And will the Eternal Power divine,

Whose throne is light's unbounded blaze, While countless worlds and angels join To swell the varying song of praise.

Oh, will he lend the listening ear,

When abject mortals feebly pray? The feeblest pray'r he stoops to hear, .Nor casts the meanest wretch away.

Then, let me serve thee all my days, Whilst love and zeal with years increase į For pleasant, Lord, are all thy ways; Jehovah all thy paths are peace,

VERSES FOR THE EVENING.

SOFT season of repose,

Thy sable curtains spread ;

Come, downy sleep, and stretch thy wings Around my weary head.

But ah! the lawless range

With which my thoughts have stray'd;

Through mazy paths of sense and sin,
From morn to evening's shade.

Ah! born to nobler ends,

My soul no more pursue These fleeting vanities of life, But bid the world adieu.

Thy pity, gracious God,
Thy pardon I implore;

Oh, heal these follies of my mind,
And aid me with thy pow'r.
Be thou my friendly guard,
While slumb'ring on my bed;
And with thy sacred teachings fill
The visions of my head.

Devoted to thy fear,

Thy service and thy praise;

My God, I would be wholly thine,
The remnant of my days.

VERSES FOR THE NEW YEAR.

WHILE, with ceaseless course,

the sun

Hasted through the former year, Many souls their race have run, Never more to meet us here:

Fix'd in an eternal state,

They have done with all below;

We a little longer wait,

But how little, none can know.

As the winged arrow flies,

Speedily the mark to find,

As the light'ning from the skies

Darts, and leaves no trace behind;

Swiftly thus our fleeting days
Bear us down life's rapid stream;
Upwards, Lord, our spirits raise,
All below is but a dream.

Thanks for mercies past receive;
Pardon of our sins renew;
Teach us, henceforth, how to live,
With eternity in view:

Bless thy word to young and old,
Fill us with a Saviour's love;
And when life's short tale is told,
May we dwell with thee above.

ON THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

THE Spirit breathes upon the word,
And brings the truth to sight;
Precepts and promises afford
A sancifying light.

A glory gilds the sacred page,
Majestic like the sun;

It gives a light to every age,-
It gives but borrows none.

The hand that gave thee, st Il supplies
The gracious light and heat,

His truths upon the nations rise,

They rise, but never set.

L 3

Let everlasting thanks be thine,
For such a bright display,

As makes a world of darkness shine,
With beams of heavenly day.

My soul rejoices to pursue
The steps of him I love,
Till glory breaks upon my view,
In brighter worlds above.

ON THE DEATH OF A CHILD.

LIFE is a span, a fleeting hour;
How soon the vapour flies!
Man is a tender transient flower,
That e'en in blooming dies.

Death spreads like winter's frozen arms,
And beauty smiles no more ;

Ah! where are now those rising charms,
Which pleased our eyes before.

The once lov'd form now cold and dead,
Each mournful thought employs ;
And nature weeps her comforts fled,
And wither'd all her joys.

But wait the interposing gloom,

Behold! stern winter flies;

And drest in beauty's fairest bloom,
The flowery tribes arise.

Hope looks beyond the bounds of time;
When what we now deplore,
Shall rise in full immortal prime,

And bloom to fade no more.

Cease then, fond nature, cease thy tears,
Religion points on high;

There everlasting spring appears,

And joys that cannot die.

LET ME GO, FOR THE DAY BREAKETH.

CEASE here longer to detain me,

Fondest mother, drown'd in woe,
Now thy kind caresses pain me,
Morn advances-let me go.

See yon orient streak appearing,
Harbinger of endless day,

Hark! a voice the darkness cheering,
Calls my new-born soul away.

Lately launched, a trembling stranger,
On the world's wild boisterous flood,
Pierc'd, with sorrows, toss'd with danger,
Gladly I return to God.

Now my cries shall cease to grieve thee,
Now my trembling heart find rest;
Kinder arms than thine receive me,
Softer pillow than thy breast.