That Canaan knows no noxious thing,
No curfed foil, no tainted spring,

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

FELICITY ABOVE.

O, 'tis in vain to feek for blifs;

N°,

For blifs can ne'er be found

Till we arrive where Jefus is,

And tread on heavenly ground.

There's nothing round thefe painted fkies,

Or round this dusty 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 fpheres cleave, and mark my way
To the fuperior íky.

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 shine.

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

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

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

Lord of the armies of the fky,
He marfhals 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 asks the reason 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 shall rise.

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.

IT 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 paffion for thy name,

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

What are my eyes but aids to fee
The glories of the Deity

Infcrib'd with beams of light

On flowers and ftars? Lord, I behold

The fhining azure, green and gold;

But when I try to read thy name, a dimnefs 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 so stupid lie when facred hymns begin?

Change me, O God; my flesh fhall be

An inftrument of fong 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 shall in thy praise conspire.

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 seas and spheres,
Bid the waves roar, and planets fhine;
But nothing like thy Self
appears,
Through all thefe fpacious works of thine.
Still restless Nature dies and grows;
From change to change the creatures run:
Thy being no fucceffion knows,

And all thy vaft designs are one :

2

A glance