The world can proffer no relief,
E'en to the worldling-in his grief;
Its emptiness is then made known,
It loves-but cannot save its own.

Beasts have their dens-wherein they creep,
Leviathan—the billowy deep;

Birds to their nests for shelter flee;—
Souls troubled and oppress'd-to thee!

Thou art their refuge :—in the day
Of trouble, thou art still their stay;
Thy name, in which is power sublime,
A shelter in the needful time.

But if we hope thine outstretch'd arm
In darker hours when ills would harm,
O! teach our lips, in brighter days,
To bless thy name, to speak thy praise.

For, though thy love may condescend
To be the mourner's surest friend,
Nay, e'en to cheer their adverse lot
Who in past sunshine sought thee not,—

Yet justly may thy praise employ,
The liberal gratitude of JOY,

And selfish, sure, their thoughts must be
Who turn but in their grief to thee.

NOTE.

AFTER the composition of the preceding Verses, the further progress of this little volume had been, for some time, suspended; indeed its author had for a while felt little ability or inclination to proceed in it, its completion appearing to him almost a hopeless contingency. A candid statement of this circumstance may perhaps explain, if not justify the insertion of the following.

A SOLILOQUY.

"Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul."- Psalm, xxv. I.

ONCE more, lov'd solace of my lonely hours, Would I renew my intercourse with thee, Suspended for a time-while Spring's gay flowers, Her bursting foliage, and her songs of glee Allured me from my task to budding bowers,

To shady lane, green copse, or blossom'd lea; In the fond hope, but not more fond than vain, Their charms might lend fresh vigour to my strain.

Mistaken thought! To me shall come no more
The once blithe impulse of a vernal day;
Nor can fair nature's countless charms restore
Aught of congenial freshness to my lay;
The sanguine flush of youth's bright morn is o'er,
The fairy dreams of fancy pass'd away ;-
And were they still my own they could not lend
One living charm with thy deep truths to blend.

Not that I darkly view, or lightly prize,

The beauties and the harmonies of Spring; Yet is there what green earth, nor laughing skies, Nor blooming flowers, nor song of birds can bring Over the spirit ;-hid from human eyes

Deep in the heart, like a far holier thing Than outward nature's richest stores can yield, The fount of thought and feeling is unseal'd.

And he who writes of themes which must endure
When times and seasons shall have run their course,
Whose song is TRUTH, unchangeable and sure,
If he aright would feel its truest force,
Must drink of streams unperishing and pure
Which issue from a deeper, holier source;
Looking beyond the fading things of time,
To those which are eternal and sublime.

O! may I now, with no misgiving dread,
Resume the task of many a winter night;
Nor deem devotion's purer influence fled

Because no inly-answ'ring flood of light
From Spring's young glory on my soul is shed:

The just shall walk by faith, and not by sight! And he who seeks to frame a heavenly song Through conscious weakness may be render'd strong.

Strong in the might and strength of Him, alone,
Whose spirit down the vale of vision swept,
What time the seer beheld around him strown

Bones dry and lifeless which in silence slept ; These, at the word divine, His power made known, And on their feet a living army leapt ;

So

may the spirit He vouchsafes to raise Revive as from the dead to sing His praise.

CONFIDENCE IN PROTECTION.

"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters."-Psalm, xxiii. 2.

SHEPHERD of Israel's gather'd fold!
Thy pastures still are fresh and green,
And water'd, as in days of old,

By silent streams of crystal sheen;
And there thou lov'st thy flock to lead
That they may on thy bounty feed.