THE PATH OF HEAVEN NARROW AND THORNY. 225

The flinty soil indeed their feet annoys;
Chill blasts of trouble nip their springing joys;
An envious world will interpose its frown,
To mar delights superior to its own;
And many a pang, experienced still within,
Reminds them of their hated inmate, Sin;
But ills of every shape and every name,
Transform'd to blessings, miss their cursed aim;
And every moment's calm that soothes the breast
Is given in earnest of eternal rest.

Ah, be not sad, although thy lot be cast
Far from the flock, and in a boundless waste!
No shepherd's tents within thy view appear;
But the chief Shepherd even there it near.
Thy tender sorrows and thy plaintive strain
Flow from a foreign land, but not in vain ;
Thy tears all issue from a source divine,
And every drop bespeaks a Saviour thine;
So once in Gideon's fleece the dews were found,
And drought on all the drooping herbs around.

COWPER.

Jab's Complaint.

Or all my race there breathes not one,
To comfort or deplore me!
Pain wakes a pulse in every bone,

And Death is closing o'er me.
Still does his lifted stroke delay,
Protracted tortures dooming,
I feel, ere life has pass'd away,
His very worm consuming.

Night spreads her mantle o'er the sky,
And all around are sleeping,
While I in tears of agony,

My restless couch am steeping.
I sigh for morn-the rising day
Awakes the earth to gladness;
I turn with sick'ning soul away—
It smiles upon my sadness.

Cursed be the day-in tempest wildWhen first, with looks delighted, My mother smiled upon her child, And felt her pangs requited!

O that by human eye unseen,

I might have fled from sorrow; And been as though I had not beenAs I would be to morrow!

JOB'S COMPLAINT.

The light wave sparkling in the beam
That trembles o'er the river,
A moment sheds its quivering gleam
Then shuns the sight for ever:
So soft a ray can Pleasure shed,
While secret snares surround it :
So swift the faithless hope is fled,
Which wins the heart to wound it.
A crown of glory graced my brow
Whole nations bent before me;
Princes and hoary sires would bow
To flatter and adore me.

To me the widow turn'd for aid,

And ne'er in vain address'd me;
For me the grateful orphan pray'd
The soul of misery bless'd me.

I raised the drooping wretch that pined
In lonely anguish lying;

Was balm unto the wounded mind,
And solace to the dying;

Till one stern stroke of all my state,
my bliss, bereft me;
And I was worse than desolate,

Of all

For God himself had left me.

Ye, too, as life itself beloved,
When all conspired to bless me,

I deem'd friends-but
ye

ye

have proved

The foes who most oppress me.

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JOB'S COMPLAINT.

I could have borne the slave's rude scorn,
The wreck of all I cherish'd;
Had one-but one-remain'd to mourn
O'er me, when I too perish'd.

My children sleep in death's cold shade,
And nought can now divide them;
O would the same wild storm had laid
Their wretched sire beside them;
I had not then been doom'd to see
The loss of all who love me;
Unbroken would my slumbers be
Though none had wept above me.

All hope on earth for ever fled,
A higher hope remaineth;

E'en while his wrath is o'er me shed,
I know my Saviour reigneth.
The worm may waste this with'ring clay,

When flesh and spirit sever,

My soul shall see eternal day,
And dwell with God for ever!

DALE.

The Saint.

A SAINT! O would that I could claim
The privileged, the honour'd name,
And confidently take my stand,
Though lowest in the saintly band.

Would, though it were in scorn applied,
That term the test of truth could bide,
Like kingly salutation given,

In mockery to the King of heaven.

A Saint! and what imports the name,
Thus bandied in Derision's game?

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Holy and separate from sin;

To good, nay e'en to God, akin."

Is such the meaning of a name,

From which a Christian shrinks with shame? Yes, dazzled by the glorious sight,

He owns his crown is all too bright.

And ill might son of Adam dare
Alone such weight of honours bear ;
But fearlessly he takes the load,
United to the Son of God.