THE AGES. WHEN to the common rest that crowns our days, When, o'er the buds of youth, the death-wind blows, We think on what they were, with many fears Lest goodness die with them, and leave the coming years. II. And therefore, to our hearts, the days gone by,- And beat in many a heart that long has slept,— Of times when worth was crowned, and faith was kept, Ere friendship grew a snare, or love waxed coldThose pure and happy times-the golden days of old. Peace to the just man's memory,-let it grow His calm benevolent features; let the light Stream on his deeds of love, that shunned the sight And hold it up to men, and bid them claim IV. But oh, despair not of their fate who rise To dwell upon the earth when we withdraw; Lo! the same shaft by which the righteous dies, Strikes through the wretch that scoffed at mercy's law, And trode his brethren down, and felt no awe Of Him who will avenge them. Stainless worth, Such as the sternest age of virtue saw, Ripens, meanwhile, till time shall call it forth From the low modest shade, to light and bless the earth. V. Has Nature, in her calm, majestic march, Faltered with age at last? does the bright sun THE AGES. Less brightly? when the dew-lipped Spring comes on, Breathes she with airs less soft, or scents the sky With flowers less fair than when her reign begun? Does prodigal Autumn, to our age, deny The plenty that once swelled beneath his sober eye? VI. Look on this beautiful world, and read the truth VII. Will then the merciful One, who stamped our race Are spread, where'er the moist earth drinks the day, And leave a work so fair all blighted and accursed? 15 Oh, no! a thousand cheerful omens give In God's magnificent works his will shall scan- IX. Sit at the feet of history-through the night Of Can pierce the eternal shadows o'er their face ;— Went forth the tribes of men, their pleasant lot To choose, where palm-groves cooled their dwelling-place, Or freshening rivers ran; and there forgot The truth of heaven, and kneeled to gods that heard them not. X. Then waited not the murderer for the night, |