CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.
Ah! who can know the treasures of that soul
Where mildness sheds its sweet and soft control,
And virtue, guarding with angelic care,
The placid spirit saves from every snare:—
Where blest benignity, with pious grace,
And calm contentment dwells, with peacefulness;
Where injured patience, smiling 'midst its pains,
Endures affliction, every grief sustains;—
And kind compassion lives, that fain bestows
Its bliss on others and partakes their woes;—
Where sympathy's seraphic tenderness,
In silence feels what words can ne'er express;—
Where reason reigns, approved by spotless truth,
And virtue blossoms in immortal youth;—
Caution, discretion, and forbearance still,
Dwell in each action and direct the will;
While meekness bows beneath oppression's load,
And resignation owns its Sovereign God.
There blest Religion, with celestial love,
And faith divine, transports the soul above;
And glows expanded in that holy breast,
Whose prayer imploring pleads for the distressed,
For mercy's sovereign power to melt the soul,
And Gilead's balm to make the sufferer whole:
For blind and wretched, guilty and undone,
The fervent prayer ascends to the high throne
Of the Supremely Good, whose mercy saves
The bold offender, and the wretch forgives;
While humble thanks and ardent praises rise,
An incense-offering to the opening skies.
O that the humble tribute of a verse
Might these dear treasures of the soul rehearse.
But far, too far inferior, dare I dream
To ope the beauties of the sacred theme?
For half concealed from human view they lie;—
But, scanned with approbation from on high,
The Power Supreme looks gently from above,
And fills the spirit with celestial love;
Encircles in a Father's kind embrace,
And wraps in the Redeemer's righteousness.
Where mildness sheds its sweet and soft control,
And virtue, guarding with angelic care,
The placid spirit saves from every snare:—
Where blest benignity, with pious grace,
And calm contentment dwells, with peacefulness;
Where injured patience, smiling 'midst its pains,
Endures affliction, every grief sustains;—
And kind compassion lives, that fain bestows
Its bliss on others and partakes their woes;—
Where sympathy's seraphic tenderness,
In silence feels what words can ne'er express;—
Where reason reigns, approved by spotless truth,
And virtue blossoms in immortal youth;—
Caution, discretion, and forbearance still,
Dwell in each action and direct the will;
While meekness bows beneath oppression's load,
And resignation owns its Sovereign God.
There blest Religion, with celestial love,
And faith divine, transports the soul above;
And glows expanded in that holy breast,
Whose prayer imploring pleads for the distressed,
For mercy's sovereign power to melt the soul,
And Gilead's balm to make the sufferer whole:
For blind and wretched, guilty and undone,
The fervent prayer ascends to the high throne
Of the Supremely Good, whose mercy saves
The bold offender, and the wretch forgives;
While humble thanks and ardent praises rise,
An incense-offering to the opening skies.
O that the humble tribute of a verse
Might these dear treasures of the soul rehearse.
But far, too far inferior, dare I dream
To ope the beauties of the sacred theme?
For half concealed from human view they lie;—
But, scanned with approbation from on high,
The Power Supreme looks gently from above,
And fills the spirit with celestial love;
Encircles in a Father's kind embrace,
And wraps in the Redeemer's righteousness.