ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

God gave him reverence of laws,
Yet stirring blood in Freedom's cause-
A spirit to his rocks akin,

The eye of the Hawk, and the fire therein !

To Nature and to Holy Writ

Alone did God the boy commit:

Where flash'd and roar'd the torrent, oft
His soul found wings, and soar'd aloft !

The straining oar and chamois chase
Had form'd his limbs to strength and grace:
On wave and wind the boy would toss,
Was great, nor knew how great he was!

He knew not that his chosen hand,
Made strong by God, his native land
Would rescue from the shameful yoke
Of Slavery-the which he broke !

MILMAN.

THE NATIVITY.

THOU wast born of woman, thou did'st come,
O Holiest to this world of sin and gloom,
Not in thy dread omnipotent array;
And not by thunders strew'd

Was thy tempestuous road;

Nor indignation burnt before thee on thy way. But thee, a soft and naked child,

Thy mother, undefiled,

In the rude manger laid to rest

From off her virgin breast.

The heav'ns were not commanded to prepare
A gorgeous canopy of golden air ;

Nor stoop'd their lamps th' enthroned fires on high;
A single silent star

Came wand'ring from afar,

Gliding uncheck'd and calm along the liquid sky; The Eastern Sages leading on,

As at a kingly throne,

To lay their gold and odours sweet
Before thy infant feet.

The earth and ocean were not hush'd to hear
Bright harmony from ev'ry starry sphere;
Nor at thy presence brake the voice of song
From all the cherub choirs,

And seraph's burning lyres

Pour'd through the host of heav'n the charmed

clouds along,

One angel troop the strain began,

Of all the race of man,

By simple shepherds heard alone,

That soft Hosanna's tone.

And when thou didst depart, no car of flame
To bear thee hence in lambent radiance came;
Nor visible angels mourn'd with drooping plumes:
Nor didst thou mount on high

From fatal Calvary

With all thine own redeem'd outbursting from their tombs.

For thou didst bear away from earth

But one of human birth,

The dying felon by thy side, to be
In Paradise with thee.

Nor o'er thy cross the clouds of vengeance break,
A little while the conscious earth did shake
At that foul deed by her fierce children done;
A few dim hours of day,

The world in darkness lay,

Then bask'd in bright repose beneath the cloudless

sun:

While thou didst sleep beneath the tomb,
Consenting to thy doom,

Ere yet the white-robed Angel shone

Upon the sealed stone.

And when thou didst arise, thou didst not stand
With devastation in thy red right hand,
Plaguing the guilty city's murtherous crew;
But thou didst haste to meet

Thy mother's coming feet,

And bear the words of peace unto the faithful few: Then calmly, slowly didst thou rise

Into thy native skies,

Thy human form dissolved on high

In its own radiancy.

THE BURIAL ANTHEM.

BROTHER, thou art gone before us,
And thy saintly soul is flown
Where tears are wiped from every eye,
And sorrow is unknown.

From the burthen of the flesh,

And from care and fear releas'd, Where the wicked cease from troubling, And the weary are at rest.

The toilsome way thou'st travell'd ̧ o'er,
And borne the heavy load,

But Christ hath taught thy languid feet
To reach his blest abode;
Thou'rt sleeping now, like Lazarus
Upon his father's breast,

Where the wicked cease from troubling,
And the weary are at rest.

Sin can never taint thee now,

Nor doubt thy faith assail,

Nor thy meek trust in Jesus Christ
And the Holy Spirit fail :

And there thou'rt sure to meet the good,
Whom on earth thou lovedst best,
Where the wicked cease from troubling,
And the weary are at rest.

"Earth to earth," and " dust to dust,"
The solemn priest hath said,
So we lay the turf above thee now,
And we seal thy narrow bed:
But thy spirit, brother, soars away
Among the faithful blest,

Where the wicked cease from troubling,
And the weary are at rest.

CHRIST COMING TO JUDGMENT.

EVEN thus amid thy pride and luxury,

Oh Earth! shall that last coming burst on thee,
That secret coming of the Son of Man,

When all the cherub-throning clouds shall shine,
Irradiate with his bright advancing sign :
When that Great Husbandman shall wave his fan,
Sweeping, like chaff, thy wealth and pomp away;
Still to the noontide of that nightless day,
Shalt thou thy wonted dissolute course maintain.
Along the busy mart and crowded street,
The buyer and the seller still shall meet,
And marriage-feasts begin their jocund strain :
Still to the pouring out the Cup of Woe;
Till Earth, a drunkard, reeling to and fro,
And mountains molten by his burning feet,
And Heaven his presence own, all red with furnace
heat.

The hundred-gated Cities then,

The Towers and Temples, named of men
Eternal, and the Thrones of Kings;

The gilded summer Palaces,

The courtly bowers of love and ease,
Where still the Bird of pleasure sings:
Ask ye the destiny of them?

Go gaze on fallen Jerusalem !

Yea, mightier names are in the fatal roll,

'Gainst earth and heaven God's standard is unfurl'd, The skies are shrivell'd like a burning scroll,

And one vast common doom ensepulchres the

world.

X

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »