With all Elijah's dignity of tone,

And all the love of the beloved John,

To storm the citadels they build in air,

And smite the untemper'd wall; 'tis death to spare
To sweep away all refuges of lies,

And place, instead of quirks themselves devise,
Lama sabacthani before their eyes';

To prove, that without Christ all gain is loss,
All hope despair, that stands not on his cross;
Except the few his God may have impress'd,
A tenfold frenzy seizes all the rest.

625

630

Throughout mankind, the Christian kind at least,
There dwells a consciousness in ev'ry breast,
That folly ends where genuine hope begins,

636

And he that finds his Heav'n must lose his sins.

Nature opposes with her utmost force

This riving stroke, this ultimate divorce;

640

And, while religion seems to be her view,
Hates with a deep sincerity the true :
For this, of all that ever influenc'd man,
Since Abel worshipp'd, or the world began,
This only spares no lust, admits no plea,

645

But makes him, if at all, completely free;

Sounds forth the signal, as she mounts her car,

Of an eternal, universal war ;

Rejects all treaty, penetrates all wiles,

649

Scorns with the same indiff'rence frowns and smiles;

Drives through the realms of Sin, where Riot reels,

And grinds his crown beneath her burning wheels!

Hence all that is in man, pride, passion, art,

Pow'rs of the mind, and feelings of the heart,

Insensible of Truth's almighty charms,

655

Starts at her first approach, and sounds to arms!

While Bigotry, with well-dissembled fears,

His eyes shut fast, his fingers in his ears,

Mighty to parry and push by God's word

With senseless noise, his argument the sword,

660

Pretends a zeal for godliness and grace,
And spits abhorrence in the Christian's face.

Parent of Hope, immortal Truth! make known
Thy deathless wreaths and triumphs all thine own:
The silent progress of thy pow'r is such,

"

665

Thy means so feeble, and despis'd so much,

That few believe the wonders thou hast wrought,

And none can teach them, but whom thou hast taught.

O see me sworn to serve thee, and command ·

A painter's skill into a poet's hand.

670

That while I trembling trace a work divine,

Fancy may stand aloof from the design,

And light, and shade, and ev'ry stroke be thine.

If ever thou hast felt another's pain:

If ever when he sigh'd, hast sigh'd again;

675

If ever on thy eyelid stood the tear

That pity had engender'd, drop one here.

This man was happy-had the World's good word,
And with it ev'ry joy it can afford;

Friendship and love seem'd tenderly at strife,

680

Which most should sweeten his untroubled life;
Politely learn'd, and of a gentle race,

Good breeding and good sense gave all a grace,

And whether at the toilette of the fair

He laugh'd and trifled, made him welcome there; 685 Or if in masculine debate he shar'd,

Ensur'd him mute attention and regard.

Alas, how chang'd! Expressive of his mind,
His eyes are sunk, arms folded, head reclin'd;
Those awful syllables, Hell, death, and sin,
Though whisper'd plainly, tell what works within,
That Conscience there performs her proper part,
And writes a doomsday sentence on his heart;
Forsaking, and forsaken of all friends,

He now perceives where earthly pleasure ends
Hard task! for one who lately knew no care,
And harder still as learn'd beneath despair

690

695

His hours no longer pass unmark'd away,
A dark importance saddens ev'ry day ;
He hears the notice of the clock perplex'd,
And cries, Perhaps eternity strikes next;
Sweet musick is no longer musick here,
And laughter sounds like madness in his ear;
His grief the world of all her pow'r disarms,
Wine has no taste, and beauty has no charms;
God's holy word, once trivial in his view,
Now by the voice of his experience true,
Seems, as it is, the fountain whence alone

Must spring that hope he pants to make his own
Now let the bright reverse be known abroad;
Say man's a worm, and pow'r belongs to God.
As when a felon, whom his country's laws
Have justly doom'd for some atrocious cause,
Expects in darkness and heart chilling fears,
The shameful close of all his mispent years;
If chance, on heavy pinions slowly borne,
A tempest usher in the dreaded morn,
Upon his dungeon walls the lightnings play,
The thunder seems to summon him away,
The warder at the door his key applies,
Shoots back the bolt, and all his courage dies
If then, just then, all thoughts of mercy lost;
When hope, long ling'ring, at last yields the ghost,
The sound of pardon pierce his startled ear,
He drops at once his fetters and his fear;
A transport glows in all he looks and speaks,
And the first thankful tears bedew his cheeks.
Joy, far superiour joy, that much outweighs
The comfort of a few poor added days,
Invades, possesses, and o'erwhelms the soul

700

705

710

715

720

725

730

Of him, whom Hope has with a touch made whole... 'Tis Heav'n, all Heav'n descending on the wings

Of the glad legions of the King of kings;

'Tis more-'tis God diffus'd through ev'ry part, Tis God himself triumphant in his heart

735

O welcome now the Sun's once hated light
His noonday beams were never half so bright.
Not kindred minds alone are call'd t' employ
Their hours, their days, in list'ning to his joy;
Unconscious nature all that he surveys,

740

Rocks, groves, and streams, must join him in his

praise.

These are thy glorious works, eternal Truth,

The scoff of wither'd age and beardless youth;
These move the censure and illib'ral grin

Of fools that hate thee and delight in sin:

745

But these shall last when night has quench'd the

pole,

And Heav'n is all departed as a scroll.

And when, as Justice has long since decreed,

This earth shall blaze, and a new world succeed,

Then these thy glorious works, and they who share

That hope, which can alone exclude despair,
Shall live exempt from weakness and decay,
The brightest wonders of an endless day.

751

Happy the bard, (if that fair name belong
To him that blends no fable with his song,)
Whose lines uniting, by an honest art,
The faithful monitor's, and poet's part,

755

Seek to delight, that they may mend mankind,

And while they captivate, inform the mind:

Still happier, if he till a thankful soil,

760

And fruit reward his honourable toil :

But happier far, who comfort those that wait
To hear plain truth at Judah's hallow'd gate:
Their language simple, as their manners meek;
No shining ornaments have they to seek;
Nor labour they, nor time, nor talents waste,
In sorting flow'rs to suit a fickle taste;
But while they speak the wisdom of the skies,
Which art can only darken and disguise,
Th' abundant harvest, recompense divine,

765

770

Repays their work-the gleaning only mine.

CHARITY.

Quo nihil majus meliusve terris
Fata donavere, bonique divi;

Nec dabunt, quamvis redeant in aurum
Tempora priscum.

HOR. lib. iv. Od. 2.

FAIREST and foremost of the train, that wait
On man's most dignified and happiest state,
Whether we name thee Charity or Love,
Chief grace below, and all in all above,
Prosper, (I press thee with a pow'rful plea,)
A task I venture on, impell'd by thee:

O never seen but in thy bless'd effects,

Or felt but in the soul that Heav'n selects;

Who seeks to praise thee, and to make thee known

To other hearts, must have thee in his own.
Come, prompt me with benevolent desires,
Teach me to kindle at thy gentle fires,

10

And though disgrac'd and slighted, to redeem
A poet's name, by making thee the theme.

God, working ever on a social plan,

15

By various ties attaches man to man :

He made at first, though free and unconfin'd,
One man the common father of the kind;
That ev'ry tribe, though plac'd as he sees best,
Where seas or deserts part them from the rest,

20