And ye five other wand'ring fires that move
In myftic dance, not without fong, resound
His praife, who out of darkness call'd up light.
Air, and ye elements, the eldest birth
Of Nature's womb, that in quaternion run
Perpetual circle, multiform; and mix
And nourish all things; let your ceafelofs change
Vary to our great Maker still new praife.
Ye Mists and Exhalations that now rife
From hill or streaming lake, dusky or grey,
Till the fun paint your fleccy skirts with gold,
In honour to the world's great Author rife!
Whether to deck with clouds th' uncolour'd sky,
Or wet the thirsty earth with failing showers,
Rifing or falling ftill advance his praise.

In theft thy lowest works; yet these declare
Thy goodness beyond thought, and pow'r divine.
Speak ye who beft can tell, ye fons of light,
Angels, for ye behold him, and with fongs
And choral symphonies, day without night,
Circle his throne rejoicing; ye in Heaven,
On Earth, join all ye creatures to extol

His praife, ye Winds, that from four quarters blow,
Breathe foft or loud; and wave your tops, ye Pines,
With every plant in fign of worthip wave.
Fountains, and ye that warble as ye flow
Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praife.
Join voices, all ye living Souls; ye Birds,
That finging up to Heaven's gate afcend,
Bear on your wings and in your notes his praife,
Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk
The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep;

To hill or valley, fountain, or fresh shade Made vocal by my fong, and taught his praise. Hail univerfal Lord! be bounteous still

Fairest of stars, last in the train of night,

If better thou belong not to the dawn,

Sure pledge of day, that crown'st the fmiling morn With thy bright circlet, praite him in thy iphere, While day arifes, that sweet hour of prime. Thou Sun, of this great world both eye and foul, Acknowledge him thy greater, found his praife In thy eternal course, both when thou cliabit, And when high noon haft gain'd, and when thou Moon, that now meet'st the orient fun, now fly ft With the fix'd stars, fix'd in their orb that flies,

To give us only good; and if the night Have gather'd aught of evil, or conccal'd, Difperfe it, as now light dispels the dark.

§3

On the Deity. Mrs. BARBAULD.

I READ God's awful name emblazon'd high
With golden letters on th' illumin'd sky;
Nor less the mystic characters I fee
Wrought in each flower, infcrib'd on ev'ry tree;

In ev'ry leaf that trembles to the breeze
I hear the voice of God among the trees.
With thee in shady folitudes I walk,
With thee in bufy crowded cities talk;
In every creature own thy forining power,
In each event thy providence alore.

Thy hopes shall animate my drooping foul,
Thy precepts guide me, and thy fear controul:
Thus thall I rest, unmov'd by all alarms,
Secure within the temple of thine arms,
From anxious cares, from gloomy terrors free,
And feel myfelf omnipotent in thee.

Then when the last, the closing hour draws

nigh,
And earth recedes before my fwimming eye;
When trembling on the doubtful edge of fate
I stand, and stretch my view to either state;
Teach me to quit this tranfitory scene
With decent triumph and a look ferene;
Teach me to fix my ardent hopes on high,
And, having liv'd to thee, in thee to die.

§ 4. Hymn on Gratitude. ADDISON.

WHEN all thy mercies, O my God,
My rifing foul surveys;
Transported with the view, I'm loft
In wonder, love, and praife.

O how shall words with equal warmth
The gratitude declare

That glows within my ravifh'd heart?
But thou canst read it there.
Thy providence my life fustain'd,
And all my wants redress'd,
When in the filent womb I lay,
And hung upon the breaft.
To all my weak complaints and cries
Thy mercy lent an ear,

Ere yet my feeble thoughts had learnt
To form themselves in pray'r.
Unnumber'd comforts to my foul
Thy tender care bestow'd,
Before my infant heart conceiv'd

From whom those comforts flow'd.
When in the flipp'ry paths of youth
With heedlets steps I ran,
Thine arm unfeen convey'd me fafe,
And led me up to man.

Through hidden dangers, toils, and deaths,
It gently clear'd my way,
And through the pleasing snares of vice,
More to be fear'd than they.
When worn with fickness, oft haft thou
With health renew'd my face,
And when in fins and forrows funk,
Reviv'd my foul with grace.
Thy bounteous hand with worldly bliss
Has made my cup run o'er,
And in a kind and faithful friend
Has doubled all my ftore.

Ten thousand thousand precious gifts
My daily thanks employ,
Nor is the least a cheerful heart,

That taftes those gifts with joy.

Through every period of my life
Thy goodness I'll purfue;
And after death in diftant worlds
The glorious theme renew.
When nature fails, and day and night
Divide thy works no more,
My ever grateful heart, O Lord,
Thy mercy shall adore.
Through all eternity to Thee
A joyful fong I'll raise,
For O! eternity's too fhort
To utter all thy praife.

§5. Hymn on Providence. ADDISON.

THE Lord my pasture shall prepare,

And feed me with a thepherd's care:

His prefence shall my wants fupply,
And guard me with a watchful eye;
My noon-day walks he shall attend,
And all my midnight hours defend.
When in the fultry glebe I faint,
Or on the thirty mountains pant;
To fertile vales, and dewy meads,
My weary wand'ring steps he leads;
Where peaceful rivers, foft and ilow,
Amid the verdant landskip flow.

Tho' in the paths of Death I tread,
With gloomy horrors overspread,
My ftedfaft heart shall fear no ill,
For thou, O Lord, art with me still;
Thy friendly crook shall give me aid,
And guide methrough the dreadful shade.
Tho' in a bare and rugged way,
Through devious lonely wilds I stray,
Thy bounty shall my pains beguile:
The barren wilderness shall fmile,
With fudden greens and herbage crown'd;
And ftreams thall murmur all around.

§ 6. Another Hymn, from the beginning of the 19th Pfalm. ADDISON.

THE fpacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And fpangled Heavens, a thining frame,
Their great original proclaim:
Th' unwearied fun, from day to day,
Does his Creator's pow'r display,
And publishes to every land
The work of an Almighty hand.
Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the lift'ning earth
Repeats the story of her birth:
Whilft all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets in ther turn,

Confirm Confirm the tidings as they roll, And spread the truth from pole to pole. What though in folemn filence all More round the dark terrestrial ball! What tho' nor real voice nor found Amid their radiant orbs be found! In reason's ear they all rejoice, And utter forth a glorious voice, Forever finging as they shine, "The hand that made us is Divine."

§ 7.

Anoiber Hymn. Mrs. Row E.

THE glorious armies of the sky
To thee, Almighty King,
Triumphant anthems confecrate,
And hallelujahs fing.

But ftill their most exalted flights
Fall vastly thorr of thee :

How distant then must human praife
From thy perfections be!
Yet how, my God, shall I refrain,
When to my ravish'd fenfe
Each creature every where around
Displays thy excellence!

The active lights that shine above,
In their eternal dance,
Reveal their skilful Maker's praise
With filent elegance.
The blushes of the morn confefs

That thou art fstill more fair,
When in the East its beams revive,
To gild the fields of air.

The fragrant, the refreshing breeze
Of ev'ry flow'ry bloom

In balmy whifpers own, from Thee
Their pleafing odours come.

The finging birds, the warbling winds,
And water's murm'ring fall,
Topraise the first Almighty Caufe
With diff'rent voices call.

Thy num'rous works exalt thee thus,
And shall I filent be?
No; rather let me cease to breathe,

Than ceafe from praising thee !

8. Another Hymn. Mrs. ROW E.

THOU didst, O mighty God! exift
Ere time began its race;

Before the ample elements

Fill'd up the void of space:

Before the pond'rous earthly globe.
In fluid air was stay'd;
Before the ocean's mighty springs
Their liquid stores difplay'd:
Ere through the gloom of ancient night
The treaks of light appear'd;
Before the high celeftial arch,
Or starry poles were rear'd:

Before the loud melodious spheres.
Their tuneful round begun;
Before the shining roads of heav'n
Were measur'd by the fun :

Ere through the empyrean courts
One hallelujah rung;
Or to their harps the fons of light
Ecftatic anthems fung:
Ere men ador'd, or angels knew,

Or prais'd thy wondrous name;
Thy blifs, O facred Spring of life !
Thy glory, was the fame.
And when the pillars of the world
With fudden ruin break,
And all this vast and goodly frame
Sinks in the mighty wreck;
When from her orb the moon shall start
Th'aftonifh'd fun roll back,
And all the trembling starry lamps
Their ancient course forfake;

For ever permanent and fix'd,
From agitation free,
Unchang'd in everlasting years,
Shall thy existence be.

§ 9. Another Hymn, from Pfalm 148th. OGILVIE
BEGIN, my foul, th' exalted lay!
Let each enraptur'd thought obey,
And praise th' Almighty's name :
Lo! heaven and earth, and feas and skies,
In one melodious concert rife,

To fwell th' inspiring theme.

Ye fields of light, celestial plains,
Where gay transporting beauty reigns,
Ye scenes divinely fair!
Your Maker's wondrous power proclaim;
Tell how he form'd your shining frame,
And breath'd the fluid air.

Ye angels, catch the thrilling found!
While all th' adoring thrones around
His boundless mercy fing:
Let ev'ry lift'ning faint above
Wake all the tuneful foul of love,

And touch the fiveetest string.
Join, ye loud spheres, the vocal choir;
Thou dazzling orb of liquid fire,
The mighty chorus aid :
Soon as grey ev'ning gilds the plain,
Thou, moon, protract the melting strain,
And praise him in the shade.
Thou heav'n of heav'ns, his vast abode,
Ye clouds, proclaim your forming God,

Who call'd you worlds from night a
"Ye shades, difpel!"-th' Eternal faid;
At once th' involving darkness fled,
And nature sprung to light.
Whate'er a blooming world contains,
That wings the air, that skims the plains,
United praife bestow:

Let every element rejoice:

Ye thunders, burst with awful voice
To him who bids you roil;
His praise in sofrer notes declare,
Each whispering breeze of yielding air,
And breathe it to the foul.

To him, ye graceful cedars, bow;
Ye tow'ring mountains, bending low,
Your great Creator own;
Tell, when affrighted nature shook,
How Sinai kindled at his look,

And trembled at his frown.

Ye flocks that haunt the humble vale,
Ye infects flutt'ring on the gale,
In mutual concourse rife:
Crop the gay role's vermeil bloom,
And waft its fpoils, a sweet perfume,
In incenfe to the skies.

Wake, all ye mounting tribes, and fing,
Ye plumy warblers of the fpring,
Harmonious anthems raife

To him who shap'd your finer mould,
Who tipp'd your glittering wings with gold,
And tun'd your voice to praife.
Let man, by nobler paffions sway'd,
The feeling heart, the judging head,
In heav'nly praife employ;
Spread his tremendous name around,
Till heav'n's broad arch rings back the found,
The gen'ral burit of joy.

Ye whom the charms of grandeur please,
Nurs'd on the downy lap of eafe,
Fall proftrate at his throne:

Ye princes, rulers, all adore;
Praife him, ye kings, who makes your pow'r
An image of his own.
Ye fair, by nature forin'd to move,
O praise th'cternal Source of love,
With youth's enlivening fire:
Let age take up the tureful lay,
Sigh his blefs'd name-then foar away,
And ask an angel's lyre.

§ 10. Pfalm 4th. MERRICK.

DEFENDER of my rightful caufe,
While anguish from my bosom draws
The deep-felt figh, the ceaseless pray'r,
O make thy fervant still thy care.
That aid, which oft my griefs has heal'd,
To aid again, entreated, yield.
How long, ye fons of pride, how long
Shall falschood arm your impious tongue,
And erring rage your breast inflame,
My pow'r to thwart, my acts defame?
To God my heart shall vent its woe,
Who, prompt his bleffings to beftow
On each whose breast has learn'd his fear,
Bows to my plaint the willing ear,

Him wouldst thou please? With rev'rend awe
Obferve the dictates of his Law:
In fecret on thy couch reclin'd
Search to its depth thy restless mind,
Till hush'd to peace the tumult lie,
And wrath and strife within thee die.
With pureft gifts approach his shrine,
And fafe to Him thy care refign.
I hear a hopeless train demand,
"Where's now the with'd Deliv'rer's hand?”
Do Thou, my God, do Thou reply,
And let thy prefence from on high
In full effufion o'er our head
Its all-enlivening influence shed.
What joy my confcious heart o'erflows!
Not fuch th' exulting lab'rer knows,
When to his long expecting eyes
The vintage and the harvests rife,
And, fhadowing wide the cultar'd foil,
With full requital crown his toil.
My weary eyes in fleep I close,
My limbs, fecure, to reft compose;
For Thou, great God, shalt screen my head,
And plant a guard around my bed.

§ 11. Pfalm 5th. MERRICK.
THE words that from my lips proceed, [read,
My thoughts (for Thou thote thoughts canft
My God, my King, attentive weigh,
And hear, O hear me, when I pray.
With carliest zeal, with wakeful care,
To Thee my foul shall pour its pray'r,
And, ere the dawn has ftreak'd the sky,
To Thee direct its longing eve:

To Thee, whom nought obfcur'd by ftain
Can please; whose doors to feet profane
Inexorable stand; whose Law
Offenders from thy fight shall awe.
Let each whose tongue to lies is turn'd,
Who leffors of deceit has learn'd,
Or thi: fts a brother's blood to shed,
Thy hate and heaviest vengeance dread.
But I, whose hope thy Love fupports,
How great that Love!) will tread thy courts,
My knees in lowliest rev'rence bend,
And tow'rd thy shrine my hanas extend.
Do thou, just God, my path prepare,
And guard me from cach hoftile snare;
O lend me thy conducting ray,
And level to my steps thy way.
Behold me by a troop inclos'd,
Of falschood and of guilt compos'd:
Their throat a fepulchre displays,
Deep, wide, infatiate; in their praife
Lurks flatt'ry, and with specious art
Belies the purpose of their heart.
O let the mifchiefs they intend
Retorted on themselves defcend,
And let thy wrath correct their fin,
Whose hearts thy mercy fails to win.
May all whose truft on Thee is plac'd
Peace and delight perpetual taste,
Sav'd by thy care, in fongs of joy
Their ever grateful voice employ,

An

And thare the gifts on those bestow'd, Who love the name of Jacob's God. To each who bears a gutitless heart, Thy grace its blessings shall impart; Strong as the brazen thield, thy aid Around him cafts its cov'ring shade.

$12.

Pfalm 6th. MERRICK.

OSPARE me, Lord, nor o'er my head The fulness of thy vengeance thed.

With pitying eve my weakness view, Heal my vex'd foul, my strength renew; And O, if yet my fins demand The wife corrections of thy hand, Yet give my pains their bounds to know, And lix a period to my woe. Return, great God, return, and fave Thy fervant from the greedy grave. Shail Death's long-filent tongue, O fay, The records of thy pow'r difplay, Or pale Corruption's startled ear Thy praife within its prisen hear? By languor, grief, and care oppreft, With groans perpetual heaves my breaft, And tears, in large profusion shed, Inceffant lave my fleepless bed. My life, though yet in mid career, Beholds the winter of its year, (While clouds of grief around me roll, And hoftile storms invade my foul,) Relentless from my cheek cach trace Of youth and blooming health erafe, And fpread before my wasting fight The thades of all-obfcuring night.

Hence, ye profane: My Saviour hears; While yet 1 fpeak, he wipes my tears, Accepts my pray'r, and bids each foe With shame their vain attempts forego, And, ftruck with horror from on high, In wild diforder backward Ay.

§ 13. Pjulm EM. MERRICK. Mmortal King! Through Earth's wide frame How great thy honour, praife, and name ! Whole reign o'er distant worlds extends, Whofe glory heav'n's vaft height tranfcends. From infants Thou canst strength upraife, And form their lifping tongues to praife: By these the vengeance breathing Foe Thy mightier terrors taught to know, In mute aftonishment shall stand, And bow beneath thy conqu'ring band. When, rapt in thought, with wakeful eye I view the wonders of the sky, Whose frame thy fingers o'er our head In rich magnificence have fpread; The filent Moon, with waxing horn Along th' ethereal region borne; The Stars with vivid luftre crown'd, That nightly walk their destin'd round, Lord! What is Man, that in thy care His humble lot should find a share'; Or what the Son of Man, that Thou Thus to his wants thy car fhoulda bow?

The

His rank awhile, by thy decree,
Th'Angelic Tribes beneath them fee,
Till round him thy imparted rays
With unextinguish'd glory blaze.
Subjected to his feet by thee,
To Him all Nature bows the knee;
The beafts in him their Lord behold;
grazing herd, the bleating fold,
The favage race, a countless train,
That range at large th' extended plain,
The fowls, of various wing, that fly
O'er the vast defert of the fky,
And all the wat'ry tribes, that glide
Through paths to human fight deny'd.
Immortal King! Through Earth's wide frame,
How great thy honour, praife, and name!

§ 14. Pfalm 23d. MERRICK.

IO, my Shepherd's hand divine !

Want thall never more be mine.

In a pasture fair and large
He shall feed his happy Charge,
And my couch with tend'reft care
'Midit the fpringing grafs prepare.
When I faint with fummer's heat,
He shall lead my weary feet
To the streams that fiili and flow
Through the verdant meadow flow.
He my toal anew fhall frame,
And, his mercy to proclaim,
When through devious paths I stray,
Teach my fteps the better way.
Though the dreary vale I tread
By the fhades of death o'erfpread;
There I walk from terror free,
While my ev'ry with I fee
By thy rod and staff supplied;
This my guard, and that my guide.
While my foes are gazing on,
Thou thy fav'ring care haft shown;
Thou my plenteous board haft fpread;
Thou with oil refresh'd my head;
Fill'd by Thee my cup o'erflows;
For thy Love no limit knows.
Conftant, to my latest end,
This my footsteps shall attend,
And fhall bid thy hallow'd Dome
Yield me an eternal home.