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Go you that rest upon the law,

And toil, and seek salvation there;
Look to the flames that Moses saw,
And shrink, and tremble, and despair.

But I'll retire beneath the cross,
Saviour at thy dear feet I lie;

And the keen sword that justice draws,
Flaming and red, shall pass me by.

SEEKING A DIVINE CALM

IN A RESTLESS WORLD.

O Mens, quæ stabili fata Regis vice, &c.
Casimir, Book III. Od. 28.

ETERNAL Mind, who rul'st the fates
Of dying realms, and rising states,
With one unchang'd decree;
While we admire thy vast affairs,
Say, can our little trifling cares
Afford a smile to thee?

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

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

Here a vain man his sceptre breaks,
The next a broken sceptre takes,
And warriors win and lose;
This rolling world will never stand,
Plunder'd and snatch'd from hand to hand,
As power decays or grows.

Earth's but an atom: greedy swords
Carve it among a thousand lords,
And yet they can't agree:

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

HAPPY FRAILTY.

How meanly dwells the' immortal mind!

How vile these bodies are!

Why was a clod of earth design'd

To' inclose a heavenly star?

"Weak cottage where our souls reside!

This flesh a tottering wall;

With frightful breaches gaping wide
The building bends to fall.

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

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

Alas! how frail our state!' said I,
And thus went mourning on,
Till, sudden from the cleaving sky,
A gleam of glory shone.

My soul felt all the glory come,

And breath'd her native air;

Then she remember'd Heaven her home,

And she a prisoner here.

Straight she began to change her key,

And joyful in her pains,

She sung the frailty of her clay

In pleasurable strains.—

'How weak the prison where I dwell!
Flesh but a tottering wall,

The breaches certainly foretel
The house must shortly fall.

'No more, my friends, shall I complain, Though all my heart-strings ache; Welcome disease, and every pain,

That makes the cottage shake.

'Now let the tempest blow all round,
Now swell the surges high;

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

"I have a mansion built above

By the Eternal hand;

And should the earth's old basis move,

My heavenly house must stand.

'Yes, for 'tis there my Saviour reigns,

(I long to see the God)

And his immortal strength sustains
The courts that cost him blood.'

Hark! from on high my Saviour calls:
'I come, my Lord, my love :'
Devotion breaks the prison-walls,
And speeds my last remove.

LAUNCHING INTO ETERNITY.

Ir was a brave attempt! adventrous he,
Who in the first ship broke the unknown sea:
And, leaving his dear native shores behind,
Trusted his life to the licentious wind.

I see the surging brine; the tempest raves:
He on the pine-plank rides across the waves,
Exulting on the edge of thousand gaping graves:
He steers the winged boat, and shifts the sails,
Conquers the flood, and manages the gales.

Such is the soul that leaves this mortal land,
Fearless when the great Master gives command.
Death is the storm: she smiles to hear it roar,
And bids the tempest waft her from the shore:
Then with a skilful helm she sweeps the seas,
And manages the raging storm with ease;
(Her faith can govern death)she spreads her wings
Wide to the wind, and as she sails she sings,
And loses by degrees the sight of mortal things..

As the shores lessen, so her joys arise,
The waves roll gentler, and the tempest dies:
Now vast eternity fills all her sight,

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

A PROSPECT OF THE RESURRECTION.

How long shall Death the tyrant reign,

And triumph o'er the just?

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

When shall the tedious night be gone?
When will our Lord appear?
Our fond desires would pray him down,
Our love embrace him here.

Let faith arise and climb the hills,
And from afar descry

How distant are his chariot wheels,
And tell how fast they fly.

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

I see the Lord of glory come,
And flaming guards around :
The skies divide to make him room,

The trumpet shakes the ground.

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