3. And shall not wrath relent,
Touch'd by that humble strain,
My brother crying, "I repent,
Nor will offend again ?"
4. How else, on sprightly wing,
Can hope bear high my pray'r,
Up to thy throne, my God, my King,
To plead for pardon there?
SECTION XV.
The ignorance of man.
1. BEHOLD yon new-born infant griev'd
With hunger, thirst, and pain;
That asks to have the wants reliev'd
It knows not to complain.
2. Aloud the speechless suppliant cries,
And utters, as it can,
The woes that in its bosom rise,
And speak its nature-man.
3. That infant, whose advancing hour
Life's various sorrows try,
(Sad proof of sin's transmissive pow'r ? That infant, Lord, am I.
4. A childhood yet my thoughts confess, Though long in years mature; Unknowing whence I feel distress, And where, or what, its cure.
5. Author of good! to thee I turn;
Thy ever-wakeful eye
Alone can all my wants discern;
Thy hand alone supply.
6. O let thy fear within me dwell;
Thy love my footsteps guide:
That love shall all vain loves expel;
That fear all fears beside.
7. And oh! by error's force subdu'd,,
Since oft my stubborn will
Prepost'rous shuns the latent good,
And grasps the specious ill
8. Not to my wish, but to my want,
Do thou thy gifts apply:
Unask'd, what good thou knowest grant
What ill, tho' ask'd, deny.
SECTION XVI.
The happy choice.
1. BESET with snares on ev'ry hand,
In life's uncertain path I stand:
Father Divine! diffuse thy light,
To guide my doubtful footsteps right.
2. Engage this frail, and wav'ring heart,
Wisely to choose the better part
To scorn the trifles of a day,
For joys that never fade away.
3. Then let the wildest storms arise;
Let tempests mingle earth and skies:
No fatal shipwreck shall I fear;
But all my treasures with me bear.
4. If thou, my Father! still art nigh,
Cheerful I live, and peaceful die:
Secure, when mortal comforts flee,
To find ten thousand worlds in thee.
SECTION XVII.
The fall of the leaf.
1. SEE the leaves around us falling,
Dry and wither'd to the ground;
Thus to thoughtless mortals calling,
In a sad and solemn sound:
2. "Sons of Adam, (once in Eden,
When, like us, he blighted fell,)
Hear the lecture we are reading;
'Tis, alas! the truth we tell.
8. Virgins, much, too much presuming
On your boasted white and red;
View us late in beauty blooming,
Number'd now among the dead
4. Youths, though yet no losses grieve you,
Gay in health, and many a grace;
Let not cloudless skies deceive you;
Summer gives to autumn place.
5. Yearly in our course returning,
Messengers of shortest stay;
Thus we preach this truth concerning,
Heav'n and earth shall pass away.
6. On the tree of life eternal,
Man, let all thy hopes be staid;
Which alone, for ever vernal,
Bears a leaf that shall not fade."
SECTION XVIII.
Trust in the goodness of God.
1. WHY, O my soul, why thus deprest,
And whence this anxious fear?
Let former favours fix thy trust,
And check the rising tear.
2. When darkness and when sorrows rose,
And press'd on ev'ry side,
Did not the Lord sustain thy steps,
And was not God thy guide?
3. Affliction is a stormy deep,
Where wave resounds to wave:
Tho' o'er my head the billows roll,
I know the Lord can save.
4. Perhaps before the morning dawns,
He'll reinstate my peace;
For he who bade the tempest roar,
Can bid the tempest cease.
5. In the dark watches of the night,
I'll count his mercies o'er;
I'll praise him for ten thousand past,
And humbly sue for more.
6. Then, O my soul, why thus deprest,
And whence this anxious fear
Let former favours fix thy trust,
And check the rising tear.
7 Here will I rest, and build my hopes,
Nor murmur at his rod;
He's more than all the world to me,
My health, my life, my God!
SECTION XIX.
The Christian race.
I AWAKE, my soul, stretch ev'ry nervo,
And press with vigour on:
A heav'nly race demands thy zeal,
And an immortal crown.
2. A cloud of witnesses around,
Hold thee in full survey:
Forget the steps already trod,
And onward urge thy way.
8. 'Tis God's all-animating voice,
That calls thee from on high;
'Tis his own hand presents the prize
To thine aspiring eye:
4. That prize with peerless glories bright,
Which shall new lustre boast,
When victors' wreaths, and monarchs' gems,
Shall blend in common dust.
5. My soul, with sacred ardour fir'd,
The glorious prize pursue;
And meet with joy the high command,
To bid this earth adieu
SECTION XX.
The dying Christian to his soul.
1. VITAL spark of heav'nly flame!
Quit, oh quit this mortal frame:
Trembling, hoping, ling ring, flying,
Oh the pain, the bliss of dying!
Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life.
2. Hark! they whisper; angels say,
"Sister spirit, cone away."-
What is this absorbs me quite;
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,
Drowns my spirits, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be death?
3 The world recedes; it disappears!
Heav'n opens on my eyes! my ears
With sounds seraphic ring:
Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
O Grave! where is thy victory?
O Death! where is thy sting?
SECTION XXI.
Epitaph on a poor and virtuous man.
1. STOP, reader, here, and deign to look
On one without a name;
Ne'er enter'd in the ample book
Of fortune, or of fame.
2. Studious of peace, he hated strife;
Meek virtues fill'd his breast:
66
arms, a spotless life;"
"An honest heart," his crest.
8. Quarter'd therewith was innocence;
And thus his motto ran:
"A conscience void of all offence
Before both God and man.”
t. In the great day of wrath, tho' pride
Now scorns his pedigree,
Thousands shall wish they'd been allied - To this great family.
1. WHEN Christ, among the sons of
In humble forin was found,
With cruel slanders, false and vain,
He was encompass'd round.
2. The woes of men, his pity mov'd;
Their peace, he still pursu'd;
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