Not o'er cells of letter'd age;
Not o'er haunts of hoary sage;
Not where youthful poet stealing,
Woos the muse's warm revealing;
Not o'er wood and shadowy vale
Where the lover tells his tale,
And the blush-love's fondest token--
Speaks what words had never spoken;
Not where music's silver sound
Wakes the dormant echoes round,
And with charms as pure as tender,
Holds the heart in pleased surrender.
O'er the calm sequestered spot,
O'er the lone and lowly cot,
Where its little hands unwreathing,
Childhood's guileless prayer is breathing:
While the gentle mother nigh,
Points her daughter's prayer on high,
To the God whose goodness gave her,
To the God whose love shall save her;--
There, awhile, the Son of light
Would arrest his rapid flight;
Thence would bear, to heaven ascending,
Prayers with heartfelt praises blending.
Gladly would he soar above,
With the sacrifice of love;
And through Heaven's expanded portal,
Bear it to the throne immortal!
LAUDED be thy name for ever, Thou, of life the guard and giver! Thou canst guard thy creatures sleeping, Heal the heart long broke with weeping, Rule the ouphes and elves at will, That vex the air or haunt the hill, And all the fury subject keep Of boiling cloud and chafed deep! I have seen, and I well know it! Thou hast done, and thou wilt do it! God of stillness, and of motion ! Of the rainbow and the ocean! Of the mountain, rock, and river! Blessed be thy name for ever! I have seen thy wond'rous might Through the shadows of the night! Thou who slumber'st not, nor sleepest, Blest are they thou kindly keepest ! Spirits, from the ocean under, Liquid flame, and levell'd thunder, Need not waken, nor alarm themAll combined, they cannot harm them. God of evening's yellow ray; God of yonder dawning day, That rises from the distant sea Like breathings of eternity!
Thine the flaming sphere of light!
Thine the darkness of the night!
Thine are all the gems of even,
God of angels! God of heaven!
God of life, that fade shall never,
Glory to thy name for ever!
'Her touch unlocks the day-spring from above,
And visits man with beams of light and love.'
GENTLE, as if descended from the skies,
And lovely as an angel form must be,
A Spirit, as methought, before mine eyes,
Amidst the sons of Earth stole silently:
I watch'd her progress, as she seemed to shun
The eyes of all who would have known the cause,
Why she was bless'd with murmurs of applause,
When issuing from the homes of wretchedness.
She fed the hungry,-clothed nakedness,-
Watch'd with the mourner,-and upbraided none;-
But, as the Saviour of the world before
Had done, she bade them go,—and sin no more!
"Twas then I knew the angel form to be
The heav'n-born Spirit-Hallow'd Charity!
COVENANTER'S SCAFFOLD SONG.
SING with me! sing with me!
Weeping brethren, sing with me!
For now an open heaven I see,
And a crown of glory laid for me.
How my soul this earth despises!
How my heart and spirit rises!
Bounding from the flesh I sever!
World of sin, adieu for ever!
Sing with me! sing with me!
Friends in Jesus, sing with me!
All my sufferings, all my woe,
All my griefs I here forego.
Farewell terrors, sighing, grieving,
Praying, hearing, and believing,
Earthly trust and all its wrongings,
Earthly love and all its longings!
Sing with me! sing with me!
Blessed spirits, sing with me!
To the Lamb our song shall be,
Through a glad eternity!
Farewell earthly morn and even,
Sun and moon and stars of heaven;
Heavenly portals ope before me,
Welcome, Christ, in all thy glory!
But the monitory strain,
Oft repeated in our ears,
Seems to sound too much in vain,
Wins no notice, wakes no fears.
Pleasure's call attention wins,
Hear it often as we may;
New as ever seem our sins,
Though committed every day.
Death and judgment, heaven and bell,
These alone, so often heard,
No more move us than the bell,
When some stranger is interred.
Oh, then, ere the turf or tomb
Cover us from every eye,
Spirit of instruction, come,
Make us learn that we must die!
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