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My rising and my resting hours,
My inmost heart, and all my pow'rs.

My thoughts before they are my own,
Are to my God distinctly known;
He knows the words I mean to speak,
Ere from my op'ning lips they break.

Within thy circling power I stand,
On ev'ry side I find thy hand;
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,
Still present with me is my God,

O may these thoughts possess my breast,
Where'er I rove, where'er I rest!
Nor let my weaker passions dare
Consent to sin, for God is there!

Early Piety.

"Solomon my son is young and tender.

And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind; for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandest all the imaginations of the thoughts. If thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever." 1 Chron. c. 28.

In the soft season of thy youth,
In nature's smiling bloom,

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Ere age arrives and trembling waits
To summon to the tomb;

Remember thy Creator God;

Let him thy powers employ ;
Make him thy friend, thy love, thy hope,
Thy confidence and joy.

O seek the Lord betimes, and choose
The path of heav'nly truth!
The earth affords no lovelier sight
Than piety in youth.

He will defend and guide thy course,
Through life's uncertain sea,
Till thou art landed on the shore

Of blest eternity.

Obedience.

My yoke is easy, and my burthen is light."---Matt. c. 11

"Tis good to bear the Saviour's yoke,

To take our daily cross;

Humbly to bend beneath the stroke

That shakes away our dross.

"Tis good to bear the Saviour's yoke,

To put our sins away.

With contrite hearts and spirits broke

To live from day to day.

'Tis good by times to bear the yoke,
With reason's dawn begin;
And Jesu's holy name invoke,
Against each inbred sin.

"Tis good to bear his yoke in youth,
In him alone believe;

Early to bow to heavenly truth,
And by his precepts live.

On thee, blest Lord, for strength we call;
O grant thy aid divine!
Henceforth be thou our All in All,

And keep us ever thine.

Duty of Children to Parents.

"Children obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right. Honour thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise."---Eph. vi. 1, 2.

To honour those who gave us birth,

To cheer their age, and feel their worth,
Is God's command to human kind,

And own'd by every grateful mind.

Trace then the tender scenes of old,
And all our infant days unfold;

Yield back to sight the mother's breast,
Watchful to lull her child to rest.

Survey her toil, her anxious care,
To form the lisping lips to pray'r;
To win for God the yielding soul,
And all its ardent thoughts control.

Nor hold from mem'ry's glad review,
The fears which all the father knew;
The joy that mark'd his thankful gaze,
As virtue crown'd maturer days.

When press'd by sickness, pain, or grief,
How anxious they to give relief;

Our dearest wish they held their own;
Till ours return'd, their peace was flown.

God of our life, each parent guard,
And death's sad hour, O long retard;
Be their's each joy that gilds the past,
And heav'n their mutual home at last.

Love to God and our Neighbour.

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"God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him."---1 John iv.

Thus saith the first, the great command,

"Let all thy inward powers unite

"To love thy Maker, and thy God,

"With heart, and soul, and strength, and might.

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"Then shall thy neighbour next in place
"Share thine affections and esteem
"And let thy kindness to thyself
"Measure and rule thy love to him."

This is the sense that Moses spoke ;
This did the prophets preach and prove ;
For want of this the law is broke,
And the whole law's fulfilled by love.

But Oh! how base our passions are !
How cold our charity and zeal !
Lord, fill our souls with heavenly fire,
Or we shall ne'er perform thy will.

Charity.

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three ; but the greatest of these is charity."---Cor. xiii. 13.

Had I the tongues of Greeks and Jews,
And nobler speech than angels use;
If love be absent, I am found,
Like tinkling brass, an empty sound.

Were I inspir'd to preach, and tell
All that is done in heaven and hell;
Or could my faith the world remove,
Still I am nothing without love.

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