Offences pardon'd, and remitted sin, Should form a calm serenity within; Blessing my natal and my mortal hour, (My soul committed to the eternal power) Inexorable death should smile, for I, Who knew to LIVE, would never fear to DIE.
EGIN the high celestial strain, My ravish'd soul, and sing, A solemn hymn of grateful praise To heaven's Almighty King. Ye curling fountains, as ye roll Your silver waves along, Whisper to all your verdant shore The subject of my song. Retain it long ye echoing rocks, The sacred sound retain,
And from your hollow winding caves Return it oft again.
Bear it, ye winds, on all your wings, To distant climes away,
And round the wide extended world My lofty theme convey. Take the glad burden of his name, Ye clouds, as you arise, Whether to deck the golden morn, Or shade the evening skies. Let harmless thunders roll along The smooth etherial plain, And answer from the crystal vault To ev'ry flying strain.
Long let it warble round the spheres, And echo through the sky,
Till Angels, with immortal skill, Improve the harmony.
While I, with sacred rapture fir'd, The blest Creator sing, And warble consecrated lays
To heaven's Almighty King.
HAIL sacred Salem! plac'd on high,
Seat of the mighty King!
What thought can grasp thy boundless bliss, What tongue thy glories sing! Thy crystal towers and palaces Magnificently rise,
And dart their beauteous lustre round The empyrean skies,
The voice of triumph in thy streets
And acclamations sound,
Gay banquets in thy splendid courts And purest joys abound. Bright smiles on ev'ry face appear, Rapture in ev'ry eye;
From ev'ry mouth glad anthems flow, And charming harmony. Illustrious day for ever there,
Streams from the face divine;
No pale-fac'd moon e'er glimmers forth, No stars nor sun decline.
No scorching heats nor piercing colds, The changing seasons bring;
But o'er the fields mild breezes there Breathe an eternal spring.
The flowers with lasting beauty shine, And deck the smiling ground, While flowing streams of pleasures all The happy plains surround.
The liquid element below, Was gather'd by his hand; The rolling seas together flow, And leave a solid land.
With herbs and plants (a flow'ry birth) The naked globe he crown'd, Ere there was rain to bless the earth, Or sun to warm the ground. Then he adorn'd the upper skies,
Behold the sun appears;
The moon and stars in order rise, To mark our months and years. Out of the deep the Almighty King Did vital beings frame,
And painted fowls of ev'ry wing, And fish of ev'ry name.
gave the lion and the worm At once their wond'rous birth: And grazing beasts of various form Rose from the teeming earth. Adam was form'd of equal clay, The sov'reign of the rest; Design'd for nobler ends than they, With God's own image blest. Thus glorious in the Maker's eye The young creation stood; He saw the building from on high, His word pronounc'd it good.
The Lord's Prayer.
NATHER of all! We bow to thee, Who dwells in heaven ador'd; But present still through all thy works The universal Lord.
All hallow'd be thy sacred name, O'er all the nations known; Advance the kingdom of thy grace, And let thy glory come.
And grateful homage may we yield, With hearts resign'd to thee; And as in heaven thy will is done,
On earth so let it be.
From day to day we humbly own The hand that feeds us still : Give us our bread, that we may rest Contented in thy will:
ATHER of all, in ev'ry age, In ev'ry clime ador'd,
By saint, by savage, and by sage, Jehovah, Jove or Lord!
Thou Great First cause, least understood; Who all my sense confin'd To know but this, that thou art good, And that myself am blind : Yet gave me in this dark estate, To see the good from ill; And binding nature fast in fate, Left free, the human will. What conscience dictates to be done, Or warns me not to do,
This, teach me more than hell to shun,. That, more than heaven pursue. What blessings thy free bounty gives,. Let me not cast away,
For God is paid when man receives, To enjoy is to obey.
Yet not to earth's contracted span Thy goodness let me bound, Or think thee Lord alone of man,
When thousand worlds are round: Let not this weak unknowing hand Presume thy bolts to throw, And deal damnation round the land, On each I judge thy foe.
If I am right, thy grace impart, Still in the right to stay :
If I am wrong, O teach my heart To find that better way. Save me alike from foolish pride, Or impious discontent,
At aught thy wisdom has deny'd Or aught thy goodness lent. Teach me to feel another's woe, To hide the faults I see; That mercy I to others show, That mercy show to me. Mean though I am, not wholly so Since quicken'd by thy breath; Oh lead me wheresoe'er I go, Through this day's life or death. This day be bread and peace my lot; All else beneath the sun,
Thou know'st if best bestow'd or not, And let thy will be done. To thee, whose temple is all space Whose altar, earth, sea, skies! One chorus let all beings raise! All nature's incense rise!
KNOW then thyself; presume not God to scan:
The proper study of mankind, is man.
Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state, A being darkly wise, and rudely great: With too much knowledge for the sceptic's side. With too much weakness for the stoic's pride, He hangs between in doubt to act or rest: In doubt to deem himself a God or beast; In doubt his mind or body to prefer: Born, but to die; and reas'ning, but to err : Alike in ignorance, his reason such, Whether he thinks too little or too much; Chaos of thought and passion, all confus'd; Still by himself abus'd or disabus'd: Created half to rise, and half to fall; Great Lord of all things, yet a prey to all: Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd ; The glory, jest, and riddled of the world!
EE! Winter comes to rule the varied year, Sullen and sad, with all his rising train,
Vapours, and clouds, and storms. Be these my theme;
« ПредишнаНапред » |