Who gave the various beings birth,

That people all the spacious earth.

'Tis HE that bids the tempests rise,

And rolls the thunder through the skies.
His voice the elements obey:

Through all the earth extends his sway.

His goodness all his creatures share :
But man is his peculiar care.

Then, while they all proclaim his praise,
Let man his voice the loudest raise.

SECTION XXVI.

Praise due to God for his wonderful works. MY GOD! all nature owns thy sway;

Thou giv'st the night, and thou the day! When all thy lov'd creation wakes, When morning, rich in lustre, breaks, And bathes in dew the op'ning flow'r,

To thee we owe the fragrant hour; her choral song,

And when she

pours

Her melodies to thee belong!

Or when, in paler tints array'd,

The ev'ning slowly spreads her shade; That soothing shade, that grateful gloom,

Can, more than day's enliv'ning bloom,

Still ev'ry fond and vain desire,

And calmer, purer thoughts inspire;

From earth the pensive spirit free,

And lead the soften'd heart to thee.

In ev'ry scene thy hands have dress'd,
In ev'ry form by thee impress'd,
Upon the mountain's awful head,

Or where the shelt'ring woods are spread;
In ev'ry note that swells the gale,

Or tuneful stream that cheers the vale,
The cavern's depth, or echoing grove,
A voice is heard of praise and love.
As o'er thy work the seasons roll,
And sooth, with change of bliss, the soul,
O never may their smiling train

Pass o'er the human scene in vain!
But oft, as on the charm we gaze,
Attune the wond'ring soul to praise;
And be the joys that most we prize,

The joys that from thy favour rise!

WILLIAMS.

SECTION XXVII.

The happy end.

WHEN life's tempestuous storms are o'er,

How calm he meets the friendly shore,

Who liv'd averse to sin!

Such peace on virtue's path attends,

That, where the sinner's pleasure ends,

The good man's joys begin.

See smiling patience smooth his brow!
See the kind angels waiting now,

To lift his soul on high!

While eager for the blest abode,

He joins with them to praise the God,
Who taught him how to die.

The horrors of the grave and hell,
Those sorrows which the wicked feel,
In vain their gloom display;

For HE who bids yon comet burn,
Or makes the night descend, can turn
Their darkness into day.

No sorrow drowns his lifted eyes;
No horror wrests the struggling sighs,
As from the sinner's breast:

His God, the God of peace and love,
Pours sweetest comforts from above,
And sooths his heart to rest!

SECTION XXVIII.

A kind and gentle temper of great importance to the happiness of life.

SINCE trifles make the sum of human things,

And half our mis'ry from our foibles springs;

Since life's best joys consist in

peace

and ease,

And few can save, or serve, but all can please;

Oh! let th' ungentle spirit learn from hence,
A small unkindness is a great offence.
Large bounties to bestow, we wish in vain ;
But all may shun the guilt of giving pain.
To bless mankind with tides of flowing wealth,
With pow'r to grace them, or to crown with health,
Our little lot denies; but Heav'n decrees

To all the gift of minist'ring to ease.
The gentle offices of patient love,

Beyond all flatt'ry, and all price above;

The mild forbearance of another's fault;

The taunting word suppress'd as soon as thought:
On these Heav'n bade the sweets of life depend;
And crush'd ill fortune when it made a friend.
A solitary blessing few can find;

Our joys with those we love are intertwin'd:

And he whose wakeful tenderness removes

Th' obstructing thorn which wounds the friend he loves,

Smooths not another's rugged path alone,

But scatters roses to adorn his own.

Small slights, contempt, neglect, unmix'd with hate, Make up in number what they want in weight: These, and a thousand griefs, minute as these, Corrode our comforts, and destroy our peace.

MORE.

SECTION XXIX.

Simplicity.

HAIL, artless Simplicity, beautiful maid,
In the genuine attractions of nature array'd:

Let the rich and the proud, and the gay and the vain,
Still laugh at the graces that move in thy train.

No charm in thy modest allurements they find;
The pleasures they follow, a sting leave behind.
Can criminal passions enrapture the breast,
Like virtue, with peace and serenity blest?

O! would you Simplicity's precepts attend,
Like us, with delight, at her altar you'd bend :
The pleasures she yields would with joy be embrac'd;
You'd practise from virtue, and love them from taste.
The linnet enchants us the bushes among :

Though cheap the musician, yet sweet is the song;
We catch the soft warbling in air as it floats,
And with ecstacy hang on the ravishing notes.

Our water is drawn from the clearest of springs;
And our food, nor disease nor satiety brings:
Our mornings are cheerful, our labours are blest,
Our ev'nings are pleasant, our nights crown'd with rest.

From our culture yon garden its ornament finds;
And we catch at the hint for improving our minds :
To live to some purpose we constantly try;

And we mark by our actions the days as they fly.