For Public Peace at Home.
“Heavenly Father, who alone makest men to be of one mind in a house.”
—Prayer Book.
When Jesu walk'd the midnight-waves
That foam'd, and flash'd in lightning-glare,
Or, darken'd like devouring graves
On sea and shipmen, tossing there,
Nature obey'd her present God,
And crouch'd beneath His calming Eye,
As though she felt the feet which trod,
Belong'd to Him, who rules the sky!
But storms arise, of deeper swell,
And tempests of a darker sway,
Which in our mortal bosom dwell,
By Law, nor Reason, lull'd away.
Passion, and pride, and lust and sin,
With stern emotions, fierce, or wild,
All, in mad discord, mix'd within,—
How often have they man defiled!
And who, but He, Whose word and will
The storms of Nature's realm control,
Can say to spirits—Peace! be still!
And calm thee down, tempestuous soul?
Men wonder, how the Ark contain'd
In perfect concord, brute and bird,
Under a ruling spell restrain'd,
And not in war and wildness stirr'd.
And yet, a miracle we find
Of higher range and holier law,—
When home is one harmonious mind,
By love becalm'd and christian awe.
All hateful tempests of the heart,
Which blacken there, with turbid gloom,
Sooth'd by The Saviour, thence depart,
And smiles of peace their reign resume.
The soul is hush'd beneath the balm
Till heaven seems mirror'd by its rest,
As moonlight, when the waves are calm,
Lies tranced upon the ocean's breast.
