My cheerful soul now all the day
Sits waiting here and sings;

Looks through the ruins of her clay,
And practises her wings.

Faith almost changes into sight,

While from afar she spies Her fair inheritance, in light Above created skies.

Had but the prison walls been strong,
And firm without a flaw,
In darkness she had dwelt too long,
And less of glory saw.

But now the everlasting hills
Through every chink appear,
And something of the joy she feels
While she's a prisoner here.

The shines of Heaven rush sweetly in
At all the gaping flaws;
Visions of endless bliss are seen;
And native air she draws.

O may these walls stand tottering still,
The breaches never close,

If I must here in darkness dwell,
And all this glory lose!

Or rather let this flesh decay,
The ruins wider grow,

Till glad to see the' enlarged way,
I stretch my pinions through.

THE UNIVERSAL HALLELUJAH.

PSALM cxlviii. PARAPHRASED.

PRAISE ye the Lord with joyful tongue,
Ye powers that guard his throne;
JESUS, the man, shall lead the song,
The God inspire the tune.

Gabriel, and all the' immortal choir
That fill the realms above,
Sing; for he form'd you of his fire,
And feeds you with his love.

Shine to his praise, ye crystal skies,
The floor of his abode,

Or veil your little twinkling eyes
Before a brighter God.

Thou restless globe of golden light,
Whose beams create our days,
Join with the silver queen of night,
To own your borrow'd rays.

Blush and refund the honours paid
To your inferior names;
Tell the blind world your orbs are fed
By his o'erflowing flames.

Winds, ye shall bear his name aloud

Through the ethereal blue; For when his chariot is a cloud,

He makes his wheels of you.

Thunder and hail, and fires and storms,

The troops of his command, Appear in all your dreadful forms,

And speak his awful hand.

Shout to the Lord, ye surging seas,
In your eternal roar ;

Let wave to wave resound his praise,
And shore reply to shore :

While monsters sporting on the flood,
In scaly silver shine,

Speak terribly their Maker-God,
And lash the foaming brine.

But gentler things shall tune his name
To softer notes than these,

Young zephyrs breathing o'er the stream,
Or whispering through the trees.

Wave your tall heads, ye lofty pines,
To him that bid you grow,
Sweet clusters, bend the fruitful vines
On every thankful bough.

Let the shrill birds his honour raise,
And climb the morning sky:

While groveling beasts attempt his praise
In hoarser harmony.

Thus while the meaner creatures sing,
Ye mortals, take the sound,
Echo the glories of your king
Through all the nations round.

The eternal name must fly abroad
From Britain to Japan;

And the whole race shall bow to God,
That owns the name of man.

THE ATHEIST'S MISTAKE

LAUGH, ye profane, and swell and burst
With bold impiety:

Yet shall ye live for ever curs'd,
And seek in vain to die.

The gasp of your expiring breath
Consigns your souls to chains,
By the last agonies of death
Sent down to fiercer pains.

Ye stand upon a dreadful steep,
And all beneath is hell;
Your weighty guilt will sink you deep,
Where the old serpent fell.

When iron slumbers bind your flesh,
With strange surprise you'll find
Immortal vigour spring afresh,

And tortures wake the mind!

Then you'll confess the frightful names
Of plagues you scorn'd before,
No more shall look like idle dreams,
Like foolish tales no more.

Then shall ye curse that fatal day,
(With flames upon your tongues)
When you exchang'd your souls away
For vanity and songs.

Behold the saints rejoice to die,

For Heaven shines round their heads ; And angel-guards, prepar'd to fly, Attend their fainting beds.

Their longing spirits part, and rise
To their celestial seat;
Above these ruinable skies

They make their last retreat.

Hence, ye profane, I hate your ways,
I walk with pious souls;
There's a wide difference in our race,
And distant are our goals.

THE LAW GIVEN AT SINAI,

ARM thee with thunder, heavenly Muse,
And keep the' expecting world in awe ;
Oft hast thou sung in gentler mood
The melting mercies of thy God;
Now give thy fiercest fires a loose,
And sound his dreadful law:

To Israel first the words were spoke,
To Israel freed from Egypt's yoke,