2 If, mounted on a morning ray,

I fly beyond the western sea,
Thy swifter hand would first arrive,

And there arrest thy fugitive.
3 Or should I try to shun thy sight

Beneath the spreading veil of night,
One glance of thine, one piercing ray,

Would kindle darkness into day. 4 The veil of night is no disguise,

No screen from thy all-searching eyes;
Thy hand can seize thy foes as soon

Through midnight shades as blazing noon. 5 O, may these thoughts possess my breast,

Where'er I rove, where'er I rest !
Nor let my weaker passions dare
Consent to sin, for God is there.

75

C. M.

J. Q. Adams.

Ps. 139.

1 O LORD, thy all-discerning eyes

My inmost purpose see;
My deeds, my words, my thoughts arise

Alike disclosed to thee :
My sitting down, my rising up,

Broad noon, and deepest night,
My path, my pillow, and my cup,

Are open to thy sight.
2 Before, behind, I meet thine eye,

And feel thy heavy hand ;
Such knowledge is for me too high,

To reach or understand :

What of thy wonders can I know?

What of thy purpose see?
Where from thy spirit shall I go?

Where from thy presence flee? 3 If I ascend to heaven on high,

Or make my bed in hell ;
Or take the morning's wings, and fly

O’er ocean's bounds to dwell;
Or seek, from thee, a hiding-place

Amid the gloom of night,
Alike to thee are time and space,

The darkness and the light.

76

S. M.

WATTS.

Wisdom. Prov. viïi.

1 SHALL Wisdom cry aloud,

And not her speech be heard ?
The voice of God's eternal word,

Deserves it no regard ? 2 "I was his chief delight,

His everlasting Son,
Before the first of all his works,

Creation, was begun.
3 “Before the flying clouds,

Before the solid land,
Before the fields, before the floods,

I dwelt at his right hand. 4.6 When he adorned the skies,

And built them, I was there,
To order when the sun should rise,

And marshal every star.

5 “ When he poured out the sea,

And spread the flowing deep,
I gave the flood a firm decree,

In its own bounds to keep.
6 “Then come, receive my grace,

Ye children, and be wise:
Happy the man that keeps my ways;

The man that shuns them dies."

77
C. M.

WATTS. Creating Wisdom. 1 ETERNAL Wisdom ! thee we praise ;

Thee the creation sings ; With thy loud name rocks, hills, and seas,

And heaven's high palace, rings. 2 Thy hand, how wide it spread the sky!

How glorious to behold!
Tinged with a blue of heavenly dye,

And starred with sparkling gold! 3 The noisy winds stand ready there

Thy orders to obey ; With sounding wings they sweep the air,

To make thy chariot way. 4 There, like a trumpet loud and strong,

Thy thunder shakes our coast, While the red lightnings wave along

The banners of thine host.
5 The rolling mountains of the deep

Observe thy strong command;
Thy breath can raise the billows steep,

Or sink them to the sand.

6 Thy glories blaze all nature round,

And strike the gazing sight,
Through skies, and seas, and solid ground,

With terror and delight.
7 Infinite strength and equal skill

Shine through the worlds abroad, Our souls with vast amazement fill,

And speak the builder God.

C. M.

78

WATTS. The Wisdom of God in his Works. Ps. 111. 1 SONGS of immortal praise belong

To my Almighty God;
He has my heart, and he my tongue,

To spread his name abroad. 2 How great the works his hand has wrought !

How glorious in our sight!
And men in every age have sought

His wonders with delight.
3 How most exact is nature's frame!

How wise the Eternal Mind !
His counsels never change the scheme

That his first thoughts designed.
4 Nature, and time, and earth, and skies,

Thy heavenly skill proclaim ;
What shall we do to make us wise,

But learn to read thy name?
5 To fear thy power, to trust thy grace,

Is our divinest skill ;
And he's the wisest of our race

That best obeys thy will.

79
C. M.

WATTS. The Wisdom of God in the Formation of Man. Ps. 139. 1 WHEN I, with pleasing wonder, stand,

And all my frame survey,
Lord, 'tis thy work ; I own thy hand

Thus built my humble clay.
2 Thy hand my heart and reins possessed,

Where unborn nature grew;
Thy wisdom all my features traced,

And all my members drew.
3 Thine eye, with nicest care, surveyed

The growth of every part,
Till the whole scheme thy thoughts had laid

Was copied by thy art. 4 Heaven, earth, and sea, and fire, and wind,

Show me thy wondrous skill;
But I review myself, and find

Diviner wonders still.
5 Thy awful glories round me shine;

My flesh proclaims thy praise ;
Lord, to thy works of nature join

Thy miracles of grace.

80
L. M.

WATTS.
The Greatness of God. Ps. 145.
1 MY God, my King, thy various praise

Shall fill the remnant of my days,
Thy grace employ my humble tongue,
Till death and glory raise the song.