VI. We long for what we see-though haply time The steep of Zion, if the glories there- VII. 'Tis said of those whom hostile hands compel To leave the springs, and seek the mountain height; Lest, torn from home and all that flings its spell Around the heart, they feel the exquisite, Unmeasured horrors without parallel In earthly climes-the cruel withering blight Of toil for masters who have bought with gold What heaven first made, and then redeemed with price untold; VIII. "Tis said they bear through many a weary day Rather than live for misery accurst; But ah! at length they near-and nearer comeThey see the proffered cup-and leave in chains their home!* IX. If sight thus lure to slavery below, How would it win to freedom in the skies! If men be tempted thus to undergo The loss of home and all their bosoms prize, How would these hearts with heavenly fervour glow To gain their home-the mansion in the skies, If faith would lift her eye with searching gaze, To all that shines above this close surrounding haze! *See "The African Slave-trade and its Remedy," by Sir T. Fowell Buxton. X. Ye who have formed your purpose, and are bent, Break, by the help of heaven, the cumbering chain Of time and sense; and scan with stedfast eye, What faith alone can see, the unfading joys on high! XI. Soar upward, and survey the streets of gold, "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the vio lent take it by force."-Matt. xi. 12. XLI. "THE LORD GOD IS A SUN." PSALM 1xxxiv. 11. I. THE summer sun was in the deep blue sky, II. Musingly wandering, I chanced to look With sudden glance upon the orb of day; But, all too weak that blaze of light to brook, My dazzled eyes full quickly turned away; III. Turned from the heavens to the meadows green, IV. Ah! who can tell how beautiful is light! How sad the heart the sunbeams cannot cheer! Whatever else be dimmed, they shine as bright As erst on Eden, ere it knew a tear. V. And brightly shone they now: they did impart Radiance, methought, to more than earth and air: Mine eyes but seemed the windows of my heart, That let them in to play and gladden there. VI. But suddenly upon the waving grass, By contrast strong, I marked a shadow pass, |