University of Virginia Library

Mysterious Spirit of the ceaseless mind!
Heart of the Church, as Christ the only Head;
Soul of our souls! in supernat'ral light
Unbounded, deathless and transforming Grace,
And Love, and Wisdom, Thee I now invoke;
And to Thyself presume to consecrate
Pages, that whatsoe'er of hallow'd power
They have, from Thee alone their truth receive
And virtue. Oh! thou Sempiternal Life,
Breathe o'er this effort, and with force array
Whate'er is feeble; and by heavenly touch
And tone their meaning so affect and fill,
That onward to the inner-mind of man,
Or central being, where high Conscience holds
Her seat august, and faith's dominion acts,
What truths they carry may be safely borne
Beyond the heartless, and above the vain
To warp or weaken. Here, beneath the arch
Of midnight, solemn, deep, intensely calm,
Thy Presence would I realise, and lift
Mine awe-struck nature to the heights unseen
Of Essence Uncreate, where Thou art Third
In Godhead, as the Fountain-Sire is first,
Second, the Filial Word, and All supreme
As One co-equal, co-eternal Three.

Descend pure Spirit! light and life and love
Without Thee, are not: poetry is Thine;
Reason and science, and majestic arts,
The heaven-born virtues, intellectual powers,
And all pre-eminence in grace or gift
Are but as glances from Thy glory cast,
And caught by mind. But, who Thy sway can tell?
For at the first, the Heavens and all their host,
Moon, star, and planets, from Thy hand derived
Their radiance, from Thy wisdom learn'd their paths.
And Earth is thine: Her elemental laws,
Her motions, harmonies, and living hues
Are but the efflux of Thy fontal powers;
While Man himself, that miracle of forms!
Into his mould was copied from Thy cast
Ethereal; and the whole of truths inspired,
Prophetic utterance, or miraculous deed,
Which was, or is, or shall be, are but rays
Sent from Thine Essence to created mind.

Without Thee, more than night Egyptian reigns;
Duty sublime would stern distraction be,
Commanding what our impotence alarms,—
To love the Holy, which our hearts abhor
By nature! But Thy promised aid attends,
Arches our being like the roof of heaven
Where'er we wander, and to Will perverse
Such power imparteth, that the precept takes
Thy presence with it, in each task assign'd.

Thou teachest God; and man himself abides
By thought unfathom'd, till Thy light reveal
The two eternities of coming truth
Within him folded, like a double germ
Soon to expand, in heaven or hell complete.
And hence, our Nature grows an awful thing:
We thrill eternity in touching Man;
Since from the deeps of his immortal soul
Outlooks The everlasting, whence he came!

Unerring Judge! to Whose omniscient gaze
All the seal'd fountains of shut motive lie
Unseal'd and open, richly deign to bless
Both church and state, our monarchy and crown;
Teaching the highest, that of Thee bereft
Reason itself irrational becomes,
And virtues vices, with a better name
And brighter seeming: while by Thee becalm'd,
The rudest chaos of corrupted hearts
At once is soften'd, till in love and awe
Embodied harmony the Man appears,
Lives in Thy life, and thus by grace becomes
A radiant Likeness of the Lord he loves.

And now, O Spirit! at the noon of night,
Under the shade of these expressive skies,
While all around the hush of heaven prevails,
Thee I invoke, a christian song to bless;
From Whom apart, 'tis vanity and voice,
Or mere vexation into language thrown:
But when Thy sanction hath the poet crown'd,
His harp-strings quiver with a breath divine
And all its tones with heaven-born music ring.
They in my soul of aspirations dwell
For truths beyond Philosophy to preach,
Or master; if one thought this perill'd mind
Inspire, where Thou, O God of grace, art seen,
Prevenient Spirit! 'tis from Thee derived.
And oh, if Life, with all its loneliness,
The glow of youth hath still in heart retain'd;
If the stern waste, the fever, and the fret
Of buried pangs beyond the world to know,
From boyhood in its bleakness, e'en till now,
Have not untuned me, but a tone have left
In concord with the beautiful and bright;
If nature thrill me, with as keen a joy
As in the poetry of pensive youth
It ever did; if such for bliss remain,
Blent with far deeper things, by suff'ring taught
And faith transmuted for the life within,
As onward through a bleak and heartless world
My pathway windeth to the waiting tomb,
Spirit of Glory! take my gratitude
And sanctify the closing strain I sing.
Bear with my soul; Thy blessing o'er it breathe
And all who love the Master whom I serve.
Emmanuel! peace within thy Church abide;
Till faith shall in sublime fruition end,
All symbols cease, all sacraments retire,
Our earthly sabbaths into heavenly rise
For men and angels, and the host redeem'd
In the one Temple of pure Godhead keep
The sabbath endless of almighty love.