Though the fair tree of knowledge show'r
In rich redundance all her store,
And thou hast look'd and look'd again
At all the springs of joy and pain-
Not deeming heav'n itself too high,
To pass before thy searching eye;—
Yet to thyself, to others spare

That simple Faith whose fruit is Prayer!

O pause-If 'mid those darker themes,
Where struggling reason scarcely seems
To hold her empire o'er the breast,
And, weary, longs to be at rest-
If there one spirit mourns her lot,
Her light obscur'd, her trust forgot,
O dearly-bought the joy, the pride
Of wisdom, thus to doubt allied:
And better, better far to spare

The simple Faith which causeth Pray'r-
That faith, which, noiseless, meek and mild,.
The loftiest minds hath reconcil'd;
That faith which oft in times gone by,
Hath rais'd to heav'n the martyr's eye;
And now, in many an hour, will come,
When the heart mourns its martyrdom,
Feels thy cold hand, suspicion! rest
On many a kind and faithful breast,
Feels that the power which once allied
Its joys to theirs, must now divide.
Yet gathering sweetness out of pain,
Turns back to heav'n and hope again,
Looks through the passing cloud-and there
Breathes out the rising sigh in Prayer.—

That cheering faith whose glories steal,
O'er all we know, or see, or feel,
The grandeur and the beauty give,
To earth, and make it life to live;
Whose brightest rays are ever shed,
Upon the dying and the dead:
That in the fellowship of love,
Joins saints below and saints above;
That quickens, elevates, makes wise,
Soothes, cheers, supports and sanctifies-
O never, never from thee tear,

This simple Faith, whose fruit is Prayer!

HYMN TO THE STARS.

Aye, there ye shine, and there have shone
In one eternal "hour of prime,"

Each rolling, burningly alone,

Through boundless space and countless time:

Aye, there ye shine-the golden dews

That pave the realms by seraphs trod ;

There through yon echoing vault diffuse

The song of choral worlds to God.

Ye visible spirits! bright as erst

Young Eden's birthnight saw ye shine
On all her flowers and fountains first,

Yet sparkling from the hand divine;
Yes, bright as then ye smil'd to catch
The music of a sphere so fair,
Ye hold yon high immortal watch
And gird your God's pavilion there.

Gold frets to dust-yet there ye are ;
Time rots the diamond-there ye roll,
In primal light, as if each star

Enshrin'd an everlasting soul!—
And do they not-since yon bright throngs
One All-enlightening Spirit own,
Prais'd there by pure sidereal tongues,
Eternal, glorious, blest and lone ?

Could man but see what ye have seen,
Unfold awhile the shrouded past,
From all that is, to what has been,
The glance how rich, the
range
The birth of time-the rise, the fall,

Of empires, myriads, ages flown,

how vast!

Thrones, cities, tongues, arts, worships-all The things whose echoes are not gone.

Ye saw rapt Zoroaster send

His soul into your mystic reign: Ye saw the adoring Sabian bendThe living hills his mighty fane! Beneath his blue and beaming sky

He worship'd at your lofty shrine, And deem'd he saw, with gifted eye, The Godhead in his works divine.

And there ye shine, as if to mock
The children of a mortal sire :

The storm, the bolt, the earthquake's shock,
The red volcano's cataract fire,
Drought, famine, plague, and flood and flame,
All Nature's ills, (and Life's worse woes,)

Are nought to you-ye smile the same,
And scorn alike their dawn and close.

Aye, there ye roll-emblems sublime
Of Him whose Spirit o'er us moves,
Beyond the clouds of grief and crime,
Still shining on the world he loves ;-
Nor is one scene to mortals given

That more divides the soul and sod,
Than yon proud heraldry of heaven-
Yon burning blazonry of God!

OBITUARY.

SIR, Νου. 19, 1823. Believing the following Oration over the grave of my late excellent friend and correspondent, JOHN HANCOCK, of Lis burn, who died there Sept. 24th last, which was inserted in the "Irishman" of Oct. 3, a weekly paper published at Belfast, to be a just tribute to his memory, though delivered by a person of very different theological sentiments to those of the deceased, I send it for insertion in your valuable Journal. I subjoin a brief extract from a letter addressed by him to one of his sons, descriptive of the calm and consolatory state of his mind, in a reliance on the Divine goodness and mercy, when contemplating the near approach of his decease:

an

"I am not," says he to his son, noyed by persons who choose to envelop themselves in the thick mist of superstition, nor by those who please their fancies by the meteoric coruscations of ultrascepticism. I have settled my creed remote from both extremes, but according to Jeremy Taylor's apologue on toleration, as modernized by Dr. Franklin, that since the great Power of the universe bears with all varieties, why should not I bear with them for my short hour? It is a great comfort to me in the present season of sickness and debility, that I have carefully settled my creed in health. I am free from the gloom of superstition, and the equally gloomy notion of annihilation. I speculate not on the mode or manner of a future state, till death shall remove the veil, and I receive additional senses."

May you and I, with all that are most dear to us, when that inevitable, but wisely-ordained hour approaches which is destined to precede the entrance into the unseen world of life and immortality, be favoured with equal serenity and soundness of mind, however differently cach may be situated as to the present reputed extremes of orthodoxy and scepticism, somewhere between which, I have no doubt, the happy medium of genuine and scriptural Christianity lies, in which" the wayfaring man, though a fool," we are assured, "shall not err," and which the honest, earnest and fearless inquirer, who values truth above all things, cannot fatally mistake, inasmuch as his errors, whatever they may be, will be decided on by an all-wise, merciful, benevolent and indulgent Judge and Father of all.

THOMAS FOSTER.

"This very valuable man was yesterday buried in the Quakers' burying-ground in Lisburn. His remains were followed to the tomb by a large concourse of people of all denominations. The most respectable inhabitants of Lisburn and its vicinity assembled to pay their last respect to a fellow-townsman, whose solid and substantial qualities they had long admired. The poor, with the sincerity which generally characterizes them, followed the remains of their friend and protector. They called to their recollection those sad and calamitous days when nobody almost was to be found at the bed-side of the dying victim to the typhus fever but the inestimable individual whose loss they had then to lament. Protestants, Presbyterians and Catholics, felt it a duty they owed to this inflexible advocate of public justice, to pay him the last sad honours of the grave. When the body had arrived at its destined abode, Dr. TENNENT, one of the most intimate and confidential friends of the deceased, addressed the surrounding multitude in the following pathetic terms—a true and honest wribute to the worth of the departed, and a record full of value to the survivor:

"We are assembled here to perform the last solemn duty of affection and respect to our departed friend. Before committing his body for a season to its kindred dust, it may be profitable to take a short review of the tenor of his active and useful life, and observe some things which may be calculated to impress a desire on the living to go and do likewise. And here I must express regret that my acquaintance with John Hancock can only be considered recent, hardly yet extending to twenty years; but from the beginning, that acquaintance immediately ripened into friendship, which no accident ever disturbed, and which continued perfect and uninterrupted until the last moment of his life. Although belonging to a meritorious sect, and brought up in that strict discipline for which the members of it are distinguished, I understand that he early began to think for himself on that most important of all subjects— Religion: and when his views did not square with theirs, he conscientiously separated from their society. It may be observed on this part of his conduct, that if he did not believe some things which many good men consider essential, it may justly be ascribed to a fear lest so much reliance might be placed on believing as

to weaken the attention to that purity of conduct and universal benevolence for which he himself was always so remarkable: and I think this construction is fairly borne out by the whole of his after-life. Who like him so constant in visiting the widows and fatherless in their affliction? Who so attentive to the wants of the sick and destitute, to relieve the poor, and plead the cause of the oppressed? And who so unwearied in following the example of him who went about doing good? If any such, I trust their hearts will be found right before God, and that any involuntary error of their heads will lie lightly on them. John Hancock had no formal creed, religious or political, but the fervent aspiration of his heart was, Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, and good-will towards men.' This he thought could never be attained without freedom-that freedom which becomes men possessing reason, and desirous of happiness; who should not only be free to secure that happiness, but encouraged and directed by freely-chosen collective wisdom in the pursuit of it. This made him the ardent and zealous advocate of liberty, the uncompromising enemy of corruption in the State or in the Church, and of all tyranny or assumed power in either, inconsistent with the perfect exercise of individual exertion to procure a man's own good, and that of the society of which he is a member. Our late friend was a Reformer indeed: after securing civil and religious liberty on sure foundations, he would have reform brought home to a man's own bosom, and considered liberty, however precious in itself, as little better than licentiousness, unless founded upon virtuous conduct; he considered the victory not to be yet won nor the prize gained, unless the heart, the temper and the affections were reformed also. This is what distinguished his principles; he went to the root of the matter, both as to the external system and the internal qualifications, by which alone that system can be advanced to perfection; he would have man stand erect in freedom, that he might successfully cultivate their dispositions, which confer upon freedom all its value. To this end all his efforts were directed, his writings breathed the same spirit, and his precepts were powerfully recommended by his example. Indeed, agreeable to his own doctrine, his life was a practical comment on moral and political science. He devoted himself to practical utility, and all his extraordinary powers were employed, with an energy rarely witnessed, to do good and to communicate good to all within the sphere of his activity, without regard to differ

ences of opinion, or oppositions arising
from misapprehension, well knowing that
with such sacrifices as these God is well
pleased. He was a man fitted to bear a
part in a better state of society than the
present; but such a man as Providence
sometimes vouchsafes to mankind to
cheer them under the gloomy aspect of
human affairs, and to excite others to a
persevering philanthropy, independently
of every worldly hope or expectation. In
no country could such an example be
more useful than in Ireland, and in none
could the loss of such a one be felt more
severely. Here, where integrity is assailed
with so many temptations, and where
systematic delusions are practised to ac-
complish the overthrow of public virtue,
we would need to fix our eyes steadily
on one who has stood firm all his days,
and who, having finished his course with
honour, may now safely be contemplated
as an object for imitation by all who love
their country and mankind. He was a
man whom all may imitate; plain, direct,
right-forward in all his pursuits; he had
but one object in view-the advancement
of human happiness, and from this no
consideration of difficulty, or danger, or
obloquy, of personal labour or personal
sacrifice, could ever induce him to swerve.
Every one may not possess his talents,
but every one may possess his integrity;
and every one may propose to himself the
same laudable end in all his actions, and
follow it during life with the same con-
stancy, and at its close rest from his
labours with the same humble conscious-
ness of having endeavoured, to the best
of his power, to do that which it was his
duty to do. It is at this awful period
that the value of a man's life can be truly
appreciated; no delusive plea can be ad-
vanced now; no flattery can now cover
delinquency or assuage the sorrows of
regret; but, the righteous shall enter
into peace; they shall rest in their beds,
each one walking in his uprightness.'
We do not mean to follow our late la-
mented friend into the privacies of domes-
tic life, to scenes of family happiness often
witnessed. Here, indeed, he was himself

here, were centered the choice enjoyments of his life-here, he reaped the reward of his anxiety and toils for a more extended circle—and here, he found refreshment in the intervals of public exertion, and consolation for those disappointments to which the philanthropist is peculiarly liable. But I must pause, and not attempt, too rudely, perhaps, to penetrate the recesses of domestic life, or withdraw the veil from the sacredness and delicacy of filial regret and love. However, I may emphatically remark, that here the tree is known by its fruit;

and, if I might offer one suggestion to his now sorrowing family, it would be-not to slacken in the race of virtue, to have a father's example ever present to their contemplation, and to be fully assured that the most grateful incense they can offer to his memory, will be to surpass him in the unostentatious and substantial usefulness of his life; like him, endeavouring, with all their strength, to render glory to God in the highest, to promote peace upon earth, and good-will towards

"To conclude:-although the death of such a man as John Hancock must always be felt as a severe loss to society, and particularly to us who have known him and experienced his worth, yet let us be devoutly grateful to the Giver of every good gift, who has lent him to us so long as a shining light in the world, and that he was not prematurely cut off in the midst of his course, but, though not arrived at extreme old age, is come to the grave mature in years, and full of days and honour; and may God, of his bounty to mankind, grant many such men to arise, like him, to stem the tide of corruption, to advocate the cause of justice, to be the bulwarks of their country's independence, and the enlightened friends of the human race!"