Ours is the reptile's lot, much toil, much blame, And to deform and kill the things whereon we feed. 1808. LOVE, HOPE, AND PATIENCE IN EDUCATION. O'ER wayward childhood would'st thou hold firm rule, And sun thee in the light of happy faces; Love, Hope, and Patience, these must be thy graces, But Love is subtle, and doth proof derive Yet haply there will come a weary day, When overtasked at length Both Love and Hope beneath the load give way. Then with a statue's smile, a statue's strength, E colo descendit γνῶθι σεαυτόν.—Juvenal. Γνώθι σεαυτόν !—and is this the prime And heaven-sprung adage of the olden time!Say, canst thou make thyself?-Learn first that trade; Haply thou mayst know what thyself had made. What hast thou, Man, that thou dar'st call thine own? What is there in thee, Man, that can be known?— A phantom dim of past and future wrought, Beareth all things.—2 Cor. xiii. 7. "GENTLY I took that which ungently came," And without scorn forgave;-Do thou the A same. wrong done to thee think a cat's eye spark Thou would'st not see, were not thine own heart dark. Thy own keen sense of wrong that thirsts for sin, Fear that the spark self-kindled from within, Which blown upon will blind thee with its glare, Or smothered stifle thee with noisome air. Clap on the extinguisher, pull up the blinds, Its natural daylight. If a foe have kenned, HOW COMPLAINT. OW seldom, Friend! a good great man inherits Honor or wealth, with all his worth and pains! It sounds like stories from the land of spirits, If any man obtain that which he merits, Or any merit that which he obtains. REPROOF. For shame, dear Friend! renounce this canting strain ! What would'st thou have a good great man obtain ? Or throne of corses which his sword hath slain ?- And calm thoughts, regular as infant's breath;And three firm friends, more sure than day and night Himself, his Maker, and the angel Death. 1809. INSCRIPTION FOR A TIME-PIECE. NOW! it is gone. Our brief hours travel post, But know, each parting hour gives up a ghost 1830. MY BAPTISMAL BIRTH-DAY. GOD'S child in Christ adopted,-Christ my all,— What that earth boasts were not lost cheaply, rather Than forfeit that blest name, by which I call The Holy One, the Almighty God, my Father?- The heir of heaven, henceforth I fear not death: ΕΠΙΤΑΦΙΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΓΡΑΠΤΟΝ, QUE linquam, aut nihil, aut nihili, aut vix sunt mea-sordes Do morti ;-reddo cætera, Christe! tibi. EPITAPH. STOP, Christian Passer-by-Stop, child of God, That he who many a year with toil of breath He asked, and hoped, through Christ. Do thou the same! 9th November, 1833. |