Soft and easy is thy cradle:
Coarse and hard thy Saviour lay,
When his birth-place was a stable,
And his softest bed was hay.
Blessed babe! what glorious features,
Spotless fair, divinely bright!
Must he dwell with brutal creatures!
How could angels bear the sight!
Was there nothing but a manger
Cursed sinners could afford,
To receive the heavenly stranger?
Did they thus affront their Lord?
Soft, my child! I did not chide thee, Tho' my song might sound too hard; *mother
And her arms shall be thy guard. Yet to read the shameful story,
How the Jews abus'd their King; How they serv'd the Lord of glory, Makes me angry while I sing.
See the kinder shepherds round him, Telling wonders from the sky:
*Here you may use the words, brother, sister, neighbour, friend, &c.
Where they sought him, there they found him,
With his virgin mother by.
See the lovely babe a-dressing, Lovely infant, how he smil'd! When he wept, the mother's blessing Sooth'd and hush'd the holy child.
Lo! he slumbers in a manger,
Where the horned oxen fed,
Peace, my darling, here's no danger,
Here's no ox a-near thy bed.
"Twas to save thee, child, from dying,
Save my dear from burning flame,
Bitter groans and endless crying,
That thy blest Redeemer came.
May'st thou live to know and fear him,
Trust and love him all thy days;
Then go dwell for ever near him,
See his face and sing his praise!
I could give thee thousand kisses,
Hoping what I most desire;
Not a mother's fondest wishes
Can to greater joys aspire.
PITY the sorrows of a poor old man,
Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door,
Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span,
Oh! give relief, and heaven will bless your store.
These tattered clothes my poverty bespeak,
These hoary locks proclaim my lengthened years;
And many a furrow in my grief-worn cheek
Has been the channel to a flood of tears.
Yon house, erected on the rising ground,
With tempting aspect drew me from my road;
For plenty there a residence has found,
And grandeur a magnificent abode.
Hard is the fate of the infirm and poor!
Here, as I craved a morsel of their bread,
A pampered menial drove me from the door,
To seek a shelter in an humbler shed.
Oh! take me to your hospitable dome;
Keen blows the wind, and piercing is the cold;
Short is my passage to the friendly tomb,
For I am poor and miserably old.
THE BEGGAR'S PETITION.
Should I reveal the sources of my grief,
If soft humanity e'er touch'd your breast,
Your hands would not withhold the kind relief,
And tears of pity would not be represt.
Heaven sends misfortunes; why should we repine?
'Tis heaven has brought me to the state you see;
And your condition may be soon like mine,
The child of sorrow and of misery.
A little farm was my paternal lot,
Then like the lark I sprightly hailed the morn;
But, ah! oppression forc'd me from my cot,
My cattle died, and blighted was my corn.
My daughter, once the comfort of my age,
Lured by a villain from her native home,
Is cast abandon'd on the world's wide stage,
And doom'd in scanty poverty to roam.
My tender wife, sweet soother of my care,
Struck with sad anguish at the stern decree,
Fell, lingering fell, a victim to despair,
And left the world to wretchedness and me.
Pity the sorrows of a poor old man,
Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door,
Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span,
Oh! give relief, and heaven will bless your store.
1 A GENERAL Song of praise to God
2 Praise for Redemption and Providence
3 Praise to God for our Redemption
4 Praise for Mercies spiritual and temporal
5 Praise for Birth and Education in a Christian
6 Praise for the Gospel
7 The excellency of the Bible
8 Praise to God for learning to Read
9 The All-seeing God
10 Solemn Thoughts of God and Death
11 Heaven and Hell
12 The Advantage of early Religion
13 The Danger of Delay
14 Examples of early Piety
15 Against Lying
16 Against Quarrelling and Fighting
17 Love between Brothers and Sisters
18 Against scoffing and calling Names
19 Against Swearing and Cursing, &c.
20 Against Idleness and Mischief
21 Against Evil Company
22 Against Pride in Clothes
23 Obedience to Parents
24 The Child's Complaint
25 A Morning Song
27 A Hymn for the Lord's Day Morning
28 A Hymn for the Lord's Day Evening
The Ten Commandments, and other small Pieces
A slight Specimen of Moral Songs, namely,
1 The Sluggard-2 Innocent Play-3 The Rose
4 The Thief-5 The Ant or Emmet
6 Good Resolution-7 A Summer Evening
8 A Cradle Hymn
The Beggar's Petition
Henry Mozley and Sons, Printers, Derby.
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