Yet this can ne'er my troubled mind appease,
Nor buy my forrows one soft moment's ease.

Alas! thefe jewels brought from diftant coafts
All that each river, or the ocean boasts;
The fapphire, jasper, and the chryfolite,
Can't quench my thirst, or stay my appetite.
Then, fince the earth and fea content deny,
Heaven's lofty fabric I resolve to try.

With wonder I the vaft machine furvey,

With glorious stars all ftudded, bright and gay:
Amaz'd their still unalter'd course I view,
And how their daily motions they renew.
But among all the penfile fires above,

None warm'd my breast, none rais'd my foul to love:
But this bright scene I distant view below;
Then farewel earth, up to their orbs I go.
Now lefs'ning cities leave my distant fight,
And now the earth's whole globe is vanish'd quite;
Above the fun and planets I am borne,

And their inferior influences fcorn.

Now the bright pavement of the stars I tread,
Once the high cov'ring of my humble head.
Now o'er the lofty flaming wall I flie,
And heaven's bright court lies open to my eye.
Now curious crouds of the wing'd choir above
Tow'rds the new gueft with dazzling fplendor move:
Hymns well compos'd to airs divine they sing,
New tune their harps, and ftrike the loudeft ftring;
Then in brifk notes triumphant anthems play,
While heaven refounds, as if 'twere holy-day.
K

O glo

O glorious manfions fill'd with shining fires!
O courts fit only for your starry choirs !
My ravish'd foul's in strange amazement loft;
Sure no delight is wanting on this coaft.
Ah! Said I no delight was wanting here?
Yes, you want all; alas! you want my dear.
Farewel you ftars, and you bright forms adieu;
My business here was with my love, not you.
There's nothing good below without my love,
Nor aught in heaven worth a faint wish above.

One world fubdu'd, the conqu'ror did deplore
That niggard fate had not allow'd him more:
My vafter thoughts a thousand worlds despise,
Nor lose one wish on such a worthless prize.
Not all the universe from pole to pole,
Heaven, earth, and fea, can fill my boundlefs foul.
Till now, alas! my foul at fhadows caught,
And was deceiv'd in what it always fought;

Thou, LORD, alone, art heaven, earth, fea, to me;
And all are nothing if not bleft with thee.

A REPROOF

FROM PRIOR'S SOLOMAN.

A

LONG the funny bank, or wat❜ry mead,
Ten thousand ftalks their various bloffoms fpread:
Peaceful and lowly in their native soil,

They neither know to fpin, nor care to toil;
Yet with confefs'd magnificence deride
Our gay attire, and impotence of pride.

A SO

1

ON THE

A SOLILOQUY

YO

NATIVITY OF CHRIST.

ON wide expanfe proclaims a power divine,
Where worlds, unnumber'd, fwift revolving,
fhine;

Where twinkling ftars difplay their distant light,
And waste their luftre in the bounds of fight!
Where rifing funs emit the genial ray,
Difperfe the night, and bring the welcome day;
Where waneing moons their circling courfes fteer,
And fhine promifcuous through the vary'd year.

But fee! confpicuous in yon eaftern skies.
A radiant orb in flow progreffion rife!
Behold! it shines with vaft effulgence bright,
And boafts the luftre of unusual light!
TO JUDAH'S plain it bends its deftin'd way,
Where watchful fhepherds view the lucid ray!

But hark! my foul-what means that folemn voice! "Fear not, ye ftrangers, but with us rejoice; "TO BETHLEHEM hafte-your Saviour's bleft abode, "There view the myft'ry of incarnate God !" But louder ftill, angelic choirs refound, "The Lord a ransom for his sons hath found! "Proclaim falvation for a guilty race, "Undone by NATURE, but redeem'd by GRACE! "Ye SONS of MEN repeat the folemn found; "The Lord a ranfom for his sons hath found! K 2

66 Hail!

"Hail! happy favorites of our heavenly king! "To You these tidings we with rapture bring: "For You--not us-(now clad in human guise) "The willing Saviour left his native skies! "Our kindred fpirits, when they finning fell, "Were doom'd to fuffer the fierce pangs of hell! "There, bound in chains, the impious rebels lie, "And feel a thousand deaths- but never die! "For them, no prospect of a wish'd release, "No views of pardon, no kind terms of peace! "No gleam of hope displays its distant beam, "No GOD to DIENO JESUS to redeem"One finful act destroy'd their blest estate, "And ftampt ETERNAL their reverse of fate! "Then join with us, ye honor'd fons of GRACE! "Ye happier fubjects, ye dear PURCHAS'D race!

Let heaven and earth their grateful accents raife,
"And fing with us your kind Emmanuel's praise !"
Their errand told the feraphs take their flight,
Through tracklefs æther, unapproach'd by fight;
The lift'ning fhepherds, loft in ftrange amaze,
Exprefs their wonder as they diftant gaze!
Thus eager look'd the apoftolic few,

When from their prefence, their lov'd mafter flew !
When each fond gazer dropt a mournful tear,
And wifh'd to follow him--they follow'd here.

But lo!, the fhepherds turn their wond'ring eyes!
They feck the manger, where EMMANUEL lies.
TO BETHLEHEM with hafty ftrides they run,
There, view their SAVIOUR-there, their RISEN SUN!

Amazing

Amazing thought!-but more amazing fight!-
The GOD of nature, and dark nature's light!
The GOD of GLORY leaves the realms of blifs,
To share the forrows of a world like this!
From glory flies to be despis'd on earth,
As fpeaks the language of his humble birth.
Amazing proof of thy kind errand here!
Thou soN, thou SAVIOUR, whom all should revere!
No infant honors thy lov'd prefence wait,
No forms of grandeur, nor large rooms of ftate;
No weeping friends, no waiting fervants 'tend,
No earthly comforts, kind affistance lend;

3

No tender nurse, no skilful midwife stands,
To aid weak nature when fhe most demands:
No downy bed, no eafy pillows there,
No feeling figns of fympathetic care!
Nor aught I fee-nor aught affords relief,
But weeping JOSEPH, drown'd in floods of grief!

Now born the SON-1 -the raptur'd PROPHET fung
When fire celeftial touch'd his hallow'd tongue!
The given SON―the hope of ancient years,
The mighty GOD-
the PRINCE of PEACE appears!
WONDERFUL!-COUNSELLOR!-ALMIGHTY-ONE!
Th' ETERNAL FATHER-and th' ETERNAL SON!*
All

*Thefe expreffions, though agreeable to Ifa. ix. 6. may probably be adopted by a SARELLIAN, as confiftent with his own fentiments. It may not be improper therefore to inform the candid reader, that I retain a fenfe of the words widely different. The DISTINCT PER SONALITY of the Godhead, is, in my judgment, a truth of the last