To Nature's GoD your first devotions pay,

Ere you salute the rising day,

'Tis he calls up the sun, and gives him every ray.

Serpents, who o'er the meadows slide,
And wear upon your shining back
Numerous ranks of gaudy pride,

Which thousand mingling colours make;
Let the fierce glances of your eyes
Rebate their baleful fire:

In harmless play twist and unfold
The volumes of your scaly gold:
That rich embroidery of your gay attire,
Proclaims your maker kind and wise.

Insects and mites, of mean degree,
That swarm in myriads o'er the land,
Moulded by Wisdom's artful hand,

And curl'd and painted with a various die;
In your innumerable forms

Praise him that wears the' ethereal crown,
And bends his lofty counsels down
To despicable worms.

THE

COMPARISON AND COMPLAINT.

INFINITE power, eternal Lord,

How sovereign is thy hand!

All nature rose to' obey thy word,

And moves at thy command.,

With steady course thy shining sun
Keeps his appointed way;

And all the hours obedient run
The circle of the day.

But ah! how wide my spirit flies,
And wanders from her God!
My soul forgets the heavenly prize,
And treads the downward-road.

The raging fire, and stormy sea,
Perform thine awful will,

And every beast, and every tree,
Thy great designs fulfil.

While

my

wild passions rage within,

Nor thy commands obey;

And flesh and sense, enslav'd to sin,

Draw my best thoughts away.

Shall creatures of a meaner frame
Pay all their dues to thee?
Creatures, that never knew thy name,
That never lov'd like me?

Great God! create my soul anew,
Conform my heart to thine,
Melt down my will, and let it flow,
And take the mould divine.

Seize my whole frame into thy hand; Here all my powers I bring; Manage the wheels by thy command, And govern every spring.

VOL. XXIII.

Then shall my feet no more depart,

Nor wandering senses rove; Devotion shall be all my heart, And all my passion love.

Then not the sun shall more than I
His Maker's law perform,

Nor travel swifter through the sky,

Nor with a zeal so warm.

GOD SUPREME AND SELF-SUFFICIENT.

WHAT is our God, or what his name,
Nor men can learn, nor angels teach;
He dwells conceal'd in radiant flame,
Where neither eyes nor thoughts can reach.

The spacious worlds of heavenly light,
Compar'd with him, how short they fall?
They are too dark, and he too bright,
Nothing are they, and God is all.

He spoke the wondrous word, and lo!
Creation rose at his command:
Whirlwinds and seas their limits know,
Bound in the hollow of his hand.

There rests the earth, there rolls the spheres
There Nature leans, and feels her prop:

But his own self-sufficience bears

The weight of his own glories up.

The tide of creatures ebbs and flows,

Measuring their changes by the moon :
No ebb his sea of glory knows;
His age is one eternal noon.

Then fly, my song, an endless round,
The lofty tune let Michael raise;
All nature dwell upon the sound,
But we can ne'er fulfil the praise.

JESUS THE ONLY SAVIOUR.

ADAM, our father and our head,

Transgress'd; and justice doom'd us dead:
The fiery law speaks all despair,
There's no reprieve, nor pardon there.

Call a bright counsel in the skies;
'Seraphs, the mighty and the wise,
Say, what expedient can you give,
That sin be damn'd, and sinners live?

'Speak, are you strong to bear the load,
The weighty vengeance of a God?
Which of you loves our wretched race,
Or dares to venture in our place?'

In vain we ask for all around

Stands silence through the heavenly ground:

There's not a glorious mind above

Has half the strength, or half the love.

But, O unutterable grace!

The' eternal Son takes Adam's place:
Down to our world the Saviour flies,
Stretches his naked arms, and dies.

Justice was pleas'd to bruise the God, And pay its wrongs with heavenly blood; What unknown racks and pangs he bore! Then rose :-The law could ask no more.

Amazing work! look down, ye skies,
Wonder and gaze with all your eyes;
Ye heavenly thrones, stoop from above,
And bow to this mysterious love.

See, how they bend! See, how they look!
Long they have read the' Eternal Book,
And studied dark decrees in vain,
The cross and Calvary makes them plain.

Now they are struck with deep amaze, Each with his wings conceals his face; Now clap their sounding plumes, and cry, The wisdom of a Deity!'

Low they adore the' incarnate Son,
And sing the glories he hath won;

Sing how he broke our iron chains,
How deep he sunk, how high he reigns.

Triumph and reign, victorious Lord,
By all thy flaming hosts ador'd:

And say, dear Conqueror, say, how long,
Ere we shall rise to join their song.