William Croswell. Confirmation. Samuel Kettell, ed. 1829. Specimens of American Poetry

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Samuel Kettell, ed. Specimens of American Poetry. 1829.

Confirmation

By William Croswell


THE WHITE-STOLED 1 Bishop stood amid a crowd—
Noviciates all—who, tutor’d to revere
The mitre’s holy offices, drew near,
And, after sins renounced, and pledges vow’d,
Pale with emotion and religious fear,	5
In meek subjection, round the chancel, bow’d,
To hallow’d hands, that o’er them, one by one,
Fell, with a Prelate’s thrilling benison.
Thou who canst make the loadstone’s touch impart
An active virtue to the temper’d steel,	10
Oh let thy hand rest on them till they feel
A new-born impulse stirring in the heart,
And, swinging from surrounding objects, free,
Point, with a tremulous confidence to Thee!

Note 1. The Reverend William Croswell was graduated at Yale College in 1824. He was for two years joint editor with the Rev. G. W. Doane, of The Episcopal Watchman, a religious paper in Hartford. In this paper most of his poetry has been published; it evinces talent and good taste. [back]

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