DEAD be my heart to all below,
To mortal joys and mortal cares!
To sensual bliss that charms us so,
Be dark, mine eyes, and deaf, mine ears.
Here I renounce my carnal taste
Of the fair fruit that sinners prize :
Their paradise shall never waste
One thought of mine, but to despise.
All earthly joys are over-weigh'd
With mountains of vexatious care;
And where's the sweet that is not laid
A bait to some destructive snare?
Be gone for ever, mortal things!
Thou mighty mole-hill, earth, farewell!
Angels aspire on lofty wings,
And leave the globe for ants to dwell.
Come, Heaven, and fill my vast desires,
My soul pursues the sovereign good;
She was all made of heavenly fires,
Nor can she live on meaner food.
GOD ONLY KNOWN TO HIMSELF.
STAND and adore! how glorious he
That dwells in bright eternity!
We gaze, and we confound our sight
Plung'd in the' abyss of dazzling light.
Thou sacred One, Almighty-Three,
Great Everlasting Mystery,
What lofty numbers shall we frame
Equal to thy tremendous name?
Seraphs, the nearest to the throne,
Begin and speak the Great Unknown:
Attempt the song, wind up your strings,
To notes untried, and boundless things.
You, whose capacious powers survey
Largely beyond our eyes of clay:
Yet what a narrow portion too
Is seen, or known, or thought by you?
How flat your highest praises fall
Below the' immense Original!
Weak creatures we, that strive in vain
To reach an uncreated strain !
Great God, forgive our feeble lays,
Sound out thine own eternal praise;
A song so vast, a theme so high,
Calls for the voice that tun'd the sky.
PARDON AND SANCTIFICATION.
My crimes awake: and hideous fear
Distracts my restless mind;
Guilt meets my eyes with horrid glare,
And hell pursues benind.
Almighty vengeance frowns on high,
And flames array the throne;
While thunder murmurs round the sky,
Impatient to be gone.
Where shall I hide this noxious head?
Can rocks or mountains save?
Or shall I wrap me in the shade
Of midnight and the grave?
Is there no shelter from the eye
Of a revenging God?
Jesus, to thy dear wounds I fly,
Bedew me with thy blood.
Those guardian drops my soul secure,
And wash away my sin :
Eternal justice frowns no more,
And conscience smiles within.
I bless that wondrous purple stream
That whitens every stain :
Yet is my soul but half redeem'd,
If Sin the tyrant reign.
Lord, blast his empire with thy breath,
That cursed throne must fall;
Ye flattering plagues, that work my death,
Fly! for I hate you all.
THE Lord! how fearful is his name?
How wide is his command?
Nature, with all her moving frame,
Rests on his mighty hand.
Immortal glory forms his throne,
And light his awful robe :
Whilst with a smile, or with a frown,
He manages the globe.
A word of his almighty breath
Can swell or sink the seas;
Build the vast empires of the earth,
Or break them as he please.
Adoring angels round him fall,
In all their shining forms;
His sovereign eye looks through them all,
And pities mortal worms.
His bowels, to our worthless race,
In sweet compassion move;
He clothes his looks with softest grace,
And takes his title, Love.
Now let the Lord for ever reign,
And sway us as he will;
Sick, or in health, in ease, or pain,
We are his favourites still.
No more shall peevish passion rise,
The tongue no more complain;
'Tis sovereign love that lends our joys,
And love resumes again.
'CURS'D be the man, for ever curs'd,
That doth one wilful sin commit;
Death and damnation for the first,
Without relief and infinite.'
Thus Sinai roars; and round the earth
Thunder, and fire, and vengeance flings;
But Jesus, thy dear gasping breath,
And Calvary, say gentler things.
Pardon, and grace, and boundless love,
Streaming along a Saviour's blood,
And life, and joys, and crowns above,
Dear-purchas'd by a bleeding God.'
Hark, how he prays, (the charming sound
Dwells on his dying lips) forgive;
And every groan and gaping wound
Cries, Father, let the rebels live.'
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