A GOOD MAN'S FUTURE EXISTENCE.

Nube non è ch' oscuri vostra luce,

L'ore distinte a voi non fanno forza,

Caso o necessità non vi conduce.-MICHAEL ANGELO.

Eternal life! If all the winds of heaven might be concentrated to fill the trump that should proclaim it, the blast would be but too feeble for the theme! If all the constellations of our firmament were grouped afresh to blazon those few letters on the vault of heaven, the matter would be more than worthy of the legend.-SHEPPARD.

As heavenly bodies through the ether move
Silently, stormful regions far above,

Thus above passions that around the throng
Gather, the good man moves his course along.
With such a facile energy he goes
Onward, 'tis action, 'tis sublime repose.

He to the stock of human happiness
Brings every day accession, more or less.
As Flora from her pictured urn in May
Throws flowers Love scatters blessings in his

way.

When gone, remembrance of what he has been,
Sweet as perfume from violet banks unseen,
To those his present influence gladden'd, gives
A fragrant joy his presence that survives.

T

Fraught with a solar life, unworn by change
Organic, (Mind must have a wider range)
Through faith he brightens in a higher sphere,
Serenely beautiful, as star-light here:
An undecaying spirit, that adores

The source eterne of all its virtues, powers;
Virtues, from sin's disturbing force secure ;
Powers, more efficient, ever to endure;
Of strength possessive, ne'er to lose their hold
On truths, no master-minds can here unfold;
With thoughts as sunbeams penetrating, true
As arrow from the bow of Tell that flew.

No damps like those from earth arising tame
There adoration's ever-living flame :

No mists there intercept the light of grace
Effluent from the Triune seen face to face:

No cares that here thwart purposed good distract
Affections pure, that ceaseless interact.

Developed partially in grosser clay
Emotions noble are call'd into play;
Even if expended, then renew'd as soon,
Their influence powerful as sun at noon.

Far higher in degree, the same in kind,
As in the mortal, so in form refin'd
Of the transfigurated being rise

With him of life the social charities,

That, as he wills, pour forth around their strength,
Uncircumscribed in width, or depth, or length;
Equable, simultaneous, love-impell'd,
By counteractive agencies unquell'd.

The stream thus from obstructing weeds released
Flows o'er its ample bed with force increased;
Thus swelling buds in spring-time somewhat harm'd
By cold burst into leaves by summer warm'd.

As fabled trees for ever blossoming,

And rich with fruit of autumn pride and spring, There glow matured by light and heat the power And will to do, the fruitage and the flower.

Of life the ascending vista on the soul
Opens, as ages after ages roll

Away, progressing still the glorious sprite,
Into a far receding infinite!

A cloudless perspective! with which the past
Compared is nothingness, however vast!

The soul, on brightening pinions upward soaring,
Eagle-wise, still the Sun of suns adoring!
Not solitary! but, affections good

Here, to enjoy in their most perfect mood;
Uninterrupted friendship, social bliss!
What can be greater happiness than this,

To view in sweet communion with the loved

On earth, Heaven's folded counsels there evolved?

NOTES

ΤΟ

"A GOOD MAN'S FUTURE EXISTENCE."

P. 273, 1. 1, 2.

As heavenly bodies through the ether move
Silently, stormful regions far above.

"The propagation of sound, however, requires a much denser medium than light or heat; its intensity diminishes as the rarity of the air increases, so that at a very small height above the surface of the earth the noise of the tempest ceases, and the thunder is heard no more in those boundless regions where the heavenly bodies accomplish their periods in eternal and sublime silence."-SOMERVILLE's Connection of the Physical Sciences, 2nd ed. p. 260.

P. 275, 1. 9.

As fabled trees for ever blossoming.

See Ariosto's description of the Garden of Logistilla, Canto x. Stanzas 62, 63. Also, Spenser's description of the "Garden of Adonis," Book iii. Canto vi. Stanza 42.

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.