Bow down, my soul! pour forth, my heart, Thy thanksgiving of wond'ring praise! Canst thou in silence sit apart,

When to yon sky my eyes I raise, And gaze upon its stainless blue,

With worlds of splendour looking through?

On each of these—a separate sphere—
Rests our almighty Father's eye;
Their varied language He can hear,
And in his wondrous love reply;
And yet he hears the lowliest prayer
A child addresses to his care.

And can it be, the hand that made
Those glorious orbs so clear and bright,

Is on my path in mercy laid,

To guide my falt'ring steps aright?

Can He who formed the worlds look down,

And me with his rich blessings crown?

Oh! wheresoe'er their light can fall,
Their heavenly beauty fill the eye,
Let them for boundless homage call,

And may each list'ning heart reply! Nor be thou silent, O my soul,

But praise the God who bids them roll!

FRIDAY MORNING.

"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven."

CREATOR! whose almighty eye

Can pierce the ocean depths below,
Where calm its tangled forests lie,
And its deep springs unceasing flow;
Though never breath of summer air
Steals through the leaf and murmurs there.

Thy word of power, thy breath of life
Hath peopled all this wondrous deep
With forms that joy amid its strife,
And sport beneath its tranquil sleep;
Its waves are as a crystal shrine,
For each unrivalled work of thine.

(7)

The nautilus, who sets his sail, (8)
And rows along his fairy barque;
That arctic king, the far-sought whale,
Whose vast bulk seems a floating ark;
These and each various tribe proclaim
Thy wondrous
power and awful name.

But not alone the liquid sea
Is crowded by a living race;
Look on the sky's immensity,

And there God's mighty finger trace: There sport the birds on joyful wings, Whilst each his great Creator sings.

From the turf's sweet and dewy throne
The skylark springs into the air,
And feeling its blue plain his own,
In freedom soars and warbles there;
Pouring his hymn of joy and love
As far he mounts the world above.