XXVII.

NEW CHURCHES.

But liberty, and triumphs on the Main,
And laurelled Armies - not to be withstood,
What serve they? if, on transitory good
Intent, and sedulous of abject gain,

The State (ah surely not preserved in vain!)
Forbear to shape due channels which the Flood
Of sacred Truth

enter may

till it brood

O'er the wide realm, as o'er the Egyptian Plain

The all-sustaining Nile. No more the time

Is conscious of her want; through England's bounds, In rival haste, the wished-for Temples rise!

I hear their Sabbath bells' harmonious chime

Float on the breeze the heavenliest of all sounds

That hill or vale prolongs or multiplies!

XXVIII.

CHURCH TO BE ERECTED.

BE this the chosen site;

the virgin sod,

Moistened from age to age by dewy eve,

Shall disappear and grateful earth receive

The corner-stone from hands that build to God. Yon reverend hawthorns, hardened to the rod Of winter storms, yet budding cheerfully; Those forest oaks of Druid memory,

Shall long survive, to shelter the Abode

Of genuine Faith. Where, haply, 'mid this band
Of daisies, Shepherds sate of yore and wove
May-garlands, let the holy Altar stand

For kneeling adoration; while above,

Broods, visibly pourtrayed, the mystic Dove,
That shall protect from Blasphemy the Land.

XXIX.

CONTINUED.

MINE ear has rung, my spirit sunk subdued,
Sharing the strong emotion of the crowd,
When each pale brow to dread hosannas bowed
While clouds of incense mounting veiled the rood,
That glimmered like a pine-tree dimly viewed
Through Alpine vapours. Such appalling rite
Our Church prepares not, trusting to the might
Of simple truth with grace divine imbued;
Yet will we not conceal the precious Cross,
Like Men ashamed: the Sun with his first smile
Shall greet that symbol crowning the low Pile;
And the fresh air of " incense-breathing morn"
Shall wooingly embrace it; and green moss
Creep round its arms through centuries unborn.

XXX.

NEW CHURCH-YARD.

THE encircling ground, in native turf arrayed,
Is now by solemn consecration given

To social interests, and to favouring Heaven;
And where the rugged Colts their gambols played,
And wild Deer bounded through the forest glade,
Unchecked as when by merry Outlaw driven,
Shall hymns of praise resound at morn and even ;
And soon, full soon, the lonely Sexton's spade
Shall wound the tender sod. Encincture small,
But infinite its grasp of joy and woe!

Hopes, fears, in never-ending ebb and flow
The spousal trembling-and the "dust to dust"-
The prayers, the contrite struggle, and the trust
That to the Almighty Father looks through all!

XXXI..

CATHEDRALS, ETC.

OPEN your Gates, ye everlasting Piles!

Types of the Spiritual Church which God hath reared; Not loth we quit the newly-hallowed sward

And humble altar, mid your sumptuous aisles

To kneel

or thrid your intricate defiles

Or down the nave to pace in motion slow;

Watching, with upward eye, the tall tower grow
And mount, at every step, with living wiles

Instinct to rouse the heart and lead the will

By a bright ladder to the world above.

Open your Gates, ye Monuments of love

Divine! thou Lincoln, on thy sovereign hill!

Thou, stately York! and Ye, whose splendours cheer Isis and Cam, to patient Science dear!