What clouds can from discovery free!
What night, wherein thou canst not see!
The night would shine like day's clear flame,
Darkness and light, to thee the same.
Thou sift'st my reins, ev'n thoughts to come;
Thou cloth'dst me in my mother's womb.
Great God, that hast so strangely rais'd
This fabrick, be thou ever prais'd.
O full of admiration
Are these thy works! to me well known.
My bones were to thy view display'd,
When I in secret shades was made;
When wrought by thee with curious art,
As in the earth's inferiour part.
On me, an embryo, didst thou look,
My members written in thy book
Before they were; which perfect grew
In time, and open to the view.
Thy counsels admirable are,
And yet as infinite, as rare:
O could I number them, far more
Than sands upon the murmuring shore!
When I awake, thy works again
My thoughts with wonder entertain.
The wicked thou wilt surely kill,
Hence you, who blood with pleasure spill.
Their tongues thy majesty profane,
They take thy sacred name in vain :
Lord, hate not I thine enemies,
And grieve, when they against thee rise?
I hate them with a perfect hate,
And, as my foe, would ruinate.
Search and explore my heart; O try
My thoughts, and their integrity.
Behold, if I from virtue stray;
And lead in thy eternal way.
THOU, Lord, hast search'd me out, thine
Mark when I sit, and when I rise;
By thee my future thoughts are read;
Thou round my path, and round my bed
Attendest vigilant; each word,
Ere yet I speak, by thee is heard.
Life's maze, before my view outspread,
Within thy presence wrapt I tread,
And touch'd with conscious horror stand
Beneath the shadow of thy hand.
How deep thy knowledge, Lord, how wide!
Long to the fruitless task apply'd,
That mighty sea my thoughts explore,
Nor reach its depth, nor find its shore.
Where shall I shun thy wakeful eye,
Or whither from thy Spirit fly?
Aloft to heav'n my course I bear,
In vain; for thou, my God, art there;
If prone to hell my feet descend,
Thou still my footsteps shalt attend ;
If now, on swiftest wings upborne,
I seek the regions of the morn,
Or haste me to the western steep,
Where eve sits brooding o'er the deep,
Thy hand the fugitive shall stay,
And dictate to my steps their way.
Perchance within its thickest veil
The darkness shall my head conceal,
But, instant thou hast chas'd away
The gloom, and round me 'pour'd the day.
Darkness, great God, to thee there's none,
Darkness and light to thee are one ;
Nor brighter shines to thee display'd
The noon, than night's obscurest shade.
My reins, my fabrick's ev'ry part,
The wonders of thy plastic art
Proclaim, and prompt my willing tongue
To meditate the grateful' song;
With deepest awe my thought their frame
Surveys: "I tremble that I am."
While yet a stranger to the day
Within the burthen'd womb I lay,
My bones, familiar to thy view,
By just degrees to firmness grew:
Day to succeeding day consign'd
Th' unfinish'd birth; thy mighty mind
Each limb, each nerve, ere yet they were,
Contemplated distinct and clear;
Those nerves thy curious finger spun,
Those limbs it fashion'd one by one;
And, as thy pen in fair design
Trac'd on thy book each shadowy line,
Thy handmaid Nature read them there,
And made the growing work her care,
Conform'd it to th' unerring plan,
And gradual wrought me into man.
With what delight, great God, I trace
The acts of thy stupendous grace!
To count them, were to count the sand
That lies upon the sea-beat strand.
When from my temples sleep retires,
To thee my thankful heart aspires,
And with thy sacred presence blest,
Joys to receive the awful guest.
Shall impious men thy will withstand,
Nor feel the vengeance of thy hand?
Hence, murth'rers, hence, nor near me stay;
Ye sons of violence, away.
When lawless crowds with insult vain
Thy works revile, thy name profane,
Can I unmov'd those insults see,
Nor hate the wretch that hateth thee?
Indignant, in thy cause I join,
And all thy foes, my God, are mine.
Searcher of hearts, my thoughts review;
With kind severity pursue
Through each disguise thy servant's mind,
Nor leave one stain of guilt behind:
Guide through th' eternal path my feet,
And bring me to thy blissful seat.
My God, accept my early vows,
Like morning incense in thine house;
And let my nightly worship rise,
Sweet as the ev'ning sacrifice.
Watch o'er my lips, and guard them, Lord,
From ev'ry rash and heedless word;
Nor let my feet incline to tread,
The guilty path where sinners lead.
O may the righteous, when I stray,
Smite and reprove my wand'ring way!
Their gentle words, like ointment shed,
Shall never bruise, but cheer my head.
|