Improving still permitted power
In seeking whom he may devour."

Then Noah, with an air dismay'd,
Turn'd to his son, and sorrowing said—
"Alas! too oft thy words and ways,
Through all our few and evil days,
Have brought a pang of fearful kind
To banish comfort from the mind,
Still bidding anxious terror wait
On every footstep of thy fate;

And now-even now, when God would give
A home of hope to us who live,

With rays of mercy round us shed,
On this-our pathway o'er the dead,
How darkly is thy spirit fraught
With breathings of unhallow'd thought,
Against that High and Holy One
Whose arm upholds us here alone;
And who in us should rather find
Deep gratitude of heart and mind,

Ascending still to where his love

Is shadow'd o'er us from above!

Hast thou not seen the work of wrath

Which bids creation sleep in death?
And seen how wayward man below

His ways of sin would not forego,

Repent not of the evil done,

Nor live in peace below the sun,

Till Mercy's hallow'd reign was o'er,

And Heaven would thus be mock'd no more,

But brought abroad his wrath, to blight
The nations in their lawless might?

And think'st thou he is bound to save
This remnant from the roaring wave,
Or eager clutch of demon grim,
Thus hovering o'er our dome so dim,
If it, with feelings that offend,
Against his holy will contend?
Think'st thou that he can not destroy
All mortal forms that life enjoy,

And yet, when after all are lost,

And deepest death has done its most,

Can bid not into being burst

A world as fair as at the first?

Forbear, oh! then, my son, forbear
To sink our spirit in despair,-
To entertain, and still unfold

These feelings dark, and wildly bold,
That well the curse of God may bring
On each forlorn and living thing

That hath been rescued from the wave
Which makes the universe a grave !—
May give the Evil One, abhorr'd,

The

power which sin can but afford, If heavenly aid should pass away, While thus he watches o'er his prey,

With aim to catch our fragile forms

Amid the eddying of his storms,

And heave them, from their refuge whirl'd,

In fragments o'er this wat'ry world."

Thus spoke the holy man, and Ham,
At his rebuke, again was calm,

Save that he show'd an anguish deep
That almost urged his eye to weep,
As feelings of repentance stirr'd
Around the heart that thus had err'd,
And bade him of his father crave
Forgiveness and he forgave.

Then, when the raven back had win
From his companionship with sin,
And doubting hearts were reconciled
To hail him from his wand'rings wild,
And wonted peace again began

To reign around the home of man,

The patriarch, with solemn air,

Lifted to heaven his voice of

prayer,

And craved, that it, in love, would make

All hearts unholy thoughts forsake,

And bow submissive to the will

Of Him who dealt in mercy still

With all that would, repentant, own
Their ways of guilt before His throne.

A SONG OF NOAH.

OH! Thou, who permittest the tempest that travels
In fearful array o'er the breast of the wave,
Who guidest the ocean o'er nature that revels,

By the arm that is mighty to smite or to save,Even now, from thy will, uncreated and holy,

Let a ray forth thy throne in eternity dawn, To banish the darkness, the strife, and the folly, Away from the home and the being of man!

The foe is abroad that, redoubted and mighty, Would urge our frail spirits against thee to war; Yet, oh! do thou lead us in ways that delight thee, Since thou in thy mercy art mightier far!

Let the wings of thy love overshadow our dwelling,

Thus toss'd on the tide of this measureless sea,