Lift up the quick'ning splendors of thy face, Pure without spot, without resentment sweet, May she look up, with joy may she behold, The doors of Heav'n and realns of light unfold, A smiling Judge, a mild caressing Lord, Not to pass sentence, but bestow reward; To give her honours which she now disdains, O then may 1, and millions more rejoice, To hear that welcome, wish'd-for precious voice! Dear to my Father, nearest to the throne, Consummate be thy bliss, distinguish'd be thy crown! WHERE Tigris rolls along his sounding tide, Th' insulting victors, scoffing at our wrongs, "Be merry here, for mirth becomes you well; "Come, sweep your harps, and let the chorus swell!"" But how shall we, in vile Chaldea, sing The cheerful songs of Israel's holy King Or bid our verse in pleasant numbers flow, While swells our breast, and breaks our heart with woe? My eyes behold no more the sunny day! Birmingham. O Lord, remember Esau's bloody race! Soon may their lot resemble our sad case! Their shouts o'er Salem made the earth resound : "Rase her," they cry'd," rase, rase her to the ground!" Nor thou, O Babylon! shall 'scape a fall, Tho' strong thy battlements, and broad thy wall! Stoop from thy throne, for, tyrant, thou shalt diet Th' Avenger comes, commission'd to destroy! Be written in the Register of Fame) Heav'n's uninister of wrath, whose sword shall pay But red with blood thy swelling streams shall flow! W.W THE COMPLAINT. Lines written in extreme Pain and Illness. OFT on yon mountains misty height The jocund Morn I see; Gay o'er the world he looks and smiles, And shines, but not for me! Wak'd by his voice, each living tribe Asserts its liberty, And asks the cup of joy he brings: - The golden eye of day that wakes No ray of light to cheer my way, Or guide a wand'rer home! O that some wave's résistless force “Mortal,” it says, “press onward still, "Chace ev'ry fear away; "What, tho' thy paths are strew'd with woes, "It-leads t' immortal day! "Each trial fills th' appointed place, "And each, well understood, "In spite of ev'ry foe, will prove "A messenger of good! "Fear not; there is reserv'd for thee, "In happier realms above, "A harp to sound Immanuel's name, "And sing his dying love! "There ev'ry string, thro' endless years, "Shall tell what he hath done; "And celebrate, with joy unknown, "The vict'ries he hath won!" He spake; and ere he flew, he bade Printed by G. AULD, Greville Street, London. EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE. AUGUST, 1805. MEMOIR OF THE LATE REV. ERASMUS MIDDLETON, B. D. RECTOR OF TURVEY, IN BEDFORDSHIRE, By a near relative of Mr. Middleton we are informed, that, in the early part of his life, he was suffered to wander under the influence of original depravity, far from God and from happiness. In the appointed time, however, he was sought out and brought back by the compassionate Shepherd and Bishop of Souls. Happy for eiring man that there is no moral distance so great, to which the arm of Jesus cannot reach! - no irregularities so aggravated, but his grace can forgive them! and no propensities to sin, so powerful and obdurate, which his Spirit cannot subdue! The saving change of his heart did not take place till about the twenty-second year of his age; and the lateness of the period furnished him, through life, with materials of bitter regret, that the prime of youth should have been blighted by Folly and Sin. He had occasion often to say with St. Paul, of several of his brethren, That they were not only men" of note in the churches of the saints;" but, which filled him with the deepest concern, that "they also were in Christ before him." After his conversion he gave himself, like the primitive believers, to the Lord and to the church, by the will of God. It was to a society of Christians at Horncastle, in Lincolnshire, the place of his nativity, in the fellowship of the late Rev. J. Westley, that he first joined himself as a church-member. With them he walked; and, for a few years, occasionally exhorted among them. Feeling his mind inclining him powerfully to the ministry of the word, he wished to consecrate himself to the work of the Lord in the communion of the Established church. With this view be accepted the friendly invitation of the Rev. Mr. Townsend, of Pewsey; and under his affectionate tuition, regained and considerably improved his U u XIII. |