_Publicanus procul stans percutiebat pectus suum._ Luc. xviii. 13.
Ecce hic peccator timidus petit advena templum:
Quodque audet solum, pectora moesta ferit.
Fide miser; pulsaque fores has fortiter: illo
Invenies templo tu propiore Deum.
_The publican standing afar off smote on his breast._
Lo, a sinner, timid stranger,
Stranger to the Lord our God,
Seeks, in consciousness of danger,
Where to leave sin's awful load.
He to the Temple now is come,
Bow'd in dread beside the door;
His pallid lips, behold, are dumb;
He smites his bosom, dares no more.
Ah, distress'd one, smite thee there
In _that_ temple, God is near. G.