Page:The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld volume 1.djvu/277

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TO THE POOR.
193


Let no vain fears thy parting hour molest,
No whispered terrors shake thy quiet breast:
Think not their threats can work thy future woe,
Nor deem the Lord above like lords below;—
Safe in the bosom of that love repose
By whom the sun gives light, the ocean flows;
Prepare to meet a Father undismayed,
Nor fear the God whom priests and kings have made.[1]

  1. These lines, written in 1795, were described by Mrs. B., on sending them to a friend, as " inspired by indignation on hearing sermons in which the poor are addressed in a manner which evidently shows the design of making religion an engine of government."