When sinners broke the Father's laws,

The dying Son atones :
THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST.

Oh, the dear mysteries of his cross !

The triumph of his groans ! “SHEPHERDS, rejoice, lift up your eyes, And send your fears away;

Now the full glories of the Lamb

Adorn the heavenly plains; News from the region of the skies,

Sweet cherubs learn Immanuel's name, Salvation's born to-day.

And try their choicest strains. “ Jesus, the God whom angels fear, Comes down to dwell with you;

O may I bear some humble part

In that immortal song ! To-day he makes his entrance hiere,

Wonder and joys shall tune my heart, But not as monarchs do.

And love command my tongue. “ No gold, nor purple swaddling-bands,

Nor royal shining things ;
A manger for his cradle stands,
And holds the King of kings.

THE HUMBLE INQUIRY.
“ Go, shepherds, where the infant lies,
And see his humble throne;

A French Sonnet imitated. 1695.
With tears of joy in all your eyes,
Go, shepherds, kiss the Son.”

Grand Dieu, les Jugemens, &c.
Thus Gabriel sang : and straight around
The heavenly armies throng ;

Grace rules below, and sits enthron'd above,
They tune their harps to lofty sound,

How few the sparks of wrath! how slow they move, And thus conclude the song :

And drop and die in boundless seas of love! “Glory to God that reigns above,

But me, vile wretch ! should pitying Love embrace Lei peace surround the Earth;

Deep in its ocean, Hell itself would blaze, Mortals shall know their Maker's love,

And flash, and burn me through the boundless seas. At their Redeemer's birth.”

Yea, Lord, my guilt, to such a vastness grown, Lord! and shall angels have their songs,

Seems to contine thy choice to wrath alone, And men no tunes to raise?

And calls thy power to vindicate thy throne. O may we lose these useless tongues

Thine bonour bids, “ avenge thine injur'd name,” When they forget to praise !

Thy slighted loves a dreadful glory claim, Glory to God that reigns above,

While my moist tears might but incense thy flame. That pitied us forloru !

Should Heaven grow black, almighty thunder roar, We join to sing our Maker's love,

And vergeance blast me, I could plead no more,
For there's a Saviour born.

But own thy justice dying, and adore.
Yet can those bolts of Death, that cleave the flood
To reach a rebel, pierce this sacred shroud,

Ting'd in the vital stream of my Redeemer's blood ?
GOD GLORIOUS, AND SINNERS SAVED.
Father, how wide thy glory shines!

How high thy wonders rise !
Known through the Earth by thousand signs,

THE PENITENT PARDONED.
By thousand through the skies.
Those mighty orbs proclaim thy power,

Hence from my soul, my Sins, depart !
Their motions speak thy skill;

Your fatal friendship now I see : And on the wings of every hour

Long have you dwelt too near my heart ; We read thy patience still.

Hence, to eternal distance flee! Part of thy name divinely stands

Ye gave my dying Lord his wound; On all thy creatures writ;

Yet I caress'd your viperous brood, They show the labour of thine hands,

And in my heart-strings lapp'd you round, Or impress of thy feet.

You, the vile murderers of my God. But when we view thy strange design

Black heavy thoughts, like mountains, roll To save rebellious worms,

O'er my poor breast, with boding fears, Where vengeance and compassion join

And, crushing hard my tortur'd soul, In their divinest forins;

Wring through my eyes the briny tears. Our thoughts are lost in reverend awe:

Forgive my trcasons, Prince of Grace ! We love and we adore;

The bloody Jews were traitors too; The first archangel never saw

Yet thou hast pray'd for that curs'd race, So much of God before.

Father, they know not what they do." Here the whole Deity is known;

Great Advocate, look down and see Nor dares a creature guess

A wretch, whose smarting sorrows bleed i Which of the glories brightest shone,

() plead the same excuse for me! The justice or the grace.

For, Lord, I knew not what I did,

4 A HYMN OF PRAISE

VIZ.

Peace, my complaints ! Let every groan

Dark as our thoughts our minutes toll, Be still, and silence wait his love;

While tyranny possess'd the throne, Compassions dwell amidst his throne,

And murderers of an Irish soul And through his inmost bowels move.

Rari, threatening death, through every town. Lo, from the everlasting skies,

The Romish priest and British prince Gently, as morning-dews distil,

Join'd their best force, and blackest charms, The dove immortal downward flies,

And the fierce troops of neighbouring France With peaceful olive in his bill.

Offer'd the service of their arms. How sweet the voice of pardon sounds!

“ 'Tis done,” they cried, and laugh'd aloud : Sweet the relief to deep distress :

The courts of darkness rang with joy, I feel the balm that heals my wounds,

Th’old Serpent hisz'd, and Hell grew proud,
And all my powers adore the grace.

While Zion mourn'd her ruin nigh.
But lo, the great deliverer sails,
Commission'd from Jehovah's hand,
And smiling seas, and wishing gales,
Convey him to the longing land.

The happy day', and happy year,
FOR THREE GREAT SALVATIONS.

Both in our new şalvation meet:

The day' that quench'd the burning snare, 1. From the Spanish Invasion, 1588.

The year that burnt th' invading fleet. 2. From the Gun-powder Plot, Nov. 5.

Now did thine arm, O God of Hosts, 3. From Popery and Slavery by K. William of Glo. Now did thine arm shine dazzling bright; rious Memory, why landed Nov. 5. 1688. The sons of might their hands had lost, Composed Nov. 5, 1695. And men of blood forgot to fight.

Brigades of angels lind the way, INFINITE God, thy counsels stand

And guarded William to his throne: Like mountains of eternal brass,

There, ye celestial warriors, stay, Pillars to prop our sinking land,

And make his palace like your own. Or guardian rocks to break the seas.

Then, mighty God, the Earth shall know From pole to pole thy name is known,

And learn the worship of the sky : Thee a whole Heaven of angels praise ;

Angels and Britons join below, Our labouring tongues would reach thy throne To raise their Hallelujahs high. With the loud triumphs of thy grace.

All Hallelujah, heavenly King ! Part of thy church, by thy command,

While distant lands thy victory sing, Stands rais'd upon the British isles;

And tongues their utmost powers employ. “ There,” said the Lord, “ to ages stand,

The world's bright roof repeats the joy.
Fimm as the everlasting hills.”
In vain the Spanish ocean roar'd;
Its billows swelld against our shore,
Its billows sunk beneath thy word,
With all the floating war they bore,
“ Come," said the sons of bloody Rome,

THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE.
“ Let us provide new arms from Hell :"
And down they digg'd through Earth's dark womb, Far in the Heavens my God retires,
And ransack'd all the burning cell.

My God, the mark of my desires,
Old Satan lent them fiery stores,

And hides his lovely face;

When he descends within my view,
Infernal coal, and sulphurous flame,
And all that burns, and all that roars,

He charms my reason to pursue,

But leaves it tir'd and fainting in th' unequal chasen Outrageous fires of dreadful name. Beneath the senate and the throne

Or if I reach anusual height Engines of hellish thunder lay;

Till near his presence brought, There the dark seeds of fire were sown,

There floods of glory check my flight, To spring a bright but dismal day.

Cramp the bold pinions of my wit,

And all untune my thought;
Thy Love beheld the black design,
Thy Love, that guards our island round;

Plungod in a sea of light I roll,

Where wisdom, justice, mercy, shines; Strange! how it quench'd the fiery mine,

Infinite rays in crossing lines

(soul And crush'd the tempest under ground.

Beat thick confusion on my sight, and overwhelm my

Come to my aid, ye fellow-minds,
THE SECOND PART.

And help me reach the throne ;

(What single strength in vain designs, Assume, my tongue, a nobler strain,

United force hath done ;
Sing the new wonders of the Lord;
The foes revive their powers again,
Again they die beneath his sword.

Nov. 5, 1688. . Nov, 5, 1588.

Thus worms may join, and grasp the poles, My cheerful Soul now all the day
Thus atoms fill the sea)

Sits waiting here and sings ;
But the whole race of creature-souls,

Looks through the ruins of her clay, Stretch'd to their last extent of thought, plunge and And practises her wings. are lost in thee.

Faith almost changes into sight,

While from afar she spies Great God! behold, my reason lies

Her fair inheritance, in light
Adoring; yet my love would rise

Above created skjes.
On pinions not her own :
Faith shall direct her humble flight,

Had but the prison walls been strong,
Through all the trackless seas of light,

And firm without a flaw,
To thee, th' Eternal Fair, the Infinite Unknown. In darkness she had dwelt too long,

And less of glory saw.
But now the everlasting hills

Through every chink appear,
DEATH AND ETERNITY,

And something of the joy she feels

While she's a prisoner here. My thoughts, that often mount the skies,

The shines of Heaven rush sweetly in Go, search the world beneath,

At all the gaping flaws : Where Nature in all ruin lies,

Visions of endless bliss are seen, And owns her sovereign, Death.

And native air she draws. The tyrant, how he triumphs here!

O may these walls stand tottering still, His trophies spread around !

The breaches never close, And heaps of dust and bones appear

If I must here in darkness dwell, Through all the hollow ground.

And all this glory lose ! These skulls, what ghastly figures now!

Or rather let this flesh decay, How loathsome to the eyes!

The ruins wider grow, These are the heads we lately knew

Till, glad to see th' enlarged way, So beauteous and so wise.

I stretch'd my pinions through.
But where the souls, those deathless things,

That left this dying clay?
My thoughts, now stretch out all your wings,

And trace Eternity.
O that unfathomable sea!

THE UNIVERSAL HALLELUJAH,
Those deeps without a shore !
Where living waters gently play,

PSALM CXLVIII. PARAPHRASE.D.
Or fiery billows roar.
Thus must we leave the banks of life,

Praise ye the Lord with joyful tongue,
And try this doubtful sea;
Vain are our groans, and dying strife,

Ye powers that guard his throne;

Jesus the Man shall lead the song,
To gain a moment's stay.

The God inspire the tune.
There we shall swim in heavenly bliss,
Or sink in flaming waves,

Gabriel, and all th' immortal choir

That fill the realms above,
While the pale carcass thoughtless lies
Among the silent graves.

Sing; for he form’d yon of his fire,

And feeds you with his love.
Some hearty friend shall drop his tear
On our dry bones, and say,

Shine to his praise, ye crystal skies, “ These once were strong, as mine appear,

The floor of his abode, And mine must be as they."

Or veil your little twinkling eyes

Before a brighter God.
Thus shall our mouldering members teach
What now our senses learn ;

Thou restless globe of golden light,
For dust and ashes loudest preach

Whose beams create our days, Man's infinite concem.

Join with the silver queen of night,

To own your borrow'd rays.
Blush, and refund the honours paid

To your inferior names :
A SIGHT OF HEAVEN IN SICKNESS.

Tell the blind world, your orbs are fed

By his o'erflowing fames. Oft have I sat in secret sighs,

Winds, ye shall bear his name aloud To feel my flesh decay,

Through the ethereal blue; Then groan'd aloud with frighted eyes,

For, when his chariot is a cloud, To view the tottering clay.

He makes his wheels of you. But I forbid my sorrows now,

Thunder and hail, and fires and storms, Nor dares the fesh complain ;

The troops of his command, Diseases bring their profit too;

Appear in all your dreadful forms, The joy o'ercomes the pain.

And speak his awful hand

Shout to the Lord, ye surging seas,

(Hence, ye profane! I hate your ways, In your eternal rar;

I walk with pious souls; Let wave to wave resound his praise,

There's a wide diff'rence in our race, And shore reply to shore:

And distant are our goals.
While monsters, sporting on the food,

In scaly silver shine,
Speak terribly their Maker-God,

THE LAW GIVEN AT SINAI.
And lash the foaming brine.

Arm thee with thunder, heavenly Muse, But gentler things shall tune his name

And keep th' expecting world in awe; To softer notes than these,

Oft hast thou sung in gentler mood Young Zephyrs breathing o'er the „tream,

The melting mercies of thy, God; Or whispering through the trees.

Now give thy fiercest fires a loose, Ware your tall heads, ye lofty pines,

And sound his dreadful law: To him that bid you grow:

To Israel first the words were spoke, Sweet clusters, bend the fruitful vines

To Israel freed from Egypt's yoke, On every thankful bough.

Inhuman bondage! The hard galling load Let the shrill birds his honour raise,

Over-press'd their feeble souls,

Bent their knees to senseless bulls,
And climb the morning-sky:

And broke their ties God.
While grovelling beasts attempt his praise
In boarser harmony.

Now had they pass'd th’ Arabian bay,

And march'd between the cleaving sea; (way, Thus while the meaner creatures sing,

The rising waves stood guardians of their wondrous Ye mortals, take the sound,

But fell with most impetuous force Echo the glories of your King

On the pursuing swarms, Through all the nations round.

And bury'd Egypt all in arms, Th' eternal name must fly abroad

Blending in watery death the rider and the horse: From Britain to Japan;

O'er struggling Pharaoh rolld the mighty tide, And the whole race shall bow to God,

And sav'd the labours of a pyramid.
That owns the name of man.

Apis and Ore in vain he cries,
And all his horned gods beside;
He swallows fate with swimming eyes,

And curs'd the Hebrews as he died.
THE ATHEIST'S MISTAKE.

Ah! foolish Israel, to comply

With Memphian idolatry! Lauch, ye profane, and swell and burst

And bow to brutes (a stupid slave), With bold impiety:

To idols impotent to save! Yet shall ye live for ever curst,

Behold thy God, the sovereign of the sky, And seek in vain to die.

Has wrought salvation in the deep, The gasp of your expiring breath

Has bound thy fues in iron sleep, Consigns your souls to chains,

And rais'd thine honours high : By the last agonies of death

His grace forgives thy follies past, Sent down to fiercer pains.

Behold, he comes in majesty,

And Sinai's top proclaims his law: Ye stand upon a dreadful steep,

Prepare to meet thy God in haste; And all beneath is Hell:

But keep an awful distance still: Your weighty guilt will sink you deep,

Let Moses round the sacred hill Where the old Serpent fell.

The circling limits draw. When iron slumbers bind your flesh,

Hark! the shrill echoes of the trumpet roar, With strange surprise you'll find

And call the trembling armies near: Immortal vigour spring afresh,

Slow and unwilling they appear; And tortures wake the mind.

Rails kept them from the mount before, Then you'll confess, the frightful names

Now from the rails their fear: Of plagues you scorn'd before,

'Twas the same herald, and the trump the same No inore shall look like idle dreams,

Which shall be blown by high command, Like foolish tales no more.

Shall bid the wheels of Nature stand,

And Heaven's eternal will proclaim, Then shall ye curse that fatal day, (With flames upon your tongues)

That time shall be no more. When you exchang'd your souls away

Thus while the labouring angel swell'd the sound, For vanity and sungs.

And rent the skies, and shook the ground, Bebold, the saints rejoice to die,

Up rose th’ Almighty; round his sapphire seat

Adoring thrones in order fell; For Heaven shines round their heads;

The lesser powers at distance dwell, And angel-guards, prepard to tly,

And cast their glories down successive at his feet : Attend their fainting beds.

Gabriel the Great prepares his way, Their longing spirits part, and rise

“ Lift up your heads, eternal doors !” he cries; To their celestial seat;

Th' eternal doors his word obey, Above these ruinable skies

Open, and shoot celestial day They make their last retreat

Upon the lower skies.

vise;

bread;

ECCLES. XIII.

Heaven's mighty pillars bow'd their head,

Hark! from the centre of the flame, As their Creator bid,

All arm'd and feather'd with the same, And down Jehovah rorle from the superior sphere, Majestic sounds break through the smoky cloud: A thousand guards before, and myriads in the rear. Sent from the All-creating tongue, His chariot was a pitchy cloud,

A flight of cherubs guard the words along, The wheels beset with burning gems;

And bear their fiery law to the retreating crowd. The winds. in harness with the flames

“ I am the Lord: 'Tis I proclaim Flew o'er th’ ethereal road;

That glorious and that fearful name, Down through his magazines he pass'd

Thy God and King : 'twas I that broke Of bail, and ice, and fleecy snow;

Thy bondage, and th’Egyptiap yoke; Swift roll'd the triumph, and as fast

Mine is the right to speak my will, Did hail, and ice, in melted rivers flow.

And thine the duty to fulfil. The day was mingled with the night,

Adore no God beside me, to provoke mine eyes : His feet on solid darkness trod,

Nor worship me in shapes and forms that men deHis radiant eyes proclaim'd the God,

(to jest; And scatter'd dreadful light;

With reverence use my name, nor turn my words He breath'd, and sulphur ran, a fiery stream: Observe my sabbath well, nor dare profane my rest; He spoke, and (though with unknown speed he came) Honour and due obedience to thy parents give; Chid the slow tempest, and the lagging flame. Nor spill the guiltless blood, nor let the guilty live : Sinai receiv'd his glorious flight ;

Preserve thy body chaste, and flee th' unlawful bed;

Nor steal thy neighbour's gold, his garment, or his With axle red, and glowing wheel, Did the winged chariot light,

Forbear to blast his name with falsehood, or deceit;
And rising smoke obscur'd the burning hill.
Lo, it mounts in curling waves;

Nor let thy wishes loose upon his large estate.”
Lo, the gloomy pride out-braves
The stately pyramids of tire:

The pyramids to Heaven aspire, [higher.
And mix with stars, but see their gloomy offspring REMEMBER YOUR CREATOR,
So have you seen ungrateful ivy grow
Round the tall oak that six-scure years has stood,
And proudly shoot a leaf or two

Children, to your Creator, God,
Above its kind supporter's utmost bough,

Your early honours pay,
And glory there to stand the loftiest of the wood. While vanity and youthful blood

Would tempt your thoughts astray.
Forbear, young Muse, forbcar;
The flowery things that pocts say,

The memory of his mighty name
The little arts of simile

Demands your first regard;
Are vain and useless here;

Nor dare indulge a meaner fame,
Nor shall the burning hills of old

Till you have lov'd the Lord.
With Sinai be compar'd,

Be wise, and make his favour sure,
Nor all that lying Greece has told,

Before the mournful days,
Or leamed Rome has heard;

When youth and mirth are known no more,
Etna shall be nam'd no inore,

And life and strength decays.
Etna the torch of Sicily ;
Not half so high

No more the blessings of a feast
Her lightnings fly,

Shall relish on the tongue ;
Not half so loud her thunders roar

The heavy ear forgets the taste
Cross the Sicanian sea, to fright th' Italian shore.

And pleasure of a song.
Behold the sacred hill: its trembling spire Old age, with all her dismal train,
Quakes at the terrours of the fire

Invades your golden years
While all below its verılant feet

With sighs and groans, and raging pain,
Stagger and reel under th’ Almighty weight:

And Death, that never spares.
Press'd with a greater than feign'd Atlas' load,

What will ye do when light departs,
Deep groan'd the mount; it never bore

And leaves your withering eyes
Infinity before,

Without one beam, to cheer your hearts,
It bow'd, and shook beneath the burthen of a God.

From the superior skies?
Fresh hortours seize the camp; despair,

How will you meet God's frowning brow,
And dying groans, torment the air,

Or stand before his seat,
And shrieks, and swoons, and deaths were there:

While nature's old supporters bow,
The bellowing thunder, and the lightning's blaze

Ner bear their tottering weight?
Spread through the host a wild amaze;
Darkness on every soul, and pale was every face: Can you expect your feeble arms
Confus'd and dismal were the cries,

Shall make a strong defence,
“ Let Moses speak, or Israel dies :"

When Death, with terrible alarms,
Moses the spreading terrour feels,

Summons the prisoner hence?
No more the Man of God conceals

The silver bands of nature burst,
His shivering and surprise;

And let the building fall;
Yet, with recovering mind, commands (bands.
Silence, and deep attention, through the Hebrew The flesh goes down to mix with dust,

Its vile original.