was his character, that the Government does not seem to have looked upon him with any suspicion in consequence. It is well known how, afterwards, he resisted the king by his opposition to the reading of the illegal Declaration of Indulgence, and how, with the six other bishops, he was imprisoned, tried, and acquitted. Yet, at the Revolution, he was equally firm in refusing to take the oath of allegiance to William, and was, in consequence, deprived of his see. He lived in retirement and poverty till 1703, when Queen Anne conferred on him a pension of £200 a-year. He died at Longleat, where he had principally resided since his deprivation, and where most of his poems were composed.

The whole of his eventful life bears testimony to the Christian integrity and conscientiousness of his character. Four times we find him in a remarkable manner in conflict with the princes and kings at whose courts he held such conspicuous positions. In each case he was ready to sacrifice all rather than act against his conscience. And though he so boldly opposed them he still commanded their respect. Many Christians will strongly dissent from some of the opinions which he held so firmly, but all will admire his sincerity, and in his poetry will see the root of his high character in the ardent personal love to the Saviour which breathes forth in almost every line.

CHRISTIAN COURAGE.

STAND but your ground, your ghostly foes will fly;

Hell trembles at a heaven-directed eye.

Choose rather to defend than to assail;
Self-confidence will in the conflict fail.

When you are challenged, you may dangers meet.
True courage is a fixed, not sudden heat,
Is always humble, lives in self-distrust,
And will itself into no danger thrust.
Devote yourself to God, and you will find
God fights the battles of a will resigned.
Love Jesus; love will no base fear endure;
Love Jesus; and of conquest rest secure.

GOD'S PROMISES.

My gracious God, Thy bounty I adore
Who hast enriched me with a plenteous store :
No monarch in the world, who ever reigned,
Such treasure had, which never can be drained;
Not Solomon, with all his heaps of gold
And silver, which in streets as pebbles rolled,
Could with that wealth unlimited compare,
Which in Thy glorious promises I share;
No pain, fear, want, temptation, danger, grief,
E'er seized me, but in them I found relief;
My weakness strengthened, and my spirit cheered,
All tortures gentle made, and death endeared:
Thou, all-sufficient to all human need,
Hast aids proportioned for all states decreed.

PRAYER.

To offer prayer I never durst presume,
Did not dear Jesu's name my prayer perfume;

'Tis, O my God, for the loved Jesu's sake,
That day by day address to Thee I make;
That sinful, I dare Thee my Father own,
With humble confidence approach Thy throne.
O wondrous love, which gives us free recourse
To drink our fill at love's unbounded source,
Our sorrow to unbosom, and our need,
And a rich promise for each want to plead ;

With heaven while here below to keep commerce, Familiarly with Godhead to converse;

To intercede for blessings on mankind,

The pleasure of a charitable mind;

To beg all graces, deprecate all bane,
Heaven for ourselves and others to obtain,
Strong consolations, and Almighty aid,
And wisdom, plots infernal to evade.

GOD IS LOVE.

By various names we Thy perfections call,
But pure, unfathom'd love exhausts them all.
By love all things were made and are sustain'd,
Love, all things to allure man's love, ordain'd;
Love, vengeance from laps'd human race suspends ;
Love, our salvation, when provok'd, intends;
Love, Lord, Thy infinite perfections join'd
Into all forms of love, to save mankind,-
Enlightening wisdom, and supporting might,
Grace to forgive, compassion to invite,
Thy bounty, in rewards which thought exceed,
Munificence, to promise all we need,
Truth, to perform, paternal, tender care,
A patient mildness, long to wait, and spare,
A justice, to chastise love's hateful foes,
Jealousy, curs'd rivals to oppose,

Benignity, to hear a sinner's cry,
Unbounded All-sufficience, to supply;

They all are Love, love only is their aim:

My verse shall love and hymn Thee by that name.

THE PORTRAIT OF A MINISTER.

GIVE me a priest who, at judicious age
And duly call'd, in Priesthood shall engage,
With dispositions natural and acquir'd,
With strong propensions for the function fir'd;
Whom God by opportunity invites

To consecrate himself to sacred rites;
Who still keeps Jesus in his heart and head,
And strives in steps of our Arch-priest to tread,
Who can himself and all the world deny,
Lives pilgrim here, but denizen on high;
Whose business is, like Jesu's, to save souls,
And with all ghostly miseries condoles.

Give me the priest these graces shall possess, Of an ambassador the just address:

A father's tenderness, a shepherd's care,

A leader's courage, which the cross can bear,
A ruler's awe, a watchman's wakeful eye,
A pilot's skill, the helm in storms to ply,
A fisher's patience, and a labourer's toil,
A guide's dexterity to disembroil,

A prophet's inspiration from above,

A teacher's knowledge, and a Saviour's love.

Give me the priest, a light upon a hill,
Whose rays his whole circumference can fill;
In God's own word and sacred learning vers'd,
Deep in the study of the heart immers'd;
Who in sick souls can the disease descry,
And wisely fit restoratives apply;