THE Sabbath bells renew the inviting peal;
Glad music! yet there be that, worn with pain of the Sick And sickness, listen where they long have lain, In sadness listen. With maternal zeal Inspired, the Church sends ministers to kneel Beside the afflicted; to sustain with prayer, And soothe the heart confession hath laid bare- That pardon, from God's throne, may set its seal On a true Penitent. When breath departs From one disburthened so, so comforted, His Spirit Angels greet; and ours be hope That, if the Sufferer rise from his sick-bed, Hence he will gain a firmer mind, to cope With a bad world, and foil the Tempter's arts.
SHUN not this Rite, neglected, yea abhorred, By some of unreflecting mind, as calling
Man to curse man, (thought monstrous and tion Service
Go thou and hear the threatenings of the LORD; Listening within his Temple see his sword Unsheathed in wrath to strike the offender's head, Thy own, if sorrow for thy sin be dead, Guilt unrepented, pardon unimplored. Two aspects bears Truth needful for salvation; Who knows not that ?-yetwould this delicate age Look only on the Gospel's brighter page: Let light and dark duly our thoughts employ ; So shall the fearful words of Commination Yield timely fruit of peace and love and joy.
Forms of To kneeling Worshippers no earthly floor Prayer at Gives holier invitation than the deck
Of a storm-shattered Vessel saved from Wreck (When all that Man could do availed no more) By him who raised the Tempest and restrains : Happy the crew who this have felt, and pour Forth for his mercy, as the Church ordains, Solemn thanksgiving. Nor will they implore In vain who, for a rightful cause, give breath To words the Church prescribes aiding the lip For the heart's sake, ere ship with hostile ship Encounters, armed for work of pain and death. Suppliants! the God to whom your cause ye trust Will listen, and ye know that He is just.
Funeral FROM the Baptismal hour, thro' weal and woe, Service The Church extends her care to thought and deed; Nor quits the Body when the Soul is freed, The mortal weight cast off to be laid low, Blest Rite for him who hears in faith, "I know That my Redeemer liveth,"-hears each word That follows-striking on some kindred chord Deep in the thankful heart;-yet tears will flow. Man is as grass that springeth up at morn, Grows green, and is cut down and withereth Ere nightfall-truth that well may claim a sigh, Its natural echo; but hope comes reborn At Jesu's bidding. We rejoice, "O Death, Where is thy Sting?-O Grave, where is thy Victory?"
CLOSING the sacred Book which long has fed Rural Our meditations, give we to a day
Of annual joy one tributary lay;
This day, when, forth by rustic music led, The village Children, while the sky is red With evening lights, advance in long array Through the still church-yard, each with garland gay,
That, carried sceptre-like, o'ertops the head Of the proud Bearer. To the wide church-door, Charged with these offerings which their fathers bore For decoration in the Papal time,
The innocent Procession softly moves:- The spirit of Laud is pleased in heaven'spure clime, And Hooker's voice the spectacle approves !
WOULD that our scrupulous Sires had dared to leave Regrets Less scanty measure of those graceful rites And usages, whose due return invites
A stir of mind too natural to deceive;
Giving to Memory help when she would weave A crown for Hope !-I dread the boasted lights That all too often are but fiery blights,
Killing the bud o'er which in vain we grieve. Go, seek, when Christmas snows discomfort bring, The counter Spirit found in some gay church Green with fresh holly, every pew a perch In which the linnet or the thrush might sing, Merry and loud and safe from prying search, Strains offered only to the genial Spring.
Mutability FROM low to high doth dissolution climb, And sink from high to low, along a scale Of awful notes, whose concord shall not fail; A musical but melancholy chime,
Which they can hear who meddle not with crime, Nor avarice, nor over-anxious care.
Truth fails not; but her outward forms that bear The longest date do melt like frosty rime, That in the morning whitened hill and plain And is no more; drop like the tower sublime Of yesterday, which royally did wear
His crown of weeds, but could not even sustain Some casual shout that broke the silent air, Or the unimaginable touch of Time.
Old Abbeys MONASTIC Domes! following my downward way, Untouched by due regret I marked your fall! Now, ruin, beauty, ancient stillness, all Dispose to judgments temperate as we lay On our past selves in life's declining day : For as, by discipline of Time made wise, We learn to tolerate the infirmities And faults of others-gently as he may, So with our own the mild Instructor deals, Teaching us to forget them or forgive. Perversely curious, then, for hidden ill Why should we break Time's charitable seals? Once ye were holy, ye are holy still; Your spirit freely let me drink, and live!
EVEN while I speak, the sacred roofs of France Emigrant
Are shattered into dust; and self-exiled
From altars threatened, levelled, or defiled,
Wander the Ministers of God, as chance Opens a way for life, or consonance
Of faith invites. More welcome to no land The fugitives than to the British strand, Where priest and layman with the vigilance Of true compassion greet them. Creed and test Vanish before the unreserved embrace Of catholic humanity :-distrest
They came,—and, while the moral tempest roars Throughout the Country they have left, our shores Give to their Faith a fearless resting-place.
THUS all things lead to Charity, secured By THEM who blessed the soft and happy gale That landward urged the great Deliverer's sail, Till in the sunny bay his fleet was moored! Propitious hour! had we, like them, endured Sore stress of apprehension, with a mind Sickened by injuries, dreading worse designed, From month to month trembling and unassured, How had we then rejoiced! But we have felt, As a loved substance, their futurity:
Good, which they dared not hope for, we have seen: A State whose generous will through earth is dealt; A State-which, balancing herself between Licence and slavish order, dares be free.
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