Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/268

242 In no ungracious opposition, given

To the confiding spirit of his own

Experienced faith, the reverend Pastor said,

Around him looking, "Where shall I begin?

Who shall be first selected from my Flock

Gathered together in their peaceful fold?"

He paused—and having lifted up his eyes

To the pure Heaven, he cast them down again

Upon the earth beneath his feet; and spake.

—"To a mysteriously-consorted Pair

This place is consecrate; to Death and Life,

And to the best Affections that proceed

From their conjunction. Consecrate to faith

In Him who bled for man upon the Cross;

Hallowed to Revelation; and no less

To Reason's mandates; and the hopes divine

Of pure Imagination;—above all,

To Charity, and Love; that have provided.

Within these precincts, a capacious bed

And receptacle, open to the good

And evil, to the just and the unjust;

In which they find an equal resting-place:

Even as the multitude of kindred brooks