Thy swifter hand would first arrive,
And there arrest thy fugitive.

9. Or should I try to shun thy sight
Beneath the spreading veil of night;
One glance of thine, one piercing ray,
Would kindle darkness into day.

10. Oh! 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.

SECTION XXV.

All natare attests the great Creator.

1. HAST thou beheld the glorious sun,
Through all the sky his circuit run,
At rising morn, at closing day,
And when he beam'd his noontide ray ?
2. Say, didst thou e'er attentive view
The ev❜ning cloud or morning dew?
Or, after rain, the wat'ry bow

Rise in the east, a beauteous show?

3. When darkness had o'erspread the skies,
Hast thou e'er seen the moon arise;
And with a mill and placid light,
Shed lustre o'er the face of night?

4. Hast thou e'er wandered o'er the plain,
And view'd the fields, and waving grain ;
The flow'ry mead, the leafy grove,
Where all is melody and love?

WATTS.

5. Hast thou e'er trod the sandy shore,
And heard the restless ocean roar,
When, rous'd by some tremendous storm,
Its billows roll in dreadful form?

6. Hast thou beheld the lightning stream,
Through night's dark gloom with sudden gleam;
While the bellowing thunder's sound

Roll'd rattling through the heav'ns profound?

7. Hast thou e'er felt the cutting gale,
The sleety show'r, the biting hail;
Beheld bright snow o'erspread the plains;
The water bound in icy chains?

8. Hast thou the various beings seen, That sport along the valley green; That sweetly warble on the spray Or wanton in the sunny ray; 9. That shoot along the briny deep, Or under ground their dwellings keep; That through the gloomy forest range, Or frightful wilds and deserts strange? 10. Hast thou the wondrous scene survey'd That all around thee are display'd? And hast thou never raised thine eyes To Him who caused these scenes to rise? 11. 'Twas GOD who formed the concave sky, And all the shining orbs o high: Who gave the various beings birth, That people all the spacious earth. 12. 'Tis He that bids the tempest rise, And rolls the thunder through the skies His voice the elements obey:

Through all the earth extends his sway. 13 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.

1. 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 her fragrant hour;
And when she pours her choral song,
Her melodies to thee belong!

2. 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.
3. In ev'ry scene thy hands have dress'd,
In ev'ry form by the 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.
4. 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!

SECTION XXVII.

The happy end.

WILLIAMS

1. WHEN life's tempestuous storms are o'er,
How calm he meets the friendly shore,
Who lived averse to sin!

Such peace on virtue's path attends,
That, where the sinner's pleasure ends,
The good man's joys begin..

2. See smiling patience smooth his brow!
See the kind angels waiting now,
To lift his soul on high!
While eager for the bless'd abode,
He joins with them to praise the God,
Who taught him how to die.

3. 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.

4. 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 hajipiness of life.

1. 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.
2. 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 realth,
Our little lot denies; but Heav'n decrees

To all the gift of minist'ring to ease,

3. 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

4. A solitary blessing few can find;

Our joys with those we love are intertwin'd:
And be whose wakeful tenderness removes
The obstructing thorn which wounds the friend he loves,
Smooths not another's rugged path alone,

But scatters roses to adorn his own.

5. 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.

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SECTION XXIX.

Simplicity.

1. 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. 2. No charm in thy modest allurements they find: The pleasures they follow a sting leave behind. Can criminal passion enrapture the breast, Like virtue, with peace and serenity bless'd? 3. 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 embrace'd; You'd practice from virtue, and love them from taste: 4. The linnet enchants us the bushes among ;

Though cheap the musician, pet sweet is the song; We catch the soft warbling in air as it floats, And with ecstacy hang on the ravishing notes. 5. Our water is drawn from the clearest of springs, And our food, nor disease nor satiety brings: Our mornings are cheerful, our labours are bless'd, Our ev'nings are pleasant, our nights crown'd with rest. 6. From our culture yon garden its ornament finds; And we catch at the hint of improving our minds ; To live to some purpose we constantly try; And we mark by our actions the days as they fly. 7. Since such are the joys that Simplicity yields, We may well be content with our woods and our fields, How useless to us then, ye great, were your wealth, When without it we purchase both pleasure and health!

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