It were so sweet, amid death's gathering gloom, To see thee, Absalom! "And now, farewell! 'Tis hard to give thee up, With death so like a gentle slumber on thee— And thy dark sin!—Oh! I could drink the cup, If from this woe its bitterness had won thee. May God have called thee, like a wanderer, home, My erring Absalom!” He covered up his face, and bowed himself WILLIS. ℗ make me Pure, with Pure Ones e'er to Dwell. YES, let me die! Am I of spirit-birth, And shall I linger here where spirits fell, Loving the stain they cast on all of earth? Oh make me pure, with pure ones e'er to dwell! 'Tis sweet to die! The flowers of earthly love (Fair, frail, spring blossoms) early droop and die; But all their fragrance is exhaled above, Life is a dream, a bright but fleeting dream, Of heavenly light, of truth immortal, breaks. I shrink not from the shadows Sorrow flings Across my pathway; nor from cares that rise In every footprint; for each shadow brings Sunshine and rainbow as it glooms and flies. But heaven is dearer. There I have my treasure; There angels fold in love their snowy wings; There sainted lips chant in celestial measure, And spirit fingers stray o'er heav'n-wrought strings. There loving eyes are to the portals straying; His own in spotless robes and crowns of gold. Then let me die! My spirit longs for heaven, 66 'Father, thy will be done!" and I am blest. EMILY JUDSON. Love-destroying Bigotry. LOVE-DESTROYING, cursèd Bigotry! Cursed in heaven, but cursèd more in hell, Where millions curse thee, and must ever curse. Religion's most abhorred! perdition's most Forlorn! God's most abandoned! hell's most damned! The infidel who turned his impious war Of ages built, and higher than the clouds, Sinned, and received his due reward; but she Within her walls sinned more. Of Ignorance Begot, her daughter, Persecution, walked The earth, from age to age, and drank the blood That made the tiger mild, and in his wrath No music pleased her more; and no repast So sweet to her as blood of men redeemed And nursed on human gore, with her compared, Deliberately, and with most musing pains, The flesh, and blood, and souls of holy men, Her victims, might be wrought! and when she saw New tortures of her labouring fancy born, She leaped for joy, and made great haste to try Their force, well pleased to hear a deeper groan. ROBERT POLLOK. Thou Ereat Being! in whom E THOU great Being! in whom I move and live, And all the joys which from that being flow. Whose frame not force nor time can e'er destroy; Which shall survive when Nature claims my breath, And bid defiance to the darts of death; To realms of bliss with active freedom soar, may its influence on my life appear, And ev'ry action prove my thanks sincere! Grant me, great God, a heart to thee inclin'd; Increase my faith, and rectify my mind; Teach me betimes to tread thy sacred ways, And to thy service consecrate my days. Still as through life's perplexing maze I stray, Be thou the guiding star to mark my way. Conduct the steps of my unguarded youth, And point their motions to the paths of truth. Protect me by thy providential care, And warn my soul to shun the tempter's snare. Through all the shifting scenes of varied life, In calms of ease, or ruffling storms of grief, Through each event of this inconstant state, Preserve my temper equal and sedate : Give me a mind that nobly can despise The low designs and little arts of vice. Be my religion such as taught by thee, Alike from pride and superstition free: Inform my judgment, regulate my will, My reason strengthen, and my passions still. To gain thy favour be my first great end, And to that scope may every action tend! Amidst the pleasures of a prosp'rous state, Whose flatt'ring charms the untutored heart elate, May I reflect to whom those gifts I owe, And bless the bounteous hand from whence they flow. Or if an adverse fortune be my share, Let not its terrors tempt me to despair; |