Accepts my pray'r, and bids each foe
With shame their vain attempts forego,
And, struck with horror from on high,
In wild disorder backward fly.

§ 12. Psalm 8th. Merrick.
IMMORTAL King! through Earth's wide frame
How great thy honor, praise, and name!
Whose reign o'er distant worlds extends,
Whose glory, heav'n's vast height transcends.
From infants thou canst strength upraise,
And form their lisping tongues to praise :
By these the vengeance-breathing Foe
Thy mightier terrors taught to know,
In mute astonishment shall stand,
And bow beneath thy conqu'ring hand,
When, rapt in thought, with wakeful eye
I view the wonders of the sky,
Whose frame thy fingers o'er our head
In rich magnificence have spread;
The silent Moon, with waxing horn,
Along th' ethereal region borne;
The stars with vivid lustre crown'd,
That nightly walk their destin'd round.
Lord! What is Man, that in thy care
His humble lot should find a share;
Or what the Son of Man, that Thou
Thus to his wants thy ear shouldst bow?
His rank awhile, by thy decree,
Th' Angelic Tribes beneath them see,
Till round him thy imparted rays
With unextinguish'd glory blaze.
Subjected to his feet by Thee,
To him all Nature bows the knee;
The beasts in him their Lord behold;
The grazing herd, the bleating fold,
The savage race, a countless train,
That range at large th' extended plain,
The fowls, of various wing, that fly
O'er the vast desert of the sky,
And all the wat'ry tribes, that glide
Through paths to human sight deny'd.
Immortal King! through Earth's wide frame,
How great thy honor, praise, and name!

13. Psalm 23d. Merrick.
Lo, my shepherd's hand divine!
Want shall never more be mine.
In a pasture fair and large

He shall feed his happy charge,
And my couch with tenderest care
'Midst the springing grass prepare.
When I faint with summer's heat,
He shall lead my weary feet
To the streams that still and slow
Through the verdant meadow flow,
He my soul anew shall frame,
And, his mercy to proclaim,
When through devious paths I stray,
Teach my steps the better way.
Though the dreary vale I tread
By the shades of death o'erspread;
There I walk from terror free,
While my ev'ry wish I see

By thy rod and staff supplied;
This my guard, and that my guide.
While my foes are gazing on,

Thou thy favoring care hast shown:
Thou my plenteous board hast spread;
Thou with oil refresh'd my head;
Fill'd by thee my cup o'erflows;
For thy love no limit knows.
Constant, to my latest end,
This my footsteps shall attend,
And shall bid thy hallow'd dome
Yield me an eternal home.

§ 14. Psalm 122d. Merrick.

1.

THE festal Morn, my God, is come,
That calls me to thy honor'd Dome
Thy presence to adore:
My feet the summons shall attend,
With willing steps thy Courts ascend,
And tread the hallow'd floor.

2.

Ev'n now to our transported eyes Fair Sion's tow'rs in prospect rise;

Within her gates we stand, And, lost in wonder and delight, Behold her happy Sons unite

In friendship's firmest band.

3.

Hither from Judah's utmost end
The Heav'n-protected Tribes ascend;
Their off'rings hither bring:
Here, eager to attest their joy,
In hymns of praise their tongues employ,
And hail th' immortal King.

4.

By his Command impell'd, to Her Contending Crowds their cause refer;

While Princes, from her Throne, With equal doom, th' unerring Law Dispense, who boast their birth to draw From Jesse's favor'd Son.

5.

Be Peace by Each implor'd on thee,
O Salem, while with bended knee
To Jacob's God we pray;
How blest, who calls himself thy Friend!
Success his labour shall attend,

And safety guard his way.
6.

O mayst thou, free from hostile fear,
Nor the loud voice of tumult hear,

Nor war's wild wastes deplore:
May plenty nigh thee take her stand,
And in thy courts with lavish hand
Distribute all her store.

7.

Seat of my Friends and Brethren, hail! How can my tongue, O Salem, fail

To bless thy lov'd abode? How cease the zeal that in me glows Thy good to seek, whose walls inclose The mansion of my God?

space confines."

When darkness ruled with universal sway, He spoke, and kindled up the blaze of day; First, fairest offspring of th' omnific word! Which like a garment cloth'd its sov'reign Lord. On liquid air he bade the columns rise, That prop the starry concave of the skies; Diffus'd the blue expanse from pole to pole, And spread circumfluent æther round the whole. Soon as he bids impetuous tempests fly, To wing his sounding chariot through the sky. Impetuous tempests the command obey, Sustain his flight, and sweep th' aërial way. Fraught with his mandates, from the realms on Unnumber'd hosts of radiant heralds fly [high, From orb to orb, with progress unconfin'd, As lightning swift, resistless as the wind.

In ambient air this pond'rous ball he hung, And bade its centre rest for ever strong; Heav'n, air, and sea, with all their storms in vain Assault the basis of the firm machine. At thy Almighty voice old Ocean raves, Wakes all his force, and gathers all his waves; Nature lies mantled in a wat❜ry robe, And shoreless billows revel round the globe: O'er highest hills the higher surges rise, Mix with the clouds, and meet the fluid skies. But when in thunder the rebuke was giv'n, That shook th' eternal firmament of heav'n; The grand rebuke th' affrighted waves obey, And in confusion scour their uncouth way; And posting rapid to the place decreed, [mead. Wind down the hills, and sweep the humble Reluctant in their bounds the waves subside; The bounds, impervious to the lashing tide, Restrain its rage; whilst, with incessant roar, It shakes the caverns, and assaults the shore. By him, from mountains cloth'd in lucid snow, Through fertile vales the mazy rivers flow.

Here the wild horse, unconscious of the rein, That revels boundless o'er the wide champaign, Imbibes the silver surge, with heat opprest, To cool the fever of his glowing breast.

Here rising boughs, adorn'd with summer's
pride,

Project their waving umbrage o'er the tide;
While, gently perching on the leafy spray,
Each feather'd warbler tunes his various lay:
And, while thy praise they symphonise around,
Creation echoes to the grateful sound.
Wide o'er the heavens the various bow he bends,
Its tinctures brighten, and its arch extends:

Soften the hills, and cheer the meads below:
By genial fervor and prolific rain,

Swift vegetation clothes the smiling plain:
Nature, profusely good, with bliss o'erflows,
And still is pregnant, though she still bestows.
Here verdant pastures wide extended lie,
And yield the grazing herd exuberant supply.
Luxuriant waving in the wanton air,
Here golden grain rewards the peasant's care:
Here vines mature with fresh carnation glow,
And heav'n above diffuses heav'n below.
Erect and tall here mountain cedars rise,
Wave in the starry vault, and emulate the skies.
Here the wing'd crowd, that skim the yielding
With artful toil their little domes prepare; [air,
Here hatch their tender young, and nurse the
-rising care.

Up the steep hill ascends the nimble doc,
While timid coneys scour the plains below,
Or in the pendent rock elude the scenting foe.
He bade the silver majesty of night
Revolve her circles, and increase her light;
Assign'd a province to each rolling sphere,
And taught the sun to regulate the year.
At his command, wide hov'ring o'er the plain,
Primeval night resumes her gloomy reign:
Then from their dens, impatient of delay,
The savage monsters bend their speedy way,
Howl through the spacious waste, and chase
their frighted prey.

Here stalks the shaggy monarch of the wood,
Taught from thy providence to ask his food!
To thee, O Father, to thy bounteous skies,
He rears his mane, and rolls his glaring eyes:
He roars; the desert trembles wide around,
And repercussive hills repeat the sound.

Now orient gems the eastern skies adorn, And joyful nature hails the op'ning morn: The rovers, conscious of approaching day, Fly to their shelters, and forget their prey. Laborious man, with moderate slumber blest, Springs cheerful to his toil from downy rest; Till grateful evening, with her argent train, Bid labour cease, and ease the weary swain.

"Hail sov'reign goodness! all-productive On all thy works thyself inscrib'd we find : [mind! How various all, how variously endow'd, How great their number; and each part how good!

How perfect then must the great Parent shine,
Who with one act of energy divine
Laid the vast plain, and finish'd the design!"
Where'er the pleasing search my thoughts

Tall navies here their doubtful way explore,
And ev'ry product waft from shore to shore;
Hence meagre want expell'd and sanguine strife,
For the mild charms of cultivated life;
Hence social union spreads from soul to soul,
And India joins in friendship with the pole.
Here the huge potent of the scaly train
Enormous sails incumbent o'er the main,
An animated isle! and, in his way,

Dashes to heaven's blue arch the foamy sea;
When skies and ocean mingle storm and flame,
Portending instant wreck to nature's frame,
Pleas'd in the scene, he mocks, with conscious
pride,

The volley'd lightning, and the surging tide; And while the wrathful elements engage, Foments with horrid sport the tempest's rage. All these thy watchful providence supplies, To thee alone they turn their waiting eyes; For them thou open'st thy exhaustless store, Till the capacious wish can grasp no more.

But, if one moment thou thy face should'st Thy glory clouded, or thy smiles deny'd, [hide, Then widow'd nature veils her mournful eyes, And vents her grief in universal cries: Then gloomy death, with all his meagre train, Wide o'er the nations spreads his dismal reign; Sea, earth, and air, the boundless ravage mourn, And all their hosts to native dust return.

But when again thy glory is display'd, Reviv'd creation lifts her cheerful head; New rising forms thy potent smiles obey, And life rekindles at the genial ray; United thanks replenish'd nature pays, And heav'n and earth resound their Maker's praise.

When time shall in eternity be lost, And hoary nature languish into dust, For ever young, thy glory shall remain, Vast as thy being, endless as thy reign. Thou from the regions of eternal day, View'st all thy works at one immense survey; Pleas'd thou behold'st the whole propensely tend To perfect happiness, its glorious end.

If thou to earth but turn thy wrathful eyes,
Her basis trembles, and her offspring dies:
Thou smit'st the hills, and at th' Almighty blow
Their summits kindle, and their inwards glow.
While this immortal spark off heav'nly flame
Distends my breast and animates my frame:
To thee my ardent praises shall be borne
On the first breeze that wakes the blushing morn;
The latest star shall hear the pleasing sound,
And nature in full choir shall join around.
When full of thee my soul excursive flies
Through earth, air, ocean, or thy regal skies,
From world to world new wonders still I find,
And all the Godhead flashes on my mind;
When wing'd with whirlwinds, vice shall take its
To the deep bosom of eternal night, [flight

To thee my soul shall endless praises pay:
Jein, men and angels, join th'exalted lay!

§ 16. Another Hymn. Anon. How are thy servants blest, O Lord! How sure is their defence! Eternal wisdom is their guide,

Their help omnipotence.

In foreign realms, and lands remote,
Supported by thy care,
Through burning climes I pass'd unhurt,
And breath'd in tainted air.
Thy mercy sweeten'd every soil

Made every region please;
The hoary Alpine hills it warmed,

And smooth'd the Tyrrhene seas.
Think, O my soul, devoutly think,
How with affrighted eyes
Thou saw'st the wide extended deep
In all its horrors rise!
Confusion dwelt in ev'ry face,

And fear in ev'ry heart,

When waves on waves, and gulphs in gulphs,
O'ercame the pilot's art.

Yet then from all my griefs, O Lord,
Thy mercy set me free;
While in the confidence of pray'r

My soul took hold on thee.
For though in dreadful whirls we hung
High on the broken wave,

I knew thou wert not slow to hear,
Nor impotent to save.

The storm was laid, the winds retir'd
Obedient to thy will;

The sea, that roar'd at thy command,

At thy command was still.

In midst of dangers, fears, and deaths,
Thy goodness I'll adore;
And praise thee for thy mercies past,
And humbly hope for more.

My life, if thou preserv'st my life,

Thy sacrifice shall be;

And death, if death must be my doom,
Shall join my soul to thee.

§ 17. Another Hymn. Anon.
WHEN, rising from the bed of death,
O'erwhelm'd with guilt and fear,
I see my Maker face to face,

Of how shall I appear?

If yet, while pardon may be found,
And mercy may be sought,
My heart with inward horror shrinks,
And trembles at the thought:
When thou, O Lord, shalt stand disclos'd
In majesty severe,
And sit in judgement on my soul,
O! how shall I appear?
But thou hast told the troubled soul,
Who does her sins lament,

The timely tribute of her tears

Shall endless woe prevent.