American watchman and Delaware advertiser. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1822-1828, 1825-08-23
WILMINGTON, Del TUESDAY. AUGUST > Loo
From the United States Literary Gazette
"A HYMN

"a H MM.
=. me groves We're Gods first temples Ere man lea
! new the shaft, and lay the architraye. = .
And spread the roof above them.-ere he fr.mad
= ne lofty vault, to gather and roll back
nc sou,a OF anthems; in the darkling wood,
Amidst The cool and silence, he knclt down
And offered to the Mightes solemn thanks
AND supplication. For his simple heart
Night not resist the sacred Influences
mar, from the Silly twilight of the place
ana from the gray old trunks that high in heaven
mingled their messy boughs, and from the sound
VI the invisible breath that swayed at once
Al their green tops, stole o'er him. and bowed
His spirit with the thought of boundless mower
And inaccessible majesty. All WHY
| should we, in the worlds riper wears neu,ect
| GODS ancient sanctuaries, and adore
Ony among the crowd and under roofs
mat our iran hands have raised Let me- at least
Here, IN the shadow of this aged wood. '~''
Utter one hymn-thrice happy, if it find
| Acceptance IN his ear.
Hath reared these venerable columns. thou
Ddst weave this verdan roof Thou ddst loolr do,,n
Upon the naked earth, and forthwith, rose :"
a. these falr ranks OF trees They in thy sun,
budded, and shook their green leaves in Inv breeze
| And shot towards heaven. The century I;,;3;nn $500
whose pirth was IN their tops, grew old and died
Among Their branches, till, at last, they stood,
as now they stand, massey and tall and dark
tIt shrine for humble worshipper to hold
communion with his Maker Here are seen
No traces OF mans pomp or pride no silks
hustle' no jewels shine, nor envious eyes
encounter; no fantastic carvings show
Inc boast OF our vain race to change The form
vi Thy tair works. But thou art here-tbo, f;II,.
Inc soltlde. Thou art in the soft winds
hal run along the submits of these trees
In music thou art in the cooler breath
mat, from the Utmost darkness of the niace
Comes, scarcely felt the barky trunks he o,ro,.
!, ne Ifesn MOST ground, are all instinct with thee.
mere is continual worship mature, here
IN The tranquility that thou dost love.
Enjoys thy presence. Noiseessly around
from perch to perch, the solitary bird
rasses; and yoD clear spring, that, midst its herbs
W o softly forth and visits the strong roots
or half the mighty forest. tells no tale
Ut all the good it does Thou hast not left
fhyself without witness. in these shades.
Vi thy perections. Grandeur, strength and GRACE
Are here to speak of thee. This mighty oak
ny whose mmoveable stem stand and seem
Almost annhilaed-not prince
In all the proud old world beyond the deem.
Fer wore his crown Is loltily as he
W ears the green coronal OF leaves with which
ny hand has graced him. Nestled at his root
Is beauty such as blooms not in the glare
OF the broad sun. That delicate forest flower
With scented breath, and look so like smile,
oeeHs' as y issues from the shapeess mould
An emanation Of the lndweinp Life
A visible token of the UNFOLDING Love
That are the soul of this wide universe
My heart is awed within me, when ,b;nt
of the great miracle that still goes on.
In silence, round me-the perpetual work
Df thy creation, finished, yet renewed
Forever. Written on thy works read
The lesson OF thy own eternity
Lo all grow old and debut sec. again
low on the faltering footsteps of decay
outh presses-ever gay and beautiful youth
n all its beautiful forms These lofty trees
Wave not less proudly that their ancestors
Noulder beneath them Oh, there is not lost
)ne OF earth's charms upon her bosom vet
After the flight of untold centuries
The freshness OF her far beginning lies
And yet shall lie. Life mocks the idle hate
u ms arch enemy Death--yea--seats himself
Jpon the sepnlchre, and blooms and smiles.
And OF the triunphs of his ghastly foe
wakes ms own nourshment. For he came f,rti,
rom thine own bosom, and shall have no end,
There have been holy men who hid themselves
Peep IN the woody wilderness, and gave
her lves TO thought and prayer till they outliycd
ne generation born with them, nor seemed
less aged than the hoary trees and rocks
Afound them and there have been holy men
Who deemed it were not well to pass life thus
'ut let me often TO these solitudes
tetre, and IN thy presence reassure
ly feeble virtue. Here its enemies,
he passions, at thy palmer footsteps shrink
Ind tremble and are still. Oh God when thou
lost scare the world with tempess, settst on fire
The heavens with falling thunderbots, or fpst
With all the waters of the armament
The swift dark whirlwind that uproots the woods
md browns the villages when at thy call,
Jprises the great deep and thows himself
Upon the continent and overwhelms
Is ctes--who torgets not at the sight
1t these tremendous tokens of thy power
lis pride, and lays his strifes and foilies by
III, from these sterner aspects of thy face
pare me and mine, nor let us need the wrath
If the mad unclaimed elements TO teach
Who rules them. Be it ours to mediate
n these calm shades thy mlder majesty,
md, TO the beautiful order of thy works.
.eart to conform the order of our lives, r.