XXXVI.

"Be strong, and He shall comfort thine heart."

"LORD, I have fasted, I have prayed,
And sackcloth has my girdle been,
To purge my soul I have essayed
With hunger blank and vigil keen.
O God of mercy! why am I
Still haunted by the self I fly?"

Sackcloth is a girdle good,

O bind it round thee still;

Fasting, it is Angels' food,

And Jesus loved the night-air chill;

Yet think not prayer and fast were given

To make one step 'twixt earth and heaven.

B.

XXXVII.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

THERE is not on the earth a soul so base

But may obtain a place

In covenanted grace;

**

So that forthwith his prayer of faith obtains

Release of his guilt-stains,

And first-fruits of the second birth, which rise

From gift to gift, and reach at length the eternal prize.

All may save self;-but minds that heavenward tower Aim at a wider power,

Gifts on the world to shower.

And this is not at once;-by fastings gained,
And trials well sustained,

By pureness, righteous deeds, and toils of love,
Abidance in the truth, and zeal for God above.

d.

XXXVIII.

JOSEPH.

O PUREST semblance of the Eternal Son!

Who dwelt in thee as in some blessed shrine, To draw hearts after thee and make them thine; Not parent only by that light was won,

And brethren crouched who had in wrath begun,

E'en heathen pomp abased her at the sign
Of a hid God, and drank the sound divine,
Till a king heard, and all thou badst was done.
Then was fulfilled Nature's dim augury,
That, "Wisdom clad, in visible form, would be
So fair, that all must love and bow the knee;"
Lest it might seem,
what time the Substance came,
Truth lacked a sceptre, when It but laid by

Its beaming front, and bore a willing shame.

8.

* Η φρόνησις οὐχ ὁρᾶται· δεινοὺς γὰρ ἂν παρεῖχεν ἔρωτας, εἰ τοιοῦτον ἑαυτῆς ἐναργὲς εἴδωλον παρείχετο εἰς ὄψιν ιόν.

PLAT. Phad.

SOLITUDE.

XXXIX.

THE HAVEN.

WHENCE is this awe, by stillness spread
O'er the world-fretted soul?

Wave reared on wave its boastful head,
While my keen bark, by breezes sped,
Dash'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 Adam's peace a figure blest;
'Tis Eden seen, but not possessed,

Which cherub flames still keep.

d.

XL.

THE DESERT.

Two sinners have been grace-endued

Unwearied to sustain

For forty days a solitude

On mount and desert plain.

But feverish thoughts the breasts have swayed,
And gloom or pride is shown,

If e'er we seek the garden's shade,
Or walk the world, alone.

For Adam e'en, before his sin,

His God a help-meet found;

Blest with an Angel's heart within,

Paul wrought with friends around.

Lone saints of old! of purpose high,
On Syria's sands ye claim,

'Mid heathen rage, our sympathy,

In peace ye force our blame.

d.