University of Virginia Library

TO HIS OWN SOUL, EXHORTING IT TO REPENTANCE.

TURN, turn thee, weary soul: nay, hearken me.
Turn thee and note where thou hast run astray,
The course of idle lusts ensuing aye,
And in the fosse thy feet enmired thou'lt see.
Wake, ere thou fall! What dost thou? Presently
Return to Him, Him who the true allay
To who will giv'th and from the sore affray

186

Of woeful death, whereto thou far'st, doth free.
Return thee unto Him and thy last years
Yield, at the least, unto His will and gree,
Mourning the ills done in the days bygone.
Let the late season waken not thy fears;
He will accept thee, doing unto thee
That which He did erst with the last hired one.
 

Alluding, of course, to the parable of the labourers in the vineyard, Matt. XX, 1—16.