Thy bleffings with the remnant stays,
The faithful feed is multiplied,
Thousands their bleeding Lord embrace,
And follow close their heavenly Guide.
Oh may they more and more increase!
Protectors of a guilty land;
And spread the kingdom of thy grace,
Till all fubmit to thy command.
Oh may they never turn aside!
In separate sects and parties stray,
Far from the fold, and fcattered wide,
But ftill walk on in Chrift the way.
To Thee and to each other draw,
Thy mercy, power, and truth make known;
A pattern to all Churches live,
Till all are perfected in one.
Thou God who hearst the faithful prayer,
Prefented after thy own will;
Affure us of thy conftant care,
And on our hearts the anfwer feal.
The Spirit pleading in the Bride
With gracious fmiles of love attend;
And with our favourite Church abide,
And bless, and keep, till time fhall end.
AY, will your candour spare a faultèring muse,
If fhe a late, though beaten, theme renews?
Common the wish to have the veil withdrawn,
That heavenly glory on the fenfe might dawn:
Or that fome fair Intelligence would deign,
To unfold the wonders of the eternal plain.
Vain wifh for fill the veil is not withdrawn,
No heavenly glories on the fenfes dawn:
No fair Intelligence does kindly deign,
To unfold the wonders of the eternal plain.
If to endure this "mortal coil" requires,
Blifs in reverfion equal to defires,
We must believe a certainty of joy,
Unbounded all, and all without alloy.
We cannot doubt a bright hereafter is,
But then, how varied, the celeftial blifs?
The differing enjoyments of the place
Is what we know not now-but fain would guess.
Rowe, has her native eloquence displayed,
Formed various fcenes in fields that never fade;
And Milton talks of Amaranthine bowers,
In which the fons of heaven recline their powers,
And fancy takes a larger leave to roam,
With heeft fight in "Watts's world to come."
Yet doubts preponderate, and Sceptic we Still hink it may, and yet it may not be.
But the grand queftion of the focial mind,
Which friendship does in its foft fetters bind,
Is," will eternity this joy prolong?
Say, fhall we know each other in the throng?
Say, fhall we consciously unite again?
"And will diftinét perception there remain ?".
Does not the facred text its witness bear
To this heart-chearing truth, diftin&t and clear?
And then will not the nature of the cafe,
Self-evident remaining doubts erafe?
If love, and knowledge in the human foul
Muft with its nature co-exiftent roll-
If more and more matured, our focial love
From knowledge muft effentially improve:
Then will diftinct perception, there remain,
And kindred minds, upon the eternal plain,
With confcious pleasure shall unite again.
But the great Author of the chriftian tie,
When breathing out his prayer for Unity,
Prayed, his elect might fweetly all be ore,
One with the Father, and his favourite Son.
Can then the memory of an human friend,
Remain, and with that facred Union blend?
Yes! the fair feats of knowledge, and of love
Will every intelle&ual blifs improve!
The facred dwellings of the Lamb will give,
The nobleft joys a fpirit can receive:
There love, that angels prize, and men adore,
There love divine its choiceft gifts will shower.
Then reafon fhall regain her native feat,
In more than priftine vigour fhine compleat,
And every pleasure fuited to its powers,'
In bright fucceffion crown the endless hours.
There facred friendship quite unveils her face,
And glows with all the fervors of the place:
Then shall the re-embrace of parted friends,
For pangs of parting give a full amends:
Abfence no more fhall rend the tortured heart,
'Tis heaven's peculiar - never more to part,
There fouls by fympathy each other draw,
There love is liberty, and nature's law;
Thé encreasing flame will freely circulate,
It can't be little or inordinate!
In breasts seraphic pureft tranfports glow!
No ills terrene prevent the rapturous flow:
What pains the tenant foul in this low ftate,
The unkind, the fordid, the indelicate!
All that is irkfome will far off remove,
Nor ought remain but what increases love.
No fond excess the wounded heart will tare,
Nor fhall we mourn contracted fervors there:
The generous flame with freedom will transpire,
And equal love unite the glorious choir,
Yet ftill diviner joys, diviner love,
Await the ranfoméd in the realms above;
"Then fhall we know, as alfo we are known,"
Then will arise the intellectual fun!
The irradiating beams will powerful dart,
Illume the eye, and deify the heart!
The bright idea of the eternal mind,
Who in creation fhone on human kind,
Who in redemption fhewed how God could blefs,
The filial God-head will unveil his face:
And then with grace, and comforts unexpreft,
The eternal spirit quite involves the bleft!
Then love itself displaying richest grace,
For ever folds us in its strong embrace.
|