With thee, O God! with thee
My spirit seeks communion still-
As pants the hart for summer rill,
The exile for his native hill,

The prisoner to be free:

For men, athirst to shed my blood,
Surround me like a raging flood.

In thee, O God! in thee
I evermore shall place my trust,
For thou art merciful as just;
And when I sorrow in the dust,
Thou shalt my sorrow see,
And over me thy wings shalt cast,
To hide me till the storm be past.

But thee, O God! but thee,
To whom can I address my wail?
For in this dark and tearful vale,
When heart and flesh do faint and fail,
Thou shalt my succour be-

Shalt stretch thy right hand from the skies,
And take me from mine enemies.

SOLITUDE.

(PSALM lv. 6, 7.)

O HAD I the wings and the speed of a dove,
How soon would I take me away

From men who can fashion the language of love
While their hands are preparing to slay

<6 A VIRTUOUS WOMAN."

81

And though I might herd with the beasts of the chase, And fare like the worm of the clod,

I should hide me afar in some desolate place,

-but God.

Where none could pursue me

And there he would come on his chariot, the cloud, When the winds of the winter were high;

And there he would speak when the thunder was loud,
And the lightning enveloped the sky;

And there he would walk in his garment of light,
When the curtains of darkness withdrew;

And there he would look from his stars in the night,
When the blossoms were drinking the dew.

And there should my praises arise with the morn,
And close with the closing of day;

And there should I flee, when my life was outworn,
Like the mists of the mountain away.

For there, though no sister might shroud my remains, No brother spread o'er me the sod,

My body would mix with the winds and the rains, While my spirit arose to its God.

“A VIRTUOUS WOMAN.”

(PROVERBS, Xii. 4.)

THOU askest what hath changed my heart,
And where hath fled my youthful folly—
I tell thee, Tamar's virtuous art

Hath made my spirit holy.

Her eye-as soft and blue as even,

When day and night are calmly meetingBeams on my heart like light from heaven, And purifies its beating.

The accents fall from Tamar's lip

Like dew-drops from the rose-leaf dripping, When honey-bees all crowd to sip,

And cannot cease their sipping.

The shadowy blush that tints her cheek,
For ever coming, ever going,
May well the spotless fount bespeak
That sets the stream a-flowing.

Her song comes o'er my thrilling breast

Even like the harp-string's holiest measures, When dreams the soul of lands of rest

And everlasting pleasures.

Then ask not what hath changed my heart,
Or where hath fled my youthful folly-
I tell thee, Tamar's virtuous art
Hath made my spirit holy.

THE FATE OF MAN.

(JOB, i. 21.)

MAN comes into this vale of tears
A weak and weeping child-
A thing appalled by many fears,
By many hopes beguiled.

THE FALL OF JERICHO.

Awhile his vernal blossoms spread,
Like those of Sharon's vale,

That drink the tears by evening shed,
And breathe the morning gale.

The parent boughs that o'er him grow,
Defend him as he springs;

And kindred flowers beside him blow,
To which he fondly clings.

But soon the parent branches fall,

The kindred flowrets fade,

And he remains bereft of all

His comfort and his aid.

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Yes! friend on friend-the most endeared—
Pass like the passing wave;
And his affections are transferred
To worlds beyond the grave.

A lonely thing, a few short years
From hope and joy removed,
He sojourns in this vale of tears-
Then goes to them he loved.

THE FALL OF JERICHO.

(Joshua, vi.)

"YE warriors of Israel, encompass the wall

"Of this infidel city, that's destined to fall! "Ye Levites, go carry the ark of our God

"Round the fortified bounds of this Gentile abode !

"And tell by the trump, while your voices are dumb, "That the merciless hour of its suffering is come."

So once every day, till the sixth day had run,
They compassed the city as due as the sun;
So, as Joshua cammanded, the trumpets were blown,
To tell that the reign of its glory was gone;
So the leagure began-and the ominous din
Shook the heart of the heathen that trembled within.

"Ye warriors of Israel! ye Priests of the Lord! "Ye last with the ark, and ye first with the sword! "On the seventh day go ye seven times round "This city of Canaan that cumbers the ground; "And, when 'tis accomplish'd, the trump shall be

blown,

"The people shall shout, and the walls be o'erthrown.”

Around and around went the ark of the Lord

Around and around went the armed with the sword-
Around and around the wide circle they passed-
Till the city did reel like a drunkard at last.
And then came the shout, and the trumpets' long sound,
And the high walls of Jericho fell to the ground.

"Now rush to the slaughter-ye Israelites, rush! "For the blood of the young and the aged shall gush ; "And the husband and spouse in their dwelling shall

fall,

"And the sheep in the pen, and the ox at the stall: "And cursed be he, in the name of the Lord,

66 By whom shall this city at last be restored!"