FullReads

There is great moral force about this; its measure and words put one in mind of the majestic lines of Shirley, beginning

“The glories of our earthly state
Are shadows, not substantial things.”

COCK-CROWING.

“Father of lights! what Sunnie seed,
What glance of day hast thou confin’d
Into this bird? To all the breed
This busie Ray thou hast assign’d;
Their magnetisme works all night,
And dreams of Paradise and light.

“Their eyes watch for the morning-hue,
Their little grain expelling night
So shines and sings, as if it knew
The path unto the house of light.
It seems their candle, howe’er done,
Was tinn’d and lighted at the sunne.”

This is a conceit, but an exquisite one.

PROVIDENCE.

“Sacred and secret hand!
By whose assisting, swift command
The Angel shewd that holy Well,
Which freed poor Hagar from her fears,
And turn’d to smiles the begging tears
Of yong distressed Ishmael.”

There is something very beautiful and touching in the opening of this on Providence, and in the “yong distressed Ishmael.”

THE DAWNING.

“Ah! what time wilt thou come? when shall that crie,
The Bridegroome’s Comming! fill the sky?
Shall it in the Evening run
When our words and works are done?
Or will thy all-surprizing light
Break at midnight,
When either sleep, or some dark pleasure
Possesseth mad man without measure?
Or shall these early, fragrant hours
Unlock thy bowres?
And with their blush of light descry
Thy locks crown’d with eternitie?
Indeed, it is the only time
That with thy glory doth best chime;
All now are stirring, ev’ry field
Full hymns doth yield;
The whole Creation shakes off night,
And for thy shadow looks the light.”

This last line is full of grandeur and originality.

THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.

“Lord, when thou didst on Sinai pitch,
And shine from Paran, when a firie Law,
Pronounc’d with thunder and thy threats, did thaw
Thy People’s hearts, when all thy weeds were rich,
And Inaccessible for light,
Terrour, and might;–
How did poore flesh, which after thou didst weare,
Then faint and fear!
Thy Chosen flock, like leafs in a high wind,
Whisper’d obedience, and their heads inclin’d.”

The idea in the last lines, we may suppose, was suggested by what Isaiah says of the effect produced on Ahaz and the men of Judah, when they heard that Rezin, king of Syria, had joined Israel against them. “And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved by the winds.”

HOLY SCRIPTURES.

“Welcome, dear book, soul’s Joy and food! The feast
Of Spirits; Heav’n extracted lyes in thee.
Thou art life’s Charter, The Dove’s spotless nest
Where souls are hatch’d unto Eternitie.

“In thee the hidden stone, the Manna lies;
Thou art the great Elixir rare and Choice;
The Key that opens to all Mysteries,
The Word in Characters, God in the Voice.”

This is very like Herbert, and not inferior to him.

In a poem having the odd mark of “�,” and which seems to have been written after the death of some dear friends, are these two stanzas, the last of which is singularly pathetic:–

“They are all gone into the world of light!
And I alone sit lingring here!
Their very memory is fair and bright,
And my sad thoughts doth clear.

“He that hath found some fledg’d bird’s nest may know
At first sight if the bird be flown;
But what fair Dell or Grove he sings in now,
That is to him unknown.”

Referring to Nicodemus visiting our Lord:–

THE NIGHT. (JOHN iii. 2.)