Malvern Hills with Minor Poems, and Essays. By Joseph Cottle. Fourth Edition |
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PERSECUTION.
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PERSECUTION.
ADDRESSED TO THE PURITANS: (WRITTEN AFTER READING NEALE.)
THE feeling heart a sigh bestows,
When Humblest Merit droops his head;
But, o'er Transcendent Virtue's woes,
Our warm, and holiest tears, are shed.
When Humblest Merit droops his head;
But, o'er Transcendent Virtue's woes,
Our warm, and holiest tears, are shed.
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We walk, in confidence sedate,
O'er thornless path, and flowery mead;
While now on Truth, fair hand-maids wait,
With none to threaten or impede;
O'er thornless path, and flowery mead;
While now on Truth, fair hand-maids wait,
With none to threaten or impede;
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But what dismays, in dreariest form,
Our firm, and valiant fathers, bore;
That we, defended from the storm,
Might, unconstrain'd, our God adore!
Our firm, and valiant fathers, bore;
That we, defended from the storm,
Might, unconstrain'd, our God adore!
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Once, furious spirits, sons of night!
In many a rude, vindictive band;
By hatred urged, and cruel spite,
Like locusts, spread o'er all our land:
In many a rude, vindictive band;
By hatred urged, and cruel spite,
Like locusts, spread o'er all our land:
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Where now the peaceful haunts are seen,
Oppression, anguish, dread, prevail'd;
Base serviles, ermine-clad, or mean,
The Wise, and Good, to Judgment hail'd.
Oppression, anguish, dread, prevail'd;
Base serviles, ermine-clad, or mean,
The Wise, and Good, to Judgment hail'd.
They all were track'd, by night and day,
No earthly refuge, home, or friend;
Compell'd to flee, while, forced to stay,
That they might break, who would not bend.
No earthly refuge, home, or friend;
Compell'd to flee, while, forced to stay,
That they might break, who would not bend.
Soul-reverenced men! your choice we hail!
You smiled, from prison-grate, and tower,
Conscience, suspended in one scale,
And, in the other, Wealth and Power!
You smiled, from prison-grate, and tower,
Conscience, suspended in one scale,
And, in the other, Wealth and Power!
Hosts, whom the Lawn could not enslave,
Were with the dungeon-fetters bound;
Till, in the cold and silent grave,
Their weary heads a refuge found!
Were with the dungeon-fetters bound;
Till, in the cold and silent grave,
Their weary heads a refuge found!
The weeping wife, the orphan train,
The hand upraised, th' imploring eye,
These wasters turn'd from, with disdain,
And rush'd to deeds of sabler dye.
The hand upraised, th' imploring eye,
These wasters turn'd from, with disdain,
And rush'd to deeds of sabler dye.
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How should they heed the hardest lot,
(While Hate and Rage, their bosoms fan,)
Who could extinguish, as a blot,
All sympathy for suffering man!
(While Hate and Rage, their bosoms fan,)
Who could extinguish, as a blot,
All sympathy for suffering man!
Arm'd with their High-Commission'd Might,
(Oh! curse of Britain! foul disgrace!)
They were the sovereign Judge of Right,
And they must think for all their race!
(Oh! curse of Britain! foul disgrace!)
They were the sovereign Judge of Right,
And they must think for all their race!
Thanks to our God, who rules the heart!
Or, at this hour, whom demons urge,
Some fiercer Bancroft might up start,
Or, prouder Laud, oppress, and scourge.
Or, at this hour, whom demons urge,
Some fiercer Bancroft might up start,
Or, prouder Laud, oppress, and scourge.
The purest forms of human worth,
Half to superior worlds allied,
To death, they dragg'd, remorseless forth,
And sang the requiem, as they died!
Half to superior worlds allied,
To death, they dragg'd, remorseless forth,
And sang the requiem, as they died!
There is a realm, where Justice reigns!
Where record dwells of their complaints!
And there are flames, and fiery chains —
That wait the Ravagers of Saints!
Where record dwells of their complaints!
And there are flames, and fiery chains —
That wait the Ravagers of Saints!
Compassion, (wont in Heaven to dwell,)
That sometimes deign'd to sojourn here,
Mistook our rancorous world for Hell,
And fled, where Pity still was dear.
That sometimes deign'd to sojourn here,
Mistook our rancorous world for Hell,
And fled, where Pity still was dear.
What were our sires' mis-doings, strange,
Which thus to brutes could men transform?
The human eye, to marble, change,
And hearts, to ice, that once were warm?
Which thus to brutes could men transform?
The human eye, to marble, change,
And hearts, to ice, that once were warm?
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And, what the Covenanters brave,
Those worthies! suffering royally!
Our glory, hurried to their grave,
By spirits of the darkest dye!
Those worthies! suffering royally!
Our glory, hurried to their grave,
By spirits of the darkest dye!
Were these Contemners of their Lord!—
Vicegerents, from beneath, enthrall'd?
Monsters, by all that lives, abhorr'd,
Who, for earth's sweeping vengeance call'd?
Vicegerents, from beneath, enthrall'd?
Monsters, by all that lives, abhorr'd,
Who, for earth's sweeping vengeance call'd?
Their crime was, — love to human-kind!
While crouching thousands bent the knee,
They spurn'd the Tyranny of Mind!
And through their darings, we are free!
While crouching thousands bent the knee,
They spurn'd the Tyranny of Mind!
And through their darings, we are free!
Yes, hallow'd spirits! to your throes, —
The blood you shed, your valour high;
This moment, every Briton owes,
His Charter'd Rights and Liberty!
The blood you shed, your valour high;
This moment, every Briton owes,
His Charter'd Rights and Liberty!
Still costlier Freedom, first and best!—
To worship God, with God our Guide,
This was the jewel in your breast,
For which you barter'd all beside.
To worship God, with God our Guide,
This was the jewel in your breast,
For which you barter'd all beside.
Illustrious men! who bravely fought,
To shield us from o'erwhelming woe;
Oft, in the pensive hour of thought,
For you, our tenderest tears shall flow!
To shield us from o'erwhelming woe;
Oft, in the pensive hour of thought,
For you, our tenderest tears shall flow!
While Hierarchs Proud, who wrong'd, reviled,
Now lie inglorious in their shame!
You are the Great, the “Undefiled,”
And bear th' Imperishable Name!
Now lie inglorious in their shame!
You are the Great, the “Undefiled,”
And bear th' Imperishable Name!
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Do you not still conspicuous shine,
Surpass'd not by our mightiest dead?
Does not the amaranth entwine,
Its brightest glories round your head?
Surpass'd not by our mightiest dead?
Does not the amaranth entwine,
Its brightest glories round your head?
When Popery, like a midnight flood,
Burst onward, scattering wide dismay!
You, fearless, England's Bulwark stood,
And turn'd th' impetuous surge away!
Burst onward, scattering wide dismay!
You, fearless, England's Bulwark stood,
And turn'd th' impetuous surge away!
Our conflicts, you sustain'd alone!
You, to the dust, a Stuart hurl'd!
You placed a Brunswick on our throne!—
And left a lesson to the world!
You, to the dust, a Stuart hurl'd!
You placed a Brunswick on our throne!—
And left a lesson to the world!
Hence, let the haughtiest tyrants learn —
Through every age, till time has waned;
Though they may, fiend-like, rack and burn,
Conscience shall never be constrain'd.
Through every age, till time has waned;
Though they may, fiend-like, rack and burn,
Conscience shall never be constrain'd.
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