MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 311 



Priz'd only as the means of doing good. 



No music fell so sweet upon his ear 



As sacred sound of sabbath morning bell. 



The pulpit was his home. Humble, sincere, 



With fervent zeal imbued, he early felt 



The call obey'd, and Heaven replied " well done !" 



Alas, for Reginald ! He left his home 



For " farthest Ind," and there laid down his staff. 



I wept for Heber ; yes, I mourn him still. 



Heber, thy name in golden characters 



Is writ, for godly men's encouragement, 



And I will wipe my flowing tears away. 



For, when I think of all the myriad souls 



Reclaim 'd from error by thy holy zeal, 



Won by thy gentle and persuasive tongue 



To the true worship of the living God, 



Won from a dark out- worn idolatry 



Of gilded idols carv'd from senseless wood 



The ruthless sacrifice of guiltless blood 



No longer shed---the sacrilegious flame 



Fraught with the blind and unawaken'd souls 



Of hapless ignorance no more ascending 



Tow'rds an affronted Heaven, where their doom 



Is the sole task of mercy, I rejoice, 



Few though thy years and brief though thy sojourn, 



Thou wert by His permissive power enabled ; 



To do what toils unblest could ne'er achieve--- 



What virtue uninspir'd could ne'er effect 



What the cross only, and who bore the cross, 



And He who was, and is, and ever will be, 



Can bid to flourish here- to plant the word. 



This is followed by an elegant characteristic encomium of that highly-gifted 

 divine, Robert Hall ; but we pass on to the second book, dedicated to the 

 Bishop of Bristol, in order to give an extraordinarily poetic paraphrase of 

 the classic story of Salmoneus, which presents a striking and exemplary moral 

 restraint upon religious presumption. 



" He with presumptuous impotence and guile 

 Defied, as on he drove with furious car 

 The Olympic course of yet ungodly Greece, 

 The power of the Most High, his Maker's name. 

 Thus sped Salmoneus, awaiting God ! 

 And vengeance now was full God's anger kindled. 

 This man, this king of Elis, arrogant, 

 Keeper of steeds all furious at his bidding, 

 Had long engross'd the world, the ancient world , 

 Immortal were (says the historian) 

 His deeds of winged and impetuous speed, 

 High Heaven denouncing oft ; with God familiar, 

 He spoke rank blasphemy, nor better liv'd. 

 Elis confirm'd his powers, his powers believ'd, 

 Nor held him merely monarch, but a god ! 

 Oh ! horrid sound for human ears to hear ! 

 Oh ! dreadful sight, made terrible by death ! 

 Salmoneus, king of Elis, king no more, 

 Now eager sought to be proclaim'd divine. 

 Nor marvel ye who hear the song of truth, 



