OUTSTRETCHING flame-ward his upbraided hand
(O God of mercy, may no earthly Seat
Of judgment such presumptuous doom repeat!)
Amid the shuddering throng doth Cranmer stand;
Firm as the stake to which with iron band
His frame is tied; firm from the naked feet
To the bare head, the victory complete ;
The shrouded Body, to the Soul's command,
Answering with more than Indian fortitude,
Through all her nerves with finer sense endued,
Till breath departs in blissful aspiration :
Then, 'mid the ghastly ruins of the fire,
Behold the unalterable heart entire,
Emblem of faith untouched, miraculous attestation ! *
GENERAL VIEW OF THE TROUBLES OF THE REFORMATION.
AID, glorious Martyrs, from your fields of light
Our mortal ken! Inspire a perfect trust
(While we look round) that Heaven's decrees are just : Which few can hold committed to a fight
That shows, ev'n on its better side, the might
Of proud Self-will, Rapacity, and Lust,
'Mid clouds enveloped of polemic dust,
Which showers of blood seem rather to incite
Than to allay. · Anathemas are hurled
From both sides; veteran thunders (the brute test
Of Truth) are met by fulminations new—
Tartarian flags are caught at, and unfurled –
Friends strike at Friends the flying shall pursue
And Victory sickens, ignorant where to rest!
For the belief in this fact, see the contemporary Historians.
XXX. ENGLISH REFORMERS IN EXILE.
SCATTERING, like Birds escaped the Fowler's net,
Some seek with timely flight a foreign strand;
Most happy, re-assembled in a land
By dauntless Luther freed, could they forget
Their Country's woes. But scarcely have they met,
Partners in faith, and Brothers in distress,
Free to pour forth their common thankfulness,
Ere hope declines; their union is beset
With speculative notions rashly sown,
Whence thickly-sprouting growth of poisonous weeds;
Their forms are broken staves; their passions steeds
That master them. How enviably blest
Is he who can, by help of grace, enthrone
The peace of God within his single breast!
HAIL, Virgin Queen! o'er many an envious bar Triumphant snatched from many a treacherous wile!
All hail, Sage Lady, whom a grateful Isle
Hath blest, respiring from that dismal war
Stilled by thy voice! But quickly from afar
Defiance breathes with more malignant aim;
And alien storms with home-bred ferments claim
Portentous fellowship. Her silver car,
By sleepless prudence ruled, glides slowly on;
Unhurt by violence, from menaced taint
Emerging pure, and seemingly more bright;
For, wheresoe'er she moves, the clouds anon
Disperse; or, under a divine constraint,
Reflect some portion of her glorious light.
METHINKS that I could trip o'er heaviest soil,
Light as a buoyant Bark from wave to wave,
Were mine the trusty Staff that JEWEL gave
To youthful HOOKER, in familiar style
The gift exalting, and with playful smile: *
For thus equipped, and bearing on his head
The Donor's farewell blessing, can he dread
Tempest, or length of way, or weight of toil?
More sweet than odours caught by him who sails
Near spicy shores of Araby the blest,
A thousand times more exquisitely sweet,
The freight of holy feeling which we meet,
In thoughtful moments, wafted by the gales
From fields where good men walk, or bowers wherein they rest.
HOLY and heavenly Spirits as they are,
Spotless in life, and eloquent as wise,
With what entire affection do they prize
Their new-born Church! labouring with earnest care
To baffle all that may her strength impair;
the unperverted Gospel's seat;
In their afflictions a divine retreat;
Source of their liveliest hope, and tenderest prayer!
The Truth exploring with an equal mind,
In doctrine and communion they have sought
Firmly between the two extremes to steer;
But theirs the wise man's ordinary lot,
To trace right courses for the stubborn blind,
And prophesy to ears that will not hear.
MEN, who have ceased to reverence, soon defy
Their Forefathers; lo! Sects are formed
and split
With morbid restlessness, the ecstatic fit
Spreads wide; though special mysteries multiply,
The Saints must govern, is their common cry;
And so they labour, deeming Holy Writ
Disgraced by aught that seems content to sit
Beneath the roof of settled Modesty.
The Romanist exults; fresh hope he draws
From the confusion craftily incites
personates the mad* To heap disgust upon the worthier Cause:
Totters the Throne; the new-born Church is sad, For every wave against her
FEAR hath a hundred eyes that all agree
To plague her beating heart; and there is one
(Nor idlest that!) which holds communion
With things that were not, yet were meant to be.
Aghast within its gloomy cavity
That eye (which sees as if fulfilled and done
Crimes that might stop the motion of the sun)
Beholds the horrible catastrophe
Of an assembled Senate unredeemed
From subterraneous Treason's darkling power:
Merciless act of sorrow infinite!
Worse than the product of that dismal night,
When gushing, copious as a thunder-shower,
The blood of Huguenots through Paris streamed.
THE JUNG-FRAU AND THE FALL OF THE RHINE NEAR
SCHAFFHAUSEN.
THE Virgin Mountain *, wearing like a Queen
A brilliant crown of everlasting Snow,
Sheds ruin from her sides; and men below
Wonder that aught of aspect so serene
Can link with desolation.
And seeming, at a little distance, slow,
The waters of the Rhine; but on they go
Fretting and whitening, keener and more keen,
Till madness seizes on the whole wide Flood,
Turned to a fearful Thing whose nostrils breathe
Blasts of tempestuous smoke wherewith he tries
To hide himself, but only magnifies;
And doth in more conspicuous torment writhe,
Deafening the region in his ireful mood.
TROUBLES OF CHARLES THE FIRST.
EVEN Such the contrast that, where'er we move,
To the mind's eye Religion doth present;
Now with her own deep quietness content;
Then, like the mountain, thundering from above
Against the ancient Pine-trees of the grove
And the Land's humblest comforts. Now her mood
Recalls the transformation of the flood,
Whose rage the gentle skies in vain reprove,
Earth cannot check. O terrible excess
Of headstrong will! Can this be Piety?
No some fierce Maniac hath usurped her name; And scourges England struggling to be free;
Her peace destroyed! her hopes a wilderness!
her glory turned to shame! *The Jung-frau.
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