Omnipotence of the Deity.

223

Isaac Watts.

OMNIPOTENCE OF THE DEITY.

ETERNAL Wisdom! Thee we praise,
Thee the creation sings;

With thy loud name, rocks, hills, and seas,
And Heaven's high palace rings.

Thy hand, how wide it spreads the sky!
How glorious to behold;

Tinged with a blue of heavenly dye,
And starr'd with sparkling gold.

There, thou hast bid the globes of light
Their endless circles run:
There, the pale planet rules the night;
The day obeys the sun.

If down I turn my wond'ring eyes
On clouds and storms below,

Those under-regions of the skies
Thy numerous glories show.

The noisy winds stand ready there
Thy orders to obey ;

With sounding wings they sweep the air,

To make thy chariot way.

There, like a trumpet loud and strong,

Thy thunder shakes our coast; While the red lightnings wave along The banners of thy host.

On the thin air, without a prop,
Hang fruitful showers around;
At thy command they sink, and drop
Their fatness on the ground.

Thy wondrous power and skill array
The earth in cheerful green;
A thousand herbs thy art display,
A thousand flowers between.

The rolling mountains of the deep
Obey thy strong command:

Thy breath can raise the billows steep,
Or sink them to the sand.

Thy glories blaze all nature round,

And strike the gazing sight,

Through skies, and seas, and solid ground, With terror and delight.

The Creation.

Infinite strength and equal skill

Shine through thy works abroad,
Our souls with vast amazement fill,
And speak the builder God.

But the mild glories of thy grace
Our softer passions move;

Pity divine in Jesu's face

We see, adore, and love!

225

THE CREATION.

"Now let the spacious world arise !"
Said the Creator Lord:

At once the obedient earth and skies
Rose at his sovereign word.

Dark was the deep, the waters lay
Confused, and drown'd the land;
He call'd the light, the new-born day
Attends on his command.

He bids the clouds ascend on high:

The clouds ascend, and bear

A watery treasure to the sky,

And float on softer air.

The liquid element below
Was gather'd by his hand;
The rolling seas together flow,
And leave the solid land.

With herbs and plants, a flowery birth,
The naked globe He crown'd,
Ere there was rain to bless the earth,
Or sun to warm the ground.

Then He adorn'd the upper

Behold the sun appears;

skies:

The moon and stars in order rise,
To mark our months and years.

Out of the deep the Almighty King
Did vital beings frame,
And painted fowls of every wing,

He

And fish of every name.

gave the lion and the worm

At once their wondrous birth;

And grazing beasts of various form
Rose from the teeming earth.

Adam was form'd of equal clay,
The sovereign of the rest;
Design'd for nobler ends than they,

With God's own image blest.

Immortality.

Thus glorious in the Maker's eye
The young creation stood;
He saw the building from on high,
His word pronounced it good.

227

William Mason.

IMMORTALITY.

SAY, are you sure that Mercy will extend
To you a certain space? Alas, ye sigh!
Make, then, while yet ye may, your God your friend,
And learn with equal ease to sleep or die!

Nor think the muse, whose sober voice ye hear,
Contracts with bigot frown her sullen brow :

Casts round Religion's orb the mists of fear,

Or shades with horrors what with smiles should glow.

No-she would warm you with seraphic fire,

Heirs as ye are of Heaven's eternal day: Would bid you boldly to that Heaven aspire,

Nor sink and slumber in your cells of clay.