Rife, crown'd with light, imperial Salem rife!
Exalt thy tow'ry head, and lift thy eyes!
See, a long race thy fpacious courts adorn;
See future fons and daughters yet unborn
In crowding ranks on every fide arise,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies!
See barb'rous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light and in thy temple bend :
See thy bright altars throng'd with proftrate kings,
And heap'd with products of Sabæan springs:
For thee Idume's fpicy forefts blow,
And feeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow.
See heaven in sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day!
No more the rifing sun shall gild the morn,
Nor ev'ning Cynthia fill her filver horn,
But loft, diffolv'd in thy fuperior rays,
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze
O'erflows thy courts: the light himself shall shine
Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine!
The feas fhall waste, the skies in smoke decay,
Rocks fall to duft, and mountains melt away;
But fix'd his word, his faving power remains;
Thy realm for ever lafts, thy own MESSIAH reigns!
THOUGHTS ON PSALM cxix. xxxvii.
O TURN AWAY MINE EYES, LEST THEY BEHOLD VANITY,
N my high capitol two centries dwell,
Keep conftant watch, to guard the citadel:
If fix'd or wand'ring ftars, I do not know,
Tho' either epithet becomes them too;
Each from his duty is in ftraggling loft,
Yet each maintains immoveably his poft;
Both fwift of motion, yet both fix'd remain;
What Sampson this dark riddle can explain?
Ev'n you, my EYES, are these mysterious stars,
Fix'd in my head, yet daily wanderers :
Who plac'd in this exalted tow'r of mine,
Like torches in fome lofty Pharos fhine;
Or like to watchmen on fome rifing place,
View every near, and every diftant pass.
Yet you to me lefs conftant prove by far,
Than thofe kind guides to their observers are;
Like prancing steeds, too headstrong for the rein,
No-fleshly arms your wand'ring course restrain:
You, by whofe guidance I should dangers shun,
Betray me to the rocks on which I run.
Thus wand'ring DINA, led by your falfe light,
Expos'd her honor, to oblige her fight.
Thus, while JESSIDES view'd the bathing dame,
What cool'd her heat, foon rais'd in him a flame.
Thus gazing on the Hebrew matron's eyes,
Made the Affyrian's head her easy prize.
Thus the fond ELDERS, by their fight misled,
Purfu'd the joys of a forbidden bed;
Nor could their luftful flame be difpoffeft,
Till with a fhow'r of weighty ftones fuppreft.
Thus,treach'rous centries, you your charge perform,
Court the furprize, that fhould the camp alarm.
Did you for this the capitol obtain ?
For this the charge of my chief castle gain?
Why have you thus t' inferior earth betray'd
Man's lofty foul, for nobler objects made?
Say, why not rather raise his thoughts on high,
Beyond the arches of yon starry sky?
There, nobler prospects entertain the fight
With various scenes of more fublime delight:
But you are more on earth than heaven intent,
And your induftrious fearch is downward bent.
What fhall I do, fince you unruly grow,
And will no limits, no confinement know?
Oh! fhut the wand'rers up in endless night,
Or with thy hand, dear GOD, contract their fight,
I WILL SING PRAISES UNTO MY GOD, WHILE HAVE ANY BEING.
SHOUL
HOULD love divine, at death, my breaft infpire, And kindle there a fpark of facred fire; This feeble voice fhall fongs of tribute raise, And teach furviving mortals how to praise. With fuppliant hand, I'll court the poet's aid, And chant the happy numbers genius made; Soft foothing strains shall all my powers employ, And turn my intervals of pain to joy. But if my ftamm'ring tongue forget its theme, And fault'ring words, confus'd, should intervene; E'en then, furrounding friends shall thankful see His boundless goodness manifeft in me; A WILL RESIGN'D shall speak his love the fame, And filent eloquence his praise proclaim. In patient hope, my foul fhall paffive lay, Nor wish to leave its now incumber'd clay : And when infatiate death approaches near, This tim'rous heart fhall then forget to fear; Shall flap the wing, to find its passage free, And foar aloft to dwell, great God, with thee!
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THOUGHTS ON PSALM LXXIII. XXIV,
WHOM HAVE I IN HEAVEN BUT THEE? AND THERE IS NONE
UPON EARTH THAT I DESIRE IN COMPARISON OF THEE.
HAT fhall I seek, great God, in heaven above, Or earth, or fea, whereon to fix my love? Tho' I fhould ransack heaven, and earth, and sea, Their worth is nothing if depriv'd of thee.
I know what mighty joys in heaven abound, What treasures in the earth and sea are found; Yet without thee, my love! t' enrich their ftore, Their boafted glories are but mean and poor. O heaven! O earth! O vaft capacious main ! Three famous realms where wealth and plenty reign! Tho' in one heap your triple pleasures lay, They were no pleasures, were my Lord away. My thoughts, I own, have often rang'd the deep, Search'd earth and heaven, and in no bounds would But when they wander'd the creation round, [keep; No equal object in the whole they found. Sometimes I thought to rip the pregnant earth, And give its rich and long-born burthen birth; Gold, filver, brafs, feeds of the fhining vein, And each bright product of the fertile mine: But what advantage? tho' o'ercharg'd with gold, My bursting coffers can't their burthen hold;
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