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Come waft a stranger thro' the skies;
Bless'd Jesus! meet me on the road,
First offspring of th' eternal God;
Thy hand shall lead a younger son;
Clothe me with vestures yet unknown,
And place me near my Father's throne.

WATTS.

RETIREMENT.

FAR from the world, O Lord, I flee,
From strife and tumult far;
From scenes where Satan wages still
His most successful war.

The calm retreat, the silent shade,
With pray'r and praise agree;
And seem by thy sweet bounty made,
For those who follow thee.

There, if thy Spirit touch the soul,
And grace her mean abode,

Oh, with what peace, and joy, and love,
She communes with her God!

There like the nightingale she pours

Her solitary lays,

Nor asks a witness of her song,

Nor thirsts for human praise.

Author and guardian of my life,
Sweet source of life divine,
And (all harmonious names in one)
My Saviour, thou art mine!

What thanks I owe thee, and what love,

A boundless, endless store,

Shall echo through the realms above
When time shall be no more.

COWPER.

HYMN.

Praise to Jehovah.

SING to the Lord with joyful voice,
Let every land his name adore;
Ye favour'd British isles, rejoice,
And sound his praise from shore to shore.
Nations, attend before his throne,

With solemn fear and sacred joy ;
Know that the Lord is God alone;
He can create and he destroy.

His pow'rful word, which all things made,
Gave life to clay and form'd us men:
And, when like wand'ring sheep we stray'd,
He brought us to his fold again.

We are his people, we his care,

Our souls, and all our mortal frame;
What lasting honours shall we rear,
Almighty Maker! to thy name.

We'll crowd thy gates with thankful songs,
High as the Heavens our voices raise;
And earth, with her ten thousand tongues,
Shall fill thy courts with sounding praise.

Wide as the world is thy command;
Vast as eternity thy love;

Firm as a rock thy truth must stand,
When rolling years shall cease to move.

WATTS.

THE VIRGIN'S CRADLE-HYMN.

SLEEP, sweet babe! my cares beguiling:
Mother sits beside thee smiling:
Sleep, my darling, tenderly!

If thou sleep not, mother mourneth,
Singing as her wheel she turneth;
Come, soft slumber, balmily!

THE CHAPEL OF WILLIAM TELL.

MARK this holy chapel well!

The Birth-place, this, of WILLIAM TELL,
Here, where stands God's altar dread,
Stood his parents' marriage-bed.

Here first, an infant to her breast,

Him his loving mother prest;

And kiss'd the babe, and bless'd the day,
And pray'd as mothers use to pray.

"Vouchsafe him health, O God! and give

The child thy servant still to live!"
But God hath destin'd to do more
Through him, than through an armed power.

God gave him reverence of laws,

Yet stirring bloed in Freedom's cause-
A spirit to his rocks akin,

The eye of the Hawk, and fire therein!

To Nature and to Holy Writ

Alone did God the boy commit:

Where flash'd and roar'd the torrent, oft
His soul found wings, and soar'd aloft!

The straining oar and chamois chase

Had form'd his limbs to strength and grace.

On wave and wind the boy would toss,
Was great, nor knew how great he was!
He knew not that his chosen hand,
Made strong by God, his native land
Would rescue from the shameful yoke
Of Slavery-the which he broke !

AT A SOLEMN MUSIC.

BLEST pair of Sirens, pledges of heaven's joy,
Sphere born, harmonious sisters, Voice and Verse,
Wed your divine sounds, and mix'd power employ,
Dead things with inbreathed sense able to pierce;
And to our high-rais'd phantasy present
That undisturbed song of pure consent,
Aye sung before the sapphire-colour'd throne
To Him that sits thereon,

With saintly shout, and solemn jubilee ;
Where the bright seraphim, in burning row,
Their loud up-lifted angel-trumpets blow;
And the cherubic host, in thousand quires,
Touch their immortal harps of golden wires,
With those just sp'rits that wear victorious palms,
Hymns devout and holy psalms

Singing everlastingly :

That we on earth, with undiscording voice,
May rightly answer that melodious noise;

As once we did, till disproportion'd sin

Jarr'd against nature's chime, and with harsh din Broke the fair music that all creatures made

To their great Lord, whose love their motions In perfect diapason, whilst they stood

In first obedience, and their state of good.

O, may we soon again renew that song,

[sway'd

And keep in tune with heaven, till God ere long

To his celestial concert us unite,

To live with him, and sing in endless morn of light!

MILTON.

THE BURIAL ANTHEM.

BROTHER, thou art gone before us,
And thy saintly soul is flown
Where tears are wip'd from every eye,
Andsorrow is unknown.

From the burthen of the flesh,

And from care and fear releas'd,
Where the wicked cease from troubling,
And the weary are at rest.

The toilsome way thou'st travell'd o'er,
And borne the heavy load,

But Christ hath taught thy languid feet
To reach his blest abode;
Thou'rt sleeping now, like Lazarus
Upon his father's breast,

Where the wicked cease from troubling,

And the weary are at rest.

Sin can never taint thee now,

Nor doubt thy faith assail,

Nor thy meek trust in Jesus Christ

And the Holy Spirit fail:

And there thou'rt sure to meet the good,
Whom on earth thou lovedst best,
Where the wicked cease from troubling,
And the weary are at rest.

"Earth to earth," and "dust to dust,"
The solemn priest hath said,

So we lay the turf above thee now,
And we seal thy narrow bed:

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