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bodymatter z3998:fiction"> XXXV Private Judgment

Poor wandā€™rers, ye are sore distressā€™d
To find that path which Christ has blessā€™d,
Trackā€™d by His saintly throng;
Each claims to trust his own weak will,
Blind idol!ā ā€”so ye languish still,
All wranglers and all wrong.

He saw of old, and met your need,
Granting you prophets of His creed,
The throes of fear to swage;
They fenced the rich bequest He made,
And sacred hands have safe conveyā€™d
Their charge from age to age.

Wandā€™rers! come home! obey the call!
A Mother pleads, who neā€™er let fall
One grain of Holy Truth;
Warn you and win she shall and must,
For now she lifts her from the dust,
To reign as in her youth.

Off Cape Ortegal. December 11, 1832.

XXXVI The Watchman

(A Song.)

Faint not, and fret not, for threatenā€™d woe,
Watchman on Truthā€™s grey height!
Few though the faithful, and fierce though the foe,
Weakness is aye Heavenā€™s might.

Infidel Ammon and niggard Tyre,
Ill-fitted pair, unite;
Some work for love, and some work for hire,
But weakness shall be Heavenā€™s might.

Eliā€™s feebleness, Saulā€™s black wrath,
May aid Ahithophelā€™s spite;
And prayers from Gerizim, and curses from Gathā ā€”
Our weakness shall prove Heavenā€™s might.

Quail not, and quake not, thou Warder bold,
Be there no friend in sight;
Turn thee to question the days of old,
When weakness was aye Heavenā€™s might.

Moses was one, but he stayā€™d the sin
Of the host, in the Presence bright;
And Elias scornā€™d the Carmel din,
When Baal would match Heavenā€™s might.

Timeā€™s years are many, Eternity one,
And one is the Infinite;
The chosen are few, few the deeds well done,
For scantness is still Heavenā€™s might.

At Sea. December 12, 1832.

XXXVII The Isles of the Sirens

Cease, Stranger, cease those piercing notes,
The craft of Siren choirs;
Hush the seductive voice, that floats
Upon the languid wires.

Musicā€™s ethereal fire was given
Not to dissolve our clay,
But draw Promethean beams from Heaven,
And purge the dross away.

Weak self! with thee the mischief lies,
Those throbs a tale disclose;
Nor age nor trial has made wise
The Man of many woes.

Off Lisbon. December 13, 1832.

XXXVIII Absolution

O Father, list a sinnerā€™s call!
Fain would I hide from man my fallā ā€”
But I must speak, or faintā ā€”
I cannot wear guiltā€™s silent thrall:
Cleanse me, kind Saint!

ā€œSinner neā€™er blunted yet sinā€™s goad;
Speed thee, my son, a safer road,
And sue His pardoning smile
Who walkā€™d woeā€™s depths, bearing manā€™s load
Of guilt the while.ā€

Yet raise a mitigating hand,
And minister some potion bland,
Some present fever-stay!
Lest one for whom His work was plannā€™d
Die from dismay.

ā€œLook not to meā ā€”no grace is mine;
But I can lift the Mercy-sign.
This wouldst thou? Let it be!
Kneel down, and take the word divine,
Absolvo Te.ā€

Off Cape St. Vincent. December 14, 1832.

XXXIX Memory

My home is now a thousand miles away;
Yet in my thoughts its every image fair
Rises as keen, as I still lingerā€™d there,
And, turning me, could all I loved survey.
And so, upon Deathā€™s unaverted day,
As I speed upwards, I shall on me bear,
And in no breathless whirl, the things that were,
And duties given, and ends I did obey.
And, when at length I reach the Throne of Power,
Ah! still unscared, I shall in fulness see
The vision of my past innumerous deeds,
My deep heart-courses, and their motive-seeds,
So to gaze on till the red dooming hour.
Lord, in that strait, the Judge! remember me!

Off Cape Trafalgar. December 15, 1832.

XL The Haven

Whence is this awe, by stillness spread
Oā€™er the world-fretted soul?
Wave rearā€™d on wave its godless head,
While my keen bark, by breezes sped,
Dashā€™d fiercely through the ocean bed,
And chafed towards its goal.

But now there reigns so deep a rest,
That I could almost weep.
Sinner! thou hast in this rare guest
Of Adamā€™s peace a figure blest;
ā€™Tis Eden neared, though not possessā€™d,
Which cherub-flames still keep.

Gibraltar. December 16, 1832.

XLI A Word in Season

O Lord! when sinā€™s close-marshallā€™d line
Assails Thy witness on his way,
How should he raise Thy glorious sign,
And how Thy will display?

Thy holy Paul, with soul of flame,
Rose on Marsā€™ hill, a soldier lone;
Shall I thus speak thā€™ Atoning Name,
Though with a heart of stone?

ā€œNot so,ā€ He said: ā€œhush thee, and seek,
With thoughts in prayer and watchful eyes,
My seasons sent for thee to speak,
And use them as they rise.ā€

Gibraltar. December 17, 1832.

XLII Fair Words

Thy words are good, and freely given,
As though thou felt them true;
Friend, think thee well, to hell or heaven
A serious heart is due.

It pains thee sore, manā€™s will should swerve
In his true path divine;
And yet thou venturā€™st nought to serve
Thy neighbourā€™s weal nor thine.

Beware! such words may once be said,
Where shame and fear unite;
But, spoken twice, they mark instead
A sin against the light.

Gibraltar. December 17, 1832.

XLIII England

Tyre of the West, and glorying in the name
More than in Faithā€™s pure fame!
O trust not crafty fort nor rock renownā€™d
Earnā€™d upon hostile ground;
Wielding Tradeā€™s master-keys, at thy proud will
To lock or loose its waters, England! trust not still.

Dread thine own power! Since haughty Babelā€™s prime,
High towers have been manā€™s crime.
Since her hoar age, when the huge moat lay bare,
Strongholds have been manā€™s snare.
Thy nest is in the crags; ah! refuge frail!
Mad counsel in its hour, or traitors, will prevail.

He who scannā€™d Sodom for His righteous men
Still spares thee for thy ten;
But, should vain tongues the Bride of Heaven defy,
He will not pass thee by;
For, as earthā€™s kings welcome their spotless guest,
So gives He them by turn, to suffer or be blest.

At Sea. December 18, 1832.

XLIV Moses

Moses, the patriot fierce, became
The meekest man on earth,
To show us how loveā€™s quickā€™ning flame
Can give our souls new birth.

Moses, the man of meekest heart,
Lost Canaan by self-will,
To show, where Grace

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