When worn with sickness, oft hast Thou
With health renewed my face;
And when in sin and sorrow sunk,
Revived my soul with grace.
Thy bounteous hand with worldly bliss
Has made my cup run o'er,
And in a kind and faithful friend
Has doubled all my store.
Ten thousand thousand precious gifts,
My daily thanks employ;
Nor is the least a cheerful heart,
That tastes those gifts with joy.
Through every period of my life,
Thy goodness I'll pursue;
And, after death, in distant worlds,
The glorious theme renew.
When nature fails, and day and night
Divide thy works no more,
My ever grateful heart, O Lord,
Thy mercy shall adore.
Through all eternity to Thee
A joyful song I'll raise;
For, oh! eternity's too short
To utter all thy praise.
CONFIDENCE IN GOD.
How are thy servants blest, O Lord!
How sure is their defence!
Eternal wisdom is their guide;
Their help, Omnipotence.
In foreign realms and lands remote,
Supported by thy care,
Through burning realms I passed unhurt,
And breathed in tainted air.
Thy mercy sweetened every soil,
Made every region please;
The hoary Alpine hills' it warmed,
And smoothed the Tyrrhene seas2.
1 Alpine hills. The Alps are mountains on the north of Italy. On account of their great height, their summits are covered with perpetual snow.
2 Tyrrhene seas. The Tyrrhene or Tuscan sea, is that part of the Mediterranean lying to the north-west of Italy.
Think, Oh my soul, devoutly think,
How, with affrighted eyes,
Thou sawst the wide-extended deep
In all its horrors rise.
Confusion dwelt in every face,
And fear in every heart,
When waves on waves, and gulfs on gulfs,
O'ercame the pilot's art.
Yet then from all my griefs, O Lord,
Thy mercy set me free;
Whilst, in the confidence of prayer,
My soul took hold on Thee.
For though in dreadful whirls we hung,
High on the broken wave,
I knew Thou wert not slow to hear,
Nor impotent to save.
The storm was laid, the winds retired,
Obedient to thy will:
The sea that roared at Thy command,
At Thy command was still.
In midst of dangers, fears, and death,
Thy goodness I'll adore;
And praise Thee for Thy mercies past,
And humbly hope for more.
My life, if Thou preservest my life,
Thy sacrifice shall be;
And death, if death must be my doom,
Shall join my soul to Thee!
PARAPHRASE ON PSALM XXIII.
THE Lord my pasture shall prepare,
And feed me with a shepherd's care;
His presence shall my wants supply,
And guard me with a watchful eye;
My noon-day walks He shall attend,
And all my midnight hours defend.
When in the sultry glebe I faint,
Or on the thirsty mountain pant;
To fertile vales and dewy meads,
My weary wandering steps he leads;
Where peaceful rivers, soft and slow,
Amid the verdant landscapes flow
Though in the paths of death I tread,
With gloomy horrors overspread,
My steadfast heart shall fear no ill,
For Thou, O God, art with me still;
Thy friendly crook shall give me aid,
And guide me through the dreadful shade.
Though in a bare and rugged way,
Through devious, lonely wilds I stray,
Thy bounty shall my wants beguile;
The barren wilderness shall smile,
With sudden greens and herbage crowned,
And streams shall murmur all around.
DIVINE MERCY TO THE PENITENT.
WHEN, rising from the bed of death,
O'erwhelmed with guilt and fear,
I see my Maker face to face;
Oh, how shall I appear !
If yet, while pardon may be found,
And mercy may be sought,
My heart with inward horror shrinks,
And shudders at the thought;
When Thou, O Lord, shalt stand disclosed
In majesty severe,
And sit in judgment on my soul;
Oh, how shall I appear!
But Thou hast told the troubled soul,
Who does her sins lament,
The timely tribute of her tears
Shall endless woes prevent.
Then see the sorrows of my heart,
Ere yet it be too late;
And add my Saviour's dying groans,
To give those sorrows weight.
For never shall my soul despair
Her pardon to procure,
Who knows Thy only Son has died,
To make that pardon sure.
Was born in London, A.D. 1688. Being a Roman Catholic, he could not enter an English University; but he received an excellent private education. His whole life was devoted to literary pursuits, and he soon became the first poet of his day. His best works are his Eclogue, his Satires, his Essay on Criticism, his Moral Epistles, and his Translation of Homer. He died at Twickenham, A.D. 1744.
No English poet exceeds Pope in melodious versification, splendid diction, and copious imagery; he possesses brilliant wit, and rare powers of combination; but his invention was very limited. He is completely the poet of artificial life, and rarely succeeds in his attempts to portray simple nature. In his own department of the poetic art, he is without a rival, and is among the most popular and pleasing of English writers.
YE nymphs of Solyma?! begin the song:
To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong.
The mossy fountains and the sylvan shades,
The dreams of Pindus3 and th’Aonian maids,
Delight no more. O, Thou my voice inspire,
Who touched Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire!
Rapt into future times, the bard begun!
A virgin shall conceive, a virgin bear a son!
From Jesse's root behold a branch arise,
Whose sacred flower with fragrance fills the skies:
Th' æthereal Spirit o'er its leaves shall move,
And on its tops descend the mystic Dove.
Ye heavens! from high the dewy nectar pour,
And in soft silence shed the kindly shower;
The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid,
From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade.
All crimes shall cease, and ancient frauds shall fail;
Returning Justice lift aloft her scale;
Peace o'er the world her olive-wand extend,
And white-robed Innocence from heaven descend.
Swift fly the years, and rise th' expected morn!
Oh, spring to light! auspicious Babe, be born!
See, Nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring,
With all the incense of the breathing spring:
See lofty Lebanon his head advance:
See nodding forests on the mountains dance:
1 A great part of this poem is taken from Isaiah's prophetic description of Christ's kingdom.
2 Solyma, Jerusalem.
3 Pindus, a mountain of Thessaly, sacred to the Muses.
4 Aonian maids, the Muses.
Jesse, the father of King David.
6 Lebanon, a chain of mountains in the north of Palestine.
See spicy clouds from lowly Sharon rise,
And Carmel's flowery top perfume the skies!
Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers;
Prepare the way! a God, a God appears;
A God, a God! the vocal hills reply:
The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity.
Lo, earth receives Him from the bending skies:
Sink down, ye mountains; and ye valleys rise:
With heads declined, ye cedars, homage pay;
Be smooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods; give way!
The Saviour comes, by ancient bards foretold!
Hear him, ye deaf; and all ye blind, behold!
He from thick films shall purge the visual ray,
And on the sightless eyeball pour the day:
'Tis He the obstructed paths of sound shall clear,
And bid new music charm the unfolding ear:
The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe.
No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear;
From every face He wipes off every tear.
In adamantine chains shall Death be bound,
And hell's grim tyrant feel the eternal wound.
As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care,
Seeks freshest pasture and the purest air;
Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs;
By day o'ersees them, and by night protects;
The tender lambs he raises in his arms,
Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms;
Thus shall mankind His guardian care engage,-
The promised Father of the future
age.
No more shall nation against nation rise,
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes,
Nor fields with gleaming steel be covered o'er,
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more:
But useless lances, into scythes shall bend,
And the broad falchion' in a plough-share end:
Then palaces shall rise; the joyful son
Shall finish what his short-lived sire begun;
Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield,
And the same hand that sowed shall reap the field.
The swain in barren deserts with surprise
Sees lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise;
And starts, amidst the thirsty wilds, to hear
New falls of water murmuring in his ear.
8 Carmel, a mountain of Palestine. 7Sharon, a fertile valley of Palestine. 9 falchion, a sword.
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