a The debtor's friends (for still he has some friends) His child shall still receive instruction's boon. Nor is allow'd to clasp his weeping child. My innocent, so helpless, yet so gay! O ye who live at home, and kiss each eve Upon their morning smile,-think, think of those, In banishment from all that's dear to man ;He sees pass on, to join the heaven-taught prayer, O raise your voices in one general peal Forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors : Remonstrant, for th’ oppress'd. And ye, who sit From unforgiving lips most impious prayer ! Month after month devising impost laws, O happier far the victim than the hand Give some small portion of your midnight vigils That deals the legal stab! The injured man To mitigate, is not remove, the wrong. Enjoys internal, settled calm; to him Relentless justice! with fate-furrow'd brow; The Sabbath bell sounds peace; he loves to meet Wherefore to various crimes of various guilt, His fellow sufferers to pray and praise : One penalty, the most severe, allot? And many a prayer, as pure as e'er was breathed Why, pall'd in state, and mitred with a wreath In holy fanes, is sigh'd in prison halls. Of nightshade, dost thou sit portentously, Ah me! that clank of chains, as kneel and rise Beneath a cloudy canopy of sighs, The death-doom'd row. But see, a smile illumes Of fears, of trembling hopes, of boding doubts ; The face of some; perhaps they're guiltless : 0! Death's dart thy mace !-Why are the laws of God. And must high-minded honesty endure Statutes promulged in characters of fire,* The ignominy of a felon's fate! Despised in deep concerns, where heavenly guidan No, 'tis not ignominious to be wrong'd: Is most required? The murderer-let him die, No; conscious exultation swells their hearts And him who lifts his arm against his parent, To think the day draws nigh, when in the view His country,-or his voice against his God. Of angels, and of just men perfect made, Let crimes less heinous dooms less dreadful meet The mark which rashness branded on their names Than loss of life! so said the law divine: Shall be effaced ;-when wasted on life's storm, That law beneficent, which mildly stretch'd, Their souls shall reach the Sabbath of the skies ;- To men forgotten and forlorn, the hand As birds from bleak Norwegia's wintry coast of restitution : Yes, the trumpet's voice Blown out to sea, strive to regain the shore, The Sabbath of the jubileet announced: But, vainly striving, yield them to the blast.- The freedom-freighted blast, through all the land Swept o'er the di p to Albion's genial isle, At once, in every city, echoing rings, Amazed they light amid the bloomy sprays From Lebanon to Carmel's woody cliffs, Of some green vale, there to enjoy new loves, So loud, that far within the desert's verge And join in harmony unheard before. The couching lion starts, and glares around. Smooth is each rugged path; his little ones "And it came to pass, on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick A portion of his day, by teaching those cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet ex Whom Jesus loved with forth-stretch'd hand to ceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp bless! trembled." Exod. xix. 16. Behold yon motley train, by two and two, + “And thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years Each with a Bible 'neath its little arm, unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the Approach well pleased, as if they went to play, seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee The dome where simple lore is learnt unbought : to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the And mark the father 'mid the sideway throng; day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound Well do I know him by his glistening eye, throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth That follows steadfastly one of the line, year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto A dark seafaring man he looks to be; all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall relurn every man unto his possession, and And much it glads his boding heart to think, ye shall return every man unto his family.” Lev. Tv That when once more he sails the valley'd deep, 810. Sport as they go, while ost the mother chides No dawn is ever spread, whose native vale Each object, though unseen; there could he wend His way, guideless, through wilds and mazy woods; With rind of silken touch, to the rough elm: Oft had they told him that his home was near: And--for the voice of psalms, loud, solemn, grand, What though the cluster'd vine there hardly tempts Display? power marvellous as merciful, The traveller's hand; though birds of dazzling plume Which, though in other ordinances still Perch on the loaded boughs ;—“Give me thy woods, Most plainly seen, is yet but little mark'd (Exclaims the banish'd man,) thy barren woods, For what it truly is,-a miracle ! Poor Scotland! Sweeter there the reddening haw, Stupendous, ever new, perform'd at once The sloe, or rowan's* bitter bunch, than here In every region,-yea, on every sea The purple grape; deure the redbreast's note, Which Europe's navies plough ;-yes, in all lands That mourns the fading year in Scotia’s vales, From pole to pole, or civilized to rude, Than Philomel's, where spring is ever new; People there are, to whom the Sabbath morn More dear to me the redbreast's sober suit, Dawns, shedding dews into their drooping hearts: So like a wither'd leaflet, than the glare Nor is regret exclusive to the old : A ship his cradle, by the billows rock'd, - “ The nursling of the storm,”-although he claims Driven from their homes by fell monopoly, No native land, yet does he wistful hear Keep holy to the Lord the seventh day. Of some far distant country still call’d home, Assembled under loftiest canopy Where lambs of whitest fleece sport on the hills; Of trees primeval, soon to be laid 10:6 Where gold-speck'd fishes wanton in the streams: Where little birds, when snow-flakes dim the air, But what the loss of country to the woes (! my heart bleeds to think there now may live The face of nature wears a stranger's look. One hapless man, the remnant of a wreck, Yea, though the valley which we loved be swept Cast on some desert island of that main Immense, which stretches from the Cochin shore As is the rock his seat, gazing whole days, With wandering eye, o'er all the watery waste; Now striving to believe the albatross *“And these words which I command thee this day A sail appearing on the horizon's verge; shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them dili- Now vowing ne'er to cherish other hope gently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when Than hope of death. Thus pass his weary hours, thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the Till welcome evening warn him that 'tis time way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Upon the shell-notch'd calendar to mark Thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.” Deut. vi. 6,7. 21. * Mountain ash. : Another day, another dreary day, Breathless, the man forlorn listens, and thinks A fiery wave,* (so seems it,) crescent form’d, Bearing glad tidings to the farthest isles The Sabbath passes. 'Tis his great delight. Of ocean, that the dead shall rise again. Each seventh eve he marks the farewell ray, Forward the gleam-girt castle coastwise glides ; And loves, and sighs to think,—that setting sun It seems as it would pass away. To cry Is now impurpling Scotland's mountain tops, The wretched man in vain attempts, in vain, Or, higher risen, slants athwart her vales, Powerless his voice as in a fearful dream: Tinting with yellow light the quivering throat Not so his hand: he strikes the fint,--a blaze Of day-spring lark, while woodland birds below Mounts from the ready heap of wither'd leaves : Chant in the dewy shade. Thus all night long The music ceases, accents harsh succeed, He watches, while the rising moon describes Harsh, but most grateful: downward drop the The progress of the day in happier lands. sails; And now he almost fancies that he hears Ingulf’d the anchor sinks; the boat is launch'd ; The chiming from his native village church ; But cautious lies aloof till morning dawn: And now he sings, and fondly hopes the strain O then the transport of the man unused May be the same that sweet ascends at home To other human voice besides his own,In congregation full,-where, not without a tear His native tongue to hear! he breathes at home, They are remember'd who in ships behold Though earth’s diameter is interposed. The wonders of the deep:* he sees the hand, Of perils of the sea he has no dread, The widow'd hand, that veils the eye suffused ; Full well assured the mission'd bark is safe, He sees his orphan'd boy look up, and strive Held in the hollow of th’Almighty's hand. The widow'd heart to soothe. His spirit leans (And signal thy deliverances have been On God. Nor does he leave his weekly vigil Of these thy messengers of peace and joy.) Though tempests ride o'er welkin-lashing waves From storms that loudly threaten to unfix On winds of cloudless wing it though lightnings Islands rock-rooted in the ocean's bed, burst Thou dost deliver them,-and from the calm, So vivid, that the stars are hid and seen More dreadful than the storm, when motionless In awful alternation: Calm he views Upon the purple deep the vessel lies The far exploding firmament, and dares For days, for nights, illumed by phosphor lamps • To hope—one bolt in mercy is réserved When sea-birds seem in nests of flame to float For his release: and yet he is resign'd When backward starts the boldest mariner To see, while o’er the side he leans, his face Let worldly men One sacred eve, he hears, faint from the deep, The cause and combatants contemptuous scorn, Music remote, swelling at intervals, And call fanatics them who hazard health And life in testifying of the truth, They too, though clothed with power of mighty To Bethlehem's shepherds, as they watch'd their works flocks. Miraculous, were oft received with scorn; Oft did their words fall powerless, though enforced * “ They that go down to the sea in ships, that do busi- By deeds that mark'd Omnipotence their friend : ness in great waters; these see the works of the Lord, But, when their efforts faild, unweariedly and his wonders in the deep." Psal. cvii. + In the tropical regions, the sky during storms is often They onward went, rejoicing in their course. without a cloud. "If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead the babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, lying in a manger. me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” Psal. cxxxix. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of $ “And there were in the same country shepherds the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward night. And lol the angel of the Lord came upon them, men.” Luke ii. 8–14. and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and * "In some seas, as particularly about the coast of they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Malabar, as a ship floats along, it seems during the night, Fear not, for, behold! I bring you good tidings of great to be surrounded with fire, and to leave a long track of joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born light behind it. Whenever the sea is gently agitated, it this day in the city of David, a Saviour, who is Christ the seems converted into little stars: every drop as it breaka Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you, Ye shall find emits light, like bodies electrified in the dark."-Darwin Like helianthus," borne on downy wings Triumphantly sails down th' ensanguined stream, To distant realms, they frequent fell on soils On corses throned, and crown'd with shiver'd boughs, Barren and thankless ; yet oft-times they saw That erst hung imaged in the crystal tide. Their labours crown'd with fruit a hundred fold, And what the harvest of these bloody fields ? Saw the new converts testify their faith A double weight of fetters to the slave, By works of love,-the slave set free, the sick And chains on arms that wielded freedom's sword. Attended, prisoners visited, the poor Spirit of Tell! and art thou doom'd to see Received as brothers at the rich man's board. Thy mountains, that confess'd no other chains Alas! how different now the deeds of men Than what the wintry elements had forged, Nursed in the faith of Christ !—The free made slaves! Thy vales, where freedom, and her stern compeer, Torn from their country, borne across the deep, Proud, virtuous poverty, their noble state Enchain’d, endungeon'd, forced by stripes to live, Maintain’d, amid surrounding threats of wealth, Doom'd to behold their wives, their little ones, Of superstition, and tyrannic swayTremble beneath the white man's fiend-like frown! Spirit of Tell! and art thou doom'd to see Yet e'en to scenes like these the Sabbath brings That land subdued by slavery's basest slaves ; Alleviation of th' enormous wo: By men, whose lips pronounce the sacred name The oft reiterated stroke is still; Of liberty, then kiss the despot's foot ? The clotted scourge hangs hardening in the shrouds. Helvetia! hadst thou to thyself been true, But see, the demon man, whose trade is blood, Thy dying sons had triumph'd as they fell: With dauntless front convene his rufřan crew But 'twas a glorious effort, though in vain. To hear the sacred service read. Accursed, Aloft thy genius, ʼmid the sweeping clouds, The wretch's bile-tinged lips profane the word The flag of freedom spread; bright in the storm Of God: Accursed, he ventures to pronounce The streaming meteor wayed, and far it gleam'd : The decalogue, nor falters at that law But, ah! 'twas transient, as the Iris'arch, Wherein 'tis written, Thou shalt do no murder : Glanced from leviathan's ascending shower, Perhaps, while yet the words are on his lips, When 'mid the mountain waves heaving his head. He hears a dying mother's parting groan ; Already had the friendly-seeming foe He hears her orphan'd child, with lisping plaint, Possess'd the snow piled ramparts of the land : Attempt to rouse her from the sleep of death. Down like an avalanche they roll'd, they crush'd O England ! England! wash thy purpled hands The temple, palace, cottage, every work Of this foul sin, and never dip them more Of art and nature, in one common ruin. In guilt so damnable! then lift them up The dreadful crash is o'er, and peace ensues, In supplication to that God, whose name The peace of desolation, gloomy, still: Is Mercy; then thou mayest, without the risk Each day is hush'd as Sabbath ; but, alas! of drawing vengeance from the surcharged clouds, No Sabbath service giads the seventh day! Implore protection to thy menaced shores; No more the happy villagers are seen Then God will blast the tyrant's arm that grasps Winding adown the rock-hewn paths, that wont The thunderbolt of ruin o'er thy head : To lead their footsteps to the house of prayer ; Then will he turn the wolvish race to prey But, far apart, assembled in the depth Upon each other; then will he arrest Of solitudes, perhaps a little group The lava torrent, causing it regorge Of aged men, and orphan boys, and maids, Back to its source with fiery desolation. Bereft, list to the breathings of the holy man, Of all the murderous trades by mortals plied, Who spurns an oath of fealty to the power 'Tis war alone that never violates Of rulers chosen by a tyrant's nod. The hallow'd day by simulate respect, No more, as dies the rustling of the breeze, By hypocritic rest: No, no, the work proceeds. Iy heard the distant vesper hymn; no more From sacred pinnacles are hung the flags,t At gloamin hour, the plaintive strain, that links That give the sign to slip the leash from slaughter. His country to the Switzer's heart, delights The bells, whose knoll a holy calmness pour’d The loosening team ; or if some shepherd boy Into the good man's breast,-whose sound solaced Attempt the strain, his voice soon faltering stops ; The sick, the poor, the old-perversion direm He feels his country now a foreign land. Pealing with sulphurous tongues, speak death- O Scotland ! canst thou for a moment brook fraught words: The mere imagination, that a fate From morn to eve destruction revels frenzied, Like this should e'er be thine! that o'er these bills Till at the hour when peaceful vesper-chimes And dear-bought vales, whence Wallace, Douglas, Were wont to soothe the ear, the trumpet sounds Bruce, Pursuit and fight altern; and for the song Repelld proud Edward's multitudinous hordes, Of larks, descending to their grass-bower'd homes, A Gallic foe, that abject race, should rule ! The croak of flesh-gorged ravens, as they slake No, no! let never hostile standard touch Their thirst in hoof-prints fill'd with gore, disturbs Thy shore: rush, rush into the dashing brine, The stupor of the dying man ; while death And crest each wave with steel; and should the stamp Sunflower. “ The seeds of many plants of this kind are furnished with a plume, by which admirable mecha. nism they are disseminated far from their parent stem.” * After a heavy cannonade, the shivered branches of -Darioin. trees, and the corpses of the killed, are seen floating + Church steeples are frequently used as signal posts. together down the rivers. Of slavery's footstep violate the strand, The poor man's boon, that stints him of his bread, Let not the tardy tide efface the mark ; Is prized more highly in the sight of Him Sweep off the stigma with a sea of blood ! Who sees the heart, than golden gifts from hands Thrice happy he, who, far in Scottish glen That scarce can know their countless treasures Retired, (yet ready at his country's call,) less :* Has left the restless emmet-hill of man: Yea, the deep sigh that heaves the poor man's breast He never longs to read the saddening tale To see distress, and feel his willing arm While ponderous bequests of lands and goods And should all bounty that is clothed with Of casual traveller :—as on the deep, power Far from the sight of land, when all around Be deem'd unworthy ?-Far be such a thought ! Is waveless calm, the sudden tremulous swell, E’en when the rich bestow, there are sure tests That gently heaves the ship, tells, as it rolls, Of genuine charity ;-Yes, yes, let wealth Of earthquakes dread, and cities overthrown. Give other alms than silver or than gold, O Scotland ! much I love thy tranquil dales : Time, trouble, toil, attendance, watchfulness, But most on Sabbath eve, when low the sun Exposure to disease ;-yes, let the rich Slants through the upland copse, 'tis my delight, Be often seen beneath the sick man's roof; Wandering, and stopping oft, to hear the song Or cheering, with inquiries from the heart, Of kindred praise arise from humble roofs ; And hopes of health, the melancholy range Or, when the simple service ends, to hear Of couches in the public wards of wo: The lifted latch, and mark the gray-baird man, There let them often bless the sick man's bed, The father and the priest, walk forth alone With kind assurances that all is well Into his garden-plat, or little field, At home, that plenty smiles upon the board,To commune with his God in secret prayer,- The while the hand that earn'd the frugal meal To bless the Lord, that in his downward years Can hardly raise itself in sign of thanks. His children are about him: Sweet, meantime, Above all duties, let the rich man search The thrush, that sings upon the aged thorn, Into the cause he knoweth not, nor spurn Brings to his view the days of youthful years, The suppliant wretch as guilty of a crime. When that same aged thorn was but a bush. Ye, bless'd with wealth! (another name for Nor is the contrast between youth and age power To him a painful thought; he joys to think Of doing good,) O would ye but devote His journey pear a close,-heaven is his home. A little portion of each seventh day More happy far that man, though bowed down, To acts of justice to your fellow men ! Though feeble be his gait, and dim his eye, The house of mourning silently invites : Than they, the favourites of youth and health, Shun not the crowded alley; prompt descend Of riches, and of fame, who have renounced Into the half-sunk cell, darksome and damp; The glorious promise of the life to come, Nor seem impatient to be gone: Inquire, Clinging to death. Console, instruct, encourage, soothe, assist; Or mark that female face, Read, pray, and sing a new song to the Lord; The faded picture of its former self, Make tears of joy down grief-worn furrows flow. The garments coarse, but clean ;-frequent at church O health! thou sun of life, without whose beam I've noted suc a one, feeble and pale, The fairert scenes of nature seem involved Yet standing, with a look of mild content, In darkness, shine upon my dreary path Till beckon'd by some kindly hand to sit. Once more; or, with thy faintest dawn, give hope, She had seen better days; there was a time That I may yet enjoy thy vital ray! Her hands could earn her bread, and freely give Though transient be the hope, 'twill be most To those who were in want; but now old age, sweet, And lingering disease, have made her helpless. Like midnight music, stealing on the ear, Yet she is happy, ay, and she is wise, Then gliding past, and dying slow away. (Philosophers may sneer, and pedants frown,) Music ! thou soothing power, thy charm is pro ved Although her Bible is her only book ; Most vividly when clouds o'ercast the soul; And she is rich, although her only wealth So light its loveliest effect displays Is recollection of a well-spent life In lowering skies, when through the murky rack Is expectation of the life to come. A slanting sunbeam shoots, and instant limps Examine here, explore the narrow path In which she walks ; look not for virtuous deeds * "And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beIn history's arena, where the prize held how the people cast money into the treasury: and Of fame, or power, prompts to heroic acts. many that were rich cast in much. And there came a Peruse the lives themselves of men obscure :- certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which There charity, that robs itself to give; make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, There fortitude in sickness, nursed by want; and saith unto them, Verily, I say unto you, that this poor There courage, that expects no tongue to praise; widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abun There virtue lurks, like purest gold deep hid, dance, but she of her want did cast in all that she had, With no alloy of selfish motive mix'd. even all her living." Mark xii. 41-44. |