A tear stood in his eye;
His tongue lay parch'd; a sigh
Broke from his soul, in silent eloquence:
A thought of life had past;
His spirit felt the blast,

Which shatter'd every feeling,-every sense.
What was the thought that tore
His heart-strings to the core?

The past, the hours of youthful joy and bliss,
Upon his vision shone ;-

A once fond happy home:

His father's look,

-a mother's peaceful kiss.

Tracing his childhood up,

Till manhood's bitter cup

Was full, and poison'd to his panting soul;
The unrequited pang
Throughout his dreaming rang,

And yet he deeply drank from out the bowl.
Hope lost,-love crost: he felt
His hardy spirit melt,

And shrink aghast beneath the dreadful blow.
His friends all slept in peace,

Yet he had no release;

Alone he dwelt with Life,-a bitter foe.
He smiled!-0, wherefore he,
Whose life, fell Destiny

Had made the sport of every passing hour?
'Twas resignation's calm

That pour'd its soothing balm,

And bade him trust beyond an earthly power.
Above his snow-white head

His palsied hands were spread;
Whilst hallow'd thoughts enrapt the restless strife.
He pray'd:-no words he spoke,

But from his eyes there broke
A gleam of joy ;-he felt Religion's life.

Thoughts such as upwards fly,

To seek Eternity,

Had wing'd,-where sorrow raiseth not her tear,
Where pangs no more can start,

And rend or break the heart;

Thoughts all of heaven alone;-not earth-not here.

COMPARISON OF HOPES.

"THERE still is hope," the worldling cries,
"While there is life and breath."

The Christian looks beyond the skies,
And hopes for life in death.

K.

TO THE UNDECIDED.

"How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him."-1 KINGS xviii. 21.

THIS world is composed of three different classes;
And those are most num'rous, we all must allow,
Who carelessly trifle with time as it passes,

Whose pleasure consists in false glitter and show.
And then there's the Christian: he gloriously rises
Above such vain phantoms, such joys of a day;
Superior far are the joys which he prizes;

They bloom in eternity, ne'er to decay.

And then, there are those who remain undecided,
Uncertain and doubtful which course to pursue :
Between God and mammon their hearts are divided;
They wish to serve God, and his enemy too.
But vain your attempt to unite two dominions
So totally opposite!-O ye unwise!

"How long will ye halt thus between two opinions?"
One road or the other must lead to the skies.
"If Jehovah be God, then follow Jehovah ;

If Baal, then follow him," bid God depart:
But the fruitless endeavour entirely give over,
Of holding both Baal and God in your heart.
As well, when this earth in deep darkness is shrouded,
Might we hope to see Sol once again shed his light,
And yet leave the world with dark gloom overclouded,
As Baal and God in one heart to unite.

Consider, ye sinners, the claim God has on you;
He has surely a right to demand your whole heart:
O cast indecision and doubt away from you,

Determine for ever from sin to depart.

If now you 're convinced, O yield to conviction;
Resolve to be God's, in the strength of his grace;
E'en now he beholds you with tender affection,

And you, as his children, he longs to embrace.
And will you, when God freely offers you pardon,
When angels are waiting the news to convey
To heaven; still perversely, your heart will you harden,
And turn from those merciful offers away?
O, no! leave your present unstable condition;
No longer thus halting and wavering stand;
But now, even now, boldly make your decision,
And place yourself under Jehovah's command.
I charge you again, as you hope for salvation,

O flee to the Saviour! His rich flowing blood,
If applied to your heart, will remove condemnation,
And gain you a place in the mansions of God.
Hayes, May 9th.

MATILDA.

FEJEE.

I DREAM'D of the land where the Fejee dwells,
I dream'd of the land of the cannibals;
Those blood-stain'd isles in the distant sea,
The abodes of vice and cruelty.

Dark, O dark, as the shadow of night
Was the mist that mock'd the piercing sight,
As though with a thick, a sombre pall,
'Twere enshrouding the land of the cannibal.
I dream'd again; and the soil was trod
By the hallow'd feet of the Man of God;
The lamp of truth in his hand he bore,
As he traced his steps on the crimson'd shore.
A halo seem'd around him spread,
The shadows flee as his footsteps tread;
He knelt, he bow'd his spirit in prayer;
He rose, he felt that his God was there.
He blew the Gospel trumpet loud:
Around him assembled a savage crowd;
Demoniac smiles on their visage play'd,
But he trembled not, nor was he afraid;
Unfolding the simple Gospel plan,
He spake of the love of God to man;
Till a cry re-echoed from shore to shore,
"Why did you not tell us of this before?"
I dream'd, and wafted on the breeze
Came sounds of angel melodies;
The Fejee bows before the Lord,
He pleads the promise of his word:
His prayer of faith is heard in heaven,
He knows, he feels his sins forgiven,
And shouts of holy rapture rise,

And swell the chorus of the skies.

Salop.

:

S. A. M.

THOUGHTS ON ENTERING A PLACE OF WORSHIP.

WHAT favour, Lord, that I should meet,
With saints around thy mercy-seat,

And love the house of prayer!

What once was weariness and pain,
Is now my choice, delight, and gain,
The solace of my care.

O let returning Sabbaths be
A sign betwixt my soul and thee,

Of mercy, love, and peace!

This one thing will I seek with zeal,-
Within thine earthly courts to dwell

Until I see thy face!

London: R. Needham, Printer, Paternoster-Row.

K.