Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Let Faith arise, and climb the hills,
And from afar descry
How distant are his chariot-wheels,
And tell how fast they fly-
Lo, I behold the scattering shades,
The dawn of Heaven appears,
The sweet immortal morning spreads
Its blushes round the spheres.
I see the Lord of glory come,

And flaming guards around:
The skies divide to make him room,

The trumpet shakes the ground.

I hear the voice, "Ye dead, arise!"
And lo, the graves obey,
And waking saints with joyful eyes
Salute th' expected day.

They leave the dust, and on the wing
Rise to the middle air,

In shining garments meet their King,
And low adore him there.
O may my humble spirit stand

Among them cloth'd in white!
The meanest place at his right hand
Is infinite delight.

How will our joy and wonder rise,

When our returning King

Shall bear us homeward through the skies On Love's triumphant wing!

AD DOMINUM NOSTRUM ET SERVATOREM

JESUM CHRISTUM.

ODA.

TE, grande Numen, corporis incola,
Te, magna magni progenies Patris,
Nomen verendum nostri Jesu

Vox citharæ, calami sonabunt.
Aptentur auro grandisonæ fides,
Christi triumphos incipe barbite,
Fractosque terrores Averni,

Victum Erebum, domitamque mortem.

Immensa vastos sæcula circulos
Volvêre, blando dum Patris in sinû

Toto fruebatur Jehovah

Gaudia mille bibens Jesus;

Donec superno vidit ab a-there
Adam cadentem, tartara hiantia,
Unâque mergendos ruinâ

Heu nimium miseros nepotes!
Vidit minaces vindicis angeli
Ignes et ensem, telaque sanguine
Tingenda nostro, dum rapina

Spe fremuere Erebæa monstra,,
Commota sacras viscera protinus
Sensêre flammas, omnipotens furor
Ebullit, Immensique Amoris

Ethereum calet igne pectus.

"Non tota prorsus gens hominum dabit
Hosti triumphos: Quid Patris et labor
Dulcisque imago? num peribunt
Funditus? O prius astra cæcis,
"Mergantur undis, et redeat chaos:
Aut ipse disperdam Satanæ dolos,
Aut ipse disperdar, et isti

Sceptra dabo moderanda dextræ.

"Testor paternum Numen, et hoc caput
Equale testor," dixit; et ætheris
Inclinat ingens culmen, alto
Desiliitque ruens Olympo.

Mortale corpus impiger induit
Artusque nostros, heu tenues nimis
Nimisque viles! Vindicique

Corda dedit fodienda ferro. Vitamque morti: Proh dolor! O graves Tonandis iræ! O Lex satis aspera! Mercesque peccati severa

Adamici, vetitique fructus.

Non pœna lenis! Quò, ruis impotens !
Quò, Musa! largas fundere lacrymas,
Bustique divini triumphos

Sacrilego temerare fletu ?
Sepone questus, læta Deum cane
Majore chordâ. Psalle sonoriùs
Ut ferreas Mortis cavernas

Et rigidam penetravit aulam.
Sensêre Numen regna feralia,
Mugit barathrum, contremuit chaos,
Dirùm fremebat rex Gehennæ,

Perque suum tremebundus orcum.
Latè refugit. Nil agis, impie,
Mergat vel imis te Fhlegethon vadis,
Hoc findet undas fulmen," inquit,
Et patrios jaculatus ignes.
Trajecit hostem. Nigra silentia
Umbræque flammas æthereas pavent
Dudum perosæ, ex quo corusco
Præcipites cecidere cœlo.
Immane rugit jam tonitru; fragor
Latè ruinam mandat: ab infimis
Lectæque designata genti
Tartara disjiciuntur antris.

Heic strata passim vincula, et heîc jacent
Unci cruenti, tormina mentium
Invisa; ploratuque vasto

Spicula Mors sibi adempta plangit.

En, ut resurgit victor ab ultimo
Ditis profundo, curribus aureis
Astricta raptans monstra noctis

Perdomitumque Erebi tyrannum.
Quanta angelorum gaudia jubilant
Victor paternum dum repetit polum !
En qualis ardet, dum beati
Limina scandit ovans Olympi!
Io triumphe plectra seraphica,
lo triumphe Grex Hominum sonet,
Dum læta quaquaversus ambos
Astra repercutiunt triumphos.

SUI-IPSIUS INCREPATIO.

EPIGRAMMA.

CORPORE Cur hæres, Wattsi? cur incola terræ ?
Quid cupis indignum, mens habitare lutum ?
Te caro mille malis premit; hinc juvenes gravat

artus

Languor, et hinc vegetus crimina sanguis alit.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

THE

HUNDREDTH EPIGRAM OF CASIMIRE. ON SAINT ARDALIO,

Who from a stage-player became a Christian, and suffered martyrdom.

ARDALIO jeers, and in his comic strains
The mysteries of our bleeding God profanes,
While his loud laughter shakes the painted scenes.
Heaven heard, and straight around the smoking
throne

The kindling lightning in thick flashes shone,
And vengeful thunder murmur'd to be gone.
Mercy stood near, and with a smiling brow [you;
Calm'd the loud thunder: "There's no need of
Grace shall descend, and the weak man subdue."
Grace leaves the skies, and he the stage forsakes,
He bows his head down to the martyring axe,
And, as he bows, this gentle farewell speaks;
"So goes the comedy of life away;

Vain Earth, adieu : Heaven will applaud to day;
Strike, courteous tyrant, and conclude the play."

BREATHING TOWARD THE HEAVENLY COUNTRY.

CASIMIRE, BOOK 1, OD. 19. IMITATED.

Urit me patriæ decor, &c.

THE beauty of my native land

Immortal love inspires;

I burn, I burn with strong desires, And sigh, and wait the high command. There glides the Moon her shining way, And shoots my heart through with a silver ray, Upward my heart aspires:

A thousand lamps of golden light Hung high, in vaulted azure, charm my sight, And wink and beckon with their amorous fires. O ye fair glories of my heavenly home,

Bright sentinels who guard my Father's court, Where all the happy minds resort, When will my Father's chariot come? Must ye for ever walk th' ethereal round, For ever see the mourner lie

An exile of the sky,

A prisoner of the ground?

Descend, some shining servants from on high,
Build me a hasty tomb;

A grassy turf will raise my head;
The neighbouring lilies dress my bed;
And shed a sweet perfume.

! Vide Horat. lib. i. od. 3.

[blocks in formation]

Yet Lewis, the wild tyrant of the age,
Tears down the walls, a victim to his rage.
Young faithful hands pile up the sacred stones
(Dear monument !) o'er their dead fathers' bones;
The stones shall move when the dead fathers rise,
Start up before the pale destroyer's eyes,
And testify his madness to th' avenging skies.

TWO HAPPY RIVALS,

DEVOTION AND THE MUSE.

WILD as the lightning, various as the Moon,
Roves my Pindaric song:

Here she glows like burning noon
In fiercest flames, and here she plays
Gentle as star-beams on the midnight seas;
Now in a smiling angel's form,
Anon she rides upon the storm,
Loud as the noisy thunder, as a deluge strong.

Are my thoughts and wishes free,

And know no number nor degree?
Such is the Muse: Lo she disdains

The links and chains,

Measures and rules, of vulgar strains,

And o'er the laws of harmony a sovereign queen she reigns.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

She beckons me away;

[clay,

I feel mine airy powers loose from the cumbrous And with a joyful haste obey

Religion's high command.

What lengths and heights and depths unknown!
Broad fields with blooming glory sown,

And seas, and skies, and stars her own,

In an unmeasur'd sphere!

What heavens of joy, and light serene,
Which nor the rolling Sun has seen,
Where nor the roving Muse has been,
That greater traveller!

A long farewell to all below,
Farewell to all that sense can show,
To golden scenes, and flowery fields,
To all the worlds that Fancy builds,
And all that poets know.

Now the swift transports of the mind
Leave the fluttering Muse behind,

A thousand loose Pindaric plumes fly scattering

[blocks in formation]

Thoughtless they act th' old Serpent's part;

What tempting things they be!

Lord, how they twine about our heart,
And draw it off from thee!

Our hasty wills rush blindly on

Where rising passion rolls,

And thus we make our fetters strong

To bind our slavish souls.

Dear Sovereign, break these fetters off,
And set our spirits free;
God in himself is bliss enough,
For we have all in thee.

Now I can fix my thoughts above,
Amidst their flattering charms,
Till the dear Lord that hath my love
Shall call me to his arms.

So Gabriel, at his King's command,
From yon celestial hill,

Walks downward to our worthless land,
His soul points upward still.

He glides along my mortal things,
Without a thought of love,

Fulfils his task, and spreads his wings
To reach the realms above.

DESIRING TO LOVE CHRIST.

COME, let me love: or is thy mind
Harden'd to stone, or froze to ice?
I see the blessed Fair-one bend

And stoop t' embrace me from the skies!
O! 'tis a thought would melt a rock,
And make a heart of iron move,
That those sweet lips, that heavenly look,
Should seek and wish a mortal love!
I was a traitor doom'd to fire,
Bound to sustain eternal pains;
He flew on wings of strong desire,
Assum'd my guilt, and took my chains.
Infinite grace! Almighty charms!
Stand in amaze, ye whirling skies!
Jesus the God, with naked arms,
Hangs on a cross of love, and dies.
Did Pity ever stoop so low,
Drest in divinity and blood?
Was ever rebel courted so

In groans of an expiring God?

Again he lives; and spreads his hands,
Hands that were nail'd to torturing smart;
"By these dear wounds," says he; and stands
And prays to clasp me to his heart.

Sure I must love; or are my ears
Still deaf, nor will my passion move?
Then let me melt this heart to tears!
This heart shall yield to death or love.

MEDITATION IN A GROVE.

SWEET Muse, descend and bless the shade,
And bless the evening grove;
Business, and noise, and day, are fled,
And every care, but love.

But hence, ye wanton young and fair,
Mine is a purer fiame;

No Phyllis shall infect the air

With her unhallow'd name.
Jesus has all my powers possest,

My hopes, my fears, my joys:
He, the dear Sovereign of my breast,
Shall still command my voice.
Some of the fairest choirs above

Shall flock around my song,
With joy to hear the name they love
Sound from a mortal tongue.

His charms shall make my numbers flow,
And hold the falling floods,
While Silence sits on every bough,

And bends the listening woods.

I'll carve our passion on the bark,

And every wounded tree

Shall drop and bear some mystic mark
That Jesus died for me.

The swains shall wonder when they read,
Inscrib'd on all the grove,

That Heaven itself came down, and bled
To win a mortal's love.

THE HEART GIVEN AWAY.

If there are passions in my soul,
(And passions sure they be)
Now they are all at thy control,
My Jesus, all for thee.

If love, that pleasing power, can rest
In hearts so hard as mine,
Come, gentle Saviour, to my breast,
For all my love is thine.

Let the gay world with treacherous art
Allure my eyes in vain:

I have convey'd away my heart,
Ne'er to return again.

I feel my warmest passions dead
To all that Earth can boast;
This soul of mine was never made
For vanity and dust,

THE FAIREST AND THE ONLY BELOVED.

HONOUR to that diviner ray

That first allur'd my eyes away
From every mortal fair;

All the gay things that held my sight
Seem but the twinkling sparks of night,
And languishing in doubtful light
Die at the morning star.

Whatever makes the Godhead great,
And fit to be ador'd,

Whatever speaks the creature sweet,
And worthy of my passion, meet
Harmonious in my Lord.

A thousand graces ever rise
And bloom upon his face;

A thousand arrows from his eyes
Shoot through my heart with dear surprise,
And guard around the place.

All Nature's art shall never eure
The heavenly pains I found,
And 'tis beyond all Beauty's power
To make another wound:

Earthly beauties grow and fade;
Nature heals the wounds she made,

But charms so much divine

Hold a long empire of the heart;
What Heaven has join'd shall never part,
And Jesus must be mine.

In vain the envious shades of night,
Or flatteries of the day,

Would veil his image from my sight,

Or tempt my soul away;

Jesus is all my waking theme,

His lovely form meets every dream
And knows not to depart:

The passion reigns
Through all my veins,

And, floating round the crimson stream,
Still finds him at my heart.

Dwell there, for ever dwell, my love;

Here I confine my sense;
Nor dare my wildest wishes rove

Nor stir a thought from thence.
Amidst thy glories and thy grace
Let all my remnant-minutes pass;
Grant, thou Everlasting Fair,
Grant my soul a mansion there:
My soul aspires to see thy face
Though life should for the vision pay;
So rivers run to meet the sea,
And lose their nature in th' embrace.

Thou art my ocean, thou my God;
In thee the passions of the mind
With joys and freedom unconfin'd
Exult, and spread their powers abroad.
Not all the glittering things on high
Can make my Heaven if thou remove;
I shall be tir'd, and long to die;
Life is a pain without thy love:
Who could ever bear to be
Curst with immortality

Among the stars, but far from thee?

MUTUAL LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH.

Nor the rich world of minds above

Can pay the mighty debt of love
I owe to Christ my God:

With pangs which none but he could feel,
He brought my guilty soul from Hell:
Not the first seraph's tongue can tell
The value of his blood.

Kindly he seiz'd me in his arms,

From the false world's pernicious charms
With force divinely sweet.

Had I ten thousand lives my own,
At his demand,

With cheerful hand,

I'd pay the vital treasure down

In hourly tributes at his feet.

But, Saviour, let me taste thy grace
With every fleeting breath;

And through that Heaven of pleasure pass
To the cold arms of Death;

Then I could lose successive souls
Fast as the minutes fly;

So billow after billow rolls
To kiss the shore, and die.

The substance of the following copy, and many of the lines, were sent me by an esteemed friend, Mr. W. NOKES, with a desire that I would form them into a Pindaric ode; but I retained his measures, lest I should too much alter his sense.

A SIGHT OF CHRIST.

ANGELS of light, your God and King surround,
With noble songs; in his exalted flesh

He claims your worship: while his saints on Earth
Bless their Redeemer-God with humble tongues.
Angels with lofty honours crown his head;
We bowing at his feet, by faith, may feel
His distant influence, and confess his love.

Once I beheld his face, when beams divine
Broke from his eye-lids, and unusual light
Wrapt me at once in glory and surprise.
My joyful heart high leaping in my breast
With transport cried, "This is the Christ of God;"
Then threw iny arins around in sweet embrace,
And clasp'd, and bow'd adoring low, till I was lost in
While he appears, no other charms can hold [him.
Or draw my soul, asham'd of former things,
Which no remembrance now deserve or name,
Though with contempt; best in oblivion hid.

But the bright shine and presence soon withdrew;
I sought him whom I love, but found him not;
I felt his absence; and with strongest cries
Proclaim'd, "Where Jesus is not, all is vain."
Whether I hold him with a full delight,
Or seek him panting with extreme desire,
'Tis he alone can please my wondering soul;
To hold or seek him is my only choice.
If he refrain on me to cast his eye
Down from his palace, nor my longing soul
With upward look can spy my dearest Lord
Through his blue pavement, I'll behold him still
With sweet reflection on the peaceful cross,
All in his blood and anguish groaning deep,
Gasping and dying there-

This sight I ne'er can lose, by it I live:
A quickening virtue from his death inspir'd
Is life and breath to me; his flesh my food;
His vital blood I drink, and hence my strength.

I live, I'm strong, and now eternal life
Beats quick within my breast; my vigorous mind
Spurns the dull Earth, and on her fiery wings
Reaches the mount of purposes divine,
Counsels of peace betwixt th' Almighty Three
Conceiv'd at once, and sign'd without debate,
In perfect union of th' Eternal Miud.

With vast amaze I see th' unfathom'd thoughts,

Infinite schemes, and infinite designs

Of God's own heart, in which he ever rests.
Eternity lies open to my view;

Here the Beginning and the End of all

I can discover; Christ the End of all,

And Christ the great Beginning; he my Head,

My God, my Glory, and my All in All.

« AnteriorContinuar »