Star.
London, England, 1805-03-05 00:00:00

EXTRACTS FROM A poet ENTITLED THE SABRA TR

A Poem of extraordipary beauty, bearing the above
title, full of that fervid but amiable fpirit of religi-
ous feeling, which the mind of the true Poet never
wants, has lately come from the capital of the Nhrth,
its author anonymous.—We cannot forbear, in giving
fbme quotations from it. to exprefs our fenfe of its
merits—in palling from the bury fcenes and &Wets,
which, as heralds of public events, we are celled to
defcribe, it forms a pleating Tell to our minds to con-
template tbis fubjee, and this poetry fo worthy of
the fubje&.

Hail, S x ! thee I hail, the poor man's day :
The pale mechanic now has leave to breathe
The morninz air pore from the city's fmoke,
While wand'ring flowly by the river fide.
He meditates oo Him whofe power be marks
In each green tree that proudly fpreads the bough,
As in the tiny dcw-bent flowers that bloom
Around the roots ; and while he dies Inner
With elevated joy each rural charm,
He hopes, (yet fears prefunntioo In the hope),
To reach thole realms where SAIDATII never ends.
But now his Reps a weitome found nosh :
Solemn the knell, from yonder aodent pile,
Fills all the air, incident joyful awe :
Slowly the throng moves o'er the tomb pav'd ground:
The aged man, the bowed down, the Wad
Led by the thoughtlds bey, and be who breathes
With pain, and eyes the new-made grave, well-ph:l4
Tbefe, mingled with the yang, the gay, approach
The hank of GOD: theft, ['Ate of all their ills,
A glow of gladnefs fed; with fluent pnife
They enter in; a placid =nes reigns,
Udtil the Man ofkoo, worthy the name,
Opens the book, and reverentially
The Rated portion reads. A peak enfues.
The organ breathes its dillant thunder-outesi
Then fwrils Into a diapafon full:
The people rifler, fing, " With hart, with barb
Aid wok, ef harmonloufly attun'd
The various voices blend ; the long-drawn Miles,
At every dote, the liog'ring &rain prolong.
And now the tubes a foften'd Rep contrails,
In rafter harmony the people join,
While liquid whifpers from yon orphan band,
Recal the foul from Adoration's trance,
And fill the eye with Pitj's gentle tears.
Again the organ-peal, loud rolling, Meets
The haßelalahs of the choir: Sublime
A thoulind notes fymphouloully afcend,
As if the whole were one, (*ended high
In air, foaling heav'nward: afar the; float,
M'a'ting glad tidings to the tick man s couch :
Rais'd on his arm, he lilts the cadence dole,
Yet thinks he hears it Rill : his heart is eheer'd ;
He (miles on death 4 but ah ! a veldt will rife,-
-Would I *ere now beneath that echoing roof !
No lukewarm accents from my lips Ronald flew ;
My heart would ling and many a Sabbath day
My Reps ihou'd thither turn; or, wand'ring far
In folitary paths, where wild flown blow,
There would 1 bids His name who led me forth
From Death's dark rale, to walk amid thole tweets,
Who gives the bloom of health once more to glow
Upon this cheek, and lights this Lumped eye."

it is not wily in the lured lane
That homage ibould be paid to the Mose Moo ;
Tere is a tt mple, one not made with bands
The vaulted firmament: Far in the woods,
Ahnoft beyond the found of city-chime,
At intervals heard thro' the hrcezelefs air ;
When not the limberelt leaf is teen to move,
Save where the limn! lights upon tic (pray;
Where not a Boveret bends its little Ralk,
Save when the bee alights upon the bloom ;
There, rapt in gratitude. in Joy, and love.
The man of Goo will pars the Sabbath-anon;
Same: his praife : his difembodled thoughts,
Looted from the load of words, will high akend
Beyond the empyreal.—
Nor yet lets pleafing at the beav'nly throne,
The Sabbath-ferviee of the Shepherd boy !
le tome lone glen, where ev`ry found is
To number, Cave the tinkfing of the rill,
Or bleat of lamb, or hoering falcon's cry,
Stretch'd on the fw:rd, he reads of Jeffes Son;
Or toeds a tear o'er him to Egypt fold,
And wonders why he weeps: the volume cloed,
With thyme-fprig laid between the leaves, he Wigs
The (urea lays, his weekly kffoo, ermn'd
With mcikle care beneath the lowly roof,
Where humble lore is keno, where humble worth
Pines unrewarded by a thanklefs Rate.
Thus readin, hymning, all alone, unkeo,
The Ihepherd boy the Sabbath holy keeps,
ill on the heights he marks the ftraggling bands
Returning homeward from the houfe of pray'r.
In peace they home retort. 0 bli'sful days
When all men worfhip GOD as confeience wills.
Far other times our fathers' grandllres knew,
A virtuous race, to godlinefs, devote.
What tho' the keptie's (cons hath dar'd to foil
The record of their fame! What tho' the men
Of worldly minds have dar'd to ftigrnatile
The fifter-caufe, Religion and the Law,
With fuperflition's narnel yet, yet their deeds,
Their conftancy in torture, and in death,—
There on tradition's tongue full live. thefe
On hifery's honeft page be pldtur'd bright •
To latelt times. Perhaps fotne Bird, whole Mule
Difdains the fervik Brain of Falhion's quire,
May celebrate their aoambitlous names.
With them each day was holy, ey'ry hour
They flood prepaed to die, a people doom'd
To death;—old men, and youths, and fimple maids.
With them each day was holy ; but rt.t morn
On which the angel raid, " Ste 'where the L rd
We, laid," joyous arofe; to die that day
Was bills. Long ere the dawn, by devious ways,
O'er hills, thro' woods, o'er dreary wants, they fought
The upland moors, where rivers, there but brooks,
Difpart to diff'rent feas: Faft by fuel brooks,
A little glen is Cometimes fcoop'd, a plat
With green-frard gay, and Bowers that ftrangers kin
Amid the Feathery wild, that all around
Fatigues the eye : in (latitudes like there
Thr perfecuted children, SCOT A . foll'd
A tyrant's and a bigot's bloody Lin :
There, leaning on hie fmar, (one of tb' array
That. In the times of old, bad traded the role
On England's banner, and had pow'rlefs ftruck
Th' infatuate monarch and his watering heft,
Yet tuned irfelf to aid hie fon dethroo'd),
The lyart veteran heard the word of GOD
By CAME ion tbunder'd, or by Rem WICK potted
In gentle fheam then rote the tong, the loud
Acclaim of praife; the wheeling plover ccasl
Her plaint; the folitary place was glad,
And no the diftartt cairns, the watcher's ear
Caught doubtfully at times tie Meese borne note
But years more gloomy follow'd ; and no more
Th' affembied people dar'd, in face of day,
To worihip GOD or even at the dead
Of night, Cave When the winery florin rav'd Berne,
And thunder-peals tonsperd the men of blood
To couch wkhin their dens; then dsuntldsly
The featter'd few would meet, in fame deep deg
By rocks o'er-canopied, to bear the yoke.
Their faithful Pal ises voice: He by the gleam
Of ducted lightning op'd the famed book,
And wards of comfort fpake: Over their fouls
His accents footWog eantt..aa to her young
The beathfowl's plumes, when at the elate oleic
•
She gathers, mournful, In her brood difpmed
By murd'rous (port, and o'er the remnant fpreads •
Fondly her wings; dote odthug 'math her breath
They chcriged cow's' amid die purple bloom.