It certainly seems somewhat strange, that an earnest young clergyman, twenty-nine years of age, and only recently brought to the enjoyment of personal salvation, by penitent faith in Christ, should employ his time and pen upon a dramatical production; but it must be borne in mind,—(1) that, from his youth, Gambold had had a great fondness for dramatic pieces, both ancient and modern, (2) that, Gambold’s Tragedy was never intended for the stage, (3) that, its sentiments are unexceptionably pure and good; and (4) that, he was not the first who had attempted to represent the principles and practices of the Christian religion in such a form. Gambold’s work may be a defective drama; but it is a thoughtful poem, and deserves attention. Take the following extracts, all bearing upon faith in Christ and its immediate results. “This is the sum, my brethren! Christ is all: If e’er we lean to other things we fall. Spirit, and rites, and reason too, are good, If planted and if glorying in His blood. Faith is so simple, whence all good doth spring, Mankind can’t think it is so great a thing; Still o’er this pearl steps their ambitious pride, Pursuing gladly any form beside.” “Come hither, ye, whom from an evil world The name of Jesus draws! You count Him sweet, And great, and mighty, by that glimm’ring light Your novice minds have gained. You venerate That full acquaintance, and that vital union Whereby the faithful know Him; and to this You now aspire. But can you then let go Your manly wisdom, and become as babes, To learn new maxims and the mind of Christ? Can you forsake your former ease and sunshine, T’ associate with a poor afflicted people, The scorn of all mankind? Can you the weight Of your whole souls, with all your hopes of God, Rest on a long-past action; and that, such As your Lord’s mystic but opprobrious death?” “The friends of Christ Don’t strive with sin, but trample under foot Its poor, exploded, antiquated strength; They don’t rely on some benign event From the wide wheel of things; but pierce directly Where Jesus now admits them, and ordains Their thrones in bliss: hence they in spirit stand Free from all spot, amidst the train of heaven, And see God’s face, whose full and constant smile Doth so attend them through the wilds of life, That natural dejection, flitting fears, And all vicissitude, are swallowed up In one still dawn of that eternal day.”