Page images
PDF
EPUB

SACRED POETRY.

83

is a quality which gives it a power over many minds not at all alive to the poetical; but it is also the source of some of its strongest attractions for those that are. Hence its truth both of landscape-painting, and of the description of character and states of mind; hence its skilful expression of such emotions and passions as it allows itself to deal with; hence the force and fervour of its denunciatory eloquence, giving to some passages as fine an inspiration of the moral sublime as is perhaps anywhere to be found in didactic poetry. Hence, we may say, even the directness, simplicity, and manliness of CowPER'S diction-all that is best in the form, as well as in the spirit, of his verse. It was this quality, or temper of mind, in short, that principally made him an original poet; and, if not the founder of a new school, the pioneer of a new era of English poetry. Instead of repeating the unmeaning conventionalities and faded affectations of his predecessors, it led him to turn to the actual nature within him and around him, and there to learn both the truths he should utter and the words in which he should utter them."

In less than half a century after the death of CowPER, the revolution in English poetry was completed. Among the master spirits of that period the names of WORDSWORTH, BURNS, SCOTT, and BYRON, stand pre-eminent. Returning, however, to the immediate object of our introductory remarks, which was to trace the progress of Sacred Poetry, from CowPER to the present time, it is pleasing to observe, in the productions of our modern poets, that sacred thoughts are not wholly excluded from their pages; and that even in the poetry of those who have employed their pens only occasionally on topics of a religious nature, many passages may be found which inculcate the most exalted sentiments, and breathe a spirit of profound reverence for the Almighty, and of admiration and gratitude for the wisdom and goodness he has displayed in the beauty and harmony of the Creation. The specimens of moral and religious poetry, transferred to these pages from the works of SOUTHEY, CAMPBELL, COLERIDGE, WILSON, BOWLES, MILMAN, MONTGOMERY, Bishop HEBER, KIRKE WHITE, FELICIA HEMANS, and WORDSWORTH, may be referred to as affording decisive proof of the noble and holy sentiments which may be conveyed in the fascinating language of poetry. "The characteristic qualities," says WILLMOTT, "of the sacred poetry of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were fervour of sentiment and melody of language, the fervour often degenerating into fantastic enthusiasm; the melody often running into grotesque extravagance of rhythm and expression. Compared with the effusions of our early writers of religious verse, modern poetry," he adds, "may appear to have declined in strength while it has increased in flexibility; but the calm diffusion of light is more agreeable than the uncertain blazes of a livelier invention; and we can read a GRAHAM with a satisfaction which the sublimer genius of QUARLES will not always afford, and recollect the humble rhymes of WATTS, when the more passionate sonnets of HERBERT sound harshly upon the ear."

As regards the beneficial tendency of poetry belonging to this class, and the services rendered by its authors to the best interests of society, it has been justly observed by the Editor of JOHNSTONE'S "Specimens of

Sacred Poetry," that "minds less powerful could never have brought religion and literature, so long and generally found repugnant, into friendly alliance, nor so effectually have enlisted the pride of cultivated intellect, and the romance of youthful character, on the side of humanity, justice, and all the Christian virtues." The reader should refer to the "Recreations of Christopher North" for an eloquent and argumentative essay on Sacred Poetry, in which Dr. JOHNSON'S peculiar views on that subject are proved to be false in reasoning, and contrary to fact.

WILLIAM COWPER.

BORN, 1731; DIED, 1800.

GRATITUDE TO GOD.

How blest, thy creature is, O God,
When with a single eye

He views the lustre of thy word,
The day-spring from on high.

Through all the storms that veil the skies,
And frown on earthly things,
The Sun of Righteousness he eyes

With healing on his wings.

Struck by that light the human heart,
A barren soil no more,

Sends the sweet smell of grace abroad,
Where serpents lurked before.

The glorious orb, whose golden beams
The fruitful year control,

Since first, obedient to thy word,
He started from the goal,

Has cheered the nations with the joys

His orient rays impart;

But, Jesus, 'tis thy light alone

Can shine upon the heart.

ODE TO PEACE.

RELIGION NOT ADVERSE TO PLEASURE.

RELIGION does not censure or exclude
Unnumbered pleasures harmlessly pursued;
To study, culture, and with artful toil
To meliorate and tame the stubborn soil;
To give dissimilar yet fruitful lands

The grain, or herb, or plant that each demands;
To cherish virtue in an humble state,

And share the joys your bounty may create;
To mark the matchless workings of the power
That shuts within its seed the future flower:
Bids these in elegance of form excel,

In colour these, and those delight the smell ;
Sends nature forth, the daughter of the skies,
To dance on earth, and charm all human eyes:
To teach the canvass innocent deceit,
Or lay the landscape on the snowy sheet-
These, these are arts pursued without a crime,
That leave no stain upon the wing of time.

ODE TO PEACE.

COME, peace of mind, delightful guest!
Return, and make thy downy nest
Once more in this sad heart:
Nor riches I, nor power pursue,
Nor hold forbidden joys in view;
We therefore need not part.

Where wilt thou dwell if not with me,
From avarice and ambition free,
And pleasure's fatal wiles?

For whom, alas! dost thou prepare
The sweets that I was wont to share,

The banquet of thy smiles?

85

The great, the gay, shall they partake
The heaven that thou alone canst make?
And wilt thou quit the stream
That murmurs through the dewy mead,
The grove, and the sequester'd shade,
To be a guest with them?

For thee I panted, thee I prized,
For thee I gladly sacrificed

Whate'er I loved before;
And shall I see thee start away,
And helpless, hopeless, hear thee say-
Farewell, we meet no more?

BEILBY PORTEUS.
BORN, 1731; DIED, 1808.

DEATH.

FRIEND to the wretch whom every friend forsakes, I woo thee, death!-Life and all its joys

I leave to those that prize them.

Hear me, O gracious God!—At thy good time
Let death approach; I reck not-let him but come
In genuine form, not with thy vengeance armed,
Too much for man to bear. Oh, rather lend
Thy kindly aid to mitigate his stroke;
And at that hour when all aghast I stand
(A trembling candidate for thy compassion)
On this world's brink, and look into the next,-
When my soul, starting from the dark unknown,
Casts back a wishful look, and fondly clings
To her frail prop, unwilling to be wrench'd
From this fair scene, from all her 'customed joys,
And all the lovely relatives of life-

Then shed thy comforts o'er me; then put on

ALL CREATURES CALLED ON TO PRAISE GOD.

87

The gentlest of thy looks. Let no dark crimes,
In all their hideous forms then starting up,
Plant themselves round my couch in grim array,
And stab my bleeding heart with two-edged torture--
Sense of past guilt, and dread of future woe.
Far be the ghastly crew! and in their stead
Let cheerful memory from her purest cells
Lead forth a goodly train of virtues fair,
Cherished in earliest youth, now paying back
With tenfold usury the pious care,

And pouring o'er my wounds the heavenly balm
Of conscious innocence.--But chiefly Thou,
Whom soft-eyed pity once led down from heav'n
To bleed for man, to teach him how to live,
And, oh, still harder lesson! how to die,
Disdain not thou to smoothe the restless bed
Of sickness and of pain;-forgive the tear
That feeble nature drops, calm all her fears,
Wake all her hopes, and animate her faith,
Till my rapt soul, anticipating heaven,
Bursts from the thraldom of encumbering clay,
And, on the wing of ecstacy upborne,
Springs into liberty, and light, and life.

JOHN OGILVIE.
BORN, 1733; DIED, 1814.

ALL CREATURES CALLED ON TO PRAISE GOD.

BEGIN, my soul, th' exalted lay!
Let each enraptur'd thought obey,

And praise th' Almighty's name :

Lo! heaven and earth, and seas and skies,

In one melodious concert rise,

To swell th' inspiring theme.

Join, ye loud spheres, the vocal choir;

Thou dazzling orb of liquid fire,

The mighty chorus aid:

« PreviousContinue »