The while, with undivided heart,
The shepherd talks with God apart,
  And, as he talks, adores.

Ye too, who tend Christ's wildering flock,
Well may ye gather round the rock
  That once was Sion's hill:
To watch the fire upon the mount
Still blazing, like the solar fount,
  Yet unconsuming still.

Caught from that blaze by wrath Divine,
Lost branches of the once-loved vine,
  Now withered, spent, and sere,
See Israel's sons, like glowing brands,
Tossed wildly o'er a thousand lands
  For twice a thousand year.

God will not quench nor slay them quite,
But lifts them like a beacon-light
  The apostate Church to scare;
Or like pale ghosts that darkling roam,
Hovering around their ancient home,
  But find no refuge there.

Ye blessed Angels! if of you
There be, who love the ways to view
  Of Kings and Kingdoms here;
(And sure, 'tis worth an Angel's gaze,
To see, throughout that dreary maze,
  God teaching love and fear:)

Oh say, in all the bleak expanse
Is there a spot to win your glance,
  So bright, so dark as this?
A hopeless faith, a homeless race,
Yet seeking the most holy place,
  And owning the true bliss!

Salted with fire they seem, to show
How spirits lost in endless woe
  May undecaying live.
Oh, sickening thought! yet hold it fast
Long as this glittering world shall last,
  Or sin at heart survive.