"A

TRUE AND FALSE INSPIRATION.
N heated Fancy or Imagination

May be mistaken for an Inspiration.”—
True; but is this Conclusion fair to make,
That Inspiration must be all Mistake?
"A Pebble-stone is not a Diamond."-True;
But must a Diamond be a Pebble too?

H

HYPOCRICY.

YPOCRITES in Religion form a Plan

That makes them hateful both to God and Man:
By seeming Zeal they lose the World's Esteem,-
And God's, because they are not what they seem.

A

ABASEMENT.

N humble Man, tho' all the World assault

To pull him down, yet God will still exalt;
Nor can a proud by all the World's Renown
Be lifted up,-for God will pull him down.

THE RECOMPENSE OF CHARITY.

[The second line of this Epigram is slightly obscure. The meaning must however be: "that to which he can only give a transitory glance."]

E is no Fool, who charitably gives

HE

What he can only look at whilst he lives,—
Sure as he is to find, when hence he goes,

A Recompense which he can never lose.

INTEREST UPON CHARITY.

[See Proverbs, xix. 17: "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again."]

I

F giving to poor People be to lend

Thy Money to the Lord, who is their Friend,

The highest Int'rest upon Int'rest sure

Is to let out thy Money to the Poor.

THE SEASON FOR WATCHING.

HEN Grief or Joy shall press upon thee hard,

We then

Be then especially upon thy Guard!

Then is most Danger of not acting right;

A calmer State will give a surer Light.

WORLDLINESS.

F we mind nothing but the Body's Pride,

IF

We lose the Body and the Soul beside;
If we have nothing but the Earth in View,
We lose the Earth and Heav'nly Riches too.

SINNERS.

[See St. Matthew, ix. 13: "I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Cf. St. Mark, ii. 17.]

"HE is a Sinner," you are pleas'd to say.

Then love him for the Sake of Christ, I pray.
If on his gracious Words you place your Trust,—
"I came to call the Sinners, not the Just,"-
Second his Call; which if you will not do,
You'll be the greater Sinner of the two.

THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING.

[Cf. the lines on Prayer, ante, p. 532.

The last state of the Spirit of

Prayer, says Law in the passage there cited, "is its highest union with. God in this Life."]

RAY'R and Thanksgiving is the vital Breath

PRAY

That keeps the Spirit of a Man from Death;

For Pray'r attracts into the living Soul
The Life That fills the universal Whole;
And giving Thanks is breathing forth again
The Praise of Him Who is the Life of Men.

A DEAF AND DUMB GOD.

[This thought, whether original or not, seems to me a felicitous retort upon the deniers of a Revelation. Compare the splendid mockery of the priests of Baal by Elijah, 1st Kings, xviii. 27.]

O own a God who does not speak to Men,

Is first to own and then disown again;

Of all Idolatry the total Sum

Is having Gods that are both deaf and dumb.

THE LOVE AND THE FEAR OF GOD.

OVE does the Good which God commands to do;

Fear shuns the Ill which He prohibits too.

They both describe, tho' by a diff'rent Name,

A Disposition of the Mind the same.

THE MOTE AND THE BEAM.

[See St. Matthew, vii. 3-5; St. Luke, vi. 41-2.]

I.

HY should I be so eager to espy

WHY

The Mote that swims upon my Brother's Eye,

And still forget, as if I had not known,

The dark'ning Beam that overspreads my own?

II.

O let me play the Hypocrite no more,

But strive to cure my own obstructed Sight;

Then shall I see much clearer than before

To set my undiscerning Brother right!

ON THE EPICUREAN, STOIC AND CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY.

I.

'HREE diff'rent Schemes Philosophers assign,

THE

A Chance, a Fate, a Providence Divine.

Which to embrace of these three sev'ral Views,

Methinks, it is not difficult to choose.

II.

For, first what Wisdom, or what Sense, to cry, "Things happen as they do,—we know not why?"

Or how are we advanc'd one Jot, to know,

"When Things once are," that "they must needs be so?"

III.

To see such Order, and yet own no Laws,-
Feel such Effects, and yet confess no Cause,-
What can be more extravagant and odd?
He only reasons who believes a God.

AN EPIGRAM,

ON THE BLESSEDNESS OF DIVINE LOVE.

ΙΟ

["And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."-(1st Corinthians, xiii. 13.)]

AITH, Hope and Love were question'd what they thought

FAIT

Of future Glory which Religion taught.

Now, Faith believ'd it firmly to be true,

And Hope expected so to find it too;

Love answer'd, smiling with a conscious Glow: "Believe? Expect? I know it to be so."

TRANSLATED VERSE.

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.

[The Translation which follows is reproduced from a thin quarto, printed in London, for W. Owen, at Homer's Head, near Temple Bar, 1754 (price one shilling), under the following title:

"The Immortality of the Soul. A poem. Book the First. Translated from the Latin ;" the following motto being appended to the title :

"Painful the present Life of Man;

No Rest from Labours thro' the Span:

To see the better, that lies hid,

The dark surrounding Clouds forbid.

Hence, madly fond are we of this

That shines on Earth with showy Bliss,

Merely thro' Inexperience fond,

Because unshown the Life beyond.

Fables and Trifles all our Care

For want of due Reflexion share. -(Euripid. Hippol., v. 189)."

(The lines in the Hippolytus (vv. 190-1) which appears to be cited in this passage, hardly imply a reflexion on the vanity of things human, but rather convey through the mouth of the bewildered nurse of Phædra a sense of the weariness which the conditions of life involve for both classes and masses.)

That this Translation has correctly been attributed to Byrom, admits of little doubt. A copy of Friendly Advice to the Poor of Manchester, by the Rev. John Clayton (as to whom cf. ante, vol. i. pp. 549–50), published in 8vo by Messrs. Newton of Manchester in 1756, has at the end an advertisement of Books sold by the publishers, and among these is announced: "The Immortality of the Soul. A Poem. A Poem. Book I. Translated from the Latin of J. [sic] H. Brown, Esq. By John Byrom, M.A., F.R.S. Price 1s." (From a note by the late Mr. J. E. Bailey.) Byrom was well acquainted with the author of the poem, who was one of his pupils in shorthand, and whom he several times mentions in his Diary (see Remains, i. 550 et al.). His Library contains the original Poem de Animi Immortalitate (4to London, 1754), as well as translations, both in quarto,