THE MISSIONARY.

And thou couldst greet the Potentate whose head
Sustained a crown—

Thou couldst rejoice when peace with pinions spread,
Came softly down

And canopied his dwelling, breathing forth
Her message true,-

Thou couldst rejoice when great ones of this earth
Held heaven in view.

'Twas thine to publish to the weary soul,
Thy risen Lord:

Now thou hast run thy race and won thy goal,
Thy lines afford

A lesson of high import, and 'twere well
That light to see,

Which as the christian's watch-fire, lives to tell
Where quicksands be.

How beauteous on the mountains were thy feet,
Herald of joy!

For thou didst bring glad tidings, as 'twere meet-
Thy blest employ.

Farewell! with spirits of the wise and good—
With Christ to dwell ;-

Passed from the bounds of earth and Jordan's flood,
Now all is well!

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"I thank my God.-Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints; that the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother."-PHILEMON 4-7.

THE MOUNTAIN EAGLE.

GENIUS of Liberty! thy form I see
In western worlds afar; o'er mortal strife
Thy lofty pinion soared-thy piercing eye
Could penetrate the gloom that boding frowned,
On man's best bliss, and wake his hopes to joy.

Genius of Liberty, o'er mortal strife

Thy high-born counsels reigned and cheered the gloom;
A blessing on the patriot's honored head!

Thy mild decrees shone in thy country's fanes,
And breathed thy name where feeling's records dwell.

But see thy blade unsheathed! thy potent arm
Hurls deluge on the foe, and seals his doom.
Yes, thou didst thirst for freedom, but the while,
Methinks the olive-leaf had graced thy brow,
Better than laurels from the conflict won.

"Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it : except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”PSALM CXxvii. 1.

“And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."--ISAIAH ii. 4.

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THE LISTENER.

165

THE LISTENER.

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A LISTENER! did I hear you say
Then chase the odious sprite away!
A listener! in how mean a guise
He steals the counsels of the wise:
A listener! banish from our sight
That phantom form, to shades of night!

But no, a lady fair, I see,-
Veiled in a robe of truth is she;
A lady who can listen well
And many a tale unbidden tell :
She lends her ear—and discord's note
Seems on the ambient air to float;
She with her quick observant eye
Can folly's wildering maze descry ;
She feels the pulse of human kind,
And offers medicines for the mind.
She tells us how on wings of air,
Like meteors bright and soft and fair,
Our golden moments flutter by,
To worlds of immortality.

She bids the thoughtless and the gay,
The young who tread each flowery way,
She bids them pause-and in her hand
She holds a glass of shining sand-
'Tis life's chronometer! the while
Her lips instruct them with a smile.—
"Be wise to-day! to-morrow's sun
For you no more its course may run—
To-morrow's fluttering hopes and fears,
The future and its promised years,

No more may shine with radiant glow,
On path like yours its light to throw :
Be wise to-day! an eye above

Looks on you-and with thoughts of love,—
With thoughts of tenderness and truth,
The Saviour's soul regards your youth.
His love can quicken, raise and bless
His flock in earth's dark wilderness;
And every lamb that's folded there,
He fosters with a Shepherd's care ;-
Oh then, to Him with full desire,
Let youth on wings of love, aspire;
To Him surrender, not in part,
That single boon He asks-your heart!
He asks your heart, but love like His
Gives in return an answering bliss,-
A benefice of high degree

Is heaven-for weak mortality.

Look up! enthroned in yonder sky,
He bids you to His bosom fly ;-
When in this vale of tears your feet
Have loved a track like His to greet;
And when with Pilgrim's sainted band,
Ye seek the shores of Canaan's land,
Then shall His voice of love and power,
Exalt you in redemption's hour,

For evermore to dwell with Him,
Amid the shining seraphim."

"A bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter."-ECCLES. x. 20.

THE CHRISTIAN POET.

167

"THE CHRISTIAN POET."

POET! in the deep recesses

Where thy spirit finds its home,
Sheltered from the world's distresses
Which on shadowy pinions roam;
Let the muse with fair caresses,
To that safe pavilion come.

Mind with thee, was born to travel
Thought's sublimer fields among ;-
What though humbler souls may cavil
Whilst the poet pours his song-
Who can all the depths unravel

Which to themes like these belong!

Musing on thy high vocation,

Oft thy spirit winged its way— And amid the mind's creation, High it soared to realms of day ;

Then its earthly habitation

Bade that fluttering pinion stay.

Poesy has power to charm thee,

With her visions bright and new ; Kindred joys of earth can warm thee, Earth-born blessings greet thy view; may then her follies harm thee ?Heaven with all its hopes is true.

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