Page images
PDF
EPUB

131

BOOK THE FOURTH.

DESPONDENCY CORRECTED.

HERE closed the Tenant of that lonely vale
His mournful Narrative commenced in pain,
In pain commenced, and ended without peace :
Yet tempered, not unfrequently, with strains
Of native feeling, grateful to our minds;
And doubtless yielding some relief to his,
While we sate listening with compassion due
Such pity yet surviving, with firm voice,

That did not falter, though the heart was moved,
The Wanderer said—

"One adequate support

For the calamities of mortal life

Exists, one only;

- an assured belief

That the procession of our fate, howe'er
Sad or disturbed, is ordered by a Being

Of infinite benevolence and power,
Whose everlasting purposes embrace
All accidents, converting them to good.
-The darts of anguish fix not where the seat
Of suffering hath been thoroughly fortified
By acquiescence in the Will Supreme
For Time and for Eternity; by faith,
Faith absolute in God, including hope,
And the defence that lies in boundless love
Of his perfections; with habitual dread
Of aught unworthily conceived, endured
Impatiently; ill-done, or left undone,
To the dishonour of his holy Name.

Soul of our Souls, and safeguard of the world!
Sustain, Thou only canst, the sick of heart;
Restore their languid spirits, and recall
Their lost affections unto Thee and thine!"
Then as we issued from that covert Nook,
He thus continued

lifting up his eyes

To Heaven."How beautiful this dome of sky,

And the vast hills, in fluctuation fix'd

At thy command, how awful! Shall the Soul,

Human and rational, report of Thee

Even less than these? Be mute who will, who can,

Yet I will praise thee with empassioned voice:

My lips, that may forget thee in the crowd,

Cannot forget thee here; where Thou hast built,
For thy own glory, in the wilderness!

Me didst thou constitute a Priest of thine,

In such a Temple as we now behold

Reared for thy presence: therefore, am I bound
To worship, here, and every where -as One
Not doomed to ignorance, though forced to tread,
From childhood up, the ways of poverty;
From unreflecting ignorance preserved,

[ocr errors]

And from debasement rescued. By thy grace
The particle divine remained unquenched;
And, mid the wild weeds of a rugged soil,
Thy bounty caused to flourish deathless flowers,
From Paradise transplanted, wintry age
Impends; the frost will gather round my heart;
And, if they wither, I am worse than dead!

Come, Labour, when the worn-out frame requires Perpetual sabbath; come, disease and want; And sad exclusion through decay of sense;

But leave me unabated trust in Thee

And let thy favour, to the end of life,
Inspire me with ability to seek

Repose and hope among eternal things

Father of heaven and earth! and I am rich,
And will possess my portion in content!

And what are things Eternal?- Powers depart,"
The grey-haired Wanderer steadfastly replied,
Answering the question which himself had asked,
"Possessions vanish, and opinions change,
And Passions hold a fluctuating seat:

But, by the storms of circumstance unshaken,
And subject neither to eclipse nor wane,
Duty exists;-immutably survive,

For our support, the measures and the forms,
Which an abstract Intelligence supplies;

Whose kingdom is, where Time and Space are not :

Of other converse, which mind, soul, and heart,
Do, with united urgency, require,

What more, that may not perish? Thou, dread Source,
Prime, self-existing Cause and End of all,

That, in the scale of Being, fill their place,
Above our human region, or below,

Set and sustained;-Thou- Who didst
Of Infancy around us, that Thyself,
Therein, with our simplicity a while

wrap the cloud

Might'st hold, on earth, communion undisturbed —

Who from the anarchy of dreaming sleep,
Or from its death-like void, with punctual care,
And touch as gentle as the morning light,
Restor'st us, daily, to the powers of sense,
And reason's steadfast rule-Thou, Thou alone
Art everlasting, and the blessed Spirits,
Which thou includest, as the Sea her Waves:
For adoration thou endur'st; endure

For consciousness the motions of thy will;
For apprehension those transcendent truths
Of the pure Intellect, that stand as laws,
(Submission constituting strength and power)
Even to thy Being's infinite majesty!
This Universe shall pass away a work
Glorious! because the shadow of thy might,
A step, or link, for intercourse with Thee.
Ah! if the time must come, in which

my feet No more shall stray where Meditation leads, By flowing stream, through wood, or craggy wild, Loved haunts like these, the unimprison'd Mind May yet have scope to range among her own, Her thoughts, her images, her high desires. If the dear faculty of sight should fail, Still, it may be allowed me to remember What visionary powers of eye and soul

« PreviousContinue »