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Tho' death with his imperial horrors crown'd,
Terrific grinn'd, and formidably frown'd,
Offences pardon'd, and remitted sin,
Should form a calm serenity within;
Blessing my natal and my mortal hour,
(My soul committed to th' eternal pow'r)
Inexorable death should smile, for I,

Who knew to LIVE, would never fear to DIE.

HYMNS.

HYMN I.

BEGIN the high celestial strain,
My ravish'd soul, and sing,
A solemn hymn of grateful praise
To heav'n's Almighty King.
Ye curling fountains, as ye roll
Your silver waves along,
Whisper to all your verdant shores
The subject of my song.
Retain it long y' echoing rocks,
The sacred sound retain,

And from your hollow winding caves
Return it oft again.

Bear it, ye winds, on all your wings,
To distant climes away,

And round the wide extended world
My lofty theme convey.
Take the glad burden of his name,
Ye clouds, as you arise,
Whether to deck the golden morn,
Or shade the ev❜ning skies.
Let harmless thunders roll along
The smooth etherial plain,
And answer from the crystal vault
Tu ev'ry flying strain.

Long let it warble round the spheres,
And echo through the sky,
Till Angels, with immortal skill,
Improve the harmony.

While I, with sacred rapture fir'd,

The blest Creator sing,

And warble consecrated lays
To heav'n's Almighty King.

HYMN II....ON HEAVEN.
HAIL sacred Salem ! plac'd on high,
Seat of the mighty King!

What thought can grasp thy boundless bliss,
What tongue thy glories sing!
Thy crystal tow'rs and palaces
Magnificently rise,

And dart their beauteous lustre round
The empyrean skies.

The voice of triumph in thy streets

And acclamations sound,

Gay banquets in thy splendid courts
And purest joys abound.
Bright smiles on ev'ry face appear,
Rapture in ev'ry eye;

From ev'ry mouth glad anthems flow,
And charming harmony.
Illustrious day for ever there,

Streams from the face divine;

No pale-fac'd moon e'er glimmers forth,
Nor stars nor sun decline.

No scorching heats, no piercing colds,
The changing seasons bring;

But o'er the fields mild breezes there
Breathe an eternal spring.

The flow'rs with lasting beauty shine,
And deck the smiling ground,
While flowing streams of pleasures all
The happy plains surround.

HYMN III....THE CREATION.

NOW let the spacious world arise,
Said the creator Lord :

At once th' obedient earth and skies
Rose at his sov'reign word.
Dark was the deep, the waters lay
Confus'd, and drown'd the land;
He call'd the light, the new-born day
Attends on his command.

He bids the clouds ascend on high ;
The clouds ascend, and bear

A watʼry treasure to the sky,

And float on softer air.

The liquid element below,
Was gather'd by his hand;
The rolling seas together flow,
And leave a solid land :

With herbs and plants (a flow'ry birth)
The naked globe he crown'd,
Ere there was rain to bless the earth,
Or sun to warm the ground.
Then he adorn'd the upper skies,
Behold the sun appears,

The moon and stars in order rise,
To mark our months and years.
Out of the deep th' Almighty King
Did vital beings frame,
And painted fowls of ev'ry wing,
And fish of ev'ry name.

He gave the lion and the worm
At once their wond'rous birth;
And grazing beasts of various form
Rose from the teeming earth.
Adam was form'd of equal clay,
The sov'reign of the rest;
Design'd for nobler ends than they,
With God's own image blest.
Thus glorious in the Maker's eye,
The young creation stood;
He saw the building from on high,
His word pronounc'd it good.

THE LORD'S PRAYER.
FATHER of all! we bow to thee,
Who dwells in heav'n ador'd;
But present still thro' all thy works,
The universal Lord.

All hallow'd be thy sacred name,
O'er all the nations known;
Advance the kingdom of thy grace,
And let thy glory come.

A grateful homage may we yield,
With hearts resign'd to thee;
And as in heav'n thy will is done,
On earth so let it be.

From day to day we humbly own
The hand that feeds us still;
Give us our bread, and we may rest
Contented in thy will.

Our sins and trespasses we own;
O may they be forgiv❜n
That mercy we to others shew,

We pray the like from Heav'n :
Our life let still thy grace direct,
From evil guard our way,

And in temptation's fatal path,
Permit us not to stray.

For thine the pow'r, the kingdom thine,
All glory's due to thee:

Thine from eternity they were,
And thine shall ever be.

THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER...BY MR. POPE.

1

FATHER of all, in ev'ry age,
In ev'ry clime ador'd;

By saint, by savage, and by sage,
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord.

Thou great First Cause, least understood;
Who all my sense confin'd,
To know but this, that thou art good,
And that myself am blind :
Yet gave me in this dark estate,
To see the good from ill:
And binding Nature fast in fate,
Left free the human Will.
What conscience dictates to be done,
Or warns me not to do,

This, teach me more than hell to shun,
That, more than heav'n pursue.
What blessings thy free bounty gives,

Let me not cast away:

For God is paid when man receives,
T'enjoy is to obey.

Yet not to earth's contracted span
Thy goodness let me bound,

Or think thee Lord alone of Man,
When thousand worlds are round:
Let not this weak unknowing hand
Presume thy bolts to throw,
And deal damnation round the land,
On each I judge thy foe.
If I am right, thy grace impart,
Still in the right to stay;

If I am wrong, O teach my heart
To find that better way.
Save me alike from foolish pride,
Or impious discontent,

At aught thy wisdom has deny'd,
Or aught thy goodness lent.
Teach me to feel another's woe,
To hide the fault I see ;

That mercy I to others shew,

That mercy show to me.

Mean though I am, not wholly so,
Since quicken'd by thy breath;
Oh lead me wheresoe'er I go,

Through this day's life or death.
This day be bread and peace my lot:
All else beneath the sun,

Thou knowest if best bestow'd or not,
And let thy will be done.
To thee, whose temple is all space,
Whose altar, earth, sea, skies!
One chorus let all being raise!
All nature's incense rise !

CHARACTER OF MAN,

KNOW then thyself; presume not God to scan:
The proper study of mankind, is man.
Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act or rest:
In doubt to deem himself a God or beast;
In doubt his mind or body to prefer:
Born, but to die; and reas'ning, but to err:
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,
Whether he thinks too little or too much:
Chaos of thought and passion, all confus'd;
Still by himself abus'd or disabus'd:
Created, half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all:
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd;
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!

WINTER.

SEE! Winter comes, to rule the varied year,

Sullen and sad, with all his rising train,

Vapours, and clouds, and storms. Be these my theme;

These, that exalt the soul to solemn thought,

And heavenly musing. Welcome kindred glooms!
Congenial horrors, hail! With frequent foot,

Pleas'd, have I, in my cheerful morn of life,
When, nurs'd by careless solitude, I liv'd,
And sung of nature with unceasing joy.

Pleas'd, have I wand'red through your rough domain:
Trod the pure virgin snows, myself as pure;

Heard the winds roar, and the big torrent burst:

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