Let none henceforth of providence | Soft harmony and manly vigour join As if the world of spirits lay unknown, What 'tis employs the bless'd, what Songs such as WATTS's are, and love like his. But then, dear Sir, be cautious how you use [muse, To transports so intensely rais'd your Lest, whilst th' ecstatic impulse you obey, The soul leapout, and drop the dullerclay. Sept. 4, 1706. www HENRY GROVE. TO DR. WATTS. On the fifth Edition of his Hora Lyrica. "SOVEREIGN of sacred verse; accept No vulgar themes thy pious muse en- No scenes of lust pollute thy sacred page. And Addison thy tuneful song approves. For every grace of every muse is thine. Delighted cherubs list'ning to the song: Fain the unnumber'd graces I would When tombs of princes shall in ruins lie, And each lascivious poet hides his head, Great Howe and Gouge shall hail thee on Sic spiral, sic optat Tui amantissimus BRITANNICUS. t Worshipping with Fear. 1 WHO dares attempt th' eternal name 2. Destruction waits t' obey his frown, 4 When shall we see the Great Unknown, 4 In thee what endless wonders meet! 6 Angels are lost in sweet surprise 7 When mercy joins with majesty Thy works the strongest seraph sings 9 Created powers, how weak they be! Asking Leave to Sing. 1 YET, mighty God, indulge my tongue, Nor let thy thunders roar, Whilst the young notes and vent'rous song To worlds of glory soar. 2 If thou my daring flight forbid 3 Her slender reed inspir'd by thee With blooming life on every tree, 4 She mocks the trumpet's loud alarms 5 But when she tastes her Saviour's love, And feels the rapture strong, Scarce the divinest harp above Divine Judgments. 1 NOT from the dust my sorrows spring, Nor drop my comforts from the lower skies: Let all the baneful planets shed Their mingled curses on my head, How vain their curses, if th' eternal King Look thro' the clouds and bless me with his eyes. Creatures with all their boasted sway Are but his slaves, and must obey; They wait their orders from above, And execute his word, the vengeance, or the love. 2 'Tis by a warrant from his hand The gentler gales are bound to sleep : The north wind blusters, and assumes command Over the desert and the deep: Old Boreas with his freezing pow'rs Turns the earth iron, makes the ocean glass, Arrests the dancing riv'lets as theypass, shores; The grazing ox lows to the gelid skies, Walks o'er the marble meads with withering eyes,. Walks o'er the solid lakes, snuffs up the wind, and dies. Fly to the polar world, my song, And mourn the pilgrims there, (a wretched throng!) Seiz'd and bound in rigid chains, A troop of statues on the Russian plains, And life stands frozen in the purple veins. Atheist, forbear; no more blaspheme: God has a thousand terrors in his name, A thousand armies at command, Waiting the signal of his hand, And magazines of frost, and magazines of flame. Dress thee in steel to meet his wrath; His sharp artillery from the north Shall pierce thee to the soul, and shake thy mortal frame. Sublime on winter's rugged wings He rides in arms along the sky, And scatters fate on swains and kings; And flocks and herds, and nations die; While impious lips, profanely bold, Grow pale; and, quivering at his dreadful cold, Give their own blasphemies the lie. 4 The mischiefs that infest the earth, -When the hot dog-star fires the realms on high, Drought and disease, and cruel Are but the flashes of a wrathful eye In vain our parching palates thirst, For vital food in vain we cry, And pant for vital breath; The verdant fields are burnt to dust, The sun has drunk the channels dry, And all the air is death. Ye scourges of our Maker's rod, 'Tis at his dread command, at his imperial nod, You deal yourvarious plagues abroad. Hail, whirlwinds, hurricanes and floods That all the leafy standards strip, And bear down with a mighty sweep The riches of the fields, and honours of the woods; Storms, that ravage o'er the deep, And bury millions in the waves; Earthquakes, that in midnight-sleep Turn cities into heaps, and make our beds our graves! While you dispense your mortal harms, 'Tis the Creator's voice that sounds your loud alarms, When guilt with louder cries provokes a God to arms. O for a message from above To bear my spirits up! Some pledge of my Creator's love To calm my terrors, and support my hope! Let waves and thunders mix and roar, Be thou my God, and the whole world is mine: While thou art sov'reign, I'm secure; I shall be rich till thou art poor; For all I fear, and all I wish, heav'n, earth and hell are thine. Earth and Heaven. HAST thou not seen, impatient boy? Hast thou not read the solemn truth, That grey experience writes for giddy youth On every mortal joy? "Pleasure must be dash'd with pain :" And yet with heedless haste, The thirsty boy repeats the taste, Nor hearkens to despair, but tries the bowl again, The rills of pleasure never run sincere ; (Earth has no unpolluted spring) From the curs'd soil some dang❜rous taint they bear; So roses grow on thorns, and honey wears a sting. 2 In vain we seek a heaven below the sky; The world has false, but flatt'ring charms; Its distant joys show big in our esteem, But lessen still as they draw near the 2 There's nothing round these painted skies; Or round this dusty clod; 3 'Tis heav'n on earth to taste his love, 4 Why move my years in slow delay? O God of ages! why? Let the spherescleave, and makemyway 5 Dear sov'reign, break these vital strings God's Dominion and Decrees. 1 KEEP silence, all created things, And wait your Maker's nod: The muse stands trembling while she sings The honours of her God. 2 Life, death, and hell, and worlds unknown Hang on his firm decree : He sits on no precarious throne, 3 Th' almighty voice bid ancient night 4 Now wisdom with superior sway Guides the vast moving frame, He spake: The sun obedient stood, 6 Lord of the armies of the sky, He marshals all the stars; 7 Chain'd to his throne a volume lies, 6 His providence unfolds the book, 9 Here he exalts neglected worms What gloomy lines are writ for me, Or what bright scenes shall rise. 12 In thy fair book of life and grace May I but find my name, Recorded in some humble place Beneath my Lord the Lamb. Self-Consecration. IT grieves me, Lord,it grieves me sore, And wasted half my days; 2 What are my eyes but aids to see Inscrib'd with beams of light 3 Mine ears are rais'd when Virgil sings And yet my heart so stupid lie when 4 Change me, O God; my flesh shall be An instrument of song to thee, And thou the notes inspire: My tongue shall keep the heav'nly chime, My cheerful pulse shall beat the time, And sweet variety of sound shall in thy praise conspire. 5 The dearest nerve about my heart, Should it refuse to bear a part, With my melodious breath, I'd tear away the vital cord, A bloody victim to my Lord, And live without that impious string, or shew my zeal in death. The Creator and Creatures. 1 GOD is a name my soul adores, 2 From thy great self thy being springs: 3 Thyvoice produc'd the seas and spheres, 4 Still restless nature dies and grows; From change to change the creatures run: Thy being no succession knows, A glance of thine runs thro' the globes, Rules the bright world, and moves their frame: Broad sheets of light composethyrobes; Thy guards are form'd of living flame. Thrones and dominions round theefall, And worship in submissive forms; Thy presence shakes this lower ball, This little dwelling-place of worms. How shall affrighted mortals dare To sing thy glory or thy grace, Beneath thy feet we lie so far, And see but shadows of thy face? 8 Who can behold the blazing light; Who can approach consuming flame? None but thy wisdom knows thymight; None but thy word can speak thyname. The Nativity of Christ. 1 "SHEPHERDS, rejoice, lift up your eyes, And send your fears away; 2 Jesus, the God whom angels fear, 3 No gold, nor purple swaddling bands, 4 Go, shepherds, where the infant lies, Let peace surround the earth; Lord! and shall angels have theirsongs, God glorious, and sinners saved. 1 FATHER, how wide thy glory shines! How high thy wonders rise! Known thro' the earth by thousand signs, By thousand thro' the skies. 2 Those mighty orbs proclaim thy pow'r, 3 Part of thy name divinely stands They shew the labour of thine hands, Or impress of thy feet. 4 But when we view thy strange design To save rebellious worms, Where vengeance and compassion join 5 Our thoughts are lost in reverend awe; 6 Here the whole Deity is known, Which of the glories brightest shone, 7 When sinners broke the Father's laws, The dying Son atones; Oh the dear mysteries of his cross! 8 Now the full glories of the Lamb 9 O may I bear some humble part The humble enquiry. A French sonnet imitated, 1695. 1 GRACE rules below, and sits enthron'd above, How few the sparks of wrath! how slow they move, And drop and die in boundless seas of love! 2 But me, vile wretch! should pitying love embrace Deep in its ocean, hell itself would blaze, And flash and burn me thro' the boundless seas. 3 Yea, Lord, my guilt to such a vastness grown [alone, Seems to confine thy choice to wrath And calls thy pow'r to vindicate thy throne. |