"I fee the Lord my Keeper ftand
Omnipotently near;
Lo! he holds me by my hand,
And banishes my fear.
Shadows with his wings my head;
Guards from all impending harms;
Round me, and beneath are fpread
The Everlasting Arms!"
I am, dear Sir, your affectionate, though unworthy
T length, my foul! thy fruitless hopes give o'er,
Believe, believe the treacherous world no more.
Shallow, yet fwift, the ftream of fortune flows,
While fome rude wind will always difcompofe;
As children birds, fo men their bliss pursue,
Still out of reach, though ever in their view.
In vain for all that empty greatness brings,
We lose our lives amidst the courts of kings,
And fuffer fcorn, and bend the fupple knee;
The monarch dies-one moment's turn deftroys
Long future profpects, and fhort prefent joys:
Oh unperforming, false mortality!
All is but duft, when once their breath is fled;
The fierce, the pompous majesty lies dead!
The world no longer trembles at this power!
Even in those tombs, where their proud names furviye,
Where ftill in breathing brafs they seem to live,
That very duft the impartial worms devour.
The lofty ftyles of happy, glorious, great,
The lords of fortune, arbitrers of Fate,
And gods of war, lie loft within the grave!
Their mighty minions then come tumbling down;
They lose their flatterers, as they lofe their crown:
Forgot of every friend, and every flave!
On the Monument of the Honourable ROBERT DIGBY, and of his Sifter MARY: erected by their Father, Lord DIGBY, in the Church of Sherborne, in Dorsetshire.
O! fair example of untainted youth,
Of modeft wifdom, and pacific truth:
Compofed in fufferings, and in joy fedate,
Good without noife, without pretensions grea: !
Juft to thy word, in every thought fincere,
Who knew no with, but what the world might hear;
Of fofteft manners, unaffected mind,
Lover of peace, and friend of human kind.
Go live! for heaven's eternal year is thine,
Go! and exalt thy moral to divine!
And thou bleft Maid! attendant on his doom,
Penfive haft followed to the filent tomb;
Steered the fame courfe, to the fame quiet fhore,
Not parted long, and now to part no more!
Go then! where only blifs fincere is known,
Go! where to love and to enjoy are one.
Yet take these tears, mortality's relief,
And till we fhare your joys, forgive our grief:
Thefe little rites, a ftone, a verfe receive,
'Tis all a Father, all a Friend can give!
Wifhing for real PLEASURE.
OW long, forgetful of thy heavenly birth,
Wilt thou, my foul, fo fondly cleave to earth?
How long, low-hovering o'er these seats of pain,
Wilt thou expect felicity in vain?
The joys of time could never be defigned
A portion worthy of the immortal mind.
What is it then detains these wretched eyes,
Detains my heart whene'er it feeks to rife,
And holds back half my wifhes from the fkies?
When foothing fancy paints, with mimic art,
Her pictured joys, to catch my cheated heart,
So fair, fo bright the varied colours glow,
They more than half disguise the blended woe;
But foon the momentary forms decay,
Steal from my gaze, and vanish quite away.
Convinced the flattering fcenes are empty air,
Beneath my thought, unworthy of my care,
Can I pronounce the gay delufions fair?
Earth's fairest pleasures, which allure my sight,
Are but the fleeting fhadows of delight!
Shall airy phantoms then my powers employ,
Powers defigned to grafp fubftantial joy?
Shall vanity enflave this free-born mind,
And chains of fense my nobler passions bind?
Alas! in vain I ftrive, in vain I figh,
In vain my fettered thoughts attempt to fly,
And weakly fluttering mean the diftant sky!
O thou whofe eye furveys my inmoft heart,
Thy grace, thy all-prevailing grace impart ;
Diffolve thefe chains which keep my foul from thee,
And bid this wretched, flruggling heart be free!
O come thou bright, thou everlasting fair,
Thou only worthy object of my care!
Thy dazzling beauties to my view display,
And earth fhall vanifh at the blissful
Like night's dark fhades before the rifing day,
The BLIND MAN'S PETITION.
Jefus thou Son of David have mercy on me! Luke xviii. 38, &c,
REAT Saviour, born of David's race,
O look! with pity look this way!
A helpless wretch implores thy grace,
Implores thy mercy's healing ray !
Jefus, thou Lord of life divine,
To whom the fons of woe complain:
Is not unbounded mercy thine?
And can I afk, and ask in vain ?
Did ever fupplicating figh
In vain to thee its grief impart ?
Or mournful object meet thine eye,
That did not move thy melting heart?
Around thee crowd a plaintive throng,
I hear their importuning cries;
And now from every thankful tongue
I hear the glad Hofannahs rise.
O look, with pity look on me,
Wrapt in the mournful shades of night!
My hope depends alone on thee;
Speak Lord, thy word fhall give me light
'Tis mercy, mercy I implore!
Speak, Lord; thy humble fuppliant raife!
Then fhall my heart thy grace adore;
Then fhall my tongue refound thy praife.
A REFLECTION on the Clofe of the YEAR: occafioned by hearing the Bells at Midnight.
E creatures of a day! can you rejoice
That all-important Time fo fwiftly flies?
And scorn Reflection's monitory voice,
That calls, that warns, that wooes you to be wife?
For ever ye departed months, adieu!
What heart that knows your value can
Who loath, yet by Reflection forced to view,
How unimproved the hours are fled away!
Yet oft her warning voice (before they paft)
Cried, "Seize the precious minutes! Make them thine!
Ah! how wilt thou account for fo much wafle
Of treasure, lent for purposes divine ?”
Thy voice, Reflection, now refolved I hear,
To thee the folemn midnight hour I give:
And afk, while mufing on the finifhed year,
How have I spent my time-and why I live?
How I have spent my time? Reflection fay;
She answers, "Wafted many a precious Hour,
And thrown, in careless indolence away
The Days which claimed for God each active power."
Why do I live? "Paft errors to deplore,
And humbly at thy Saviour's cross to bow,
To afk his aid, and all his grace implore,
To dedicate to him the prefent Now."
Then, O my Lord, to thy atoning blood,
For pardon, peace, and power I meekly fly:
Forgive my follies paft'; then O my God,
Inftru&t me how to live--and how to die!
|