THE VANITY OF WORLDLY PLEASURES.
QUIT the world's fantastic joys;
Her honours are but gilded toys,
Her bliss an empty shade:
Like meteors in the midnight sky,
That glitter for a while and die,
Her glories flash and fade.
Let fools for riches strive and toil,
Let greedy minds divide the spoil,
'Tis all too mean for me:
Above the earth, above the skies,
My bold and fervent wishes rise,
My God! to heaven and thee.
O Source of glory, life and love!
When to thy courts I mount above
On contemplation's wings,
I look with pity and disdain
On all the pleasures of the vain,
On all the pomp of kings.
Thy beauties rising on my sight,
Divinely sweet, divinely bright,
With rapture fill my breast;
Though robb'd of all my worldly store,
In thee I never can be poor,
But must be ever blest.
ARK that swift arrow! how it cuts the air,
How it outruns the following eyes!
Use all persuasions now and try
If thou canst call it back, or stay it there.
That way it went; but thou shalt find
No track is left behind.
Fool! 'tis thy life, and the fond archer thou.
Of all the time thou'st shot away,
I'll bid thee fetch but yesterday,
And it shall be too hard a task to do.
Besides repentance, what canst find
That it hath left behind?
ADVERSITY but serves to bind
In closer union mind with mind;
Bids each from each the pang remove,
And draws from grief the balm of love.
Thus underneath the golden sky
That smiles on blissful Araby,
The balsam's lenient tear, confined,
Sleeps in the smooth unbroken rind;
But, kindly flowing from the wound,
Sheds life and healing fragrance round.
PARAPHRASE OF CXXII. PSALM.*
WHAT joy, while thus I view the day,
That warns my thirsting soul away;
What transports fill my breast! For lo! my great Redeemer's power Unfolds the everlasting door,
And leads me to his rest.
The festal morn, my God, is come,
That calls me to the hallow'd dome,
Thy presence to adore ;
My feet the summons shall attend,
With willing steps thy courts ascend,
And tread th' etherial floor.
Ev'n now to my expecting eyes
The heaven-built towers of Salem rise;
Ev'n now, with glad survey,
I view her mansions, that contain
Th' angelic forms, an awful train,
And shine with cloudless day.
* Translated from Buchanan.
Hither from earth's remotest end,
Lo! the redeem'd of God ascend,
Their tribute hither bring:
Here, crown'd with everlasting joy,
In hymns of praise their tongues employ,
And hail the immortal King.
Mother of cities! o'er thy head
See Peace, with healing wings outspread, Delighted fix her stay!
How blest who calls himself thy friend! Success his labours shall attend,
And safety guard his way.
Thy walls remote from hostile fear,
Nor the loud voice of tumult hear,
Nor war's wild wastes deplore;
There smiling Plenty takes her stand,
And in thy courts with lavish hand,
Has pour'd forth all her store.
Let me, blest seat! my name behold,
Among thy citizens enroll'd,
In thee for ever dwell:
Let Charity my steps attend,
My sole companion and my friend,
And Faith and Hope, farewell!
́ES, there are moments which he calls his own. Then, never less alone than when alone, Those that he loved so long and sees no more,
Loved and still loves-not dead—but gone before,
He gathers round him, and revives at will
Scenes in his life--that breathe enchantment still—
That come not now at dreary intervals-
But where a light as from the Blessed falls,
A light such guests bring ever-pure and holy—
Lapping the soul in sweetest melancholy!
-Ah then less willing (nor the choice condemn)
To live with others than to think on them!
And now behold him up the hill ascending,
Memory and Hope like evening stars attending ;
Sustain'd, excited, till his course is run,
By deeds of virtue done or to be done.
When on his couch he sinks at length to rest,
Those by his counsel saved, his power redress'd,
Those by the world shunn'd ever as unblest,
At whom the rich man's dog growls from the gate;
But whom he sought out, sitting desolate,
Come and stand round-the widow with her child,
As when she first forgot her tears and smiled!
They who watch by him, see not; but he sees,
Sees and exults-Were ever dreams like these?
They who watch by him, hear not; but he hears,
And Earth recedes, and Heaven itself appears!
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