And by the care prospective of our wise Forefathers, who, to guard against the shocks, The fluctuation and decay of things,
Embodied and established these high Truths
In solemn Institutions: - Men convinced
That Life is Love and Immortality,
The Being one, and one the Element. There lies the channel, and original bed, From the beginning, hollowed out and scooped For Man's Affections - else betrayed and lost, And swallowed up 'mid deserts infinite!
- This is the genuine course, the aim, and end Of prescient Reason; all conclusions else Are abject, vain, presumptuous, and perverse. The faith partaking of those holy times, Life, I repeat, is energy of Love Divine or human; exercised in pain, In strife, and tribulation; and ordained, If so approved and sanctified, to pass, Through shades and silent rest, to endless joy."
Poet's Address to the State and Church of England - The Pastor not inferior to the ancient Worthies of the Church - He begins his Narratives with an Instance of unrequited Love Anguish of Mind subdued and how The lonely Miner, an instance of Perseverance, which leads by contrast to an Example of abused talents, irresolution, and weakness- Solitary, applying this covertly to his own case, asks for an Instance of some Stranger, whose disposition may have led him to end his days here Pastor, in answer, gives an account of the harmonising influence of Solitude upon two Men of opposite principles, who had encountered agitations in public life -The Rule by which Peace may be obtained expressed and where Solitary hints at an overpowering Fatality-Answer of the Pasto: What subjects he will exclude from his Narratives-Conversation upon this - Instance of an unamiable character, a Female, and why given - Contrasted with this, a meek Sufferer from unguarded and betrayed love - Instance of heavier guilt, and its consequences to the Offender-With this Instance of a Marriage Contract broken is contrasted one of a Widower, evidencing his faithful affection towards his deceased wife by his care of their female Children.
HAIL to the Crown by Freedom shaped- to gird An English Sovereign's brow! and to the Throne Whereon he sits! Whose deep Foundations lie In veneration and the People's love;
Whose steps are equity, whose seat is law. Hail to the State of England! And conjoin With this a salutation as devout,
Made to the spiritual Fabric of her Church; Founded in truth; by blood of Martyrdom Cemented; by the hands of Wisdom reared In beauty of Holiness, with ordered pomp, Decent, and unreproved. The voice, that greets The majesty of both, shall pray for both; That, mutually protected and sustained, They may endure, long as the sea surrounds This favored Land, or sunshine warms her soil. And O, ye swelling hills and spacious plains! Besprent from shore to shore with steeple-towers And spires whose "silent finger points to Heaven;" Nor wanting, at wide intervals, the bulk Of ancient Minster, lifted above the cloud Of the dense air, which town or city breeds To intercept the sun's glad beams - may ne'er That true succession fail of English Hearts, Who, with Ancestral feeling can perceive What in those holy Structures ye possess Of ornamental interest, and the charm Of pious sentiment diffused afar,
And human charity, and social love.
- Thus never shall the indignities of Time Approach their reverend graces, unopposed; Nor shall the Elements be free to hurt Their fair proportions; nor the blinder rage Of bigot zeal madly to overturn;
And, if the desolating hand of war Spare them, they shall continue to bestow Upon the thronged abodes of busy Men (Depraved, and ever prone to fill their minds Exclusively with transitory things)
An air and mien of dignified pursuit;
Of sweet civility on rustic wilds.
-The poet, fostering for his native land Such hope, entreats that Servants may abound Of those pure Altars worthy; Ministers Detached from pleasure, to the love of gain Superior, insusceptible of pride,
And by ambitious longings undisturbed; Men, whose delight is where their duty leads Or fixes them; whose least distinguished day Shines with some portion of that heavenly lustre Which makes the Sabbath lovely in the sight Of blessed angels, pitying human cares. -And, as on earth it is the doom of Truth To be perpetually attacked by foes Open or covert, be that Priesthood still, For her defence, replenished with a Band Of strenuous Champions, in scholastic arts Thoroughly disciplined; nor (if in course Of the revolving World's disturbances Cause should recur, which righteous Heaven avert! To meet such trial) from their spiritual Sires Degenerate; who, constrained to wield the sword Of disputation, shrunk not, though assailed With hostile din, and combating in sight Of angry umpires, partial and unjust; And did, thereafter, bathe their hands in fire,
So to declare the conscience satisfied:
Nor for their bodies would accept release;
But blessing God and praising him, bequeathed,
With their last breath, from out the smouldering flame,
The faith which they by diligence had earned,
Or, through illuminating grace, received,
For their dear Countrymen, and all mankind. O high example, constancy divine!
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