Mountain, and moor, and crowded street, where lie The headless martyrs of the Covenant,
Slain by compatriot Protestants that draw From councils senseless as intolerant
Their warrant. Bodies fall by wild sword-law; But who would force the Soul, tilts with a straw Against a Champion cased in adamant.
ACQUITTAL OF THE BISHOPS.
A VOICE, from long-expecting thousands sent, Shatters the air, and troubles tower and spire; For Justice hath absolved the innocent, And Tyranny is balked of her desire: Up, down, the busy Thames - rapid as fire Coursing a train of gunpowder- it went, And transport finds in every street a vent, Till the whole City rings like one vast choir. The Fathers urge the People to be still,
With outstretched hands and earnest speech,-in vain!
Yea, many, haply wont to entertain
Small reverence for the mitre's offices, And to Religion's self no friendly will, A Prelate's blessing ask on bended knees.
CALM as an under-current, strong to draw Millions of waves into itself, and run, From sea to sea, impervious to the sun And ploughing storm, the spirit of Nassau (Swerves not, how blest if by religious awe. Swayed, and thereby enabled to contend With the wide world's commotions) from its end Swerves not, diverted by a casual law. Had mortal action e'er a nobler scope? The Hero comes to liberate, not defy;
And, while he marches on with steadfast hope, Conqueror beloved! expected anxiously! The vacillating Bondman of the Pope Shrinks from the verdict of his steadfast eye.
OBLIGATIONS OF CIVIL TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
UNGRATEFUL Country, if thou e'er forget The sons who for thy civil rights have bled! How, like a Roman, Sidney bowed his head, And Russel's milder blood the scaffold wet! But these had fallen for profitless regret Had not thy holy Church her champions bred, And claims from other worlds inspirited The star of Liberty to rise. Nor yet
(Grave this within thy heart!) if spiritual things Be lost, through apathy, or scorn, or fear, Shalt thou thy humbler franchises support, However hardly won or justly dear:
What came from heaven to heaven by nature clings, And if dissevered thence, its course is short.
A SUDDEN conflict rises from the swell Of a proud slavery met by tenets strained In Liberty's behalf. Fears, true or feigned, Spread through all ranks; and lo! the Sentinel Who loudest rang his pulpit 'larum bell Stands at the Bar, absolved by female eyes Mingling their glances with grave flatteries Lavished on him, that England may rebel Against her ancient virtue. HIGH and Low, Watch-words of Party, on all tongues are rife; As if a Church, though sprung from heaven, must
To opposite and fierce extremes her life,
Not to the golden mean, and quiet flow Of truths that soften hatred, temper strife.
Down a swift stream, thus far, a bold design Have we pursued, with livelier stir of heart
Than his who sees, borne forward by the Rhine, The living landscapes greet him, and depart; Sees spires fast sinking, up again to start! And strives the towers to number, that recline O'er the dark steeps, or on the horizon line Striding with shattered crests his eye athwart. So have we hurried on with troubled pleasure: Henceforth, as on the bosom of a stream
That slackens, and spreads wide a watery gleam, We, nothing loth a lingering course to measure, May gather up our thoughts, and mark at leisure How widely spread the interests of our theme.
ASPECTS OF CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA.
WELL worthy to be magnified are they Who, with sad hearts, of friends and country took A last farewell, their loved abodes forsook, And hallowed ground in which their fathers lay; Then to the new-found World explored their way, That so a Church, unforced, uncalled to brook Ritual restraints, within some sheltering nook Her Lord might worship and his word obey In freedom. Men they were who could not bend; Blest Pilgrims, surely, as they took for guide A will by sovereign Conscience sanctified; Blest while their Spirits from the woods ascend
Along a Galaxy that knows no end, But in His glory who for sinners died.
FROM Rite and Ordinance abused they fled To Wilds where both were utterly unknown; But not to them had Providence foreshown What benefits are missed, what evils bred, In worship neither raised nor limited
Save by Self-will. Lo! from that distant shore, For Rite and Ordinance, Piety is led
Back to the Land those Pilgrims left of yore, Led by her own free choice. So Truth and Love By Conscience governed do their steps retrace.- Fathers! your Virtues, such the power of grace, Their spirit, in your Children, thus approve. Transcendent over time, unbound by place, Concord and Charity in circles move.
III. CONCLUDED. — AMERICAN EPISCOPACY.
PATRIOTS informed with Apostolic light
Were they, who, when their country had been freed, Bowing with reverence to the ancient creed,
Fixed on the frame of England's Church their
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