51

 51. Abraham  THE better portion didst thou choose, Great    Heart,  Thy God's first choice, and pledge of Gentile    grace!  Faith's truest type, he with unruffled face Bore the world's smile, and bade her slaves depart; Whether, a trader, with no trader's art,  He buys in Canaan his last resting-place,  Or freely yields rich Siddim's ample space, Or braves the rescue, and the battle's smart, Yet scorns the heathen gifts of those he saved. O happy in their soul's high solitude, Who commune thus with God, and not with earth! Amid the scoffings of the wealth-enslaved, A ready prey, as though in absent mood They calmly move, nor reck the unmanner'd mirth.  At Sea .  December 27, 1832.