GENERAL VIEW OF THE TROUBLES OF THE
AID, glorious Martyrs, from your fields of light, Our mortal ken! Inspire a perfect trust (While we look round) that Heaven's decrees are Which few can hold committed to a fight That shows, ev'n on its better side, the might Of proud Self-will, Rapacity, and Lust, 'Mid clouds enveloped of polemic dust, Which showers of blood seem rather to incite Than to allay. Anathemas are hurled
From both sides; veteran thunders (the brute test Of truth) are met by fulminations new— Tartarean flags are caught at, and unfurled— Friends strike at friends-the flying shall pursue— And Victory sickens, ignorant where to rest!
METHINKS that I could trip o'er heaviest soil, Light as a buoyant bark from wave to wave, Were mine the trusty staff that JEWEL gave To youthful HOOKER, in familiar style The gift exalting, and with playful smile *: For thus equipped, and bearing on his head The Donor's farewell blessing, can he dread Tempest, or length of way, or weight of toil?— More sweet than odours caught by him who sails Near spicy shores of Araby the blest,
A thousand times more exquisitely sweet, The freight of holy feeling which we meet, In thoughtful moments, wafted by the gales From fields where good men walk, or bowers wherein they rest.
ENGLISH REFORMERS IN EXILE.
SCATTERING, like birds escaped the fowler's net, Some seek with timely flight a foreign strand; Most happy, re-assembled in a land
By dauntless Luther freed, could they forget Their Country's woes. But scarcely have they met, Partners in faith, and brothers in distress, Free to pour forth their common thankfulness, Ere hope declines:-their union is beset With speculative notions rashly sown, Whence thickly-sprouting growth of poisonous
Their forms are broken staves; their passions, That master them. How enviably blest [steeds Is he who can, by help of grace, enthrone The peace of God within his single breast!
HOLY and heavenly Spirits as they are, Spotless in life, and eloquent as wise, With what entire affection do they prize Their Church reformed! labouring with earnest To baffle all that may her strength impair; That Church, the unperverted Gospel's seat; In their afflictions a divine retreat; [prayer!- Source of their liveliest hope, and tenderest The truth exploring with an equal mind, In doctrine and communion they have sought Firmly between the two extremes to steer; But theirs the wise man's ordinary lot, To trace right courses for the stubborn blind, And prophesy to ears that will not hear.
HAIL, Virgin Queen! o'er many an envious bar Triumphant, snatched from many a treacherous All hail, sage Lady, whom a grateful Isle [wile ! Hath blest, respiring from that dismal war Stilled by thy voice! But quickly from afar Defiance breathes with more malignant aim; And alien storms with home-bred ferments claim Portentous fellowship. Her silver car, By sleepless prudence ruled, glides slowly on; Unhurt by violence, from menaced taint Emerging pure, and seemingly more bright: Ah! wherefore yields it to a foul constraint Black as the clouds its beams dispersed, while shone, By men and angels blest, the glorious light?
MEN, who have ceased to reverence, soon defy Their forefathers; lo! sects are formed, and split With morbid restlessness;-the ecstatic fit Spreads wide; though special mysteries multiply, The Saints must govern, is their common cry; And so they labour, deeming Holy Writ Disgraced by aught that seems content to sit Beneath the roof of settled Modesty. The Romanist exults; fresh hope he draws From the confusion, craftily incites The overweening, personates the mad- To heap disgust upon the worthier Cause: Totters the Throne; the new-born Church is sad For every wave against her peace unites.
FEAR hath a hundred eyes that all agree To plague her beating heart; and there is one (Nor idlest that !) which holds communion With things that were not, yet were meant to be. Aghast within its gloomy cavity
That eye (which sees as if fulfilled and done Crimes that might stop the motion of the sun) Beholds the horrible catastrophe
Of an assembled Senate unredeemed From subterraneous Treason's darkling power: Merciless act of sorrow infinite!
Worse than the product of that dismal night, When gushing, copious as a thunder-shower, The blood of Huguenots through Paris streamed.
THE JUNG-FRAU AND THE FALL OF THE RHINE NEAR SCHAFFHAUSEN,
THE Virgin Mountain, wearing like a Queen A brilliant crown of everlasting snow, Sheds ruin from her sides; and men below
Wonder that aught of aspect so serene Can link with desolation. Smooth and green, And seeming, at a little distance, slow, The waters of the Rhine; but on they go Fretting and whitening, keener and more keen; Till madness seizes on the whole wide Flood, Turned to a fearful Thing whose nostrils breathe Blasts of tempestuous smoke-wherewith he tries To hide himself, but only magnifies;
And doth in more conspicuous torment writhe, Deafening the region in his ireful mood.
PREJUDGED by foes determined not to spare, An old weak Man for vengeance thrown aside, Laud, 'in the painful art of dying' tried, (Like a poor bird entangled in a snare Whose heart still flutters, though his wings forbear To stir in useless struggle) hath relied On hope that conscious innocence supplied, And in his prison breathes celestial air. Why tarries then thy chariot! Wherefore stay, O Death! the ensanguined yet triumphant wheels, Which thou prepar'st, full often, to convey (What time a State with madding faction reels) The Saint or Patriot to the world that beals All wounds, all perturbations doth allay!
AFFLICTIONS OF ENGLAND.
HARP ! could'st thou venture, on thy boldest strių, The faintest note to echo which the blast Caught from the hand of Moses as it pass'd O'er Sinai's top, or from the Shepherd-king, Early awake, by Siloa's brook, to sing Of dread Jehovah ; then, should wood and waste Hear also of that name, and mercy cast Off to the mountains, like a covering Of which the Lord was weary. Weep, oh !! Weep with the good, beholding King and Pris Despised by that stern God to whom they raise Their suppliant hands; but holy is the feast He keepeth; like the firmament his ways: His statutes like the chambers of the deep.
TROUBLES OF CHARLES THE first.
EVEN Such the contrast that, where'er we move, To the mind's eye Religion doth present; Now with her own deep quietness content; Then, like the mountain, thundering from above Against the ancient pine-trees of the grove And the Land's humblest comforts. Recals the transformation of the flood, Whose rage the gentle skies in vain reprove, Earth cannot check. O terrible excess Of headstrong will! Can this be Piety? No-some fierce Maniac hath usurped her name And scourges England struggling to be free: Her peace destroyed! her hopes a wilderness! Her blessings cursed--her glory turned to shame!
FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE PRESENT TIME
I saw the figure of a lovely Maid Seated alone beneath a darksome tree, Whose fondly-overhanging canopy Set off her brightness with a pleasing shade. No Spirit was she; that my heart betrayed, For she was one I loved exceedingly ; But while I gazed in tender reverie (Or was it sleep that with my Fancy played The bright corporeal presence-form and face- Remaining still distinct grew thin and rare, Like sunny mist;—at length the golden hair, Shape, limbs, and heavenly features, keeping. Each with the other in a lingering Of dissolution, melted into air
LAST night, without a voice, that Vision spake Fear to my Soul, and sadness which might seem Wholly dissevered from our present theme; Yet, my beloved Country! I partake Of kindred agitations for thy sake;
Thou, too, dost visit oft my midnight dream; Thy glory meets me with the earliest beam Of light, which tells that Morning is awake. If aught impair thy beauty or destroy, Or but forebode destruction, I deplore With filial love the sad vicissitude;
If thou hast fallen, and righteous Heaven restore The prostrate, then my spring-time is renewed, And sorrow bartered for exceeding joy.
THERE are no colours in the fairest sky
So fair as these. The feather, whence the pen Was shaped that traced the lives of these good men, Dropped from an Angel's wing. With moistened eye We read of faith and purest charity
In Statesman, Priest, and humble Citizen: O could we copy their mild virtues, then What joy to live, what blessedness to die! Methinks their very names shine still and bright; Apart-like glow-worms on a summer night; Or lonely tapers when from far they fling A guiding ray; or seen-like stars on high, Satellites burning in a lucid ring Around meek Walton's heavenly memory.
WHO Comes with rapture greeted, and caress'd With frantic love-his kingdom to regain? Him Virtue's Nurse, Adversity, in vain Received, and fostered in her iron breast: For all she taught of hardiest and of best, Or would have taught, by discipline of pain And long privation, now dissolves amain, Or is remembered only to give zest To wantonness.-Away, Circean revels! But for what gain? if England soon must sink Into a gulf which all distinction levels- That bigotry may swallow the good name,
And, with that draught, the life-blood: misery, shame,
By Poets loathed; from which Historians shrink!
NOR shall the eternal roll of praise reject Those Unconforming; whom one rigorous day Drives from their Cures, a voluntary prey To poverty, and grief, and disrespect, And some to want-as if by tempests wrecked On a wild coast; how destitute! did They Feel not that Conscience never can betray, That peace of mind is Virtue's sure effect. Their altars they forego, their homes they quit, Fields which they love, and paths they daily trod, And cast the future upon Providence ; As men the dictate of whose inward sense Outweighs the world; whom self-deceiving wit Lures not from what they deem the cause of God.
YET Truth is keenly sought for, and the wind Charged with rich words poured out in thought's
Whether the Church inspire that eloquence, Or a Platonic Piety confined
To the sole temple of the inward mind;
And One there is who builds immortal lays, Though doomed to tread in solitary ways, Darkness before and danger's voice behind; Yet not alone, nor helpless to repel
Sad thoughts; for from above the starry sphere Come secrets, whispered nightly to his ear; And the pure spirit of celestial light Shines through his soul-that he may see and tell Of things invisible to mortal sight.'
PERSECUTION OF THE SCOTTISH COVENANTERS.
WHEN Alpine Vales threw forth a suppliant cry, The majesty of England interposed [closed;
And the sword stopped; the bleeding wounds were And Faith preserved her ancient purity. How little boots that precedent of good, Scorned or forgotten, Thou canst testify, For England's shame, O Sister Realm! from wood, Mountain, and moor, and crowded street, where lie The headless martyrs of the Covenant, Slain by Compatriot-protestants that draw From councils senseless as intolerant Their warrant. Bodies fall by wild sword-law; But who would force the Soul, tilts with a straw Against a Champion cased in adamant.
ACQUITTAL OF THE BISHOPS.
A VOICE, from long-expecting thousands sent, Shatters the air, and troubles tower and spire; For Justice hath absolved the innocent, And Tyranny is balked of her desire : Up, down, the busy Thames-rapid as fire Coursing a train of gunpowder-it went, And transport finds in every street a vent, Till the whole City rings like one vast quire. The Fathers urge the People to be still, With outstretched hands and earnest speech-in Yea, many, haply wont to entertain Small reverence for the mitre's offices, And to Religion's self no friendly will, A Prelate's blessing ask on bended knees.
A SUDDEN conflict rises from the swell Of a proud slavery met by tenets strained In Liberty's behalf. Fears, true or feigned, Spread through all ranks; and lo! the Sentinel Who loudest rang his pulpit 'larum bell, Stands at the Bar, absolved by female eyes Mingling their glances with grave flatteries Lavished on Him-that England may rebel Against her ancient virtue. HIGH and Low, Watch-words of Party, on all tongues are rife ; As if a Church, though sprung from heaven, must To opposites and fierce extremes her life,- [owe Not to the golden mean, and quiet flow Of truths that soften hatred, temper strife.
CALM as an under-current, strong to draw Millions of waves into itself, and run, From sea to sea, impervious to the sun And ploughing storm, the spirit of Nassau (Swerves not, how blest if by religious awe Swayed, and thereby enabled to contend With the wide world's commotions) from its end Swerves not diverted by a casual law. Had mortal action e'er a nobler scope? The Hero comes to liberate, not defy; And, while he marches on with stedfast hope, Conqueror beloved! expected anxiously! The vacillating Bondman of the Pope Shrinks from the verdict of his stedfast eye.
Down a swift Stream, thus far, a bold design Have we pursued, with livelier stir of heart Than his who sees, borne forward by the Rhine, The living landscapes greet him, and depart ; Sees spires fast sinking-up again to start! And strives the towers to number, that recline O'er the dark steeps, or on the horizon line Striding with shattered crests his eye athwart. So have we hurried on with troubled pleasure: Henceforth, as on the bosom of a stream That slackens, and spreads wide a watery gleam, We, nothing loth a lingering course to measure, May gather up our thoughts, and mark at leisure How widely spread the interests of our theme.
OBLIGATIONS OF CIVIL TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
UNGRATEFUL Country, if thou e'er forget The sons who for thy civil rights have bled! How, like a Roman, Sidney bowed his head, And Russel's milder blood the scaffold wet; But these had fallen for profitless regret Had not thy holy Church her champions bred, And claims from other worlds inspirited The star of Liberty to rise. Nor yet (Grave this within thy heart!) if spiritual things Be lost, through apathy, or scorn, or fear, Shalt thou thy humbler franchises support, However hardly won or justly dear:
What came from heaven to heaven by nature clings, And, if dissevered thence, its course is short.
ASPECTS OF CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA.
1. THE PILGRIM FATHERS.
WELL worthy to be magnified are they Who, with sad hearts, of friends and country took A last farewell, their loved abodes forsook, And hallowed ground in which their fathers lay; Then to the new-found World explored their way, That so a Church, unforced, uncalled to brook Ritual restraints, within some sheltering nook Her Lord might worship and his word obey In freedom. Men they were who could not bend; Blest Pilgrims, surely, as they took for guide A will by sovereign Conscience sanctified; Blest while their Spirits from the woods ascend Along a Galaxy that knows no end, But in His glory who for Sinners died.
FROM Rite and Ordinance abused they fled To Wilds where both were utterly unknown; But not to them had Providence foreshown What benefits are missed, what evils bred, In worship neither raised nor limited Save by Self-will. Lo! from that distant shore, For Rite and Ordinance, Piety is led Back to the Land those Pilgrims left of yore, Led by her own free choice. So Truth and Love By Conscience governed do their steps retrace.— Fathers! your Virtues, such the power of grace, Their spirit, in your Children, thus approve. Transcendent over time, unbound by place, Concord and Charity in circles move.
PLACES OF WORSHIP.
As star that shines dependent upon star Is to the sky while we look up in love;
As to the deep fair ships which though they move Seem fixed, to eyes that watch them from afar; As to the sandy desert fountains are, With palm-groves shaded at wide intervals, Whose fruit around the sun-burnt Native falls Of roving tired or desultory war- Such to this British Isle her christian Fanes, Each linked to each for kindred services; Her Spires, her Steeple-towers with glittering vanes Far-kenned, her Chapels lurking among trees, Where a few villagers on bended knees Find solace which a busy world disdains.
BISHOPS and Priests, blessed are ye, if deep (As yours above all offices is high) Deep in your hearts the sense of duty lie; Charged as ye are by Christ to feed and keep From wolves your portion of his chosen sheep: Labouring as ever in your Master's sight, Making your hardest task your best delight, What perfect glory ye in Heaven shall reap!— But, in the solemn Office which ye sought And undertook premonished, if unsound Your practice prove, faithless though but in thought, Bishops and Priests, think what a gulf profound Awaits you then, if they were rightly taught
YES, if the intensities of hope and fear Attract us still, and passionate exercise Of lofty thoughts, the way before us lies Distinct with signs, through which in set career, As through a zodiac, moves the ritual year Of England's Church; stupendous mysteries! Which whoso travels in her bosom eyes, As he approaches them, with solemn cheer. Upon that circle traced from sacred story We only dare to cast a transient glance, Trusting in hope that Others may advance With mind intent upon the King of Glory, From his mild advent till his countenance
Who framed the Ordinance by your lives disowned! | Shall dissipate the seas and mountains hoary.
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