A gayer scene to find; And leave your lowly nest, With all its peace and rest, So far behind?

And what has been your various fate?
One may have found a home, a mate,
And groves as sweet as this:

And one perchance may mourn
Days that shall ne'er return;
Young days of bliss.

One to the hawk has fallen a prey ;
One, captive, pours his thrilling lay
When hope and joy are gone;

One seeks a foreign shore,

And thence returns no more,
But dies alone.

So human families must part;
And many a worn and aching heart
Pines for its early home;

The cheerful board and hearth,

The looks and tones of mirth,
The hopes in bloom.

And one may smile while others weep;
But still one precious hope they keep

Through all life's changing years, —

To pass through joy and pain,

And mingle once again

Their smiles and tears.

28*

66

THE THREE AGES OF THE SOUL.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven." Eccles. iii. 1.

THERE is a time, and childhood is the hour,

To hear the surges break among the caves;
To hail with mirth and sport their awful roar,
And hear no deeper music in the waves.
There is a time to rove the lawn, the field, -
Chasing the hind, to thread the forest glade,
And cull no beauty but the flowers they yield,
Nor find more deep refreshment than their shade.

Then is the time to gaze upon the sky,

When the moon reigns, and sapphire hosts advance,
And feel no influence wafted from on high,
See nought mysterious in their radiant dance.
Then is the time to ask where they can be,
Whom death withdrew as side by side we trod ;
And since no tongue can tell, no eye can see,
To turn and sport upon their burial sod.

There is a time, –

and now the hour is come,
When life breathes out from all these hues and forms;
When winds and streams sing of the spirit's home,
And ocean chants her welcome midst his storms.
Then nature wooes the ear, directs the eye,
Breathes out her essence o'er the sentient soul;
Fathoms the depths for her, and scales the sky,
And speeds her ardent flight from pole to pole.

Life now,
-no mean creation of a day,
Held without thought and in the present bound, -

Looking before and after, holds its way,
Treading serene its bright, eternal round.
Now Death, familiar grown, aye hovers near,
To shadow forth the spirits fairest dreams;

To tend young hopes, to quell the low-born fear,
And chase, with light divine, earth's fitful gleams.

The time shall be, O come the promised hour!
When all these outward forms shall melt away,

Seas shall be dry, and stars shall shine no more,
Hushed every sound, and quenched each living ray.
Yet, treasured as the life, they cannot die.
Part of herself, ethereal as the soul,

Hesperus shall still lead forth his hosts on high,
Still earth be gay, and ocean gleam and roll.

O! come the hour when the expanded mind, -
Here fed by Nature with immortal food, -
Within itself the universe shall find,

Survey its treasures and pronounce them good!
O! haste the hour when to the deathless fire
On the eternal altar, souls shall come,

Linked in one joy; and while its flames aspire
Still throng around and feel its light their home!

CONSOLATIONS.

MOURNER! thou seekest Rest.

Rise from thy couch, and dry thy tears unblest,
And sigh no more for blessings now resigned.
Go to the fount of life which ever flows;
There thou mayest gain oblivion of thy woes,
There shall thy spirit own a sweet repose.

Seek rest and thou shalt find.

Thou seekest Health; and how? Let gloom and tears no more thy spirit bow; Health springs aloft upon the viewless wind: Up to the mountain top pursue her flight; Over the fresh turf track her footsteps light, In hawthorn bowers, 'mid fountains gushing bright, Seek her, and thou shalt find.

But Hope hath left thee too,

'Mid many griefs and comforts all too few.
Think not her angel-presence is confined

To earth; but seek the helps which God hath given
To aid thy feeble sight, and through the heaven
See where she soars, bright as the star of even.
Then seek, and thou shalt find.

Dost thou seek Peace? and where?

'Mong thine own withered hopes? She is not there,
Nor in the depths of thine own darkened mind.
Lay thy heart open to the infants' mirth,

Send the bright hopes of others from their birth,
Look round for all that's beautiful on earth.

Seek Peace, and thou shalt find.

Seek Peace and Hope and Rest:

And as the eagle flutters o'er her nest,*

And bears her young, all trembling, weak, and blind,

Up to heaven-gate on her triumphant wing;-
So shall the Lord thy God thy spirit bring

To whom eternal suns their radiance fling.
Him seek and thou shalt find.

ADDRESS

TO THE AVOWED ARIANS OF THE SYNOD OF ULSTER.

HAIL! faithful few, who love the light of truth

More than the praise of men! - Your choice is made;

And may that choice repay you! If ye

lose

Much that the heart of man has learned to prize,

Stir not your noble spirits when ye think

What ye have gained? What honor from good men,
What peace within, what favor from your God!
Reason is on your side, and nature too :
Nature, who bade the human soul be free,
Active and independent, gave it power

To seek the truth and energy to hold.

The mind of man must keep its onward course,
And conquer prejudice and combat error,
Till truth prevail, clear, gentle, and serene.
Thus springs, within the bosom of a mount,
Work on their silent way, till, stronger grown,
They burst their barriers, and gush freely forth
To meet the eye of heaven: and if, convulsed,
The hills are rent, and falling rocks impede
The torrent's course, the proud wave higher swells,
And overflows them; till opposed no more,

It spreads afar its silent, blue expanse,

Where flowers behold their image, and the moon
Gazes upon herself.

Then struggle on,

And hope for future peace: - but if in vain
Ye seek it among men; if malice, scorn,
And tyranny should track your steps, and chafe
The immortal mind they never can subdue, ·
O! still be thankful for your destiny.

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