Part I

. (p. 12.)--ED.

[266] 1827.

... long-expectant ... 1822.

[267] 1827.

... voice ... 1822.

IX

WILLIAM THE THIRD

Calm as an under-current, strong to draw Millions of waves into itself, and run, From sea to sea, impervious to the sun And ploughing storm, the spirit of Nassau[268] (Swerves not, how blest if by religious awe[269] 5 Swayed, and thereby enabled to contend With the wide world's commotions) from its end Swerves not--diverted by a casual law. Had mortal action e'er a nobler scope? The Hero comes to liberate, not defy; 10 And, while he marches on with stedfast hope,[270] Conqueror beloved! expected anxiously! The vacillating Bondman of the Pope[271] Shrinks from the verdict of his stedfast eye.

FOOTNOTES:

[268] William III. of Nassau, Prince of Orange, was invited over to England by the nobles and commons who were disaffected towards James II., and landed at Torbay in November 1688.--ED.

[269] 1845.

(By constant impulse of religious awe ... 1822.

[270] 1845.

... righteous hope, 1822.

[271] King James II., who fled to France in December 1688.--ED.

X

OBLIGATIONS OF CIVIL TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

Ungrateful Country, if thou e'er forget The sons who for thy civil rights have bled! How, like a Roman, Sidney bowed his head,[272] And Russell's milder blood the scaffold wet;[273] But these had fallen for profitless regret 5 Had not thy holy Church her champions bred, And claims from other worlds inspirited The star of Liberty to rise. Nor yet (Grave this within thy heart!) if spiritual things Be lost, through apathy, or scorn, or fear, 10 Shalt thou thy humbler franchises support, However hardly won or justly dear: What came from heaven to heaven by nature clings, And, if dissevered thence, its course is short.

FOOTNOTES:

[272] Algernon Sidney, second son of the Earl of Leicester, equally opposed to the tyranny of Charles and of Cromwell, was implicated in the Rye House Plot, arraigned before the chief-justice Jeffries, condemned illegally, and executed at Tower Hill in December 1683.--ED.

[273] Lord William Russell, third son of the Duke of Bedford, member of the House of Commons like Sidney, and like him implicated in the Rye House Plot, condemned at the Old Bailey, and beheaded at Lincoln's-Inn-Fields in July 1683.--ED.

XI

SACHEVEREL[274]

Published 1827

A sudden conflict rises from the swell Of a proud slavery met by tenets strained In Liberty's behalf. Fears, true or feigned, Spread through all ranks; and lo! the Sentinel Who loudest rang his pulpit 'larum bell 5 Stands at the Bar, absolved by female eyes Mingling their glances with grave flatteries[275] Lavished on _Him_--that England may rebel Against her ancient virtue. HIGH and LOW, Watch-words of Party, on all tongues are rife; 10 As if a Church, though sprung from heaven, must owe To opposites and fierce extremes her life,-- Not to the golden mean, and quiet flow Of truths that soften hatred, temper strife.

FOOTNOTES:

[274] Henry Sacheverel, a high-church clergyman, preached two sermons in 1709, one at Derby, and the other in St. Paul's, London, in which he attacked the principles of the Revolution Settlement, taught the doctrine of non-resistance, and decried the Act of Toleration. He was impeached by the Commons, and tried before the House of Lords in 1710, was found guilty, and suspended from office for three years. This made him for the time the most popular man in England; and the general election which followed was fatal to the Government which condemned him. He was a weak and a vain man, who attained to notoriety without fame.--ED.

[275] 1832.

... Light with graver flatteries, 1827.

XII[276]

"DOWN A SWIFT STREAM, THUS FAR, A BOLD DESIGN"

Published 1827

Down a swift Stream, thus far, a bold design Have we pursued, with livelier stir of heart Than his who sees, borne forward by the Rhine, The living landscapes greet him, and depart; Sees spires fast sinking--up again to start! 5 And strives the towers to number, that recline O'er the dark steeps, or on the horizon line Striding with shattered crests his[277] eye athwart. So have we hurried on with troubled pleasure: Henceforth, as on the bosom of a stream 10 That slackens, and spreads wide a watery gleam, We, nothing loth a lingering course to measure, May gather up our thoughts, and mark at leisure How widely spread the interests of our theme.[278]

FOOTNOTES:

[276] Compare the extracts from Mary and Dorothy Wordsworth's Journals in the "Memorials of a Tour on the Continent" (vol. vi. p. 300).--ED.

[277] 1845.

... the ... 1827.

[278] 1845.

Features that else had vanished like a dream. 1827.

... sound at leisure The depths, and mark the compass of our theme. C.

XIII

ASPECTS OF CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA[279]

I. THE PILGRIM FATHERS[280]

Published 1845

Well worthy to be magnified are they Who, with sad hearts, of friends and country took A last farewell, their loved abodes forsook, And hallowed ground in which their fathers lay; Then to the new-found World explored their way, 5 That so a Church, unforced, uncalled to brook Ritual restraints, within some sheltering nook Her Lord might worship and his word obey In freedom. Men they were who could not bend; Blest Pilgrims, surely, as they took for guide 10 A will by sovereign Conscience sanctified; Blest while their Spirits from the woods ascend Along a Galaxy that knows no end, But in His glory who for Sinners died.

FOOTNOTES:

[279] In a letter to Professor Henry Reed, dated March 1, 1842, Wordsworth wrote:--"I have sent you three sonnets upon certain 'Aspects of Christianity in America,' having, as you will see, a reference to the subject upon which you wished me to write. I wish they had been more worthy of the subject: I hope, however, you will not disapprove of the connection which I have thought myself warranted in tracing between the Puritan fugitives and Episcopacy."--ED.

[280] American episcopacy, in union with the church in England, strictly belongs to the general subject; and I here make my acknowledgments to my American friends, Bishop Doane, and Mr. Henry Reed of Philadelphia, for having suggested to me the propriety of adverting to it, and pointed out the virtues and intellectual qualities of Bishop White, which so eminently fitted him for the great work he undertook. Bishop White was consecrated at Lambeth, Feb. 4, 1787, by Archbishop Moore; and before his long life was closed, twenty-six bishops had been consecrated in America, by himself. For his character and opinions, see his own numerous Works, and a "Sermon in commemoration of him, by George Washington Doane, Bishop of New Jersey."--W. W. 1845.

XIV

II. CONTINUED

Published 1845

From Rite and Ordinance abused they fled To Wilds where both were utterly unknown; But not to them had Providence foreshown What benefits are missed, what evils bred, In worship neither raised nor limited 5 Save by Self-will. Lo! from that distant shore, For Rite and Ordinance, Piety is led Back to the Land those Pilgrims left of yore, Led by her own free choice.[281] So Truth and Love By Conscience governed do their steps retrace.-- 10 Fathers! your Virtues, such the power of grace, Their spirit, in your Children, thus approve. Transcendent over time, unbound by place, Concord and Charity in circles move.

FOOTNOTES:

[281] The Book of Common Prayer of the American Episcopal Church was avowedly derived from that of England, and substantially agrees with it.--ED.

XV

III. CONCLUDED.--AMERICAN EPISCOPACY

Published 1845

Patriots informed with Apostolic light Were they, who, when their Country had been freed, Bowing with reverence to the ancient creed, Fixed on the frame of England's Church their sight,[282] And strove in filial love to reunite 5 What force had severed. Thence they fetched the seed Of Christian unity, and won a meed Of praise from Heaven. To Thee, O saintly WHITE,[283] Patriarch of a wide-spreading family, Remotest lands and unborn times shall turn, 10 Whether they would restore or build--to Thee, As one who rightly taught how zeal should burn, As one who drew from out Faith's holiest urn The purest stream of patient Energy.

FOOTNOTES:

[282] "I hope you will not disapprove of the connection which I have thought myself warranted in tracing between the Puritan fugitives and Episcopacy." (Wordsworth to Henry Reed, March 1, 1842.)--ED.

[283] Dr. Seabury was consecrated Bishop of Connecticut by Scottish Bishops at Aberdeen, in November 1784. Dr. White was consecrated Bishop of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Provoost, Bishop of New York, at Lambeth, in February 1787. It was Wordsworth's intention, in 1841, to add a sonnet to his "Ecclesiastical Series" "On the union of the two Episcopal Churches of England and America."--ED.

XVI

"BISHOPS AND PRIESTS, BLESSÈD ARE YE, IF DEEP"

Published 1845

Bishops and Priests, blessèd are ye, if deep (As yours above all offices is high) Deep in your hearts the sense of duty lie; Charged as ye are by Christ to feed and keep From wolves your portion of his chosen sheep: Labouring as ever in your Master's sight, Making your hardest task your best delight, What perfect glory ye in Heaven shall reap!-- But, in the solemn Office which ye sought And undertook premonished, if unsound 10 Your practice prove, faithless though but in thought, Bishops and Priests, think what a gulf profound Awaits you then, if they were rightly taught Who framed the Ordinance by your lives disowned!

XVII

PLACES OF WORSHIP

As star that shines dependent upon star Is to the sky while we look up in love; As to the deep fair ships which though they move Seem fixed, to eyes that watch them from afar; As to the sandy desert fountains are, 5 With palm-groves shaded at wide intervals, Whose fruit around the sun-burnt Native falls Of roving tired or desultory war-- Such to this British Isle her christian Fanes, Each linked to each for kindred services; 10 Her Spires, her Steeple-towers with glittering vanes[284] Far-kenned, her Chapels lurking among trees, Where a few villagers on bended knees Find solace which a busy world disdains.

FOOTNOTES:

[284] Compare _The Excursion_,