What most imbitters time, that most

Eternity endears,
And thus, by plunging in diitress,

Exalts us to the spheres ;
Joy's fountain head! where bliss o'er bliss,

O'er wonders wonders rise,
And an Omnipotence prepares

Its banquet for the wise :
Ambrosial banquet! rich in wines

Nectareous to the soul !
What transports sparkle from the stream,

As angels fill the bowl!
Fountain profuse of every bliss !

Good-will immense prevails;
Man's line can't fathom its profound ;

An angel’s plummet fails.
Thy love and might, by what they know,

Who judge, nor dream of more ;
They ask a drop, how deep the fea!

One sand, how wide the shore !
Of thy exuberant good-will,

Offended Deity!
The thousandth part who compréhends,

A deity is He.
How yonder ample azure field

With radiant worlds is sown !
How tubes astonish us with those

More deep in æther thrown !

And

And those beyond of brighter worlds

Why not a million more?In lieu of answer, let us all

Fall prostrate, and adore.
Since thou art infinite in power,

Nor thy indulgence less;
Since man, quite impotent and blind,

Oft drops into distress ;
Say, what is Resignation ? 'Tis

Man's weakness understood ;
And wisdom grasping, with an hand

Far stronger, every good.
Let rash repiners stand appallid,

In Thee who dare not trust;
Whose abject fouls, like demons dark,

Are murmuring in the dust :
For man to murmur, or repine

At what by Thee is done,
No less absurd, than to complain

Of darkness in the sun.
Who would not, with an heart at ease,

Bright eye, unclouded brow,
Wisdom and goodness at the helm,

The roughest ocean plough?
What, though I 'm swallow'd in the deep?

Though mountains o’er me roar?
Jehovah reigns ! as Jonah safe,
I'm landed, and adore :

K 2

Thy

Thy will is welcome, let it wear

Its most tremendous form;
Roar, waves; rage, winds! I know, that Thou

Canst save me by a storm.
From Thee immortal spirits born,

To Thee, their fountain, flow,
If wise; as curl'd around to theirs

Meandering streams below :
Not less compell’d by Reason's call,

To Thee our souls aspire,
Than to thy skies, by nature's law,

High mounts material fire ;
To Thee aspiring they exult;

I feel my spirits rise,
I feel myself thy son, and pant

For patrimonial skies :
Since ardent thirst of future good,

And generous sense of past,
To Thee man's prudence strongly ties,

And binds affection fast;
Since great thy love, and great our want,

And men the wifest blind,
And bliss our aim; pronounce us all

Distracted, or resign'd;
Refign'd through duty, intereft, shame;

Deep Name ! dare I complain,
When (wondrous Truth!) in heaven itself

Joy ow'd its birth to pain ?

And

And pain for me! for me was drain'd

Gall's overflowing bowl ;
And fall one drop to murmur bold

Provoke my guilty soul ?
If pardon'd this, what cause, what crime

Can indignation raise ?
The sun was lighted up to shine,

And man was born to praise ;
And when to praise the man shall cease,

Or fun to strike the view;
A cloud dishonours both ; but man 's

The blacker of the two :
For oh! Ingratitude how black !

With most profound amaze
At love, which man belov'd o’erlooks,

Astonish d angels gaze.
Praise chears, and warms, like generous wine ;

Praise, more divine than prayer ;
Prayer points our ready path to heaven;

Praise is already there.
Let plausive Resignation rise,

And banish all complaint;
All virtues thronging into one,

It finishes the saint;
Makes the man bless’d, as man can be ; .

Life's labours renders light;
Darts beams through fate's incumbent gloom,
And lights our fun by night;

'Tis

K 3

'Tis nature's brightest ornament,

The richest gift of grace,
Rival of angels, and supreme

Proprietor of peace ;
Nay, peace beyond, no small degree

Of rapture 't will impart;
Know, Madam! when your heart 's in heaven,

“ All heaven is in your heart."
But who to heaven their hearts can raise ?

Deny'd divine support,
All virtue dies ; support divine

The wise with ardour court :
When prayer partakes the seraph's fire,

'Tis mounted on his wing, Bursts through heaven's crystal gates, and gains

Sure audience of its King :
The labouring foul from fore distress

That bless’d expedient frees;
I see
you

far advanc'd in peace ;
I see you on your knees :
How on that posture has the beam

Divine for ever shone !
An humble heart, God's * other feat!

The rival of his throne :
And stoops Omnipotence fo low?

And condescends to dwell,
Eternity's inhabitant,

Well pleas’d, in such a cell ?

Such

* Isaiah lvii. 15.