And feel "Eternal Life," while here, begin;
And safe, at last, in bliss be brought to dwell,
Whose fulness never mortal tongue can tell!
Thou the Repository of just laws--
True civilization's first and greatest cause!
A code of morals on thy page is writ
To regulate men's lives, and conscience fit.
There we may read the best biographies,
And dwell on many truthful histories;
Find grandest Poetry that e'er was penned,
Which to devotion pure its aid doth lend;
There pore on grand yet awful prophecies
That do reveal great nations' destinies.
There we pay learn what yet awaits this Earth--
Soon to be burned, and spring again to birth!
If we chaste Fancy wish to gratify,
What pleasant fields for this before us lie!
Pathetic love tales charm the sober mind
Of young or old, of vulgar or refined.
In short, thou formest quite a perfect Whole,
Of what we need to please, direct, control.
And--wonder great! O, Blessed Book divine--
With all thy vast rich treasures-thou art mine!

So felt our hero, when pure Gospel truth,
Came home to him, while yet in days of youth.
He was brought up beneath the "joyful sound,"
And from great snares by this was fenced around;
Yet, Oh! what grief and sorrow filled his soul,
When he first saw his heart and conduct foul--