Page:Olney Hymns - 1840.djvu/369

Implacable, malicious, cruel,
Like modern hero in a duel,
The spider darted on his foe,
Infixing death at every blow.
The toad by ready instinct taught,
An antidote, when wounded, sought
From the herb plaintain, growing near,
Well known to toads its virtues rare,
The spider s poison to repel ;
It cropp d the leaf, and soon was well.
This remedy it often tried,
And all the spider s rage defied.
The person who the contest view d,
While yet the battle doubtful stood,
Removed the healing plant away
And thus the spider gain d the day ;
For when the toad return d once more
Wounded, as it had done before,
To seek relief, and found it not,
It swell d and died upon the spot.
In every circumstance but one
(Could that hold too I were undone)
No glass can represent my face
More justly than this tale my case.
The toad s an emblem of my heart,
And Satan acts the spider s part.
EnvenomM by his poison, I
Am often at the point to die ;
But He who hung upon the tree,
From guilt and woe to set me free,
Is like the plaintain leaf to me.
To him my wounded soul repairs,
He knows my pain and hears my pray rs ;
From him I virtue draw by faith,
Which saves me from the jaws of death;
From him fresh life and strength I gain,
And Satan spends his rage in vain.
No secret arts or open force
Can rob me of this sure resource ;
Though banish d to some distant land,
My med cine would be still at hand ;