HOME HERE, AND HOME IN HEAVEN. PART I. HOME HERE

Home, on whose altar burns the hallowed fire,
That o’er Life’s darkest path its radiance flings,
The humble and the proud alike desire,
In lowliest cots or palaces of kings.HHHH 5.1

‘Tis where Affection’s vine the closest twines
Its tendrils round the objects love endears,
Where pleasing scenes fond memory enshrines
From earliest infancy to latest years.HHHH 5.2

‘Tis where is centered all that can delight,
Attracting thither what may be estranged;
Where kindred hearts in sweetest bonds unite,
By joy or sorrow, time or space, unchanged.HHHH 5.3

‘Tis where the weary seek to find repose,
A refuge for the weak when storms assail
Beneath the parent tree to soothe their woes,—
The first to nourish and the last to fail.HHHH 6.1

‘Tis where sweet Peace o’erspreads her sheltering wing
From earth’s rude din of strife or festive mirth;
The warring elements that vengeful spring
Round higher seats, mar not the social hearth.HHHH 6.2

In vain the world with subtle charms allures
The way-worn traveler from the cherished place;
And trifling seem the hardships he endures,
Who only longs to meet its loved embrace.HHHH 6.3

And when familiar sounds come on the breeze,
What deep emotions thrill his throbbing breast;
How high the pulse of joy, as Fancy sees
The treasure held most dear, so soon possessed.HHHH 6.4

Of it, the sailor’s cheerful song afar
Through tedious hours of storm or calm, reminds,
Through every varying scene the polar star
To which the compass of his heart inclines.HHHH 6.5

And homeward bound with courage new he braves,
Long tempest-tossed upon the billowy main,
The fearful raging of the winds and waves
That waft him to his native shore again.HHHH 6.6

And yet how frail the prop on which to lean!
How insecure may be joy’s rich repast!
The sky to-day unclouded and serene,
A prelude of to-morrow’s sweeping blast.HHHH 7.1

No superstructure planned by human art,
No walls impervious built by hands below,
Can face, impregnable to sorrow’s dart,
The ravages of man’s invading foe.HHHH 7.2

Disease upon the rosiest cheek will prey,
And rack the frame upon the couch of pain,
The noblest form of beauty waste away,
Within the circle of his wide domain.HHHH 7.3

Death knocks at every door, and oft demands
The loveliest flower the household garden bore.
We trembling yield it in his icy hand,
To pass the threshold and return no more.HHHH 7.4

Beneath the turf is made its lowly bed-
No more in joy or sorrow to partake,
But dreamless sleep, while many a tear is shed,
Until the slumbering dust to life shall wake.HHHH 7.5

The shades of gloom and sadness still are left,
That from the place may be effaced no more;
A vacancy within the soul bereft
Of that which earthly power can ne’er restore.HHHH 7.6

And many a bright, united, lovely band,
Are rudely broken by misfortune’s blast,
And, separated far by sea and land,
Upon the mercy of the world are cast.HHHH 8.1

Where oft the lonely orphan’s wail of woe
In vain is heard imploring kind relief-
Few are the hands that will their wealth bestow,
Few are the hearts that feel another’s grief.HHHH 8.2

And where unnoticed falls the hopeless fear,
By those who in the sun of fortune bask;
Their claims of charity, how insincere!
Their smiles of friendship, but a selfish mask!HHHH 8.3

The voice of Misery, by all around,
Is heart from every place and every grade:
But few in luxury and ease abound
While many lack, and through deep suffering wade.HHHH 8.4

In vain War’s countless evils we explore,
The desolating scourge of sea and land;
O’er fields of battle red with human gore,
How oft in triumph shout the victor’s band.HHHH 8.5

But who shall soothe the pangs of pain and woe
Where groans from helpless sufferers, fill the air?
Or stay the tears that in wild anguish flow
For hopes that feel when feel the cherished there.HHHH 8.6

Here brother ‘gainst his brother lifts his hand,
While wrong too often triumphs over right;
And bondage reigns o’er many a dark-browed band,
Beneath the blazing beams of gospel light!HHHH 9.1

O, boasted land of freedom! Change thy mind,
Thy acts denying what thy laws maintain;
Or loose the galling chains that millions bind,
And wipe from liberty the accursed stain.HHHH 9.2

Such are the scenes they picture to our view,
Whose hearts are unsubdued by grace divine;
Such are the scenes through which they oft pursue
Who for their youthful home in grief repine.HHHH 9.3

In vain we seek within earth’s widest range,
Some verdant spot exempt from care and woe
Time’s all-decaying finger may not change,
And with it lay our fairest prospects low.HHHH 9.4

The smiling verdure of the dewy morn
May fade within the noon-tide’s fervid ray,
Or, by some ruthless blast untimely shorn,
Beneath the gathering damps of eve decay.HHHH 9.5

Though flowers the genial breath of Spring renews,
That deeper blush in Summer’s radiant bloom,
Yet Autumn comes apace with sombre hues,
And Winter wraps them in his snowy tomb.HHHH 9.6

Unwholesome vapors taint the infectious air,
From many a stagnant pool that poisonous rise.
Decay that bids defiance to repair,
Has stamped his mark on all below the skies.HHHH 10.1

The dark recesses of the silent glade,
The night with her o’erspreading sable wing,
May hide some direful foe in ambush laid,
Some venomed serpent’s fang of deadly sting.HHHH 10.2

The sky is oft o’erspread with darkened clouds,
And ruinous storms and tempests round us fall,
While dread suspense and fear the mind enshrouds,
Until is safely passed the danger’s thrall.HHHH 10.3

And myriads ‘neath the insatiate foaming surge,
Go down engulfed in its embraces strong:
Their only requiem the mournful dirge
Of winds and waters in their ceaseless song.HHHH 10.4

The language of all nature since the fall
From Eden bliss, that brought the direful dearth,
In strains of sadness has proclaimed to all,
This truth-a withering curse o’er all the earth.HHHH 10.5

But yet through all the sad effects of sin
The tracings of perfection’s hand we see;
The beauty unsurpassed, that once hath been—
Of glory unforeseen, that soon shall be.HHHH 10.6

But O there is a better land to win,
Where never blightings such as these appear,
A path so narrow few will enter in—
A downward road to shun, its pains to fear.HHHH 11.1

And there’s a Friend within those courts above,
On whom our adoration to bestow;
Whose merits justly claim our warmest love,
To whom the debt of gratitude we owe.HHHH 11.2

Look back to Calvary’s lone and rugged mount;
The nameless agony upon the tree;
The scene of the untasted cup recount,
Infused with bitter drops for you and me,HHHH 11.3

And how the spotless Lamb to slaughter led
Amid the insults of the clamorous throng,
Resisted not, but meekly bowed his head,
The world’s Great Sacrifice for all its wrong.HHHH 11.4

Creation, trembling, felt the fearful shock,
In darkness and appalling gloom attired;
And many an opening grave, and bursting rock,
Proclaimed that one divine had then expired.HHHH 11.5

Then, since for all his precious blood was spilt
Who paid the ransom price at such a cost,
To ope a cleansing fountain for our guilt;
O why should one reject it, and be lost!HHHH 11.6

‘Tis on probation’s moments will depend
Our destiny for endless life, or death,
Whose mortal being, ebbing to its end,
Hangs on this brittle thread-a passing breath.HHHH 12.1

Few are the years at longest by us shared,
And soon the dust our lowly bed may be.
This life is but a moment when compared
With endless ages of eternity.HHHH 12.2

And now is he extending mercy’s hand,
And freely takes our burdens for his grace;
Where is the heart so hard that can withstand
Such wondrous love for such a fallen race.HHHH 12.3

To reach the laurelled acme of the learned,
In worldly lore the noblest powers are given;
Alas! The only needed lesson spurned,
By which to live or die-the way to heaven.HHHH 12.4

Each in his favorite course, pursues with care
The visioned bliss for which he longs and sighs;
Each, soon or late, but proves the fatal snare,
That disappointment lurks in every prize.HHHH 12.5

For ah! true happiness, too pure for earth,
Grows not upon this wild and barren soil
Transplanted to the region of its birth—
Man’s highest aim, the end of all his toil.HHHH 12.6

Think not in sin and folly engage
While here, and find at last in heaven there’s room;
For those who act, upon life’s mortal stage,
The sinner’s part, must share the sinner’s doom.HHHH 13.1

O center not thy hopes on things below,
Though pleasure for a while thy pathway pave:
Thou knowest not how soon may turn to woe
The fleeting joys they for a moment gave.HHHH 13.2

For when all earthly scenes shall pass away
And from the skies, saints heart the welcome, Come
How canst thou in that solemn, trying day,
Endure the awful though, I have no home!HHHH 13.3