As if, amid these peaceful hills and groves, Or, if the change demanded no regret, Observed the liberating stroke-and blessed. 975 And whence that tribute? wherefore these regards? 979 Not from the naked Heart alone of Man heaven; 985 The other that empowers him to perceive 990 The voice of Deity, on height and plain, Whispering those truths in stillness, which the WORD, To the four quarters of the winds, proclaims. tained; 995 And by the care prospective of our wise ΙΟΟΙ There lies the channel, and original bed, 1004 From the beginning, hollowed out and scooped For Man's affections-else betrayed and lost, And swallowed up 'mid deserts infinite! This is the genuine course, the aim, and end Of prescient reason; all conclusions else Are abject, vain, presumptuous, and perverse. The faith partaking of those holy times, Life, I repeat, is energy of love Divine or human; exercised in pain, In strife, in tribulation; and ordained, If so approved and sanctified, to pass, Through shades and silent rest, to endless joy." 1015 ARGUMENT. Poet's Address to the State and Church of England. -The Pastor not inferior to the ancient Worthies of the Church. He begins his Narratives with an instance of unrequited Love.-Anguish of mind subdued, and how.-The lonely Miner.-An instance of perseverance.-Which leads by contrast to an example of abused talents, irresolution, and weakness. -Solitary, applying this covertly to his own case, asks for an instance of some Stranger, whose disposi tions may have led him to end his days here.-Pastor, in answer, gives an account of the harmonising influence of Solitude upon two men of opposite principles, who had encountered agitations in public life.-The rule by which Peace may be obtained expressed, and where. Solitary hints at an overpowering Fatality.-Answer of the Pastor.-What subjects he will exclude from his Narratives.-Conversation upon this.-Instance of an unamiable character, a Female, and why given.-Contrasted with this, a meek sufferer, from unguarded and betrayed love.-Instance of heavier guilt, and its consequences to the Offender. With this instance of a Marriage Contract broken is contrasted one of a Widower, evidencing his faithful affection towards his deceased wife by his care of their female Children. THE CHURCH-YARD AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. HAIL to the crown by Freedom shaped-to gird An English Sovereign's brow! and to the throne Whereon he sits! Whose deep foundations lie 5 Made to the spiritual fabric of her Church; And O, ye swelling hills, and spacious plains! Besprent from shore to shore with steeple towers, And spires whose "silent finger points to heaven; 20 |