II.

Among the murm'ring crystal streams,
The groves and flow'ry fields,
Let's try the calm and filent joys
That bleft retirement yields.

III.

There, far from all the busy world,
To thee alone I'lllive,

And taste more pleasure in thy fimiles
Than all things else can give.

IV.

My pure defires, and holy vows,
Shall centre all in thee ;

While ev'ry hour to facred love
Shall confecrated be.

The APPEAL. By Mrs. Rows.

I

To thee, great fearcher of the heart,

Who all the fecrets of my foul,
And inmoft thoughts can tell.
II.

Even thou, th' unerring judge of all,
Doft my dread witness prove,
That thee, beyond whate'er the world
Can tempt me with, I love:

III.

That thee, whatever else I miss,
Whatever elfe I lose,

As my exceeding great reward,
And highest blifs I chufe.

IV.

Leave me of wealth, of honour, friends,

And all things elfe bereft,

But of thy favour, gracious God,

Let me be never left.

Oh

V.

Oh hear, and grant thy boundless love's
Ineftimable store,

And I'll hereafter close my lips

And never urge

thee more.

VI.

With this alone I'll be content,
But, Lord, of this deny'd,
I shou'd despise the nobleft gift,
Thou cou'dft bestow befide.
VII.

Among the brightest joys of life,
I fhou'd no pleasure know,
But murm'ring to the fullen fhades
Of endless night would go.

A PARAPHRASE on Rev. Chap. i. from v. 13. to v. 18. By a young Lady.

I.

7HO cou'd (and yet outlive th' amazing fight!)

WHO

O! who could ftand the stress of so much light?

Amidst the golden lamps the vision stood,

Form'd like a man, with all the awe and luftre of a God.

II.

A kingly vefture cloth'd him to the ground,

And radiant gold his facred breasts furround,
But all too thin the Deity to fhroud;

For heav'nly rays exprefly fhone thro' the unable cloud.

III.

His head, his awful head, was grac'd with hair

As foft as fnow, as melted filver fair;

And from his eyes fuch active glories flow,

The confcious feraphs well might vail their dimmer

faces too.

IV.

His feet were ftrong, and dreadful as his port,
Worthy the godlike form they did support:

C 3

His

His voice refembled the majeftic fall

Of mighty waves: 'twas awful, great, divine, and fo

lemn all.

V.

His pow'rful hand a starry fceptèr held,

His mouth a threatning two-edg'd fword did weild,
His face fo wond'rous, fo divinely fair,

As all the glorious lights above had been contracted there.

VI.

And now my fainting fpirits ftrove in vain
The uncorrected fplendor to sustain :
Unable longer fuch bright rays to meet,

I dy'd beneath the pond'rous load, at the great vifion's feet

VII.

But he who doth the fprings of life contain,
Breath'd back my foul, and bid me live again;
And thus began; but oh! with fuch an air,

As nothing but a pow'r divine had made me live to hear.

VIII.

"From an unviewable eternity

"I was, I am. and must forever be;

"Once dead, but now an endless life I gain, "And over death and hell triumphant reign.'

SERAPHIC LOVE. By Mrs. RowE.

J.

HOU beauty's vaft abyfs, abstract of all

or fplendid call;

To thee in heav'nly flames, and pure defires,
My ravish'd soul impatiently afpires.

II

With admiration, praife, and endless love,
Thou fill'ft the wide refplendent worlds above;
And none can rival, or with thee compare,
Of all the bright intelligences there.

III.

What vapours then, what fhort-liv'd glories be
Le faireft idols of our fenfe to thee?

Before

Before the streaming fplendor of thine eye,
The languid beauties fall away and die.

IV.

Farewel then, all ye flat delights of fenfe,
I'm charm'd with a fublimer excellence;
To whom all mortal beauty's but a ray,
A scatter'd drop of his o'erflowing day.

V.

How ftrongly thou my panting heart dost move
With all the holy ecftafies of love!

In thefe fweet flames let me expire, and fee
Unveil'd the brightness of the Deity.

VI.

Oh! let me die, for there's no earthly blifs
My thoughts can ever relish without this;
No, dearest Lord, there's nothing here below,
Without thy fmiles, to please, or fatify me now.

Thoughts on DEATH. By a young Lady.

I.

"Malmoft to the fatal period come,

I'

My forward glas has well nigh run its laft;
E'er a few moments I must hear the doom,

Which ne'er will be recall'd when once 'tis paft.

11.

Methinks I have eternity in view,

And dread to reach the edges of the fhore,

Nor doth the prospect the lefs difmal fhew

For all the thousands that have launch'd before.

III.

Why weep, my friends? what is their lofs to mine?
I have but one poor doubtful stake to throw,
And with a dying pray'r my hopes refign,

If that be loft, I'm loft for ever too.

IV.

'Tis not the painful agonies of death,

Nor all the gloomy horrors of the grave;

Were that the worst, unmov'd I'd yield my breath,
And with a smile the king of terrors brave.

-But

V.

But there's an after-day, 'tis that I fear:
Oh who fhall hide me from that angry brow?
Already I the dreadful accents hear,
Depart from me, and that for ever too.

APARAPHRASE on John iii. 16. by a young Lady.

For God fo loved the World, that he gave his only begotten Son, &c.

I.

ES, fo God lov'd the world; but where

YES

Are this great love's dimenfions?

Ev'n Angels ftop, for baffled here

Are their vaft apprehenfions.

In vain they strive to grafp the boundless thing;

Not all their comments can explain the mighty truth I

fing.

II.

Yet ftill they pause on the contents

Of this amazing story;

How he that fill'd the wide extents

Of uncreated glory;

He whom the heav'n of heav'ns cou'd not contain, Shou'd yet within the facred maid's contracted womb re

main.

III.

They fee him born, and hear him weep,
To aggravate their wonder;

Whose awful voice had fhook the deep,

And breath'd his will in thunder:

That awful voice chang'd to an iufant's cry,

Whilft in a feeble woman's arms he feems conftrain'd to lye.

IV.

A God (ah! where are human boasts?)
Extended in a manger!

The Lord of all the heav'nly hofts
Expos'd to fcorn and danger!

The