And wilt Thou leave me, whom, when lost and blind, Thou didst distinguish and vouchsafe to chuse, Before Thy laws were written in my mind,
While yet the world had all my thoughts and views?
Now leave me? when, enamoured of Thy laws, I make Thy glory my supreme delight; Now blot me from Thy register, and cause A faithful soul to perish from Thy sight?
What can have caused the change which I deplore? Is it to prove me, if my heart be true? Permit me then, while prostrate I adore,
To draw, and place its picture in Thy view. 'Tis Thine without reserve, most simply Thine; So given to Thee, that it is not my own; A willing captive of Thy grace divine;
And loves, and seeks Thee, for Thyself alone.
Pain cannot move it, danger cannot scare;
Pleasure and wealth, in its esteem, are dust; It loves Thee, even when least inclined to spare Its tenderest feelings, and avows Thee just. 'Tis all Thine own; my spirit is so too, An undivided offering at Thy shrine; It seeks Thy glory with no double view, Thy glory, with no secret bent to mine.
Love, holy Love! and art Thou not severe, To slight me, thus devoted and thus fixed? Mine is an everlasting ardour, clear
From all self-bias, generous and unmixed.
But I am silent, seeing what I see,
And fear, with cause, that I am self-deceived; Not even my faith is from suspicion free, And that I love seems not to be believed.
Live Thou, and reign for ever, glorious Lord! My last, least offering, I present Thee now; Renounce me, leave me, and be still adored!
Slay me, my God, and I applaud the blow.
LOVE FAITHFUL IN THE ABSENCE OF THE BELOVED.
IN vain ye woo me to your harmless joys, Ye pleasant bowers, remote from strife and noise; Your shades, the witnesses of many a vow Breathed forth in happier days, are irksome now; Denied that smile 'twas once my heaven to see, Such scenes, such pleasures, are all past with me,
In vain He leaves me, I shall love Him still; And though I mourn, not murmur at His will; I have no cause-an object all divine Might well grow weary of a soul like mine; Yet pity me, great God! forlorn, alone, Heartless and hopeless, Life and Love all
Worldly prate and babble hurt me; Unintelligible prove;
Neither teach me nor divert me;
I have ears for none but Love. Me they rude esteem, and foolish, Hearing my absurd replies; I have neither art's fine polish Nor the knowledge of the wise.
Simple souls, and unpolluted
By conversing with the great, Have a mind and taste ill suited To their dignity and state; All their talking, reading, writing, Are but talents misapplied; Infants' prattle I delight in, Nothing human chuse beside.
'Tis the secret fear of sinning Checks my tongue, or I should say, When I see the night beginning, I am glad of parting day :
NIGHT! how I love thy silent shades, My spirits they compose; The bliss of heaven my soul pervades, In spite of all my woes.
While sleep instils her poppy dews In every slumbering eye,
I watch, to meditate and muse, In blest tranquillity.
And when I feel a God immense Familiarly impart,
With every proof He can dispense, His favour to my heart;
My native meanness I lament, Though most divinely filled With all the ineffable content That Deity can yield.
His purpose and His course he keeps ; Treads all my reasonings down ; Commands me out of nature's deeps, And hides me in His own.
When in the dust, its proper place, Our pride of heart we lay,
'Tis then a deluge of His grace Bears all our sins away.
Thou whom I serve, and whose I am, Whose influence from on high Refines, and still refines my flame, And makes my fetters fly;
How wretched is the creature's state Who thwarts Thy gracious power; Crushed under sin's enormous weight, Increasing every hour!
The night, when passed entire with Thee, How luminous and clear; Then sleep has no delights for me, Lest Thou shouldst disappear.
My Saviour! occupy me still In this secure recess; Let reason slumber if she will, My joy shall not be less :
Let reason slumber out the night; But if Thou deign to make My soul the abode of truth and Ah, keep my heart awake!
LONG plunged in sorrow, I resign My soul to that dear hand of Thine, Without reserve or fear;
That hand shall wipe my streaming eyes, Or into smiles of glad surprise Transform the falling tear.
My sole possession is Thy love; In earth beneath, or heaven above, I have no other store;
And though with fervent suit I pray, And importune Thee night and day, I ask Thee nothing more.
My rapid hours pursue the course Prescribed them by love's sweetest force; And I Thy sovereign will, Without a wish to escape my doom; Though still a sufferer from the womb, And doomed to suffer still.
By Thy command, where'er I stray, Sorrow attends me all my way, A never-failing friend;
And if my sufferings may augment Thy praise, behold me well content,— Let sorrow still attend!
It costs me no regret, that she, Who followed Christ, should follow me; And though, where'er she goes, Thorns spring spontaneous at her feet, I love her, and extract a sweet
From all my bitter woes.
Adieu, ye vain delights of earth! Insipid sports, and childish mirth, I taste no sweets in you; Unknown delights are in the Cross, All joy beside to me is dross;
And Jesus thought so too.
The Cross! oh, ravishment and bliss,- How grateful even its anguish is, Its bitterness how sweet! There every sense, and all the mind, In all her faculties refined,
Tastes happiness complete.
Souls once enabled to disdain Base sublunary joys, maintain Their dignity secure ;
The fever of desire is passed, And love has all its genuine taste, Is delicate and pure.
Self-love no grace in sorrow sees, Consults her own peculiar ease;
"Tis all the bliss she knows : But nobler aims true Love employ; In self-denial is her joy,
In suffering her repose.
Sorrow and Love go side by side: Nor height nor depth can e'er divide
Their heaven-appointed bands; Those dear associates still are one, Nor till the race of life is run Disjoin their wedded hands.
Jesus, avenger of our fall, Thou faithful lover, above all
The Cross hast ever borne ! Oh tell me,—life is in Thy voice, How much afflictions were Thy choice, And sloth and ease Thy scorn!
Thy choice and mine shall be the same, Inspirer of that holy flame
Which must for ever blaze! To take the Cross and follow Thee, Where love and duty lead, shall be My portion and my praise.
SWEET tenants of this grove,
Who sing, without design,
A song of artless love,
In unison with mine:
These echoing shades return Full many a note of ours, That wise ones cannot learn
With all their boasted powers.
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