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The Christian Martyr: a Fragment. 
And adoration owned Religion’s power. 
Religion! mightiest of the mighty gifts 
Of God to man; thou, who with awful voice, 
Speakest amidst the thunder ; thou, whose form 
Bids us fear not the tempest, it was thou 
That, in this hour of horror, took’st thy stand 
Beside him, and to mortal ken badst wide 
Unclose the gates of Heaven’s eternal dome, 
And to his dazzled eye the sapphire throne 
Shewedst of immortality ; and what 
With thee may be compared, all-powerful, 
Eternal, glorious, great, majestic, good ? 
All that man seeks on earth, is it not found 
In thee—the balm, the comfort of the soul ? 
Thou art not liké the insensate Ocean, which, 
With greedy waves and darkling, swallows up 
The guilty and the guiltless in one vast 
And common grave, unheedful, a deaf ear 
Turning alike on all. What matters it 
Who seeks thy guardian power, whether the poor 
And sad repentant sinner, or the man 
By no foul crime polluted ! thou to each 
Thy hand alike extendest, and for each é 
Crownest the cup of grace, pointing the path 
To life eternal and the throne of God. 
Thy sway is all-resistless, and thine aid 
Sure, universal ; in his palace, lo! 
To thee down bends the monarch ; in his cot 
The peasant; and thou hearest, ’mid the blaze 
Of the full noontide, or amid the depth 
Of the still midnight, when the thousand stars, 
Bright suns to other systems, sparkling gem 
The infinite abyss—thou hear’st the prayer 
Of penitence, or thanks, and bidst it soar 
On angel wings to Heaven. 
’ On thee, on thee 
Alone relying, confident and bold, 
So stood the Christian Martyr ; in his eye 
Hope, in his mouth Thanksgiving, in his whole 
Deportment Faith unchanged, unchangeable. 
So stood he, and so died! for through the land 
(Working God’s secret purpose, out of ill 
Producing good) strode Persecution then, 
And unrelenting Hate, and bigot Rage. 
But all in vain—for though the flames arose 
High o’er his head and round him, burning slow 
And lingering out his agonies, yet still, 
True to the glorious purpose of his soul, 
Unflinching stood The Protestant ; so firmly 
Meets death the Christian Martyr. 
Brighton, Feb. 8th. - 
LAPRIL, 
