Assured that thou canst teach him how to die,
To smile at death, and e'en "his sting"(4) defy.
Tell me, Devotion, for I seek to know,
Where does this sweet and loveliest flower grow.
Say, in what secret, unfrequented place;
Or do its hues all climes, all regions grace?
Can it with hatred twine the sacred root?

Or in ambition's soil put forth its shoot?
Say, is it cull'd where dwells uplifted pride,
Where avarice or dark deceit abide?

Oh no! it loves a far more genial earth,

In which to sow its seed, and give it birth,
Where no obnoxious weed, no tare can cling,
No lurking serpent can inflict a sting.
Such is the pious heart, the safe retreat

Wherein religion holds her favour'd seat,

As the "most holy place,"(5) where erst could dwell
The guardian God of once lov'd Israel.

(4) “The sting of death," says St. Paul, “is sin."

(5) The Holy of Holies was the most sacred place of the tabernacle, into which none entered but the high-priest, and that only once a year, on the great day of atonement. It was here the Shechinah, or Divine presence, rested, and was visibly seen in the appearance of a cloud.

B 2

Refresh'd(6) by water from a living stream,
She fondly basks in each celestial beam,
And bears her fruit, the fruit of pious love,
To one Almighty Power enthron'd above,
Diffusing health, health to the Christian's soul,
Cheering him onward to his heavenly goal.
Oh thou! whose providence before our eyes,
Alone can light a path to reach "the prize
Of our high calling," teach us thine own will,
And e'en though frail and fallen, love us still.
To the faint efforts of each languid heart,

Pour in such heavenly balm, such grace impart,
That e'en the most unworthy may receive
The precious increase thou alone canst give;
And may thy goodly gifts at last be found
Not wasted(7) on a dry and parching ground.

(6) “ Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."(John iv. 14.) "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness."-(Zech. xiii. 1.)

(7) In allusion to the parable of the "sower and the seed."

“All hearts are open,”(8) every wish is known

E'en to the inmost thought, by Thee alone :
And if in frailty we should disobey

Thy holy word, and know(9) not how to pray
As it is meet for pardon in distress ;

Look on our faults, we pray, with tenderness;
We ask Thy aid to guide us on the way

In this our journey, lest we go astray.
Embark with us, our only pilot be,

When in life's fragile boat we put to sea.

Should storms arise, or rude tempestuous gale

Rend with resistless force our slender sail,—
Oh be thou with us, bid us fear no ill;

Say to the winds and waters, "peace, be still."

(8) Collect for Communion service.-"Shall not God search this out? for He knoweth the secrets of the heart."-(Psalm xliv. 21.

(9) In our church service we are instructed to pray to the Lord, "who knoweth our necessities before we ask," and our "ignorance in asking," thus acknowledging our incapability even how to ask rightly for forgiveness of our sins: the confession is taken from the 8th chapter of Romans, 26th verse. So says Job, (xxxvii. 19) "Teach us what we shall say unto Him, for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness."

Breathes there the man whose dark and troubled mind (10)

Will own no God, no Judge of all mankind,—

Whose worldly heart is harden'd to deny

The mighty attributes of Deity?

Can cast all hope of future bliss away,
Revel, and madly cry, "live, live to-day?”
If such there be, he surely dreads to find
Light breaking on the dungeon of his mind;
Scared at his crimes, yet trembling to atone,

He braves the Judge whose truth must make them known.(11)

(10) "The profession of atheism does not proceed from a right use of that reason which is common to all men, but either from an affectation of novelty, or from a corrupted mind, which, like a vitiated palate, does not relish things as they are; especially since history and other writings inform us, that the more virtuous any one is, the more carefully is this notion of the Deity preserved by him. And it is farther evident, that those who dissent from this anciently established opinion, do it of an ill principle, and are such whose interest it is that there should be no God,—that is, no judge of human actions."—Grotius, sect. 2, bk. i.

(11)" And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil; for every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved."-John iii. 19-20.

Tell me, thou sceptic, when the vivid flash

Bursts from yon angry cloud with fearful crash;
When peal on peal rolls through the labouring sky,
Doth it not say there is a God on high?

And as the storm rides on with solemn pace,

Till thou hast watch'd afar its faintest trace,

And caught the hollow murmuring on the gale,
From out its blackness in the distant vale ;
Doth it not tell that some great power is near,
Who sees(12) and can direct its dark career?

So when 'tis pass'd from sight, and glittering sheen
Lights with a smile the fields in varied green;
When tender shrub, or sweetly-scented flower,

Looks fresher, fairer, from the recent shower;
Cannot its spangled drop alone declare

A present God, a providential care?

(12) It was in such a recognition of the Almighty's power, that David exclaimed "The clouds poured out water, the skies sent forth a sound, thine arrows also went abroad;" also God's providence in duly providing for the earth's vegetation, is thus beautifully spoken of: "Thou visitest the earth, O Lord, and waterest it, Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water; Thou makest it soft with showers, Thou blessest the springing thereof."