Lift up the quick'ning splendors of thy face,
And deck her mind with ev'ry Christian grace!
All that is lovely, all that may endear
Angels or thee, O let it all be there!

Pure without spot, without resentment sweet,
Holy yet humble, -zealous yet discreet;
With universal excellence endued,
All of a piece, and uniformly good!
Fix'd and unmov'd in ev'ry state and chance,
No other change, but daily to advance!
Thus may she shine illustriously bright,
A faultless pattern to the nicest sight!
Pleasing, great God! and glorifying thee,
Admir'd by all, and faiut transcrib'd by me.
Late let thy chariot and her guardian come,
To fetch thy child, thine heir in glory home;
When in the tomb her sacred relics rest
(For all must die, -- the wisest and the best)
Her better part repose on Abraham's breast,
With glad reflections sweet Expectance cheer'd,
Till the last trump's awak'ning sound be heard!
Then, when the bad, o'erwhelan'd with guilt and fear,
See Vengeance burn implacably severe,

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,
Eternal peace for momentary pains!

O then may 1, and millions more rejoice,

To hear that welcome, wish'd-for precious voice!
There sit, bless'd woman, sit for ever down,

Dear to my Father, nearest to the throne,

Consummate be thy bliss, distinguish'd be thy crown!

WHERE Tigris rolls along his sounding tide,
Pensive we sat, the murm'ring stream beside:
There, by Chaldean Lords in bondage kept,
We thought of ruin'd Solyma, and wept.
Her lofty tow'rs, now levell'd with the plain;
Her princes slaughter'd, and her people slain;
Her temple plunder'd, burnt, and quite defac'd
(Once by Jehovah's awful presence grac'd.)
Where, her tall fanes aspiring met the sky,
Grows the rank grass and smoking ruins lie!
Our useless harps we hung upon the trees,
Silent, or only sighing to the breeze.

Th' insulting victors, scoffing at our wrongs,
Cry'd, "Sing ye Jews, sing one of Zion's songs:

"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?
O, Solyma! if I forget thee, may

My eyes behold no more the sunny day!
If my chief comforts half so well I love,
Let my tongue stiffen, and forget to move!

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!
O King of Nations! lifted up so high,

Stoop from thy throne, for, tyrant, thou shalt diet
Give o'er thy boasting, empty is thy joy,

Th' Avenger comes, commission'd to destroy!
Blest be the hero (let his honour'd name

Be written in the Register of Fame)

Heav'n's uninister of wrath, whose sword shall pay
The debt of Vengeance in thy judgment day;
That dreadful day, it hastens on with speed,
When Babylon at ev'ry pore shall bleed!
No pity shall the stern invaders shew,

But red with blood thy swelling streams shall flow!
Unmov'd they hear the shrieking mother's groans,
And dash thy babes in pieces on the stones!

THE COMPLAINT.

Lines written in extreme Pain and Illness.

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.