A bolt of death approaching, turned aside
And let it pass; as surely did the man
Who verily believed the word of God,
Though erring whiles, its general laws obey,
Turn back from hell, and take the way to
heaven.

That faith was necessary, some alleged,
Unreined and uncontrollable by will.
Invention savouring much of hell! Indeed,
It was the master-stroke of wickedness,
Last effort of Abaddon's council dark,
=To make man think himself a slave to fate,
And worst of all, a slave to fate in faith.
For thus 'twas reasoned then :-From faith alone,
And from opinion, springs all action: hence,
If faith's compelled, so is all action too :
But deeds compelled are not accountable;
So man is not amenable to God.

FAIREST of those that left the calm of heaven
And ventured down to man, with words of peace
Daughter of Grace! known by whatever name,
Of Holiness! the day of thy reward
Religion Virtue! Piety! or Love
Was come.

spised

Ah! thou wast long despised: de

By those thou wooedst from death to endless life.
Modest and meek, in garments white as those
That seraphs wear, and countenance as mild
As Mercy looking on Repentance' tear,
With eye of purity, now darted up
To God's eternal throne, now humbly bent
That glowed with universal love immense,
Upon thyself, and weeping down thy cheek
A tear, pure as the dews that fall in heaven;
In thy left hand, the olive branch, and in
Thy right, the crown of immortality-

With noiseless foot, thou walkedst the vales of
earth,

Arguing that brought such monstrous birth, Beseeching men from age to age, to turn though good

From utter death-to turn from woe to bliss;

It seemed, must have been false: most false it Beseeching evermore, and evermore

was,

And by the book of God condemned throughout.
We freely own that truth, when set before
The mind, with perfect evidence, compelled
Belief: but error lacked such witness still.
And none,
who now lament in moral night,
The word of God refused on evidence
That might not have been set aside, as false.
To reason, try, choose and reject, was free:
Hence God, by faith, acquitted, or condemned;
Hence righteous men, with liberty of will
Believed; and hence thou saw'st in Erebus,
The wicked, who as freely disbelieved
What else had led them to the land of life.

BOOK IX.

ANALYSIS.

Despised-not evermore despised, not now,
Not at the day of doom: most lovely then,
Most honourable thou appeared, and most
To be desired. The guilty heard the song
Of thy redeemed, how loud! and saw thy face,
How fair!-Alas! it was too late! the hour
Of making friends was past; thy favour then
Might not be sought: but recollection, sad
And accurate, as miser counting o'er
And o'er again the sum he must lay out,
Distinctly in the wicked's ear rehearsed
Each opportunity despised and lost;

While on them gleamed thy holy look, that like
A fiery torrent went into their souls.

The day of thy reward was come-the day

Of great remuneration to thy friends;

To those, known by whatever name, who sought,

In every place, in every time, to do

Unfeignedly their Maker's will, revealed,

Or gathered else from nature's school; well

pleased

With God's applause alone, that, like a stream
Of sweetest melody, at still of night

AN apostrophe to Religion, Virtue, Piety, or love By wanderer heard, in their most secret ear, of Holiness.

Description of several classes of the redeemed. The faithful minister, the true philosopher, the righteous governor, the uncorrupted statesman, the brave general, the man of active benevolence and charity, the Christian bard. And the most numerous among the saved were such, who on earth were eclipsed by lowly circumstances, many of whom were seen "highest and first in honour."

Suddenly an innumerous host of angels, headed by Michael and Gabriel, descended from heaven, silently and without song, and lifting mankind into mid air, parted the good and bad; to the right and left, the good to weep no more, and the bad never to smile again; the righteous placed "beneath a crown of rosy light," and the wicked were driven and bound under a cloud of darkness, where stood also Satan and his legion, awaiting the judgment and punishment due to their rebellion.

For ever whispered, Peace; and as a string
Of kindred tone awoke, their inmost soul,
Responsive, answered, Peace; inquiring still
And searching, night and day, to know their
duty-

When known, with undisputing trust, with love
Unquenchable, with zeal, by reason's lamp
Inflamed-performing; and to Him, by whose
Profound, all-calculating skill alone,
Results results even of the slightest act,
Are fully grasped, with unsuspicious faith,
All consequences leaving; to abound
Or want alike prepared; who knew to be
Exalted how, and how to be abased;
How best to live, and how to die when asked.
Their prayers sincere, their alms in secret done,
Their fightings with themselves, their abstinence
From pleasure, though by mortal eye unseen,
Their hearts of resignation to the will
Of Heaven, their patient bearing of reproach
And shame, their charity, and faith, and hope,

Thou didst remember, and in full repaid.
No bankrupt thou, who at the bargained hour
Of payment due, sent to his creditors
A tale of losses and mischances long.
Insured by God himself, and from the stores
And treasures of his wealth at will supplied,
Religion! thou alone, of all that men,
On Earth, gave credit, to be reimbursed

Anointed by the Holy Ghost, and set
Apart to the great work of saving men;
Instructed fully in the will divine;
Supplied with grace in store, as need might as
And with the stamp and signature of heaven,
Truth, mercy, patience, holiness and love,
Accredited; he was a man by God,

The Lord, commissioned to make known to me

On the other side the grave, didst keep thy word, The eternal counsels; in his Master's name, Thy day, and all thy promises fulfilled.

As in the mind, rich with unborrowed wealth,
Where multitudes of thoughts for utterance strive,
And all so fair, that each seems worthy first
To enter on the tongue, and from the lips
Have passage forth,-selection hesitates,
Perplexed, and loses time; anxious, since all
Cannot be taken, to take the best; and yet
Afraid, lest what be left be worthier still;
And grieving much, where all so goodly look,
To leave rejected one, or in the rear
Let any be obscured: so did the bard,
Though not unskilled, as on that multitude
Of men, who once awoke to judgment, he
Threw back reflection, hesitating, pause.
For as his harp, in tone severe, had sung
What figure the most famous sinners made,
When from the grave they rose unmasked;
did

He wish to character the good: but yet
Among so many, glorious all, all worth
Immortal fame, with whom begin, with whom
To end, was difficult to choose; and long
His auditors, upon the tiptoe raised
Of expectation, might have kept, had not
His eye-for so it is in heaven, that what
Is needed always is at hand-beheld,
That moment, on a mountain near the throne
Of God, the most renowned of the redeemed
Rejoicing; nor who first, who most to praise,
Debated more; but thus, with sweeter note,
Well pleased to sing, with highest eulogy,
And first, whom God applauded most,-began.

To treat with them of everlasting things;
Of life, death, bliss, and woe: to offer terms
Of pardon, grace, and peace, to the rebelled;
To teach the ignorant soul; to cheer the sad ;
To bind, to loose with all authority;

To give the feeble strength, the hopeless hope:
To help the halting, and to lead the blind;
To warn the careless; heal the sick of heart;
Arouse the indolent; and on the proud
And obstinate offender, to denounce
The wrath of God. All other men, what name
Soe'er they bore, whatever office held,
If lawful held-the magistrate supreme,
Or else subordinate, were chosen by men,
Their fellows, and from men derived their power
And were accountable for all they did
To men; but he alone his office held
Immediately from God, from God received
so Authority, and was to none but God
Amenable. The elders of the church,
Indeed, upon him laid their hands, and set
Him visibly apart to preach the word
Of life; but this was merely outward rite,
And decent ceremonial, performed
On all alike; and oft, as thou hast heard,
Performed on those, God never sent his call.
His consecration, his anointing, all
Were inward; in the conscience heard and felt.
Thus by Jehovah chosen and ordained,
To take into his charge the souls of men;
And for his trust to answer at the day
Of judgment-great plenipotent of heaven,
And representative of God on earth-
Fearless of men and devils; unabashed
By sin enthroned, or mockery of a prince;
Unawed by armed legions; unseduced
By offered bribes; burning with love to souls
Unquenchable, and mindful still of his
Great charge and vast responsibility,
High in the temple of the living God
He stood, amidst the people, and declared
Aloud the truth, the whole revealed truth,
Ready to seal it with his blood. Divine
Resemblance most complete! with mercy now,
And love, his face, illumed, shone gloriously;
And frowning now indignantly, it seemed
As if offended Justice, from his eye,
Streamed forth vindictive wrath! Men her
alarmed:

With patient ear, thou now hast heard-though

whiles

Aside digressing, ancient feeling turned
My lyre, what shame the wicked had that day;
What wailing, what remorse: so hear in brief,
How bold the righteous stood-the men re-
deemed!

How fair in virtue! and in hope how glad!
And first among the holy shone, as best
Became, the faithful minister of God.

See where he walks on yonder mount, that lifts
Its summit high, on the right hand of bliss!
Sublime in glory! talking with his peers
Of the Incarnate Saviour's love, and past
Affliction, lost in present joy! See how
His face with heavenly ardour glows! and how
His hand, enraptured, strikes the golden lyre!
As now conversing of the Lamb once slain,
He speaks; and now, from vines that never hear
Of winter, but in monthly harvest yield
Their fruit abundantly, he plucks the grapes
Of life! but what he was on earth it most
Behoves to say :-Elect by God himself;

The uncircumcised infidel believed;
Light thoughted Mirth grew serious and wept:
The laugh profane sunk in a sigh of deep
Repentance; the blasphemer, kneeling, prayed
And, prostrate in the dust, for mercy called;
And cursed old forsaken sinners gnashed
Their teeth, as if their hour had been arrived.
Such were his calling, his commission such:
Yet he was humble, kind, forgiving, meck,
Easy to be entreated, gracious, mild;

And with all patience and affection, taught,
Febuked, persuaded, solaced, counselled, warned,
In fervent style and manner. Needy, poor,
And dying men, like music, heard his feet
Approach their beds; and guilty wretches took
New hope, and in his prayers wept and smiled,
And blessed him, as they died forgiven; and all
Saw in his face contentment, in his life,
The path to glory and perpetual joy.
Deep learned in the philosophy of heaven,
He searched the causes out of good and ill,
Profoundly calculating their effects

Far past the bounds of time; and balancing,
In the arithmetic of future things,
The loss and profit of the soul to all
Eternity. A skilful workman he,

In God's great moral vineyard; what to prune
With cautious hand, he knew; what to uproot;
What were mere weeds, and what celestial plants,
Which had unfading vigour in them, knew:
Nor knew alone; but watched them night and
day,

And reared and nourished them, till fit to be
Transplanted to the Paradise above.

Be multiplied. Religious man! what God
By prophets, priests, evangelists, revealed
Of sacred truth, he thankfully received,
And, by its light directed, went in search
Of more: before him, darkness fled and all
The goblin tribe, that hung upon the breasts
Of night, and haunted still the moral gloom,—
With shapeless forms, and blue infernal lights,
And indistinct and devilish whisperings,
That the miseducated fancies vexed
Of superstitious men,-at his approach,
Dispersed invisible. Where'er he went,
This lesson still he taught: To fear no ill
But sin, no being but Almighty God.
All-comprehending sage! too hard alone
For him was man's salvation; all besides,
Of use or comfort, that distinction made
Between the desperate savage, scarcely raised
Above the beast whose flesh he ate undressed,
And the most polished of the human race,
Was product of his persevering search.
Religion owed him much, as from the false
She suffered much; for still his main design,
In all his contemplations, was to trace
The wisdom, providence, and love of God,

O! who can speak his praise! great, humble And to his fellows, less observant, show
man!

He in the current of destruction stood,
And warned the sinner of his woe; led on
Immanuel's armies in the evil day;
And with the everlasting arms, embraced
Himself around, stood in the dreadful front
Of battle, high, and warred victoriously

Them forth. From prejudice redeemed, with

all

His passions still, above the common world,
Sublime in reason, and in aim sublime,

He sat, and on the marvellous works of God,
Sedately thought: now glancing up his eye
Intelligent, through all the starry dance;

With death and hell. And now was come his rest, And penetrating now the deep remote

His triumph day: illustrious like a sun,
In that assembly, he, shining from far,
Most excellent in glory, stood assured,
Waiting the promised crown, the promised throne,
The welcome and approval of his Lord.
Nor one alone, but many-prophets, priests
Apostles, great reformers, all that served
Messiah faithfully, like stars appeared,
Of fairest beam; and round them gathered, clad
In white, the vouchers of their ministry-
The flock their care had nourished, fed, and saved.

Nor yet in common glory, blazing, stood
The true philosopher, decided friend
Of truth and man; determined foe of all
Deception, calm, collected, patient, wise,
And humble; undeceived by outward shape
Of things; by fashion's revelry uncharmed;
By honour unbewitched ;-he left the chase
Of vanity, and all the quackeries
Of life, to fools and heroes, or whoe'er
Desired them; and with reason, much despised,
Traduced, yet heavenly reason, to the shade
Retired-retired, but not to dream, or build
Of ghostly fancies, seen in the deep noon
Of sleep, ill balanced theories; retired,
But did not leave mankind; in pity, not

In wrath, retired; and still, though distant, kept
His eye on men; at proper angle took
His stand to see them better, and beyond
The clamour which the bells of folly made,
That most had hung about them, to consult
With nature, how their madness might be cured,
And how their true substantial comforts might

Of central causes, in the womb opaque
Of matter hid; now, with inspection nice,
Entering the mystic labyrinths of the mind,
Where thought, of notice ever shy, behind
Thought disappearing, still retired; and still,
Thought meeting thought, and thought awaken-
ing thought,

And mingling still with thought, in endless

maze,

Bewildered observation: now with eye,
Yet more severely purged, looking far down
Into the heart, where Passion wove a web
Of thousand thousand threads, in grain and hue
All different; then, upward venturing whiles,
But reverently, and in his hand, the light
Revealed, near the eternal throne, he gazed,
Philosophizing less than worshipping.
Most truly great! his intellectual strength,
And knowledge vast, to men of lesser mind
Seemed infinite; yet from his high pursuits,
And reasonings most profound, he still returned
Home, with an humbler and a warmer heart.
And none so lowly bowed before his God,
As none so well His awful majesty
And goodness comprehended; or so well
His own dependency and weakness knew.

How glorious now! with vision purified
At the Essential Truth, entirely free
From error, he, investigating still-
For knowledge is not found, unsought, in hea-

ven,

From world to world at pleasure roves, on wing
Of golden ray upborne; or, at the feet

Of heaven's most ancient sages, sitting, hears
New wonders of the wondrous works of God.

Illustrious too, that morning, stood the man
Exalted by the people, to the throne
Of government, established on the base
Of justice, liberty, and equal right:

Who, in his countenance sublime, expressed
A nation's majesty, and yet was meek
And humble; and in royal palace gave
Example to the meanest, of the fear
Of God, and all integrity of life

And manners; who, august, yet lowly; who,
Severe, yet gracious; in his very heart
Detesting all oppression, all intent

Of private aggrandizement: and the first
In every public duty,-held the scales

Of justice, and as the law, which reigned in him,
Commanded, gave rewards; or with the edge
Vindictive, smote,-now light, now heavily,
According to the stature of the crime.
Conspicuous, like an oak of healthiest bough,
Deep rooted in his country's love. he stood
And gave his hand to Virtue, helping up
The honest man to honour and renown;

All misery, all fortune's wounds; and make
The soul of every living thing rejoice.
O thou wast needed much in days of time!
No virtue, half so much; none half so fair:
To all the rest, however fine, thou gavest
A finishing and polish, without which
No man e'er entered heaven. Let me record
His praise, the man of great benevolence,
Who pressed thee closely to his glowing heart,
And to thy gentle bidding made his feet
Swift minister.-Of all mankind, his soul
Was most in harmony with heaven: as one
Sole family of brothers, sisters, friends;
One in their origin, one in their rights
To all the common gifts of providence,
And in their hopes, their joys, and sorrows one,
He viewed the universal human race.
He needed not a law of state, to force
Grudging submission to the law of God;
The law of love was in his heart, alive:
What he possessed, he counted not his own,
But like a faithful steward, in a house
Of public alms, what freely he received,
He freely gave; distributing to all
The helpless, the last mite beyond his own

And with the look which goodness wears in wrath, Temperate support, and reckoning still the gift
Withering the very blood of Knavery,
And from his presence driving far, ashamed.

Nor less remarkable, among the blest,
Appeared the man, who, in the senate-house,
Watchful, unhired, unbribed, and uncorrupt,
And party only to the common weal,

In virtue's awful rage, pleaded for right,
With truth so clear, with argument so strong,
With action so sincere, and tone so loud
And deep, as made the despot quake behind
His adamantine gates, and every joint
In terror smite his fellow-joint relaxed;
Or, marching to the field, in burnished steel,
While, frowning on his brow, tremendous hung
The wrath of a whole people, long provoked,-
Mustered the stormy wings of war, in day
Of dreadful deeds; and led the battle on,
When liberty, swift as the fires of heaven,
In fury rode, with all her hosts, and threw
The tyrant down; or drove invasion back.
Illustrious he-illustrious all appeared,
Who ruled supreme in righteousness; or held
Inferior place, in steadfast rectitude
Of soul. Peculiarly severe had been

The nurture of their youth; their knowledge
great;

But justice, due to want; and so it was;
Although the world, with compliment not ill
Applied, adorned it with a fairer name.
Nor did he wait till to his door the voice
Of supplication came, but went abroad,
With foot as silent as the starry dews,
In search of misery that pined unseen,
And would not ask. And who can tell what

sights

He saw! what groans he heard in that cold world
Below! where Sin, in league with gloomy Death
Marched daily through the length and breadth of
all

The land, wasting at will, and making earth,
Fair earth a lazar-house, a dungeon dark,
Where Disappointment fed on ruined Hope;
Where Guilt, worn out, leaned on the triple edg
Of want, remorse, despair; where Cruelty
Reached forth a cup of wormwood to the lips
Of Sorrow, that to deeper Sorrow wailed;
Where Mockery, and Disease, and Poverty,
Met miserable Age, erewhile sore bent
With his own burden; while the arrowy winda
Of winter pierced the naked orphan babe,
And chilled the mother's heart, who had no home.
And where, alas! in mid-time of his day,
The honest man, robbed by some villain's ha

Great was their wisdom; great their cares, and Or with long sickness pale, and paler yet

great

Their self-denial, and their service done

To God and man; and great was their reward
At hand, proportioned to their worthy deeds.

Breathe all thy minstrelsy, immortal harp! Breathe numbers warm with love, while I rehearse

Delightful theme! resembling the songs

With want and hunger, oft drank bitter draugh
Of his own tears, and had no bread to eat.
Oh! who can tell what sights he saw, whe
shapes

Of wretchedness! or who describe what smiles
Of gratitude illumed the face of woe,
While from his hand he gave the bounty forth!
As when the sun, to Cancer wheeling back,
Returned from Capricorn, and showed the north

Which, day and night, are sung before the That long had lain in cold and cheerless night.

Lamb!

Thy praise, O Charity! thy labours most
Divine; thy sympathy with sighs, and tears,
And groans; thy great, thy god-like wish to heal

His beamy countenance, all nature then
Rejoiced together glad; the flower looked up
And smiled; the forest from his locks shook of
The hoary frosts, and clapped his hands; the b

Awoke, and, singing, rose to meet the day;
And from his hollow den, where many months
He slumbered sad in darkness, blythe and light
Of heart the savage sprung; and saw again
His mountains shine; and with new songs of love,
Allured the virgin's ear-so did the house,
The prison-house of guilt, and all the abodes
Of unprovided hopelessness, revive,

As on them looked the sunny messenger

Of charity; by angels tended still,

Philosophy was deemed of deeper thought,
And judgment more severe than Poetry;
To fable she, and fancy more inclined.
And yet if Fancy, as was understood,
Was of creative nature, or of power
With self-wrought stuff to build a fabric up,
To mortal vision wonderful and strange,

That marked his deeds, and wrote them in the Philosophy, the theoretic, claimed

Of God's remembrance:-careless he to be
Observed of men; or have each mite bestowed
Recorded punctually, with name and place,
In every bill of news: pleased to do good,
He gave and sought no more-nor questioned
much,

Nor reasoned who deserved; for well he knew
The face of need. Ah me! who could mistake?
The shame to ask, the want that urged within,
Composed a look so perfectly distinct
From all else human, and withal so full
Of misery, that none could pass untouched
And be a christian; or thereafter claim,
In any form, the name or rights of man;
Or, at the day of judgment, lift his eye:

While he, in name of Christ, who gave the poor She reasoned deeply, when she wildly raved.

Heaven's fairest dress! and round him ranged in Was most severely thoughtful, most minute

And accurate of observation, most
Familiarly acquainted with all modes
And phases of existence. True, no doubt,
He had originally drunk, from out
The fount of life and love, a double draught,
That gave, whate'er he touched, a double life;
But this was mere desire at first, and power
Devoid of means to work by; need was still
Of persevering, quick, inspective mood
Of mind, of faithful memory, vastly stored,
From universal being's ample field,

With knowledge; and a judgment sound and
clear,

Well disciplined in nature's rules of taste: had Discerning to select, arrange, combine, From infinite variety, and still