I
The Cowper student sets himself "The Task"
(What pleasanter pursuit? may well we ask)
And musing thus, industriously he delves
Amidst the many thousand volumed shelves
Of ‘Varsity’s far-famed bookseller’s store:
By-passes man-made Theology, and Law.
With lightened step, and palpitating heart
On Poetry’s profusion makes a start.
Rapidly glances he through ‘A’ and ‘B’
Avidly then he turns to letter ‘C’
Alas! no choice at all-naught leather bound
Or even buckram (word that Cowper found)
No select editions — sorry fact.
One volume, solitary, that paper-backed!
II
Ah! Cowper, permit me, if you please to quote
From that blest Sacred Page of which you wrote
The fool hath said in his deceitful heart
"No God" or if there be, from me depart!
But His Own hand, which leads by waters still,
The flowing cadence of a summer’s rill
Allowed you clearly to delineate
(No puerile scrawl of modern Laureate)
To show that dupe who Deity disdains,
How he, his ilk, "Lose all their guilty stains."
Denying that "the work of grace is done"
Prefer "John Gilpin’s ride to Edmonton"
They may despise "a Fountain filled with Blood"
But that remains the only way to God.
By John Glenville (Saltash, England)
… hope … laid up for you in heaven, Col.1.5.
… ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance, Heb.10.34.
… an inheritance incorruptible … reserved in heaven for you, 1Pet.1.4.
… our house … from heaven, 2Cor.5.2.
by H. A. Barnes (England)