Sacred Poems.

"THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU."

'Tis here, my soul, 'tis here thou must prepare
For heaven, if thou its holy bliss wouldst share;
Since death, who holds o'er all his stern control,
Changes the mortal body, not the soul.
Whate'er the soul's most lov'd pursuits have been,
Most frequent thoughts, while in this passing scene,
Of these its future nature will partake
Whene'er to endless being it shall wake.

How then can sin expect heaven's bliss to share?
How can the sinner find admittance there?
Nay, should those gates unfold, he would not find
One pleasure suited to his earthly mind.
What are the joys that reign in heaven above?
Freedom from sin, and purity, and love:
There no intemp'rance reigns, no noisy mirth,
Nor pomps, nor pleasures of this passing earth.
There saints delight a Saviour's name to praise,
And day and night the holy anthem raise.
Amid the hosts that form that blissful band
My shudd'ring fancy sees the sinner stand;
Silent I see him stand, abash'd, alone,

While their blest voices echo round the throne:
The theme, the strain they sing, he ne'er can know ;
He should have learnt them both whilst here below.

Nor are they greater crimes alone, that keep
Th' immortal spirit in that fatal sleep,

a Luke xvii. 21.

F

Which in vain dreams its energies employs
Of trifling cares or unsubstantial joys:
Nor is it wealth alone corrupts the heart;
E'en mental riches may a pride impart
To separate from God; and while it deems
It needeth nought, and thus to others seems,
"Tis "blind and naked," and the judgment day
Shall all its uncloth'd wretchedness display b.
O then, my soul, 'tis here thou must prepare,
If thou the bliss of heaven wouldst ever share;
Here daily meet thy God in prayer and praise,
Lest all unknown thou meet'st His future gaze;
Lest, awful thought, His unveil'd face should be
A Heaven to others, yet no Heaven to thee!
Obey thy Lord's command, and sin no more,
And learn to bear the cross thy Master bore.
Hast thou the goods of life? With cheerful heart
To all who need thy richer store impart.

Or hast thou mental riches? Shun display,
And use them rather in the blessed way

Of charity, so little understood,

Which seeketh not her own, but others' good".
Dost thou in sickness, need, or sorrow, pine?
Thy will to God's almighty will resign:
Believe on Him, assur'd that He will save,
And give thee endless bliss beyond the grave.

1842.

b Rev. iii. 17, and Luke viii. 18. c 1 Cor. xii. 31 and xiii.

ON DEPRESSION OF SPIRIT.

"A wounded spirit who can bear."-Prov. xviii. 14.

WHENCE, and what art thou, O mysterious power,
That wraps the spirit in that depth of gloom
To which the darkness of the midnight hour
Is light-a darkness more than of the tomb!-
A dim, an awful sense of coming doom
Weighs on the soul;-all present is distress,
All love is cold, all life is weariness.

Oh! none but those who feel it e'er can tell
The terrors of that hour; almost it seems
A shadow cast as from the depths of hell,
To rouse the spirit when secure it deems
That all is peaceful, lost in slumb'ring dreams
Of this world, making it e'en here to see
Of God's fierce wrath the dread reality.

Yes, in that hour each long-forgotten sin

To memory starts; we cannot now forget; The "books are open'dd" on the soul within, The throne of God's all-searching judgment set: Oh! in that hour how deep is our regret,

d Dan. vii. 10.