The crush of Empire, sapped by tears and gore,
And shrieks of hearts their own corruption's prey;
All sounds of death enforce Thy righteous lore,

In smoothest flow Thy being's truth obey,
And, heard in ears from passion's witchery free,
One endless music make a hymn to Thee !

But most, O God! the inward eyes of thought
Discern Thy laws in all that works within;
The conscious will, by hard experience taught,
Divines Thy mercy shown by hate of sin;
And hearts whose peace by shame and grief was
bought,

Thy blessings praise that first in wo begin,
For still on earthly pain's tormented ground,
Thy love's immortal flowers and fruits abound.

Fair sight it is, and med'cinal for man,

To see Thy guidance lead the human breast;
In life's unopened germ behold Thy plan,
Till 'mid the ripened soul it stands confest;
From impulse too minute for us to scan,

Awakening sense with love and purpose blest;
And through confusion, error, trial, grief,
Maturing reason, conscience, calm belief.

This to have known, my soul, be thankful thou!
This clear, ideal form of endless good,
Which casts around the adoring learner's brow

The ray that marks man's holiest brotherhood;

Thus e'en from guilt's deep curse and slavish vow, And dreams whereby the light was long withstood, Thee, Lord! whose mind is rule supreme to all, Unveiled we see, and hail Thy wisdom's call.

THE SOUL DISCIPLINED TO SEE GOD'S WILL.

BOLD is the life, and deep and vast in man

A flood of being poured unchecked from Thee! To Thee returned by Thy unfailing plan, When tried and trained Thy will unveiled to see.

The spirit leaves the body's wondrous frame,
That frame itself a world of strength and skill;
The nobler inmate new abodes will claim,
In every change to Thee aspiring still.

Although from darkness born, to darkness fled,
We know that light beyond surrounds the whole;
The man survives, though the weird-corpse be dead,
And He who dooms the flesh redeems the soul.

Horace Smith.

1779-1849.

THE PERPETUAL RELIGION.

RELIGIONS from the soul deriving breath,

Should know no death;

Yet do they perish, mingling their remains
With fallen fanes;

Creeds, canons, dogmas, councils, are the wrecked
And mouldering Masonry of Intellect. —

Apis, Osiris, paramount of yore

On Egypt's shore,

Woden and Thor, through the wide North adored, With blood outpoured,

Jove and the multiform divinities,

To whom the Pagan nations bowed their knees,

Lo! they are cast aside, dethroned, forlorn,

Defaced, out-worn,

Like the world's childish dolls, which but insult Its age adult,

Or prostrate scarecrows, on whose rags we tread With scorn proportioned to our former dread.

Alas for human reason! all is change,
Ceaseless and strange;

All ages form new systems, leaving heirs
To cancel theirs;

The future will but imitate the past;
And instability alone will last.

Is there no compass, then, by which to steer
This erring sphere?

No tie that may indissolubly bind

To God, mankind?

No code that may defy Time's sharpest tooth?
No fixed, immutable, unerring truth?

There is! there is! One primitive and sure,
Religion pure,

Unchanged in spirit, though its forms and codes
Wear myriad modes,

Contains all creeds within its mighty span :

THE LOVE OF GOD DISPLAYED IN LOVE OF MAN.

This is the Christian's faith when rightly read;

Oh! may it spread,

Till earth redeemed from every hateful leaven
Makes peace with Heaven;

Below one blesséd brotherhood of love,

One Father

worshipped with one voice—above!

A PRAYER.

FATHER and God! whose love and might
To every sense are blazoned bright
On the vast three-leaved Bible - earth
Pardon th' impugners of Thy laws,

sea

sky,

Expand their hearts, and give them cause

To bless th' exhaustless grace they now deny.

THE QUARREL OF FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY

ONCE Faith, Hope, and Charity traversed the land
In sisterhood's uninterrupted embraces,
Performing their office of love hand in hand, -

Of the whole Christian world, the appropriate
Graces.

But tiffs, since those primitive days, have occurred,
That threaten to sever this friendly relation,
As may well be surmised when I state word for word,
The terms of their latest and worst altercation.