XXXIX.

A long lost parent still would seem to read

With winning accents, and becoming mien; His friendly, well-known hand appeared to lead The lingering swain, and from the grave to glean Immortal food, on gospel's goodly field,

That does to faith a constant harvest yield.

XL.

E'en now he feels him o'er his mind preside;
The heart does long a first-loved image frame;
The stream of youth long flows in manhood's tide :
He looks the sire; in name, and soul the same:
If adverse winds to shake his hopes e'er try,

They rise the higher, and the blasts defy.

XLI.

The oaken chair from which his much-loved sire
Was wont the Christian's manna to diffuse,

At close of summer eve, or round the winter fire,
To souls more grateful than the favoured Jews,
Seems still the echo of that warning voice,
Which all could awe, or could make all rejoice.

XLII.

The Bible oft distils a pious tear,

Its time-worn marks recall the bliss-crowned sage, Whose silent counsels thrill affection's ear;

Whose spirit, breathing through the oft read page, To holy inspiration lends a charm,

Life's woes to sooth, and grimmest death disarm.

XLIII.

The wife's deep love the husband's faith conceives;

In angels' arms her sleeping boy now dreams;

She fondly in his sigh and smile believes

That life immortal sheds its certain gleams :

Her rising soul she to the Boor reveals,

While rapture melts, and from her eyelid steals.

XLIV.

My love, he says, your thoughts are heavenward bent,
And right that at this hour they join with mine;
For prayer and praise, from faithful bosoms sent,
Will doubtless reach the ear of Power divine:
But from uncertain symptoms fear to draw
Conclusions best sustained on holy law.

XLV.

The cause of souls immortal moved the will

Of heaven's Great King; from state of bliss brought

down

His spotless Lamb, all justice to fulfil :

But passing flowers fit not a deathless crown; Sepulchral honour craves the hardest pile,—

Shall hopes eternal live on sigh or smile?

XLVI.

These brutes evince the tokens you have seen;
E'en now our dog, on which puss soundly sleeps,
Did swell his cheek, and show the yellow sheen

Of pointed tooth; our cat's bright claw now peeps
From paw expanding; she too heaves a sigh:
Yet, mortal all, they live, they dream, they die.

XLVII.

With tenderest looks did such expressions flow,
From deep felt sympathies, and fond regard:
Responsive to the voice did warmly glow

The docile mind; instruction's best reward
Did woo acceptance on the grateful eye;
And breathed conviction spoke affection nigh.

XLVIII.

Our heavenly views weak prejudice obscures :
The sun of revelation needs no aid,

Like that which gloom too oft to light procures :
For reason as for conscience it was made:
Producing faith, with them it will combine
Through every age, on every heart to shine.

XLIX.

The joys and woes of that eternal doom,

Of which the foretaste thrills the anxious mind,

Angelic intercourse, and from the tomb

Returning spirits on the evening wind, To hope of life still drooping as it soars, Can not lift up heaven's everlasting doors.

L.

The dazzling radiance of celestial sway,
Terrific hell wide yawning to devour,
Would hide in bright eclipse eternal day,

Or merge the faith in dread forebodings' lour; From God's right hand did not redemption shine, To cheer their gloom who sinfully repine.

C

LI.

On Hermon's dews, on Jordan's desert stream,

Not night's mild Queen, not star-obscuring morn, More constant shines, than Scripture's searching beam Within our swains sheds love, or holy scorn;

In Israel's bonds the sins of man they see;

And hew the cross from Eden's fatal tree.

LII.

A blissful unction on their vigils falls,

Unknown, yet felt; scarce savouring aught of time, But shutting out the world, and all the thralls

That cramp the soul; that doubt its right sublime Of soaring night and morn, on faith's swift wing, From crumbling earth, to heaven's Eternal King.

LIII.

Persuaded that the arm of God's high power

Round Moses' childhood special shelter threw,

From heavenward brow they chase the doubtful lour, When Genesis to the astonished view

Heaven's gates on darkness palpable wide throws,

Where chaos shrouds man's coming joys and woes.