Page images
PDF
EPUB

6. The terror and the charm repel,

And pow'rs of earth, and pow'rs of hell
The Man of Calvary triumph'd here;
Why should his faithful followers fear?

BARBAULD

SECTION XXIV.

The Divine Being knows and sees every thing.
I. Loni, thou hast search'd and seen me thro',

Thine eye beholds, with piercing view,
My rising and my resting hours,

My heart and flesh, with all their pow'rs 2. My thoughts, before they are my own,

Are to my God distinctly known;
He knows the words I mean to speak,

Ere from my op’ning lips they break. 8. Within thy circling pow'r I stand;

On ev'ry side I find thy hand:
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,

I am surrounded still with God.
6. Amazing knowledge, vast, and great!

What large extent! what lofty height!
My soul, with all the pow'rs I boast,

Is in the boundless prospect lost.
5. O may these thoughts possess my breasts

Where'er I rove, where'er I rest!
Nor let my weaker passions dare

Consent to sin, for God is there.6. Could I so false, so faithless prove,

To quit thy service and thy love,
Where, Lord, coull I thy presence shun,

Or from thy dreadiul glory run? 7. If up to heav'n I take ny flight,

'Tis there thou dwell:wt inthron'a in light, Or dive to hell, there vengeance reigning

and Satan groans beneath thy 's VIDA 8 [f, mounted on a morning ray.

i dy beyond the western sea,

Thy swifter hand would first arrive,

And there arrest thy fugitive.
9. Or should I try to shun thy sight

Beneath the spreading veil of night;
One glance of thine, one piercing ray,

Would kindle darkness into day.
9. Oh! may these thoughts possess my breast,

Where'er I rove, where'er I rest;
Nur let my weaker passions dare
Consent to sin, for God is there.

WATTU

SECTION XXV.

Al nature atiests the great Creator. 1. Hast thou beheld the glorious sun,

Through all the sky his circuit run,
At rising morn, at closing day,

And when he beam'd his nocntide ray? 2. Say, didst thou e'er attentive view

The ev'ning cloud, or morning dew?
Or, after rain, tlie watóry bow

Rise in the east, a beauteous show?
3. When darkness had o'erspread the skies,

Hast thou e'er seen the moon arise ;
And with a mild and placid light,

Shed lustre o'er the face of night?
4. Hast thou e'er wander'd o'er the plain,

And view'd the fields, and waving grain;
The flow'ry mead, the leafy grove,

Where all is melody and love?
6. Hast thou e'er trod the sandy shore,

And heard the restless ocean roar,
When, rousd by some tremendous storm,

Its billows roll in dreadful form?
6. Hast thou beheld the lightning stream,

Thro' night's dark gloom with sudden gleam;
While the bellowing thunder's sound
Roll'd rattling through the heav'ns profound?

7. Hast thou e'er felt the cutting gale,

The sleety show'r, the biting hail ;
Beheld bright srow o'erspread the plains,

The water, bound in icy chains ?
8 Hast thou the various beings seen,

That sport along the valley green;
That sweetly warble on the spray,

Or wanton in the sunny ray;
9. That shuot along the briny deep,

Or under ground their dwellings keep;
That through the gloomy forest range,

Or frightful wilds and deserts strange ? 10. Hast thou the wondrous scenes survey'd

That all around thee are display'd ?
And hast thou never rais'd thine eyes

To Him who caus'd these scenes to rise ? 11 "Tiwas GOD who form'd the concave sky,

And all the shining orbs on high :
Who

gave the various beings birth, That people all the spacious earth. 12. 'Tis ve that bids the tempest rise,

Ard rolls the thunder through the skies.
His voice the elements chey :

Thro' all the earth extends his sway. 13. His goodness all his creatures share :

But man is his peculiar care.--
Then, while they all proclaim his praise,
Let man his voice the loudest raise.

SECTION XXVI. Praise due to God for his wonderful works. 1. My God! all nature owns thy sway;

Thou gir’st the night, and thou the day!
When ali thy lov’d creation wakes,
When Morning, rich in lustre, breaks,
And bathes in dew the op’ning How'r,
To thee we owe her fragrant hour;
And when she pours her choral song,
Her melodies to thee belong'

2. Or when, in paler tints array'd,

The Ev’ning slowly spreads her shade •
That soothing shade, that grateful gloom,
Can, more than day's enliv'ning blooin,
Still ev'ry fond and vain desire,
And calmer, purer thoughts inspire ,
From earth the pensive spirit free,

And lead the soften'd heart to thee.
3. In ev'ry scene thy hands have dress'd,

In ev'ry form by thee impress'd,
Upon the mountain's awful head,
Or where the sheltring woods are spread
In ev'ry note that swells the gale,
Or tuneful stream that cheers the vale,
The cavern's depth, or echoing grove,

A voice is heard of praise and love. 4. As o'er thy work the seasons roll,

And sooth, with change of bliss, the soul,
O never may their smiling train
Pass o'er the human scene in vain!
But oft, as on the charm we gaze,
Attune the wond'ring soul to praise ;
And be the joys that most we prize,
The joys that from thy favour rise !

SECTION XXVII

The happy end. 1. WHEN lite's tempestuous storms are o'er, How calm he meets the friendly shore,

Who liv'd averse to sin !
Such peace on virtue's path attends,
That, where the sinner's pleasure ends,

The good man's joys begin.
See smiling patience smooth his brow!
See the kind angels waiting now,

To lift his soul on high!
While eager for the blest abode,
He joins with them to praise the God,

Who caught him how to die.

3. The horrors of the grave and hell,
Those sorrows which the wicked feel,

In vain their gloom display ;
For he who bids yon comet burn,
Or makes the night descend, can turn

Their darkness into day.
4. No sorrow drowns hiä lifted eyes;
No horror wrests the struggling sighs;

As from the sinner's breast:
His God, the God of peace and love,
Pours sweetest comforts from above,

And sooths his heart to rest!

SECTION XXVIII. A kind and gentle temper of great important to the happiness

of life.
1. SINCE trifles make the sum of human things,

And half our inis’ry from our foibles springs ;
Since life's best joys consist in peace and ease,
And few can save or serve, but all can please ;
Oh ! let th’ungentle spirit learn from hence

A small unkindness is a great offence.
2. Large bounties to bestow, we wish in vain :

But all may shun the guilt of giving pain.
To bless mankind with tides of flowing wealth,
With pow'r to grace them., or to crown with health,
Our little lot denies; but Heav'n decrees

To all the gift of r.inistring to ease. 3. The gentle offices of patient love,

Beyond all flattry, and all price above;
The mild forbearance of another's fault;
The taunting word suppress’d as soon as thought:
On these Heav'n bade the sweets of life depend;

And crush'd ill fortune when it made a friend. 4. A solitary blessing few can find;

Our joys with those we love are intertwin'd:
And he whose wakeful tenderness removes
Th’ obstructing thorn which wounds the friend be loves,
Smooths not another's rugged path alone,
But scatters roses to adorn his own.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »