Some of the fairest choirs above
Shall flock around my song,
With joy to hear the name they love
Sound from a mortal tongue.
His charms shall make my numbers flow,
And hold the falling floods,
While silence sits on every bough,
And bends the listening woods.
I'll carve our passion on the bark,
And every wounded tree
Shall drop and bear some mystic mark
That Jesus died for me.
The swains shall wonder when they read,
Inscrib'd on all the grove,
That Heaven itself came down, and bled
To win a mortal's love.
FAIREST AND THE ONLY BELOVED.
HONOUR to that diviner ray
That first allur'd my eyes away
From every mortal fair;
All the gay things that held my sight
Seem but the twinkling sparks of night,
And languishing in doubtful light
Die at the morning-star.
Whatever speaks the Godhead great,
And fit to be ador'd,
Whatever makes the creature sweet,
And worthy of my passion, meet
Harmonious in my Lord.
A thousand graces ever rise
And bloom upon his face;
A thousand arrows from his eyes
Shoot through my heart with dear surprise,
And guard around the place.
All nature's art shall never cure
The heavenly pains I found,
And 'tis beyond all beauty's power
To make another wound :
Earthly beauties grow and fade;
Nature heals the wounds she made,
But charms so much divine
Hold a long empire of the heart;
What Heaven has join'd shall never part,
And Jesus must be mine.
In vain the envions shades of night,
Or flatteries of the day,
Would veil his image from my sight,
Or tempt my soul away;
Jesus is all my waking theme,
His lovely form meets every dream,
And knows not to depart:
The passion reigns
Through all my veins,
And floating round the crimson stream,
Still finds him at my heart.
Dwell there, for ever dwell, my love;
Here I confine my sense;
Nor dare my wildest wishes rove,
Nor stir a thought from thence.
Amidst thy glories and thy grace
Let all my remnant minutes pass;
Grant, thou Everlasting Fair,
Grant my soul a mansion there:
My soul aspires to see thy face
Though life should for the vision pay;
So rivers run to meet the sea,
And lose their nature in the' embrace.
Thou art my ocean, thou my God!
In thee the passions of the mind
With joys and freedom unconfin'd
Exult, and spread their powers abroad. -
Not all the glittering things on high
Can make my Heaven, if thou remove;
I shall be tir'd, and long to die;
Life is a pain without thy love;
Who could ever bear to be
Curst with immortality
Among the stars, but far from thee?
MUTUAL LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH.
NOT the rich world of minds above
Can pay the mighty debt of love
I owe to Christ, my God:
With pangs which none but he could feel
He brought my guilty soul from hell:
Not the first seraph's tongue can tell
The value of his blood.
Kindly he seiz'd me in his arms,
From the false world's pernicious charms
With force divinely sweet.
Had I ten thousand lives my own,
At his demand,
With cheerful hand,
I'd pay the vital treasure down
In hourly tributes at his feet.
But Saviour, let me taste thy grace
With every fleeting breath:
And through that heaven of pleasure pass
To the cold arms of death;
Then I could lose successive souls
Fast as the minutes fly;
So billow after billow rolls
To kiss the shore and die.
The substance of the following Copy, and many of the Lines, were sent me by an esteemed friend, Mr. W. Nokes, with a desire that I would form them into a Pindaric Ode; but I retained his measures, lest I should too much alter his sense.
ANGELS of light, your God and King surround
With noble songs; in his exalted flesh
He claims your worship; while his saints on earth
Bless their Redeemer-God with humble tongues.
Angels, with lofty honours crown his head;
We bowing at his feet, by faith, may feel
His distant influence, and confess his love.
Once I beheld his face, when beams divine
Broke from his eye-lids, and unusual light
Wrapt me at once in glory and surprise.
My joyful heart high leaping in my breast
With transport cried, This is the Christ of God!'
Then threw my arms around in sweet embrace,
And clasp'd, and bow'd adoring low, till I was lost
in him.
While he appears, no other charms can hold
Or draw my soul, asham'd of former things,
Which no remembrance now deserve or name,
Though with contempt; best in oblivion hid.
But the bright shine and presence soon withdrew;
I sought him whom I love, but found him not;
I felt his absence; and with strongest cries
Proclaim'd, Where Jesus is not, all is vain.'
Whether I hold him with a full delight,
Or seek him panting with extreme desire,
'Tis he alone can please my wondering soul
To hold or seek him is my only choice.
If he refrain on me to cast his eye
Down from his palace, nor my longing soul
With upward look can spy my dearest Lord
Through his blue pavement, I'll behold him still
With sweet reflection on the peaceful cross,
All in his blood and anguish groaning deep,
Gasping and dying there.-
This sight I ne'er can lose, by it I live :
A quickening virtue from his death inspir'd,
Is life and breath to me; his flesh my food;
His vital blood I drink, and hence my strength.
|