That Canaan knows no noxious thing,

No curfed foil, no tainted fpring,

Nor roses grow on thorns, nor honey wears a fting.

FELICITY ABOVE.

O, 'tis in vain to feek for blifs;

No,

For blifs can ne'er be found

Till we arrive where Jefus is,

And tread on heavenly ground.

There's nothing round these painted skies,
Or round this dufty clod;

Nothing, my foul, that's worth thy joys,
Or lovely as thy God.

'Tis Heaven on Earth to tafte his love,
To feel his quickening grace;

And all the Heaven I hope above

Is but to fee his face.

Why move my years in flow delay ?
O God of ages! why?

Let the spheres cleave, and mark my way
To the superior sky.

Dear Sovereign, break these vital ftrings
That bind me to my clay;

Take me, Uriel, on thy wings,

And ftretch and foar away.

GOD's

GOD'S DOMINION AND DECREES.

KEEP filence, all created things,

And wait your Maker's nod:

The Mufe ftands trembling while fhe fings
The honours of her God.

Life, Death, and Hell, and worlds unknown
Hang on his firm decree :

He fits on no precarious throne,

Nor borrows leave to be.

Th' almighty voice bid ancient Night
Her endless realms refign,

And lo, ten thousand globes of light

In fields of azure fhine.

Now Wisdom with fuperior sway
Guides the vast moving frame,
Whilft all the ranks of being pay
Deep reverence to his name.

He fpake; the fun obedient stood,
And held the falling day:

Old Jordan backward drives his flood,
And difappoints the fea.

Lord of the armies of the sky,

He marshals all the ftars;

Red comets lift their banners high,

And wide proclaim his wars.

Chain'd

Chain'd to his throne a volume lies,

With all the fates of men,
With every angel's form and fize,
Drawn by th' eternal pen.

His providence unfolds the book,
And makes his counfels fhine:
Each opening leaf, and every stroke,
Fulfils fome deep defign.

Here he exalts neglected worms
To fceptres and a crown;
Anon the following page he turns,
And treads the monarch down.

Not Gabriel afks the reafon why,
Nor God the reafon gives;
Nor dares the favourite-angel pry
Between the folded leaves.

My God, I never long'd to fee
My fate with curious eyes,
What gloomy lines are writ for me,
Or what bright scenes fhall rife.

In thy fair book of life and grace
May I but find my name,
Recorded in fome humble place
Beneath my Lord the Lamb!

SELF

SELF-CONSECRATION.

T grieves me, Lord, it grieves me fore,
That I have liv'd to thee no more,
And wafted half my days;

My inward power shall burn and flame
With zeal and passion for thy name,

I would not speak, but for my God, nor move, but to his praise.

What are my eyes but aids to fee

The glories of the Deity

Infcrib'd with beams of light

On flowers and stars? Lord, I behold

The shining azure, green and gold;

But when I try to read thy name, a dimness veils my fight.

Mine ears are rais'd when Virgil fings
Sicilian fwains, or Trojan kings,

And drink the mufic in:

Why should the trumpet's brazen voice,

Or oaten reed, awake my joys,

And yet my heart fo ftupid lie when facred hymns begin?

Change me, O God; my flesh fhall be

An inftrument of song to thee,

And thou the notes inspire:

My tongue shall keep the heavenly chime,
My chearful pulse shall beat the time,

And fweet variety of found fhall in thy praife confpire.

The dearest nerve about my heart,
Should it refuse to bear a part,
With my melodious breath,
I'd tear away the vital chord,

A bloody victim to my Lord,

And live without that impious ftring, or fhew

in death.

my zeal

THE CREATOR AND CREATURES.

OD is a name my foul adores,

GOD

Th' Almighty Three, th' Eternal One;
Nature and grace, with all their powers,
Confefs the Infinite Unknown.

From thy Great Self thy being springs;
Thou art thine own original,
Made up of uncreated things,
And Self-fufficience bears them all.

Thy Voice produc'd the feas and fpheres,
Bid the waves roar, and planets shine;
But nothing like thy Self appears,
Through all these spacious works of thine.
Still reftlefs Nature dies and grows;
From change to change the creatures run:
Thy being no fucceffion knows,

And all thy vaft designs are one:

A glance