If with bold attempt the fings
Of the biggest mortal things,

Tottering thrones and nations flain;
Or breaks the fleets of warring kings,

While thunders roar

From fhore to fhore,

My foul fits faft upon her wings,

And fweeps the crimson surge, or fcours the purple plain; Still I attend her as he flies,

Round the broad globe, and all beneath the skies.

But when from the meridian star
Long ftreaks of glory shine,
And heaven invites her from afar,
She takes the hint, the knows the fign,

The Muse afcends her heavenly carr,

And climbs the steepy path and means the throne divine.
Then the leaves my fluttering mind

Clogg'd with clay, and unrefin'd,
Lengths of distance far behind :
Virtue lags with heavy wheel;
Faith has wings, but cannot rife,
Cannot rife,- -Swift and high
As the winged numbers fly,
And faint devotion panting lies
Half way th' ethereal hill.

O why is piety fo weak,

And

yet the Mufe fo ftrong?

When fhall thefe hateful fetters break

That have confin'd me long?

Inward a glowing heat I feel,

A fpark of heavenly day;

But earthly vapours damp my zeal,

And heavy flesh drags me the downward way.
Faint are the efforts of my will,

And mortal paffion charms my soul aftray.
Shine, thou fweet hour of dear release,
Shine, from the sky,

And call me high

To mingle with the choirs of glory and of bliss.
Devotion there begins the flight,

Awakes the fong, and guides the way;
There love and zeal divine and bright

Trace out new regions in the world of light,
And scarce the boldest Muse can follow or obey.

I'm in a dream, and Fancy reigns,
She spreads her gay delufive fcenes;

Or is the vifion true?

Behold Religion on her throne,

In awful ftate defcending down.

[view.

And her dominions vast and bright within my spacious She fmiles, and with a courteous hand

She beckons me away;

I feel mine airy powers loofe from the cumbrous clay, And with a joyful haste obey

Religion's high command.

What lengths and heights and depths unknown!
Broad fields with blooming glory fown,

And feas, and skies, and stars her own,
In an unmeafur'd sphere !

What heavens of joy, and light ferene,
Which nor the rolling fun has seen,

Where nor the roving Mufe has been
That greater traveller!

A long farewell to all below,
Farewell to all that fenfe can flow,
To golden fcenes, and flowery fields,
To all the worlds that fancy builds,
And all that Poets know.

Now the fwift tranfports of the mind

Leave the fluttering Muse behind,

[wind.

A thousand loose Pindaric plumes fly scattering down the
Amongst the clouds I lofe my breath,

The rapture grows too ftrong:
The feeble powers that nature gave
Faint and drop downward to the grave;
Receive their fall, thou treasurer of death;

I will no more demand my tongue,

Till the grofs organ well refin'd

Can trace the boundless flights of an unfetter'd mind, And raife an equal fong.

The

The following Poems of this Book are peculiarly dedicated to Divine Love*.

The Hazard of loving the Creatures. WHERE-EER my flattering passions rove,

I find a lurking fnare;

'Tis dangerous to let loose our love

Beneath th' Eternal Fair.

Souls whom the tie of friendship binds,
And partners of our blood,

Seize a large portion of our minds,

And leave the lefs for God.

Nature has foft but powerful bands,

And reafon the controls;

While children with their little hands
Hang clofeft to our fouls.

Thoughtless they act th' old serpent's part

What tempting things they be !

Lord, how they twine about our heart,

And draw it off from thee!

Our hafty wills rush blindly on
Where rifing paffion rolls,

And thus we make our fetters ftrong

To bind our flavifh fouls.

*Different ages have their different airs and fafhions of writing. It was much more the fashion of the age, when thefe poems were written, to treat of divine fubjects in the style of Solomon's Song than it is at this day, which will afford fome apology for the writer, in his younger years.

K 2

Dear

Dear Sovereign, break these fetters off,
And fet our fpirits free;

God in himself is blifs enough,
For we have all in Thee.

CO

Defiring to love CHRIST.

OME, let me love: or is thy mind
Harden'd to ftone, or froze to ice?

I fee the bleffed Fair-one bend

And stoop t' embrace me from the skies!

O! 'tis a thought would melt a rock,
And make a heart of iron move,
That those sweet lips, that heavenly look,
Should feek and with a mortal love!

I was a traitor doom'd to fire,
Bound to fuftain eternal pains;
He flew on wings of strong defire,
Affum'd my guilt, and took my chains.

Infinite grace! Almighty charms !
Stand in amaze, ye whirling fkies !
Jefus the God, with naked arms,
Hangs on a Crofs of Love, and dies.

Did pity ever ftoop so low,
Drefs'd in divinity and blood?
Was ever rebel courted fo
In groans of an expiring God?