DEAD be my heart to all below,
To mortal joys and mortal cares;
To fenfual blifs that charms us fo
Be dark, my eyes, and deaf, my ears.
Here I renounce my carnal tafte
Of the fair fruit that finners prize :
Their paradife fhall 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 fome deftructive fnare ?
gone for ever, mortal things!
Thou mighty mole-hill earth, farewell!
Angels afpire on lofty wings,
And leave the globe for ants to dwell.
Come, heaven, and fill my vast defires,
My foul purfues the fovereign good:
She was all made of heavenly fires,
Nor can fhe live on meaner food.
GOD only known to Himself.
STAND, and adore! how glorious He
That dwells n right eternity!
We gaze, and we confound our fight
Plung'd in th' abyss of dazzling light.
Thou facred One, Almighty Three,
Great Everlafting Myftery,
What lofty numbers fhall we frame
Equal to thy tremendous name?
Seraphs, the nearest to the throne,
Begin, and speak the Great Unknown :
Attempt the fong, wind up your ftrings,
To notes untry'd, and boundless things.
You, whofe capacious powers furvey
Largely beyond our eyes of clay :
Yet what a narrow portion too
Is feen, or known, or thought, by you!
How flat your highest praises fall
Below th' immenfe Original!
Weak creatures we, that strive in vain
To reach an uncreated ftrain !
Great God, forgive our feeble lays,
Sound out thine own eternal praise;
A fong so vaft, a theme fo high,
Calls for the voice that tun'd the sky.
PARDON and SANCTIFICATION.
MY crimes awake; and hideous fear
Diftracts my reftless mind,
Guilt meets my eyes with horrid glare,
And hell purfues behind.
Almighty vengeance frowns on high,
And flames array the throne;
While thunder murmurs round the sky,
Impatient to be gone.
Where fhall I hide this noxious head:
Can rocks or mountains fave?
Or fhall I wrap me in the shade
Of midnight and the grave?
Is there no fhelter from the eye
Of a revenging God?
Jefus, to thy dear wounds I fly,
Bedew me with thy blood.
Thofe guardian drops my foul fecure,
And wash away my fin;
Eternal justice frowns no more,
And confcience fmiles within.
I bless that wondrous purple stream
That whitens every stain;
Yet is my foul but half redeem'd,
If fin the tyrant reign.
Lord, blaft his empire with thy breath,
That curfed throne must fall;
Ye flattering plagues, that work my death,
Fly, for I hate you all.
HE Lord! how fearful is his name!
How wide is his command!
Nature, with all her moving frame,
Refts on his mighty hand.
Immortal glory forms his throne,
And light his awful robe;
Whilft with a smile, or with a frown,
He manages the globe.
A word of his Almighty breath
Can fwell or fink the feas;
Build the vast empires of the earth,
Or break them as he please.
Adoring angels round him fall
In all their fhining forms,
His fovereign eye looks through them all,
And pities mortal worms.
His bowels, to our worthlefs race,
In fweet compaffion move;
He cloathes his looks with fofteft
And takes his title, Love.
Now let the Lord for ever reign,
And fway us as he will,
Sick, or in health, in eafe, or pain,
We are his favourites ftill.
No more fhall peevish paffion rife,
The tongue no more complain;
'Tis fovereign love that lends our joys, And love refumes again.
URST be the man, for ever curft,
That doth one wilful fin 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, Jefus, thy dear gasping breath,
And Calvary, fay 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 found
Dwells on his dying lips) "Forgive!"
And every groan, and gaping wound,
Cries, "Father, let the rebels live,"
Go, you that reft upon the law,
And toil, and feek falvation there,
Look to the flames that Mofes faw,
And fhrink, and tremble, and defpair.
I
|