Of infant passion, scarcely dare to show
Their pearly lustre - coming but to go;

And some break forth when others' sorrows crush
The sympathising heart. Nor these, nor yet
The noblest drops to admiration known,
To gratitude, to injuries forgiven,

Claim Heaven's regard like waters that have wet
The innocent eyes of youthful Monarchs driven
To pen the mandates, nature doth disown.

His frame is tied; firm from the naked feet
To the bare head, the victory complete;
The shrouded Body, to the Soul's command,
Answering with more than Indian fortitude,
Through all her nerves with finer sense endued,
Till breath departs in blissful aspiration:
Then, 'mid the ghastly ruins of the fire,
Behold the unalterable heart entire,

Emblem of faith untouched, miraculous attestation

XXIX.

REVIVAL OF POPERY.

THE saintly Youth has ceased to rule, discrowned By unrelenting Death. O People keen

For change, to whom the new looks always green!
Rejoicing did they cast upon the ground

Their Gods of wood and stone; and, at the sound
Of counter-proclamation, now are seen,
(Proud triumph is it for a sullen Queen!)
Lifting them up, the worship to confound
Of the Most High. Again do they invoke
The Creature, to the Creature glory give;
Again with frankincense the altars smoke
Like those the Heathen served; and mass is sung;
And prayer, man's rational prerogative,

Runs through blind channels of an unknown tongue.

XXX.

LATIMER AND RIDLEY.

How fast the Marian death-list is unrolled!
See Latimer and Ridley in the might
Of Faith stand coupled for a common flight!
One (like those Prophets whom God sent of old)
Transfigured, from this kindling hath foretold
A torch of inextinguishable light;
The Other gains a confidence as bold;
And thus they foil their enemy's despite.
The penal instruments, the shows of crime,
Are glorified while this once-mitred pair

Of saintly Friends "the Murtherer's chain partake,
Corded, and burning at the social stake:"
Earth never witnessed object more sublime
In constancy, in fellowship more fair!

XXXIII.

ENGLISH REFORMERS IN EXILE

SCATTERING, like Birds escaped the Fowler's net.
Some seek with timely flight a foreign strand
Most happy, re-assembled in a land

By dauntless Luther freed, could they forget
Their Country's woes. But scarcely have they met,
Partners in faith, and Brothers in distress,
Free to pour forth their common thankfulness,
Ere hope declines; their union is beset

With speculative notions rashly sown,

Whence thickly-sprouting growth of poisonous weeds
Their forms are broken staves; their passions steeds
That master them. How enviably blest

Is he who can, by help of grace, enthrone
The peace of God within his single breast!

Dance breathes with more malignant aim;
And alien storms with home-bred ferments claim
Datous fellowship. Her silver car,

By seepless prudence ruled, glides slowly on;
art by violence, from menaced taint
Everging pure, and seemingly more bright;
Fr, wheresoe'er she moves, the clouds anon
perse; or, under a divine constraint,
Befect some portion of her glorious light.

Spreads wide; though special mysteries multiply,
The Saints must govern, is their common cry;
And so they labour, deeming Holy Writ
Disgraced by aught that seems content to sit
Beneath the roof of settled Modesty.
The Romanist exults; fresh hope he draws
From the confusion-craftily incites
The overweening-personates the mad↓ —
To heap disgust upon the worthier Cause:
Totters the Throne; the new-born Church is sad
For every wave against her peace unites.

XXXV.

HOLY and heavenly Spirits as they are,
Excess in life, and eloquent as wise,
Wb what entire affection do they prize

new-born Church! labouring with earnest
afle all that may her strength impair;
7. Church—the unperverted Gospel's seat;
their afflictions a divine retreat;

ree of their liveliest hope, and tenderest prayer! The Truth exploring with an equal mind, actrine and communion they have sought Fry between the two extremes to steer; But theirs the wise man's ordinary lot,

Te trace right courses for the stubborn blind,
And prophesy to ears that will not hear.

XXXVII.

DISTRACTIONS.

Max, who have ceased to reverence, soon defy
Their Forefathers; lo! Sects are formed and split
WV morbid restlessness, the ecstatic fit

See Note 21.

XXXVIII.

GUNPOWDER PLOT.

FEAR hath a hundred eyes that all agree
To plague her beating heart; and there is one
(Nor idlest that!) which holds communion
With things that were not, yet were meant to be
Aghast within its gloomy cavity

That eye (which sees as if fulfilled and done
Crimes that might stop the motion of the sun)
Beholds the horrible catastrophe

Of an assembled Senate unredeemed
From subterraneous Treason's darkling power
Merciless act of sorrow infinite!

Worse than the product of that dismal night,
When gushing, copious as a thunder-shower,
The blood of Hugenots through Paris streamed

XXXIX.

THE JUNG-FRAU AND THE FALL OF THE RHINE NEAR SCHAFFHAUSEN.

(AN ILLUSTRATION.)

THE Virgin Mountain, wearing like a Queen

A brilliant crown of everlasting Snow,
Sheds ruin from her sides; and men below
Wonder that aught of aspect so serene
Can link with desolation. Smooth and green,
And seeming, at a little distance, slow,
The waters of the Rhine; but on they go
Fretting and whitening, keener and more keen,
Till madness seizes on the whole wide Flood,
Turned to a fearful Thing whose nostrils breathe
Blasts of tempestuous smoke-wherewith he tries
To hide himself, but only magnifies;

And doth in more conspicuous torment writhe,
Deafening the region in his ireful mood.

+ A common device in religious and political conflicts.- Se Strype in support of this instance.

XL.

TROUBLES OF CHARLES THE FIRST

EVEN Such the contrast that, where'er we move,
To the mind's eye Religion doth present;
Now with her own deep quietness content;
Then, like the mountain, thundering from above
Against the ancient Pine-trees of the grove

And the Land's humblest comforts. Now her mood
Recalls the transformation of the flood,
Whose rage the gentle skies in vain reprove,
Earth cannot check. O terrible excess

Of headstrong will! Can this be Piety?
No

some fierce Maniac hath usurped her name;
And scourges England struggling to be free:
Her peace destroyed! her hopes a wilderness!
Her blessings cursed - her glory turned to shame!

XLI. LAUD.*

PREJUDGED by foes determined not to spare,
An old weak Man for vengeance thrown aside,
Laud "in the painful art of dying" tried
(Like a poor Bird entangled in a Snare
Whose heart still flutters, though his wings forbear
To stir in useless struggle) hath relied
On hope that conscious Innocence supplied,
And in his prison breathes celestial air.
Why tarries then thy Chariot? Wherefore stay,
O Death! the ensanguined yet triumphant wheels,
Which thou prepar'st, full often to convey
(What time a State with madding faction reels)
The Saint or Patriot to the world that heals
All wounds, all perturbations doth allay?

XLII.

AFFLICTIONS OF ENGLAND.

HARP! could'st thou venture, on thy boldest string,
The faintest note to echo which the blast

Caught from the hand of Moses as it past
O'er Sinai's top, or from the Shepherd King,
Early awake, by Siloa's brook, to sing

Of dread Jehovah; then, should wood and waste
Hear also of that name, and mercy cast
Off to the mountains, like a covering

Of which the Lord was weary. Weep, oh! weep,
Weep with the good, beholding King and Priest
Despised by that stern God to whom they raise
Their suppliant hands; but holy is the feast
He keepeth; like the firmament his ways,
His statues like the chambers of the deep.

*See Note 22.

ECCLESIASTICAL SKETCHES.

PART III.

FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE PRESENT TIMES

I.

I SAW the figure of a lovely Maid
Seated alone beneath a darksome Tree,
Whose fondly overhanging canopy

Set off her brightness with a pleasing shade.
Substance she seemed (and that my heart betrayed,
For she was one I loved exceedingly ;)
But while I gazed in tender reverie
(Or was it sleep that with my Fancy played?)
The bright corporeal presence, form, and face,
Remaining still distinct, grew thin and rare,
Like sunny mist; at length the golden hair,
Shape, limbs, and heavenly features, keeping pace
Each with the other, in a lingering race
Of dissolution, melted into air.

II.

PATRIOTIC SYMPATHIES.

LAST night, without a voice, this Vision spake
Fear to my Spirit—passion that might seem
Wholly dissevered from our present theme;
Yet, my beloved Country, I partake
Of kindred agitations for thy sake;
Thou, too, dost visit oft my midnight dream;
Thy glory meets me with the earliest beam
Of light, which tells that morning is awake.
If aught impair thy beauty or destroy,
Or but forbode destruction, I deplore
With filial love the sad vicissitude;

If thou hast fallen, and righteous Heaven restore
The prostrate, then my spring-time is renewed,
And sorrow bartered for exceeding joy.

III.

CHARLES THE SECOND.

WHO comes with rapture greeted, and caress'd
With frantic love-his kingdom to regain!
Him Virtue's Nurse, Adversity, in vain
Received, and fostered in her iron breast:
For all she taught of hardiest and of best,
Or would have taught, by discipline of pain
And long privation, now dissolves amain,

remembered only to give zest

salonness. — Away, Circean revels! ray stands our Country on the brink

t rage, that all distinction levels ✓th and falsehood, swallowing the good name, nd with that draught, the life-blood: misery, shame, Pets loathed; from which Historians shrink!

Mountain, and moor, and crowded street, where lie
The headless martyrs of the Covenant,
Slain by Compatriot-protestants that draw
From councils senseless as intolerant
Their warrant. Bodies fall by wild sword-law;
But who would force the Soul, tilts with a straw
Against a Champion cased in adamant.

IV.

VII

ACQUITTAL OF THE BISHOPS.

A VOICE, from long-expecting thousands sent,
Shatters the air, and troubles tower and spire-
For Justice hath absolved the Innocent,
And Tyranny is balked of her desire:
Up, down, the busy Thames - rapid as fire
Coursing a train of gunpowder — it went,

And transport finds in every street a vent,
Till the whole City rings like one vast quire.
The Fathers urge the People to be still,

With outstretched hands and earnest speech-in vain!
Yea, many, haply wont to entertain

Small reverence for the Mitre's offices,
And to Religion's self no friendly will,

A Prelate's blessing ask on bended knees.

V.

CLERICAL INTEGRITY.

Nou all the eternal roll of praise reject
Unconforming; whom one rigorous day
is from their Cures, a voluntary prey
Yverty, and grief, and disrespect,
And some to want—as if by tempest wrecked
Dead coast; how destitute! did They
Fe, not that Conscience never can betray,
That peace of mind is Virtue's sure effect.

Altars they forego, their homes they quit,
Tri which they love, and paths they daily trod,
A cast the future upon Providence;
As zen the dictate of whose inward sense

weighs the world; whom self-deceiving wit lers not from what they deem the cause of God.

VI.

PERSECUTION OF THE SCOTTISH COVENANTERS.

Wy Alpine Vales threw forth a suppliant cry,

To majesty of England interposed

IX.

OBLIGATIONS OF CIVIL TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

UNGRATEFUL Country, if thou e'er forget

closed:

And Faith preserved her ancient purity.
How little boots that precedent of good,
Red or forgotten, Thou canst testify,

Fr England's shame, O Sister Realm! from wood,

How, like a Roman, Sidney bowed his head,
And Russel's milder blood the scaffold wet;
But these had fallen for profitless regret,
Had not thy holy Church her Champions bred,
And claims from other worlds inspirited

The Star of Liberty to rise. Nor yet
(Grave this within thy heart!) if spiritual things
Be lost, through apathy, or scorn, or fear,
Shalt thou thy humbler franchises support,
However hardly won or justly dear:

What came from heaven to heaven by nature clings,
And if dissevered thence, its course is short.

That slackens, and spreads wide a watery gleam, We, nothing loth a lingering course to measure, May gather up our thoughts, and mark at leisure How widely spread the interests of our theme.

X.

WALTON'S BOOK OF LIVES.

THERE are no colours in the fairest sky

So fair as these. The feather, whence the pen
Was shaped that traced the lives of these good men,
Dropped from an angel's wing. With moistened eye
We read of faith and purest charity

In Statesman, Priest, and humble Citizen:
O could we copy their mild virtues, then
What joy to live, what blessedness to die!
Methinks their very names shine still and bright;
Apart-like glow-worms on a summer night;
Or lonely tapers when from far they fling
A guiding ray; or seen like stars on high,
Satellites burning in a lucid ring
Around meek Walton's heavenly memory.

XIII

ASPECTS OF CHRISTIANITY IN AMERIC

1.- THE PILGRIM FATHERS.

WELL worthy to be magnified are they
Who with sad hearts, of friends and country took
A last farewell, their loved abodes forsook,
And hallowed ground in which their fathers lay;
Then to the new-found World explored their way.
That so a Church, unforced, uncalled to brook
Ritual restraints, within some sheltering nook
Her Lord might worship and his word obey
In freedom. Men they were who could not bend;
Blest Pilgrims, surely, as they took for guide
A will by sovereign Conscience sanctified;
Blest while their Spirits from the woods ascend
Along a Galaxy that knows no end,
But in His glory who for Sinners died.

XI.

SACHEVEREL.

A SUDDEN Conflict rises from the swell
Of a proud slavery met by tenets strained
In Liberty's behalf. Fears, true or feigned,
Spread through all ranks; and lo! the Sentinel
Who loudest rang his pulpit 'larum bell,
Stands at the Bar, absolved by female eyes
Mingling their glances with grave flatteries
Lavished on Him—that England may rebel
Against her ancient virtue. HIGH and Low,
Watch-words of Party, on all tongues are rife;

XIV.

11. CONTINUED.

FROM rite and ordinance abused they fled
To wilds where both were utterly unknown;
But not to them had Providence foreshown
What benefits are missed, what evils bred,
In worship neither raised nor limited
Save by self-will. Lo! from that distant shore,
For rite and ordinance, Piety is led
Back to the Land those Pilgrims left of yore,
Led by her own free choice. So Truth and Love
By Conscience governed do their steps retrace.—

To opposites and fierce extremes her life,

Not to the golden mean, and quiet flow
Of truths that soften hatred, temper strife.

XII.

Down a swift Stream, thus far, a bold design Have we pursued, with livelier stir of heart Than his who sees, borne forward by the Rhine, The living landscapes greet him, and depart; Secs spires fast sinking — up again to start! And strives the towers to number, that recline O'er the dark steeps, or on the horizon line Striding with shattered crests his eye athwart. So have we hurried on with troubled pleasure: Henceforth, as on the bosom of a stream

Their spirit, in your Children, thus approve. Transcendent over time, unbound by place, Concord and Charity in circles move.

American episcopacy, in union with the church England, strictly belongs to the general subject; here make my acknowledgments to my American frien Bishop Doane, and Mr. Henry Reed of Philadelphia. having suggested to me the propriety of adverting to and pointed out the virtues and intellectual qualities Bishop White, which so eminently fitted him for the g work he undertook. Bishop White was consecrated Lambeth, Feb. 4, 1787, by Archbishop Moore; and bet his long life was closed, twenty-six bishops had been c secrated in America, by himself. For his character opinions, see his own numerous Works, and a "Serm in commemoration of him, by George Washington D Bishop of New Jersey."