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PART IV.

WE see the Thames caress the shores,
He guides her silver flood:
While angry Severn swells and roars,
Yet hears her ruler, God.

The rolling mountains of the deep
Observe his strong command
His breath can raise the billows steep,
Or sink them to the sand.

Amidst thy watry kingdoms, Lord,
The finny nations play,

And scaly monsters, at thy word,
Rush.through the northern sea.

PART V.

THY glories blaze all nature round,
And strike the gazing sight,
Through skies, and seas, and solid ground,
With terror and delight.

Infinite strength, and equal skill,
Shine through the worlds abroad,
Our souls with vast amazement fill,
And speak the builder God.

But the sweet beauties of thy grace

Our softer passions move;

Pity divine in Jesus' face

We see, adore, and love!

GOD'S ABSOLUTE DOMINION.

LORD, when my thoughtful soul surveys
Fire, air, and earth, and stars, and seas,
I call them all thy slaves;
Commission'd by my Father's will,
Poisons shall cure, or balms shall kill;
Vernal sun, or Zephyr's breath,
May burn or blast the plants to death
That sharp December saves;
What can winds or planets boast
But a precarious pow'r ?

The sun is all in darkness lost,
Frost shall be fire, and fire be frost,
When he appoints the hour.

Lo, the Norwegians near the polar sky
Chafe their frozen limbs with snow,

Their frozen limbs awake and glow,

The vital flame touch'd with a strange supply, Rekindles, for the God of life is nigh;

He bids the vital blood in wonted circles flow. Cold steel expos'd to northern air,

Drinks the meridian fury of the midnight bear, And burns the unwary stranger there.

Enquire, my soul, of ancient fame,
Look back two thousand years, and see
The' Assyrian prince transform'd a brute,
For boasting to be absolute :

Once to his court the God of Israel came,
A King more absolute than he.

I see the furnace blaze with rage Sevenfold: I see amidst the flame Three Hebrews of immortal name; They move, they walk across the burning stage Unhurt, and fearless, while the tyrant stood A statue; fear congeal'd his blood; Nor did the raging element dare Attempt their garments, or their hair; It knew the Lord of nature there. Nature, compell'd by a superior cause, Now breaks her own eternal laws, Now seems to break them, and obeys Her Sovereign King in different ways. Father, how bright thy glories shine! How broad thy kingdom, how divine! Nature, and miracle, and fate, and chance, are thine.

Hence from my heart, ye idols, flee,
Ye sounding names of vanity!
No more my lips shall sacrifice

To chance and nature, tales and lies:
Creatures without a God can yield me no supplies.

What is the sun, or what the shade,
Or frosts, or flames, to kill or save?

His favour is my life, his lips pronounce me dead;
And as his awful dictates bid,

Earth is my mother, or my grave.

CONDESCENDING GRACE.

IN

IMITATION OF PSALM CXIV.

WHEN the Eternal bows the skies,
To visit earthly things,

With scorn divine he turns his eyes
From towers of haughty kings:

Rides on a cloud disdainful by
A Sultan, or a Czar;

Laughs at the worms that rise so high,
Or frowns them from afar;

He bids his awful chariot roll
Far downward from the skies,
To visit every humble soul,
With pleasure in his eyes.

Why should the Lord that reigns above
Disdain so lofty kings?

Say, Lord, and why such looks of love
Upon such worthless things?

Mortals, be dumb; what creature dares Dispute his awful will ?

Ask no account of his affairs,

But tremble, and be still.

Just like his nature is his grace,

All sovereign, and all free;

Great God, how searchless are thy ways

How deep thy judgments be!

THE INFINITE.

SOME Seraph lend your heavenly tongue,

Or harp of golden string, 'That I may raise a lofty song

To our Eternal King.

Thy names, how infinite they be!
Great Everlasting One!
Boundless thy might and majesty,
And unconfin'd thy throne.

Thy glories shine of wondrous size,
And wondrous large thy grace;
Immortal day breaks from thine eyes,
And Gabriel veils his face.

Thine essence is a vast abyss,

Which angels cannot sound, An ocean of infinities,

Where all our thoughts are drown'd.

The mysteries of creation lie

Beneath enlighten'd minds, Thoughts can ascend above the sky, And fly before the winds.

Reason may grasp the massy hills,
And stretch from pole to pole,
But half thy name our spirit fills,
And overloads our soul.

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