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Dropped from an Angel's wing. With From councils senseless as intolerant

moistened eye

We read of faith and purest charity

In Statesman, Priest, and humble Citizen: O could we copy their mild virtues, then What joy to live, what blessedness to die! Methinks their very names shine still and bright;

Apart like glow-worms on a summer night;

Or lonely tapers when from far they fling
A guiding ray; or seen-like stars on high,
Satellites burning in a lucid ring
Around meek Walton's heavenly memory.

VI.

CLERICAL INTEGRITY.

NOR shall the eternal roll of praise reject Those Unconforming; whom one rigorous day

Drives from their Cures, a voluntary prey
To poverty, and grief, and disrespect,
And some to want-as if by tempests
wrecked

On a wild coast; how destitute! did They
Feel not that Conscience never can betray,
That peace of mind is Virtue's sure effect.
Their altars they forego, their homes they
quit,

Fields which they love, and paths they daily trod,

And cast the future upon Providence;

As men the dictate of whose inward sense

Outweighs the world; whom self-deceiving

wit

Lures not from what they deem the cause of God.

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Their warrant. Bodies fall by wild sword

law;

But who would force the Soul tilts with a straw

Against a Champion cased in adamant.

VIII.

ACQUITTAL OF THE BISHOPS.

A VOICE, from long-expecting thousands sent,

Shatters the air, and troubies 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 quire.
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.

IX

WILLIAM THE THIRD.

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.

X.

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;

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Bowing with reverence to the ancient creed, Fixed on the frame of England's Church their sight,

And strove in filial love to reunite

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Her Spires, her Steeple-towers with glittering vanes

What force had severed. Thence they Far-kenned, her Chapels lurking among

fetched the seed

Of Christian unity, and won a meed

Of praise from Heaven. To Thee, O saintly WHITe,

Patriarch of a wide-spreading family, Remotest lands and unborn times shall turn,

Whether they would restore or build-to Thee,

As one who rightly taught how zeal should burn,

As one who drew from our Faith's holiest

urn

The purest stream of patient Energy.

XVI.

trees,

Where a few villagers on bended knees Find solace which a busy world disdains.

XVIII.

PASTORAL CHARACTER.

A GENIAL hearth, a hospitable board,
And a refined rusticity, belong

To the neat mansion, where, his flock among,

The learned Pastor dwells, their watchful Lord.

Though meek and patient as a sheathed sword;

BISHOPS and Priests, blessed are ye, if Though pride's least lurking thought ap

deep

(As yours above all offices is high) Deep in your hearts the sense of duty lie; Charged as ye are by Christ to feed and keep

From wolves your portion of his chosen sheep:

Laboring as ever in your Master's sight, Making your hardest task your best delight, What perfect glory ye in Heaven shall reap!

But, in the solemn Office which ye sought And undertook premonished, if unsound Your practice prove, faithless though but in thought,

Bishops and Priests, think what a gulf profound

Awaits you then, if they were rightly taught Who framed the Ordinance by your lives disowned!

XVII.

PLACES OF WORSHIP.

As star that shines dependent upon star
Is to the sky while we look up in love;
As to the deep fair ships which though they

move

pears a wrong

To human kind; though peace be on his
Gentleness in his heart-can earth afford
tongue,
Such genuine state, pre-eminence so free,
As when, arrayed in Christ's authority,
He from the pulpit lifts his awful hand;
For re-subjecting to divine command
Conjures, implores, and labors all he can
The stubborn spirit of rebellious man?

XIX.

THE LITURGY.

YES, if the intensities of hope and fear
Attract us still, and passionate exercise
Of lofty thoughts, the way before us lies
Distinct with signs, through which in set

career,

As through a zodiac, moves the ritual year Of England's Church; stupendous mysteries!

Which whoso travels in her bosom eyes,
As he approaches them, with solemn cheer.
Upon that circle traced from sacred story
We only dare to cast a transient glance,

Trusting in hope that Others may advance With mind intent upon the King of Glory, From his mild advent till his countenance Shall dissipate the seas and mountains hoary.

XX.

BAPTISM.

We stood, a trembling, earnest Company! With low soft murmur, like a distant bee, Some spake, by thought-perplexing fears be trayed;

And some a bold unerring answer made: How fluttered then thy anxious heart for me,

Beloved Mother! Thou whose happy hand tie:

DEAR be the Church, that, watching o'er Had bound the flowers I wore, with faithful

the needs

Of Infancy, provides a timely shower
Whose virtue changes to a Christian Flower
A Growth from sinful Nature's bed of

weeds !

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Sweet flowers! at whose inaudible command
Her countenance, phantom-like, doth re-
O lost too early for the frequent tear,
appear;
And ill requited by this heartfelt sigh!

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THANKSGIVING AFTER CHILDBIRTH. WOMAN! the Power who left his throne on high,

The Power that thro' the straits of Infancy
Did pass dependent on maternal care,
His own humanity with Thee will share,
Pleased with the thanks that in his People's
eye

Thou offerest up for safe Delivery
From childbirth's perilous throes. And
should the Heir

Of thy fond hopes hereafter walk inclined
To courses fit to make a mother rue
That ever he was born, a glance of mind
Cast upon this observance may renew
A better will; and, in the imagined view
Of thee thus kneeling, safety he may find.

XXVIII.

VISITATION OF THE SICK.

THE Sabbath bells renew the inviting peal; Glad music! yet there be that, worn with pain

And sickness, listen where they long have lain,

In sadness listen. With maternal zeal Inspired, the Church sends ministers to kneel

Beside the afflicted; to sustain with prayer, And soothe the heart confession hath laid bare

That pardon, from God's throne, may set its seal

On a true Penitent. When breath departs From one disburthened so, so comforted, His Spirit Angels greet; and ours be hope That, if the Sufferer rise from his sick-bed, Hence he will gain a firmer mind, to cope With a bad world, and foil the Tempter's arts.

XXIX.

THE COMMINATION SERVICE. By some of unreflecting mind, as calling SHUN not this Rite, neglected, yea abhorred, Man to curse man, (thought monstrous and appalling.)

Go thou and hear the threatenings of the Lord;

Listening within his Temple see his sword Unsheathed in wrath to strike the offender's head,

Thy own, if sorrow for thy sin be dead,
Guilt unrepented, pardon unimplored.
Two aspects bears Truth needful for salva-
tion;

And deigned to wear the robe of flesh we Who knows not that? yet would this

wear,

delicate age

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