RESIGNATION.

Chatterton.

O God, whose thunder shakes the sky;
Whose eye this atom globe surveys;

To Thee, my only rock, I fly,

Thy mercy in thy justice praise,

The mystic mazes of thy will,

The shadows of celestial light,

Are past the power of human skill,

But what th' Eternal acts is right.

O teach me in the trying hour,

When anguish swells the dewy tear, To still my sorrows, own thy power, Thy goodness love, thy justice fear.

If in this bosom aught but thee,
Encroaching, sought a boundless sway,
Omniscience could the danger see,
And Mercy look the cause away.

Then why, my soul, dost thou complain?
Why, drooping, seek the dark recess?
Shake off the melancholy chain,

For God created all to bless.

But ah! my breast is human still
The rising sigh, the falling tear,
My languid vitals' feeble rill,

;

The sickness of my soul declare.

But yet, with fortitude resign'd,

I'll thank th' inflictor of the blow;
Forbid the sigh, compose my mind,
Nor let the gush of mis'ry flow.

The gloomy mantle of the night,
Which on my sinking spirit steals,
Will vanish at the morning light,

Which God, my East, my Sun, reveals.

TO A YOUNG FRIEND.

Jane C. Simpson.

Now glancing in sunlight with flowers and with Thy bark of existence is sweeping along; [song,

Not a wave on the sea-not a cloud in the airAll is music and mirth; yet beware, oh beware!

Now the world is a garden of rapture to thee, Where blossoms and fruits cluster thick on each tree;

And still as thy hands gather fast the bright store, Scarce tasted, they fall ere thou reachest for more!

Yes, earth is thy Eden, and thou art its Eve, And its varied delights thou would'st wish ne'er to leave;

By its groves, and its streams, so surpassingly

fair,

Thou for ever could'st range, yet beware, oh beware!

The sky may be radiant, and tranquil the tide, While the storm is at hand, hath despair by its

side;

The flowers may be fragrant, and lovely the fruit, With the canker conceal'd at the core and the

root.

This life may be sweet, but to prize it so dear That the loss of its pleasures is all that we fear,— No hopes and no treasures more precious to deem— Ah! this is a false and a dangerous dream!

Oh! remember, my friend, though the earth may

be bright,

Time drives on its years with untameable flight! And the deeper its spell round the spirit is cast, The darker the struggle to leave it at last.

Remember that God hath reveal'd, of his love, That there is but one heaven-his temple above; And this is the bliss at which mortals should aim, To walk in his presence, and honour his name.

Alas! that so many, and thou with the rest, Shouldst dream in this world to be perfectly blest; With neverone thought of His goodness and power, Whose hand gives the sunshine, and sends down the shower!

Oh! pause but an hour in thy careless career, And let Wisdom but once breathe her words in [light,

thine ear;

Let Religion but show thee one glimpse of her And the joys that now charm thee will fade into night.

Let the Spirit Divine shed his beams on thy mind,
And scatter the shadows thy vision that blind;
Let God be reveal'd in his justice and truth,
And thy soul as a fountain polluted from youth :

In amaze, as if waked to new life, thou wilt start, For all things will seem changed to thy fast changing heart;

And Solitude then with delight will be sought,

As the handmaid of Knowledge, the sister of Thought!

Then the laws thou hast broken, most holy and

wise,

In the mirror of conscience against thee will rise; And doubts may assail thee of vengeance and doom Laid in wait to o'erwhelm thee when pass'd through the tomb !

But just in that moment, when full in thy sight Thy sin and God's justice stand awfully bright, And in fear and despondence thou gazest around, Unknowing whence pardon and peace may be found;

Oh! then, let His mercy who died in our stead, And bore all the curse of our guilt on his head, The Holy, the Just One, rush clear on thy mind, Till there lurk not a shadow of doubting behind.

Thou wilt feel all the depths of thy spirit to move, As thou ponderest the weight of thy Saviour's love, Thy heart will be melted, thy tears will flow free, And the dew of repentance fall gently on thee!