Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/224

198 Our faculties, shall fix in calmer seats

Of moral strength, and raise to loftier heights

Of love divine, our intellectual Soul."

Here closed the Sage that eloquent harangue,

Poured forth with fervour in continuous stream;

Such as, remote 'mid savage wilderness,

An Indian Chief discharges from his breast

Into the hearing of the assembled Tribes,

In open circle seated round, and hushed

As the unbreathing air, when not a leaf

Stirs in the mighty woods.—So did he speak:

The words he uttered shall not pass away;

For they sank into me—the bounteous gift

Of One whom time and nature had made wise,

Gracing his language with authority

Which hostile spirits silently allow;

Of One accustomed to desires that feed

On fruitage gathered from the Tree of Life,

To hopes on knowledge and experience built;

Of One in whom persuasion and belief

Had ripened into faith, and faith become