A FAREWELL TO THE WORLD.
FROM THE FRENCH.
WORLD adieu, thou real cheat!
Oft have thy deceitful charms
Fill'd my heart with fond conceit,
Foolish hopes, and false alarms :
Now I see, as clear as day,
How thy follies pass away.
Vain thy entertaining sights;
False thy promises renew'd ;
All the pomp of thy delights
Does but flatter and delude:
Thee I quit for Heav'n above,
Objects of the noblest love.
Farewell honour's empty pride!
Thy own nice, uncertain gust,
If the least mischance betide,
Lays thee lower than the dust:
Worldly honours end in gall,
Rise to day, to morrow fall.
Foolish vanity, farewell!
More inconstant than the wave;
Where thy soothing fancies dwell,
Purest tempers they deprave:
He, to whom I fly from thee,
Jesus Christ, shall set me free.
Never shall my wandering mind
Follow after fleeting toys;
Since in God alone I find
Solid and substantial joys:
Joys that, never overpast,
Thro' eternity shall last.
Lord, how happy is a heart,
After thee while it aspires!
True and faithful as thou art,
Thou shalt answer its desires:
It shall see the glorious scene
Of thy everlasting reign.
FROM THE FRENCH.
How charming! to be thus confin'd
Within this lovely tow'r;
Where, with a calm, and quiet mind,
I pass the peaceful hour:
Stronger than chains of any kind
Is love's enduring pow'r.
These very ills are my delight;
My pleasures rise from pains;
The punishments, that most affright,
Become my wish'd-for gains:
Whatever torments they excite,
Pure sighing love remains.
Pain is no object of my fear,
Tho' help is not in view;
Sure as I am, from evils here,
That blessings will ensue:
To sov'reign beauty it is clear,
That sov'reign love is due.
I suffer; but along with smart
Is grace and virtue sent:
Presence of God, who takes my part,
So sweetens all event!
He is the patience of my heart,
The comfort, and content.
THE SOUL'S TENDENCY TOWARDS ITS TRUE CENTRE.
STONES towards the earth descend;
Rivers to the ocean roll; Every motion has some end: What is thine, beloved soul?
"Mine is, where my Saviour is;
There with him I hope to dwell:
Jesu is the central bliss;
Love the force that doth impel."
Truly, thou hast answer'd right:
Now may Heav'n's attractive grace,
Tow'rds the source of thy delight,
Speed along thy quick'ning pace!
"Thank thee for thy gen'rous care:
Heav'n, that did the wish inspire,
Through thy instrumental pray'r,
Plumes the wings of my desire.
"Now, methinks, aloft I fly: Now, with angels bear a part: Glory be to God on high!
Peace to ev'ry Christian heart!"
THE DESPONDING SOUL'S WISH.
My spirit longeth for thee,
Within my troubled breast; Altho' I be unworthy
Of so divine a guest.
Of so divine a guest,
Unworthy tho' I be;
Yet has my heart no rest,
Unless it come from thee.
Unless it come from thee,
In vain I look around;
In all that I can see,
No rest is to be found.
No rest is to be found,
But in thy blessed love; O! let my wish be crown'd, And send it from above!
CHEER up, desponding soul;
Thy longing, pleas'd, I see;
'Tis part of that great whole,
Wherewith I long'd for thee.
Wherewith I long'd for thee,
And left my Father's throne; From death to set thee free,
To claim thee for my own.
To claim thee for my own,
I suffer'd on the cross:
Oh! were my love but known,
No soul could fear its loss.
No soul could fear its loss,
But, fill'd with love divine, Would die on its own cross, And rise for ever mine.
FROM THE LATIN OF ST. BERNARD.
JESU! the soul that thinks on thee,
How happy does it seem to be!
What honey can such sweets impart,
As does thy presence to the heart!
No sound can dwell upon the tongue,
Nor ears be ravish'd with a song,
Nor thought by pondering be won,
Like that of God's beloved Son.
Jesu! the penitent's retreat,
The wearied pilgrim's mercy seat:
If they that seek thee are carest,
How are the finders of thee blest!
Jesu! the source of life and light,
That mak'st the mind so blest and bright;
Fullness of joy thou dost inspire
Beyond the stretch of all desire.
This can no tongue that ever spoke,
Nor hand express by figur'd stroke:
It is experience that must prove
The pow'r of Jesus, and his love.
And the men who dwell on it, his children, for
It has pleas'd him that Christ the Redeemer should
Yet his church must consist, in all saving respect,
Of them who receive him, not them who reject;
And his true, real children, or people, are they,
Who, when call'd by the Saviour, believe and obey.
Now this excellent pray'r, in this sense of the
phrase,
For the catholic church more especially prays;
That it may be so constantly govern'd, and led
By the Spirit of God, and of Jesus its head,
That all such as are taught to acknowledge its
creed,
And profess to be Christians, may be so indeed;
May hold the one faith, in a peace without strife,
And the proof of its truth, a right practical life.
No partial distinction is here to be sought;
For the good of mankind still enlivens the thought;
Since God, by the church, in its catholic sense,
Salvation to all is so pleas'd to dispense, [crease,
That the farther her faith, and her patience in-
More hearts will be won to the gospel of peace;
"Till the world shall come under truth's absolute
sway,
And the nations, converted, bring on the great
Mean while, tho' eternity be her chief care,
The suff'rers in time have a suitable share:
She prays to the fatherly goodness of God,
For all whom affliction has under its rod;
That inward, or outward, the cause of their grief,
Mind, body, estate, he would grant them relief,
Due comfort, and patience, and finally bless
With the most happy ending of all their distress.
The compassion, here taught, is unlimited too,
And the whole of mankind the petitioning view:
As none can foresee, whether Christian, or not,
What afflictions may fall in this world to his lot;
The church, which considers whose Providence
sends,
ON THE PRAYER, USED IN THE CHURCH LITURGY, Prays that all may obtain its beneficent ends;
FOR ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS OF MEN.
Ir will bear the repeating again and again,
Will the pray'r for all sorts and conditions of men;
Not to this, or that place, name, or nation confin'd,
But embracing, at once, the whole race of man-
With a love universal instructing to call [kind;
On the one great creating Preserver of all;
That his way may be known upon Earth, and be
found
His true saving health, by the nations all round.
He, who willeth all men to be sav'd, and partake [make; Of the bliss, which distinguish'd their primitive To arise to that life, by a second new birth, Which Adam had lost, at his fall upon Earth; Will accept ev'ry heart, whose unfeigned intent Is to pray for that blessing, which he himself [will meant, When he gave his own Son, for whoever should To escape, by his means, from the regions of ill.
But tho' all the whole world, in a sense that is good, [stood; To be God's house, or church, may be well under
And whenever the suff'rings, here needful, are past,
By repentance and faith, may be sav'd at the last.
The particular mention of such, as desire
To be publicly pray'd for, as made in our quire,
Infers to all others God's merciful grace;
Tho' we hear not their names, who are in the like
It excites our attention to instances known,
Of relatious, or neighbours, or friends of our own;
For the pray'r, in its nature, extends to all those,
Who are in the same trouble, friends to us, or
foes.
All which she entreats, for his sake, to be done,
Who suffer'd to save them, Christ Jesus, his Son;
In respect to the world, the Redeemer of all;
To the church of the faithful, most chiefly, saith
Paul;
And to them, who shall suffer, whoever they be,
In the spirit of Christ, in the highest degree:
How ought such a goodness all minds to prepare,
For an hearty amen to this catholic pray'r!
The church is indeed, in its real intent,
An assembly, where nothing but friendship is
meant;
And the utter extinction of foeship, and wrath, By the working of love, in the strength of its This gives it its holy, and catholic name, [faith: And truly confirms its apostolic claim; [been, Showing what the one Saviour's one mission had "Go and teach all the world"-ev'ry creature therein.
In the praise ever due to the gospel of grace, Its universality holds the first place: When an angel proclaim'd its glad tidings, the
That the Son of the Virgin, the Saviour was born; "Which shall be to all people" was said to complete
The angelical message, so good, and so great; Full of glory to God, in the regions above, And of goodness to men, is so boundless a love.
This short supplication, or litany, read,
When the longer with us is not wont to be said,
Tho' brief in expression, as fully imports
The will to all blessings, for men of all sorts;
Same brotherly love, by which Christians are
taught
To pray without ceasing, or limiting thought;
That religion may flourish upon its true plan,
Of glory to God, and salvation to man.
THE PRAYER OF RUSBROCHIUS.
O MERCIFUL Lord! by the good which thou art,
I beseech thee to raise a true love in my heart
For thee, above all things; thee only; and then
To extend to all sorts and conditions of men:
Religious, or secular; kindred, or not;
Or near, or far off, or whatever their lot;
That be any man's state rich or poor, high or low,
As myself I may love him, friend to me, or foe.
May I pay to all men a becoming respect,
Not prone to condemn them for seeming defect;
But to bear it, if true, with a patience exempt
From the proud, surly vice of a scornful con-
tempt:
If shown to myself, let me learn to endure,
And obtain, by its aid, my own vanity's cure;
Nor, however disdain'd, in the spitefullest shape,
By a sinful return ever think to escape.
Let my pure, simple aim, in whatever it be,
Thro' praise, or dispraise, be my duty to thee:
With a fixt resolution, still eyeing that scope
To admit of no other fear, be it, or hope,
But the fear to offend thee, the hope to unite,
In thy honour and praise, with all hearts that are
right.
Wishing all the world well; but intent to fulfil,
Be they pleas'd, or displeas'd, thy adorable will.
Preserve me, dear Lord, from presumption and
pride,
[fide:
That upon my own actions would tempt to con-
Let me have no dependence on any but thine,
With a right faith, and trust, in thy merits divine:
Still ready prepar'd, in each requisite hour,
Both to will, and to work, as thou givest the pow'r;
But may only thy love flame thro' all my whole
heart,
And a false selfish fire not affect the least part.
To this end, let thine arrow pierce deeply within,
Letting out all the filth, and corruption of sin;
All that in the most secret recesses may lurk,
To prevent, or obstruct, thy intention or work:
O! give me the knowledge, the feeling, and sense,
Of thy all-blessing pow'r, wisdom, goodness im-
mense!
Of the weakness, the folly, the malice alone,
That, resisting thy will, I should find in my own!
Never let me forget, never, while I draw breath, What thou hast done for me, thy passion, and death!
The wounds, and the griefs, of thy body, and soul,
When assuming our nature thou madest it whole:
Taughtest how to engage in thy conquering strife,
And regain the access to its true divine life:
Let the sense of such love kindle all my desire,
To be thine my life thro'; thine to die and expire.
To hearts, in the bond of thy charity knit,
Ev'ry thing becomes easy to do, or omit;
The labour is pleasant, the sharpest degree
Of suff'ring can find consolation in thee:
That which nature affords, or an object terrene,
When it does not divert from a perfecter scene,
Is receiv'd with all thanks, if thou pleasest to
grant,
By a mind, if thou pleasest, as willing to want.
The amusements, on which it once set such a
store,
Are now as insipid, as grateful before;
With a much greater comfort it gives up each toy,
Than the fondest possessor could ever enjoy:
If e'er I propos'd such unsuitable ends
To the thought of religious, or secular friends,
Expel the vain images, fancies of good,
And in their heart, and mine, make thyself understood.
Extinguish, O Lord, let not any one take
A complacence in me, which is not for thy sake;
In me too root out the respect, of all kind,
Which does not arise from thy love in my mind:
No sorrow be spar'd, no affliction, no cross,
That may further this love, or recover its loss;
This is always thy meaning; O let it be inine
To confess myself guilty, repent, and resign.
With a real contempt of all self-seeking views, To embrace, for my choice, what thy wisdom shall choose;
Looking up still to thee, to receive all event Which it wills, or permits, with a thankful con
Not regarding what men shall do to me, or why,
But the provident aim of thy all-seeing eye;
Ever watchful o'er them who persist, in each place,
To rely on its presence O give me thy grace!
Tho' unworthy to ask it, poor sinner! I trust
In the merits and death of a Saviour so just;
Whom the Father, well pleas'd in his satisfy'd
will,
The design to save sinners saw rightly fulfil:
In me let thy grace, O Redeemer within,
Re-establish his justice, and purge away sin;
That freed from its evils, in me, may be shown
The effect of thy all-saving merits alone.
May death, and its consequence, still in my If right and duty, not the will to war,
FROM MR. LAW'S SPIRIT OF PRAYER.
OH heav'nly Father! gracious God, above!
Thou boundless depth of never-ceasing love!
Save me from self, and cause me to depart
From sinful works of a long hearden'd heart;
From all my great corruptions set me free;
Give me an ear to hear, an eye to see,
An heart and spirit to believe, and find
Thy love in Christ, the Saviour of mankind.
Made for thyself, O God, and to display
Thy goodness in me, manifest, I pray,
By grace adapted to each wanting hour,
Thy holy nature's life-conferring pow'r:
Give me the faith, the hunger, and the thirst,
After the life breath'd forth from thee, at first;
Birth of thy holy Jesus in my soul;
That I may turn, thro' life's succeeding whole, From ev'ry outward work, or inward thought, Which is not thee, or in thy spirit wrought.
SACRED attention! true effectual prayer!
Thou dost the soul for love of truth prepare.
Blest is the man, who, from conjecture free,
To future knowledge shall aspire by thee:
Who in thy precepts seeks a sure repose,
Stays till he sees, nor judges till he knows:
'Tho' firm, not rash; tho' eager, yet sedate;
Intent on truth, can its instruction wait:
Aw'd by thy powerful influence to appeal
To Heaven, which only can itself reveal;
The soul in humble silence to resign,
And human will unite to the divine;
Till fir'd at length by Heaven's enlivening beams,
Pure, unconsum'd, the faithful victim flames.
USED BY FRANCIS THE FIRST, WHEN HE WAS AT
WAR WITH THE EMPEROR CHARLES THE FIFTH.
ALMIGHTY Lord of Hosts, by whose commands
The guardian angels rule their destin'd lands;
And watchful, at thy word, to save or slay,
Of peace or war administer the sway!
Thou, who, against the great Goliah's rage
Didst arm the stripling David to engage;
When, with a sling, a small unarmed youth
Smote a huge giant, in defence of truth;
Hear us, we pray thee, if our cause be true,
If sacred justice be our only view;
Have forc'd our armies to proceed thus far,
Then turn the hearts of all our foes to peace,
That war and bloodshed in the land may cease:
Or, put to flight by providential dread,
Let them lament their errours, not their dead.
If some must die, protect the righteous all,
And let the guilty, few as may be, fall.
With pitying speed the victory decree
To them, whose cause is best approv'd by thee;
That sheath'd on all sides the devouring sword,
And peace and justice to our land restor'd,
We all together, with one heart, may sing
Triumphant hymns to thee, th' eternal King.
ON THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE, IN THE GENERAL CONFESSION OF SINS, USED IN THE CHURCHLITURGY.
-According to thy promises declared unto
mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord.
"ACCORDING to thy promises"-hereby,
Since it is certain that God cannot lie,
The truly penitent may all be sure
That Grace admits them to its open door;
And they, forsaking all their former sin,
However great, will freely be let in.
"Declar'd"-by all the ministers of peace,
God has assur'd repentance of release;
An intervening penitence, we see,
Could even change his positive decree;
As in the Ninivites; if any soul
Repent, the promise is the sure parole.
"Unto mankind"-not only to the Jews, Christians, or Turks, in writings which they use, Writ on the tablet of each conscious heart, Repent, from all iniquity depart→→
Not for no purpose; for the plain intent
Is restoration, if a soul repent.
"In Christ"-by whom true scripture has as[sur'd Redeeming grace for penitents procur'd; The fainter hopes, which reason may suggest, Are deeply, by the gospel's aid, imprest: 'Twas always hop'd for was the promis'd good, But, by his coming, clearly understood.
"Jesu"-Jehovah's manifested love,
In Christ, th' anointed Saviour from above;
The demonstration of the saving plan,
For all mankind, is God's becoming man:
No truth more firmly ascertain'd than this-
Repent, be faithful, and restor'❜d to bliss.
"Our Lord"-our new, and true parental head;
Our second Adam, in the first when dead;
Who took our nature on him, that in men
His Father's image might shine forth again:
Sure of success may penitents implore
What God, thro' him, rejoices to restore.
FOR THE DUE IMPROVEMENT OF A FUNERAL SOLEMNITY. AROUND the grave of a departed friend, If due concern has prompted to attend,
Deep, on our minds, let the affecting scenes
Imprint the lesson, which attendance means:
For who can tell how soon his own adieu
The solemn service may for him renew?
"He that believes on me" (what Christ had said
The priest proclaims) "shall live tho' he were
To ev'ry heart this is the gracious call, [dead:"
On which depends its everlasting all;
The ever hoping, loving, working faith,
That saves a soul from death's devouring wrath.
The patient Job, by such a faith within, [skin Strengthning his heart, could say "This mortal Destroyed, I know that my Redeemer lives"In flesh and blood, which his redemption givesJob, from the dust, expected to arise, And stand before his God with seeing eyes.
The royal Psalmist saw this life of man, How vain, how short, at its most lengthen'd span: Conscious in whom the human trust should be, "Truly my hope," he said, "is ev'n in thee❞— And pray'd for its recover'd strength, before He went from hence, here to be seen no more. The mystic chapter is rehears'd, wherein Paul sings the triumph over death, and sin; The glorious body, freed from earthly leav'n, Image and likeness of the Lord from Heav'n; For such th' abounding in his work shall gain; Labour, we know that never is in vain.
Hence comes the sure and certain hope, to rise In Christ; tho' man, as born of woman, dies: True life, which Adam dy'd to, at his fall, And Christ, the sinless Adam, can recall, By a new, heav'nly birth, from him, revives, And breathes, again, God's holy breath of lives.
A voice from Heav'n bad hearing John record, "Blest are the dead, the dying in the Lord" In them, the pray'r, which man's Redeemer will'd That men should pray, is perfectly fulfill'd: This perfect sense the words, that we repeat, Require to make the pay'd-for good complete.
Thanks then are due for all the faithful dead, Departed hence, to be with Christ their head; And pray'r, unfainting, for his-"Come, ye blestCome, ye true children, enter into rest; Live in my Father's kingdom, and in mine, In grace, and love, and fellowship divine."
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Is that which gives external modes a worth,
Just in proportion as they show it forth;
Just as they help, in any outward part,
The real, true religion of the heart.
Now what this is, exclusive of all strife,
Christians will own to be an inward life,
Spirit, and pow'r, a birth, to say the whole,
Of Christ himself, brought forth within the soul;
By this all true salvation is begun,
And carried on, however it be done.
Christianity, that has not Christ within,
Can by no means whatever save from sin;
Can bear no evidence of him-the end,
On which the value of all means depend:
Christian religion signifies, no doubt,
Like mind within, like show of it without.
The will of God, the saving of mankind,
Was all that Christ had in his inward mind;
All that produc'd his outward action too,
In church communion while a perfect Jew;
Like most of his disciples, till they came,
At Antioch, to have a Christian name.
If Christ has put an end to rites of old,
If new recall what was but then foretold,
The one true church, the real heavenly ground,
Wherein alone salvation can be found,
Is still the same; and, to its Saviour's praise,
His inward tempers outwardly displays.
By hearty love, and correspondent rites
Ordain'd, the members to the head unites,
And to each other-in all stated scenes,
The life of Christ is what a Christian means;
Tho' change of circumstance may alter those,
In this he places, and enjoys repose.
Church unity is held, and faith's increase,
By that of spirit, in the bond of peace,
And righteousness of life; without this tie
Forms are in vain prescrib'd to worship by,
Or temples model'd; hearts, as well as hands,
An holy church, and catholic demands.
IF once establish'd the essential part,
The inward church, the temple of the heart,
Or house of God, the substance, and the sum
Of what is pray'd for in-"Thy kingdom come—”
To make an outward correspondence true,
We must recur to Christ's example too.
Now, in his outward form of life, we find
Goodness demonstrated of ev'ry kind;
What he was born for, that he show'd throughout;
It was the bus'ness that he went about;
Love, kindness, and compassion to display
Tow'rds ev'ry object coming in his way.
But love so high, humility so low,
And all the virtues which bis actions show;
His doing good, and his enduring ill,
For man's salvation and God's holy will,
Exceed all terms-his inward, outward plan
Was love to God, express'd by love to man.
Mark of the church, which he establish'd, then, Is the same love, same proof of it to men;
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