Far from all habitation,
I heard a happy sound,
Big with the consolation,
That I have often found;
I said, "My lot is sorrow,
My grief has no alloy;
The rocks replied-" To-morrow,
To-morrow brings thee joy."
These sweet and secret tidings,
What bliss it is to hear!
For, spite of all my chidings,
My weakness and my fear,
No sooner I receive them,
Than I forget my pain,
And happy to believe them,
I love as much again.
I fly to scenes romantic,
Where never men resort;
For in an age so frantic
Impiety is sport;
For riot and confusion
They barter things above,
Condemning, as delusion,
The joy of perfect love.
In this sequester'd corner,
None hears what I express;
Deliver'd from the scorner,
What peace do I possess !
Beneath the boughs reclining,
Or roving o'er the wild,
I live as undesigning,
And harmless as a child.
No troubles here surprise me;
I innocently play,
While Providence supplies me,
And guards me all the day:
My dear and kind defender
Preserves me safely here,
From men of pomp and splendour Who fill a child with fear.
ASPIRATIONS OF THE SOUL AFTER GOD.
My Spouse in whose presence I live,
Sole object of ali my desires,
Who know'st what a flame I conceive,
And canst easily double its fires;
How pleasant is all that I meet!
From fear of adversity free,
I find even sorrow made sweet;
Because 't is assign'd me by Thee.
Transported I see Thee display
Thy riches and glory divine;
I have only my life to repay,
Take what I would gladly resign.
Thy will is the treasure I seek,
For thou art as faithful as strong;
There let me, obedient and meek,
Repose myself all the day long.
My spirit and faculties fail;
Oh finish what love has begun!
Destroy what is sinful and frail,
And dwell in the soul thou hast won!
Dear theme of my wonder and praise,
I cry, who is worthy as Thou!
I can only be silent and gaze :
'Tis all that is left to me now.
Oh glory in which I am lost,
Too deep for the plummet of thought;
On an ocean of Deity toss'd,
I am swallow'd, I sink into nought.
Yet lost and absorb'd as I seem,
I chant to the praise of my King;
And, though overwhelm'd by the theme,
Am happy whenever I sing.
GRATITUDE AND LOVE TO GOD.
ALL are indebted much to Thee,
But I far more than all,
From many a deadly snare set free,
And raised from many a fall.
Overwhelm me, from above,
Daily with thy boundless love!
What bonds of gratitude I feel
No language can declare;
Beneath the oppressive weight I reel,
"Tis more than I can bear:
When shall I that blessing prove,
To return thee Love for Love?
Spirit of Charity, dispense
Thy grace to every heart;
Expel all other spirits thence,
Drive self from every part;
Charity divine, draw nigh,
Break the chains in which we lie!
All selfish souls, whate'er they feign,
Have still a slavish lot;
They boast of liberty in vain,
Of Love, and feel it not.
He whose bosom glows with Thee,
He, and he alone, is free.
Oh blessedness, all bliss above,
When thy pure fires prevail !
Love only teaches what is Love ;
All other lessons fail :
We learn its name, but not its powers,
Experience only makes it ours.
HAPPY SOLITUDE-UNHAPPY MEN. My heart is easy, and my burden light; I smile, though sad, when Thou art in my sight: The more my woes in secret I deplore, I taste thy goodness, and I love thee more. There, while a solemn stillness reigns around, Faith, love, and hope within my soul abound; And while the world suppose me lost in care, The joys of angels, unperceived, I share,
Thy creatures wrong thee, O thou sovereign Good!
Thou art not loved, because not understood;
This grieves me most, that vain pursuits beguile
Ungrateful men, regardless of thy smile.
Frail beauty and false honour are adored;
While Thee they scorn, and trifle with thy Word;
Pass, unconcern'd, a Saviour's sorrows by ;
And hunt their ruin with a zeal to die.
LIVING WATER.
THE fountain in its source
No drought of summer fears;
The farther it pursues its course,
The nobler it appears.
But shallow cisterns yield
A scanty short supply;
The morning sees them amply fill'd,
At evening they are dry.
REJECTED BY THE WORLD.
O LOVE, of pure and heavenly birth!
O simple Truth, scarce known on earth!
Whom men resist with stubborn will;
And, more perverse and daring still,
Smother and quench, with reasonings vain,
While error and deception reign.
Whence comes it, that, your power the same
As His on high, from whence you came,
Ye rarely find a listening ear,
Or heart that makes you welcome here ?-
Because ye bring reproach and pain,
Where'er ye visit, in your train.
The world is proud, and cannot bear
The scorn and calumny ye share;
The praise of men the mark they mean,
They fly the place where ye are seen;
Pure Love, with scandal in the rear,
Suits not the vain; it costs too dear.
Then, let the price be what it may,
Though poor, I am prepared to pay;
Come shame, come sorrow; spite of tears,
Weakness, and heart-oppressing fears;
One soul, at least, shall not repine
To give you room; come, reign in mine!
DIVINE JUSTICE AMIABLE.
THOU hast no lightnings, O thou Just!
Or I their force should know;
And if thou strike me into dust,
My soul approves the blow.
The heart that values less its ease
Than it adores thy ways,
In thine avenging anger sees
A subject of its praise.
Pleased I could lie, conceal'd and lost,
In shades of central night;
Not to avoid thy wrath, thou know'st,
But lest I grieve thy sight.
Smite me, O Thou, whom I provoke ;
And I will love thee still;
The well-deserved and righteous stroke
Shall please me, though it kill.
Am I not worthy to sustain
The worst thou canst devise?
And dare I seek thy throne again,
And meet thy sacred eyes?
Far from afflicting, Thou art kind;
And in my saddest hours,
An unction of thy grace I find,
Pervading all my powers.
Alas! Thou sparest me yet again;
And when thy wrath should move
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