Page images
PDF
EPUB

What had there been upon the waste
To guard its tender form,
Shadow its beauty from the heat,
Or hide it from the storm?

No, pretty flower; I do not wish
That thou wert growing still;
The shower thou hast not felt is cold,
The evening breeze is chill.

The day-star does not always rise

So bright, so pure as now;
Time would have soiled thy pretty leaf,
And foul'd thy azure brow.

Go, while no touch of thing unkind,
Thy gentle breast has riven,
And all that thou hast ever felt,

Is one bright beam from heaven.

WHY WEEPEST THOU?

O ASK not one, whose heart is drear,
Whose fragile bark is driven,
By wave on wave of earthly care,
Almost from hope of Heav'n.

O ask not him, why he should weep,
Whose wayward treacherous heart,
So lately sunk in sinful sleep,
Forgot its better part.

Bid him go weep, the icy breast,
Insensible to love;

Which wooes the flut'ring soul to rest,

It else could never prove.

Bid him lament the stubborn will,
Still deaf to mercy's voice,
Perversely prone to choose the ill,
And glory in its choice.

O bid him mourn the carnal mind,

Which slights the Pearl of Price; And, slave to sin, to earth confined, Forgets her native skies.

Yet, lest he sink beneath the fears,
That thus his peace destroy ;
Go whisper, He that sows in tears,
Shall surely reap in joy.

We will come unto him and make our abode with him,

ALONE-what is't to be alone?→→→

It is to think, to feel,

Where none will question of the thought,
Or list the bosom's tale-

To hope, to dread, to wish, to doubt,
And ask of it of none-

To have the heart o'erflow with love,
And nought to spend it on-

On our own bosom to receive
The coldly falling tear;
In joy to doubt it can be joy,

That no one minds to share

To sing our hymns of praise alone,
While all is silence round,

And doubt if Heaven itself can hear
What nothing will respond.

Alone-and can I be alone,
Where all that is bespeaks
The presence and the sympathy
Of Him my spirit seeks?

Where every thought I have ascends
Through yonder azure zone,

To Him who once on earth had thoughts,
And feelings like my own?

Ascends! Ah no! for He is here,

My bed, my path about:

Marks every feeling as it comes,

And answers every doubt.

He lists with sympathizing love

To all my sorrow's tale;

And speaks to me when none are near,

Of things he knew so well.

M:

To him my anxious heart refers
Each feeling as it grows;
And from his gentle voice receives
The sweetest joy it knows.

He bears the grateful song to heaven,
Which none on earth will share,
And tells me, when he comes again,
That angels sing it there.

O tell me not of solitude,

Where such sweet thoughts can be→→
My God! when most I am alone,
I seem most near to Thee.

FAITH.

BLIND, weak, and restless, man by nature knows,
Nor heavenly light, nor freedom, nor repose.

The feeble glimmering of reason's ray,
Serves but to shew him he hath gone astray.
His all embarked on life's uncertain sea,
At random driven on and tempest tossed;
The fragile vessel must for ever be,

Without a compass or a pilot, lost.
A tide of sorrow bears him to the grave,

Nor hath he power to repel the wave,

Breaking with mighty force upon that shore,

Where the frail bark once cast, its freight is seen no more.

Amidst the elemental storm,

Behold an angel form.

She comes- -but not with meteor light;

She speaks-but not with syren voice; Her counsel sets the wanderer right,

And leads him to rejoice.

While peacefully the vessel glides along,

Hers is the harp, and hers the song;

And when the winds prevail,

When the dark waters roll;

She holds the helm, she furls the sail, And casts her anchor out to stay the soul. She bids the watchful mariner descry Dangers unnoticed by the careless eye,

'Midst rocks and quicksands then in safety steers
His doubtful way, and still his spirit cheers,

And with fresh energy inspires his breast,
Through adverse currents of contending force,
Directs his steady, his unerring course,

Until in peace he gains the haven of his rest.
For she hath visited the world unknown,
That world-from reason deep concealed;
Is to the eye of faith revealed;

Its wonders are unveiled to faith alone.
But she hath scaled its awful height,
And tasted of its pleasures;
Her wings expanding with delight,

To scan its boundless treasures;

And she can sing of what no eye hath seen

Nor ear discerned, and where no thought hath been,
Save that great Spirit, that Almighty mind

In splendour inaccessible enshrined;

Who is, who was, who will for ever be
Throned in the praises of eternity.

Reader! wouldst thou behold that land so fair?

Wouldst thou secure a happy entrance there?

Incline thine ear to what the vision saith.

The record of eternal truth receive

In Him of whom it testifies, believe

His word declares, "The just shall live by faith." IOTA.

REVIEW OF BOOKS.

New French Manual and Traveller's Companion, 4s. New Pronouncing French Primer, by Gabriel Surenne, F.A.S.E.-Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh.1826.

THE former of these small works, in which the latter is comprised, is superior to any of the kind we have met with, in the arrangement and practical usefulness of its contents. It will be found very useful to learners, and to unlearned travellers. And though we are persuaded

every attempt to enable a person to teach themselves the pronunciation of French without instruction, is unavailing, some assistance may yet be derived to those who have not the advantage of it, by the manner in which the pronunciation is here given.

Consistency. By Charlotte Elizabeth.

Hatchard, London. 1826.

Price 4s.

THE author of "Consistency", will not desire that after we have given so often and so strongly our opinion against the reading of these religious fictions for young people, we should individually recommend what we have generally discountenanced. But there are still many readers who take delight in these works, and seek them eagerly, and have traced to the perusal of them the most useful and permanent impressions. To these we can well say that this little work is marked by all the discriminating piety we should expect, from the opinion we have formed of the author. The purport throughout we understand to be, to show the mischiefs that result from equivocating in what we believe to be truth, from motives of human expediency: and it is very well shown. The character of Mrs. Forbes is extremely well given, and is, we fear, no uncommon one at the present day; therefore very useful to present to those who may take a caution from it. For the benefit of those who may not read the story, we cannot forbear extracting the summary of this character from one page of it.

"Keeping the vineyard of others, she had neglected both her household and herself. She had indulged a spirit of censoriousness, and shamefully connived at, if she had not actually encouraged a feeling of contempt in the family against him, who, as the head of it, was entitled to a master's honour and a father's fear. This is too frequently the case where the household are unfortunately divided on religious subjects; but not the less criminal for being so common; and whatever disgrace may seemingly attach to the individuals thus held out to the scorn of those beneath them, a double portion of guilt and shame rebounds upon the promoters of such unnatural and unscriptural rebellion against an authority established and recognised by the Most High God. In this, and numerous other instances, Mrs.

« PreviousContinue »