If thou art near, I búrn; remote, I freeze;
And either distance does alike displease.
Then fo approach me, LORD, I thee defire,
That I may feel thy WARMTH, but not thy FIRE.
Fly, then, my Life! faft as the hunted deer;
But neither go too far, nor ftay too near!
And when thou'rt gone, on reedy pipes I'll play,
Sing loud thy praises, then alternate pray;
And when I've wearied out the tedious night,
With a new task I will myself delight.
I'll carve at large on every spreading tree
Our Love's original and hiftory.
What time remains I'll dedicate to fleep,
But thou, my waking thoughts lov'd object keep.
See while I speak, behold, I melt away!
Hafte thy ungrateful flight, nor thus delay!
Go, wing'd with speed, yet thy departure mourn,
And let thy hafte imply a swift return.

ON ST. PAUL'S CONVERSION.

PRAISE

RAISE to the power whose love's unerring dart
Transfix'd a SAUL, and rent his Jewish heart!
His darkness scatter'd and his mind inform'd,
While sweet remorfe his meting bofom warm'd.
Such was the man! whom mercy's eye fevere
Struck to the earth, and ftopt his mad career.
Bid him" arife"-and rifing from the ground,
"Go forth and preach the mercy he had found!"

PART

PART OF PSALM XC. PARAPHRASED.

N

O fooner time his hafty flight began, And the warm clod was moulded into man, Than man commenc'd his God's peculiar care, Fled to his arms, and fmil'd ferenely there : And the fame goodness and almighty power Beam on the race, which beam'd on one before. Before the skies their ambient arch display'd, Or the foundations of the world were laid, JEHOVAH fill'd his everlasting throne, In boundless blifs unrivall'd and alone: And when the fun forgets to rule the day, And nature's rolling wheels fhall cease to play, In undiminish'd pomp he fhall remain, And vaft eternity fhall be his reign.

Lord! as our lives were kindled by thy breath, So at thy pleasure we refign to death, Quit all the gay diftinctions once we wore, Sink to our duft, and rife to earth no more. The tedious travel of a thousand years Before thine all-enfolding view appears Short as the tranfient hours of yester-light, Or the laft watch that bolts the gates of night.

As rivers, fwoln with fierce descending rains, O'ertop their banks, and rufh into the plains, Bound, foam, and thunder with tempeftuous force, And spread refiftlefs ravage in their course,

So

So from life's careless walks with headlong fway
DEATH'S fudden torrent sweeps our lives away.

When fleep has hufh'd the day's fad cares to rest, What vain illufions revel in our breast!

Yet, big with truth, and weighty import, seem
The air-drefs'd phantoms of the shad'wy dream :
Thus through our span gay scenes of blifs beguile,
But vanity's the harveft of the toil.
[fkies,
As flow'rs, when morn's firft fplendors gild the
Charm in the dew-drops, and in verdure rife,
Só, while our race their youthful beauties wear,
Vigor and joy on every brow appear;
But, ere the fun withdraws his ev'ning ray,
They droop and wither in their last decay.
Urg'd by neceffity, with painful feet
The broken rock, and gloomy vale we beat,
Meet the dark frown of an offended God,
And groan beneath the vengeance of his rod.
Our fins that red with flagrant horrors rise,
Stretch to the lowest hell, and fcale the fkies,
Num'rous, as ftars that ftrew th' etherial plain,
Or fands that bound the billows of the main,
Stand all unfolded to JEHOVAH's fight,
Though wrapt from mortals in impervious night.

Admit it, heaven fhould check the ftroke of fate Till life protracted reach'd its utmost date, Or to the vital glass new fands fhould pour, Till, feventy winters paft, we fill'd the fcore, A weary pilgrimage we ftill must go, And pant beneath a growing load of woe;

Till

Till nature, with her toils and griefs oppreft,
Would figh impatient for the hour of reft.

O dread JEHOVAH, who can ever know
The weight of vengeance in thine angry brow?
Ev'n fear scarce images thy funds of ire,
And thought flies flower than thy darted fire.
Then teach me, Maker, the celestial skill
To measure life, and life's demands fulfil,
That death for me may take the feraph's charms,
And I enraptur'd rufh into his arms,
Shake off this cumb'rous clod, and wing my way
To a bleft manfion in the realms of day.

THOUGHTS IN HEALTH.

WHE

HEN ficknefs fhall affail my nobleft part, And rufh impetuous on my throbbing heart; When pain poffefs'd of every nerve appears, And nought but palenefs my fall'n vifage wears; When every earthly wifh fhall fade away, And death fhall chill the ftiff'ning corfe to clay; Do thou, GREAT GOD! in that furprizing hour, Sustain my foul by thy almighty power: Let faith, let hope, let ecftacy of love, Wing me to reach the blissful scenes above; To join the choir where each thy glory fings, And hail triumphant THEE, bleft KING of kings.

CHA

CHARITY.

I COR. CHAP. XIII. PARAPHRASED.

BY MR. PRIOR.

D1

ever

ID fweeter founds adorn my flowing tongue, Than ever man pronounc'd, or angel fung: Had I all knowledge, human and divine, That thought can reach, or science can define; And had I power to give that knowledge birth, In all the speeches of the babbling earth: Did Shadrach's zeal my glowing breast inspire, To weary tortures and rejoice in fire; Or had I faith like that which Ifrael faw, When Mofes gave them miracles, and law; Yet gracious CHARITY, indulgent guest, Were not thy power exerted in my breast, Those speeches would send up unheeded pray'r; That fcorn of life would be but wild defpair: A cymbal's found were better than my voice: My faith were form: my eloquence were noise. CHARITY, decent, modeft, easy, kind, Softens the high, and rears the abject mind; Knows with juft reins, and gentle hand to guide, Betwixt vile fhame, and arbitrary pride, Not foon provok'd, fhe eafily forgives : And much she suffers, as the much believes. Soft peace fhe brings where-ever she arrives; She builds our quiet, as the forms our lives :

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