn we from the painful past, — What glorious scenes, what prospects vast, Prophets and kings have wish'd to see If angels in their sphere rejoice, How will they raise th' enraptured voice Yes, we behold the Eastern star With growing splendour rise ; And rays celestial beaming far, To cheer e'en Polar skies. From Java to the farthest West Th' ETERNAL WORD shall reach; Shade of Buchanan! rest in peace, But their blest fruits, with quick increase, * Allusion is made in this and the following stanzas to the Bible, Missionary, and other Societies, for the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom over the whole habitable globe, which are the glory of the present day. In heaven thy Syrians thou shalt meet, And lay thy trophies at His feet, Siberia spreads her frozen arms, Fell Juggernaut ere long shall weep Like Chemosh, Baal, and Moloch, sleep His orgies foul shall vanish all, His impious rites be o'er; See him with prostrate Dagon fall, He falls to rise no more! The ONE GREAT SACRIFICE once paid, Shed, Sun of Righteousness, thy rays So shall we call its BULWARKS PRAISE, END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. LONDON: Printed by A. & R. Spottiswoode, |