The Amaranth :: :: University of Virginia Library

When passions reign with arbitrary sway,
Resistance, not compliance, wins the day.
Here av'rice, there ambitious schemes prevail;
Who can quench flames when double winds assail?
Boast as we will, our christian glories lie
In humble suff'ring, not proud apathy.
Submission an eternal crown procures;
Heav'n's hero conquers most, who most endures.—

Like the four cherubs in Ezekiel's dream ,
[What time the prophet slept by Chebar's stream]

The Christian, mov'd by energy divine,
Walks forward still, in one unvarying line :
Nor wealth, nor pow'r, attract his wand'ring sight;
He swerves not to the left hand, nor the right.
Humbly he eats, and finds the proffer'd scroll
Sweet to the taste, inspiring to the soul .
So when Saul's weary'd Son his fasting broke
With honey dropping from Philistian oak,
Returning strength and sprightliness arise,
Glow on his cheeks, and sparkle in his eyes .

When fortune smiles within doors and without,
Man's heart, well-pleas'd, may think itself devout:
But, when ill days, and nights of pain, succeed,
Let him bear well, and he's devout indeed.

Ibid. L. I, C. 6.

Ibid. L. II, C. 3.

See Ezek. C. i.

Ezek. C. i, V. 12.

Ibid. C. iii, V. 1, 2, 3.

1 Sam. C. xiv, V. 29.

Imitat. of Christ, L. II, C. 3.