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[From The Parting Hour.)

LIFE.

MINUTELY trace man's life: year after year,

Through all his days let all his deeds appear,

And then, though some may in that life be strange,

Yet there appears no vast nor sudden change:

The links that bind those various deeds are seen,

And no mysterious void is left between.

But let these binding links be all destroyed,

All that through years he suffered or enjoyed:

Let that vast gap be made, and then behold

This was the youth, and he is thus

when old;

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If ever, smiling o'er a lucky line, Ye thought the sudden sentiment divine,

Then paused and doubted, and then tired of doubt,

With rage as sudden dashed the stanza

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And hope shines dimly through o'erclouded skies;

Some drops of comfort on the favored fall,

But showers of sorrow are the lot of all:

Partial to talents, then, shall Heaven withdraw

Th' afflicting rod, or break the general law?

Shall he who soars, inspired by loftier views,

Life's little cares and little pains refuse?

Shall he not rather feel a double share Of mortal woe, when doubly armed to bear?

[From The Library.]

UNION OF FAITH AND REASON NECESSARY.

WHEN first Religion came to bless the land,

Her friends were then a firm believing band,

To doubt was then to plunge in guilt extreme,

And all was gospel that a monk could dream;

Insulted Reason fled the grovelling soul,

For Fear to guide, and visions to control;

But now, when Reason has assumed her throne,

She, in her turn, demands to reign alone;

Rejecting all that lies beyond her view,

And, being judge, will be a witness

too:

Insulted Faith then leaves the doubtful mind,

To seek the truth, without a power to find:

Ah! when will both in friendly beams unite,

And pour on erring man resistless light?

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