Forbear to shape due channels which the Flood
Of sacred truth may enter, till it brood
O'er the wide realm, as o'er the Egyptian plain
The all-sustaining Nile. No more, the time
Is conscious of her want; through England's bounds,
In rival haste, the wished-for Temples rise!

I hear their Sabbath bells' harmonious chime

Float on the breeze,- the heavenliest of all sounds That vale or hill prolongs or multiplies!

XXXIX.

CHURCH TO BE ERECTED.

BE this the chosen site; the virgin sod,
Moistened from age to age by dewy eve,
Shall disappear, and grateful earth receive

The corner-stone from hands that build to God.
Yon reverend hawthorns, hardened to the rod
Of winter storms, yet budding cheerfully,
Those forest oaks of Druid memory,

Shall long survive, to shelter the Abode

Of genuine Faith. Where, haply, 'mid this band
Of daisies, shepherds sat of yore and wove
May-garlands, there let the holy altar stand
For kneeling adoration; while, above,
Broods, visibly portrayed, the mystic Dove,
That shall protect from blasphemy the Land.

And soon, full soon, the lonely Sexton's spade
Shall wound the tender sod. Encincture small,
But infinite its grasp of weal and woe!
Hopes, fears, in never-ending ebb and flow; -
The spousal trembling, and the "dust to dust,"
The prayers, the contrite struggle, and the trust
That to the Almighty Father looks through all.

XLII.

CATHEDRALS, ETC.

OPEN your gates, ye everlasting Piles!
Types of the spiritual Church which God hath

reared;

Not loth we quit the newly-hallowed sward
And humble altar, 'mid your sumptuous aisles
To kneel, or thrid your intricate defiles,
Or down the nave to pace in motion slow;
Watching, with upward eye, the tall tower grow
And mount, at every step, with living wiles
Instinct, to rouse the heart and lead the will
By a bright ladder to the world above.
Open your gates, ye Monuments of love

Divine! thou, Lincoln, on thy sovereign hill!

Thou, stately York! and ye, whose splendors

cheer

Isis and Cam, to patient Science dear!