But where is then the stay of contrite hearts? Of old they lean'd on thy eternal word, But with the sinner's fear their hope departs, Fast link'd as thy great Name to Thee, O Lord: That Name, by which thy faithful oath is past, That we should endless be, for joy or woe;And if the treasures of thy wrath could waste, Thy lovers must their promis'd Heaven forego. But ask of elder days, earth's vernal hour, When in familiar talk God's voice was heard, When at the Patriarch's call the fiery shower Propitious o'er the turf-built shrine appear'd. Watch by our father Isaac's pastoral door— The birthright sold, the blessing lost and won, Tell, Heaven has wrath that can relent no more, The Grave, dark deeds that cannot be undone. We barter life for pottage; sell true bliss For wealth or power, for pleasure or renown; Thus, Esau-like, our Father's blessing miss, Then wash with fruitless tears our faded crown. Our faded crown, despis'd and flung aside, Shall on some brother's brow immortal bloom,, No partial hand the blessing may misguide; No flattering fancy change our Monarch's doom: His righteous doom, that meek true-hearted Love The softest dews drop on her from above", Her brethren, mightiest, wisest, eldest born, Nor Balaam's curse on Love, which God hath blest. u Genesis xxvii. 27, 28. THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. St. Luke xi. 21, 22. SEE Lucifer like lightning fall The Saints his spoils divide, This world of thine, by him usurp'd too long, Now opening all her stores to heal thy servants' wrong. So when the first-born of thy foes Dead in the darkness lay, When thy redeem'd at midnight rose And cast their bonds away, The orphan'd realm threw wide her gates, and told Into freed Israel's lap her jewels and her gold. And when their wondrous march was o'er, And they had won their homes, Among their fathers' tombs ; A land that drinks the rain of heaven at will, Whose waters kiss the feet of many a vine-clad hill; Oft as they watch'd, at thoughtful eve, A gale from bowers of balm Sweep o'er the billowy corn, and heave The tresses of the palm, Just as the lingering Sun had touch'd with gold, Far o'er the cedar shade, some tower of giants old; It was a fearful joy, I ween, To trace the Heathen's toil, The limpid wells, the orchards green Left ready for the spoil, The household stores untouch'd, the roses bright Wreath'd o'er the cottage walls in garlands of delight. And now another Canaan yields To thine all-conquering ark ; Fly from the "old poetic" fields *, Ye Paynim shadows dark! Immortal Greece, dear land of glorious lays, Lo! here the "unknown God" of thy unconscious praise! The olive wreath, the ivied wand, Each legend of the shadowy strand Now wakes a vision blest: As little children lisp, and tell of Heaven, So thoughts beyond their thought to those high Bards were given. And these are ours: Thy partial grace The tempting treasure lends: These relics of a guilty race Are forfeit to thy friends: What seem'd an idol hymn, now breathes of Thee, Tun'd by Faith's ear to some celestial melody. * Where each old poetic mountain Inspiration breath'd around. Gray. |