His own humanity with Thee will share,
Pleased with the thanks that in his People's eye Thou offerest up for safe Delivery
From Childbirth's perilous throes. And should the Heir
Of thy fond hopes hereafter walk inclined
To courses fit to make a mother rue
That ever he was born, a glance of mind Cast upon this observance may renew A better will; and, in the imagined view Of thee thus kneeling, safety he may find.
HE Sabbath bells renew the inviting peal;
Glad music! yet there be that, worn with pain And sickness, listen where they long have lain, In sadness listen. With maternal zeal Inspired, the Church sends ministers to kneel Beside the afflicted; to sustain with prayer, And soothe the heart confession hath laid bareThat pardon, from God's throne, may set its seal On a true Penitent. When breath departs From one disburthened so, so comforted, His Spirit Angels greet; and ours be hope That, if the Sufferer rise from his sick-bed, Hence he will gain a firmer mind, to cope With a bad world, and foil the Tempter's arts.
HUN not this Rite, neglected, yea abhorred, By some of unreflecting mind, as calling
Man to curse man, (thought monstrous and appalling). Go thou and hear the threatenings of the Lord; Listening within his Temple see his sword
Unsheathed in wrath to strike the offender's head, Thy own, if sorrow for thy sin be dead,
Guilt unrepented, pardon unimplored.
Two aspects bears Truth needful for salvation ; Who knows not that?-yet would this delicate age Look only on the Gospel's brighter page: Let light and dark duly our thoughts employ; So shall the fearful words of Commination Yield timely fruit of peace and love and joy.
O kneeling Worshippers no earthly floor Gives holier invitation than the deck
Of a storm-shattered Vessel saved from Wreck (When all that Man could do availed no more) By him who raised the Tempest and restrains : Happy the crew who this have felt, and pour Forth for his mercy, as the Church ordains, Solemn thanksgiving. Nor will they implore In vain who, for a rightful cause, give breath To words the Church prescribes aiding the lip For the heart's sake, ere ship with hostile ship Encounters, armed for work of pain and death. Suppliants! the God to whom your cause ye trust Will listen, and ye know that He is just.
ROM the Baptismal hour, thro' weal and woe, The Church extends her care to thought and deed;
Nor quits the Body when the Soul is freed, The mortal weight cast off to be laid low. Blest Rite for him who hears in faith, I know That my Redeemer liveth,'-hears each word That follows-striking on some kindred chord Deep in the thankful heart;—yet tears will flow. Man is as grass that springeth up at morn, Grows green, and is cut down and withereth Ere nightfall-truth that well may claim a sigh, Its natural echo; but hope comes reborn At Jesu's bidding. We rejoice, 'O Death,
Where is thy Sting?-O Grave, where is thy Victory?'
LOSING the sacred Book which long has fed Our meditations, give we to a day
Of annual joy one tributary lay;
This day, when, forth by rustic music led, The village Children, while the sky is red With evening lights, advance in long array Through the still churchyard, each with garland gay, That, carried sceptre-like, o'ertops the head
Of the proud Bearer. To the wide church-door, Charged with these offerings which their fathers bore 10 For decoration in the Papal time,
The innocent Procession softly moves :—
The spirit of Laud is pleased in heaven's pure clime, And Hooker's voice the spectacle approves!
ULD that our scrupulous Sires had dared to leave
Less scanty measure of those graceful rites And usages, whose due return invites
A stir of mind too natural to deceive;
Giving to Memory help when she would weave A crown for Hope!--I dread the boasted lights That all too often are but fiery blights, Killing the bud o'er which in vain we grieve. Go, seek, when Christmas snows discomfort bring, The counter Spirit found in some gay church Green with fresh holly, every pew a perch In which the linnet or the thrush might sing, Merry and loud and safe from prying search, Strains offered only to the genial Spring.
ROM low to high doth dissolution climb,
And sink from high to low, along a scale Of awful notes, whose concord shall not fail; A musical but melancholy chime,
Which they can hear who meddle not with crime, Nor avarice, nor over-anxious care.
Truth fails not; but her outward forms that bear The longest date do melt like frosty rime, That in the morning whitened hill and plain And is no more; drop like the tower sublime Of yesterday, which royally did wear
His crown of weeds, but could not even sustain Some casual shout that broke the silent air, Or the unimaginable touch of Time.
ONASTIC Domes! following my downward way, Untouched by due regret I marked your fall!
Now, ruin, beauty, ancient stillness, all Dispose to judgments temperate as we lay On our past selves in life's declining day: For as, by discipline of Time made wise, We learn to tolerate the infirmities And faults of others-gently as he may, So with our own the mild Instructor deals, Teaching us to forget them or forgive. Perversely curious, then, for hidden ill Why should we break Time's charitable seals? Once ye were holy, ye are holy still;
Your spirit freely let me drink, and live!
EMIGRANT FRENCH CLERGY
VEN while I speak, the sacred roofs of France Are shattered into dust; and self-exiled
From altars threatened, levelled, or defiled, Wander the Ministers of God, as chance Opens a way for life, or consonance Of faith invites. More welcome to no land The fugitives than to the British strand, Where priest and layman with the vigilance Of true compassion greet them. Creed and test Vanish before the unreserved embrace Of catholic humanity :-distrest
They came, and, while the moral tempest roars Throughout the Country they have left, our shores Give to their Faith a fearless resting-place.
HUS all things lead to Charity, secured
By THEM who blessed the soft and happy gale That landward urged the great Deliverer's sail, Till in the sunny bay his fleet was moored! Propitious hour! had we, like them, endured Sore stress of apprehension,1 with a mind Sickened by injuries, dreading worse designed, From month to month trembling and unassured, How had we then rejoiced! But we have felt,
As a loved substance, their futurity:
Good, which they dared not hope for, we have seen; A State whose generous will through earth is dealt; A State-which, balancing herself between Licence and slavish order, dares be free.
UT liberty, and triumphs on the Main,
And laurelled armies, not to be withstood
What serve they? if, on transitory good
Intent, and sedulous of abject gain,
The State (ah, surely not preserved in vain!) Forbear to shape due channels which the Flood Of sacred truth may enter-till it brood
O'er the wide realm, as o'er the Egyptian plain The all-sustaining Nile. No more-the time
Is conscious of her want; through England's bounds, 10 In rival haste, the wished-for Temples rise!
I hear their sabbath bells' harmonious chime
Float on the breeze-the heavenliest of all sounds That vale or hill prolongs or multiplies!
E this the chosen site; the virgin sod,
Moistened from age to age by dewy eve, Shall disappear, and grateful earth receive The corner-stone from hands that build to God.
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