Delicious, on his rosy wing; each bird, Invited by the cheerful Morn abroad, Her useful sons abroad to various toil; The laborer here with every instrument Of future plenty armed; and there the swain, But see, the flushed horizon flames intense With vivid red, in rich profusion streamed 25 30 35 40 O'er Heaven's pure arch. At once the clouds assume 45 Fringed lovely, splendid those in liquid gold, And speak their sovereign's state. He comes; behold! In one bright robe with heavenly tinctures gay. 50 55 From this hoar hill, that climbs above the plain, 60 The boundless scene beneath, hill, dale, and plain; Whose shores remurmur to the sounding surge; 65 The nearest forest in wide circuit spread, Solemn recess! whose solitary walks Fair Truth and Wisdom love; the bordering lawn, 70 These scenes, where every Virtue, every Muse, Delighted range, serene the soul, and lift, Borne on Devotion's wing, beyond the pole, First source of all things lovely, all things good, Eternal, Infinite! before whose throne 75 To highest Heaven, her thought, to Nature's God, Sits Sovereign Bounty, and through heaven and earth Ceaseless diffuses plenitude of bliss. 80 Him all things own; he speaks, and it is day: Obedient to his nod alternate night Obscures the world: the seasons at his call, Succeed in train, and lead the year around. While reason thus, and rapture fill the heart, 85 Friends of mankind, good angels, hovering near, Their holy influence, deep infusing, lend; And in still whispers, soft as Zephyr's breath, When scarce the green leaf trembles, through her powers Inspire new vigor, purer light supply, 90 And kindle every virtue into flame. Celestial intercourse! superior bliss, Which vice ne'er knew! health of the enlivened soul, EXERCISE XIX. Trust in God.-WORDSWORTH. How beautiful this dome of sky! At thy command, how awful! Shall the soul, Human and rational, report of Thee Even less than these? Be mute who will, who can, Me didst Thou constitute a priest of thine, In such a temple as we now behold Reared for Thy presence; therefore am I bound Not doomed to ignorance, though forced to tread, From unreflecting ignorance preserved, And from debasement rescued. By Thy grace 5 10 15 20 Come labor, when the worn-out frame requires And sad exclusion through decay of sense; 25 Inspire me with ability to seek Repose and hope among eternal things, — 30 Father of heaven and earth! and I am rich, And will possess my portion in content. And what are things eternal? - Powers depart, Possessions vanish, and opinions change, And passions hold a fluctuating seat: 35 But by the storms of circumstance unshaken, Duty exists;-immutably survive, For our support, the measures and the forms, Whose kingdom is where time and space are not: What more, that may not perish? Thou, dread Source, That, in the scale of being, fill their place, Above all human region, or below, Set and sustained; — Thou, who didst wrap the cloud Of infancy around us, that Thyself, Therein, with our simplicity awhile, Might'st hold, on earth, communion undisturbed, - Art everlasting. Thou, Thou alone, This universe shall pass away, a frame 40 45 50 55 Glorious! because the shadow of Thy might, - If the dear faculty of sight should fail, In youth, were mine; when stationed on the top The sun rise up, from distant climes returned, With joy exalted to beatitude; The measure of my soul was filled with bliss, With pomp, with glory, with magnificence! EXERCISE XX. Happiness sought in Wealth.-POLLOK. Gold many hunted, sweat and bled for gold; 60 65 70 75 80 5 |