Thy love beheld the black design,
Thy love that guards our island round;
Strange! how it quench'd the fiery mine,
And crush'd the tempest under ground.

THE SECOND PART.

ASSUME, my tongue, a nobler strain,
Sing the new wonders of the Lord;
The foes revive their powers again,
Again they die beneath his sword.

Dark as our thoughts our minutes roll,
While tyranny possess'd the throne,
And murderers of an Irish soul

Ran, threatening death, through every town.

The Roman priest, and British prince,
Join'd their best force, and blackest charms,
And the fierce troops of neighbouring France
Offer'd the service of their arms.

""Tis done," they cry'd, and laugh'd aloud,
The courts of darkness rang with joy,
The old Serpent hiss'd, and hell grew proud,
While Zion mourn'd her ruin nigh.

But lo, the great Deliverer sails,
Commission'd from Jehovah's hand,
And smiling seas, and wishing gales
Convey him to the longing land.

The happy day,1 and happy year,
Both in our new salvation meet:

The day that quench'd the burning snare,
The year
that burnt the invading fleet.

Now did thine arm, O God of Hosts, Now did thine arm shine dazzling bright, The sons of might their hands had lost, And men of blood forgot to fight.

Brigades of angels lin❜d the way,
And guarded William to his throne.
There, ye celestial warriors, stay,
And make his palace like your own.

Then, mighty God, the Earth shall know
And learn the worship of the sky;
Angels and Britons join below,
To raise their hallelujahs high.

All hallelujah, heavenly King;
While distant lands thy victory sing,
And tongues their utmost powers employ,
The world's bright roof repeats the joy.

1 Nov. 5, 1688.

2 Nov. 5, 1588.

THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE.

FAR in the heavens my God retires, My God, the mark of my desires, And hides his lovely face; When he descends within my view, He charms my reason to pursue, But leaves it tir'd and fainting in the unequal

chase.

Or if I reach unusual height

Till near his presence brought,

There floods of glory check my flight,

Cramp the bold pinions of my wit,

And all untune my thought;

Plung'd in a sea of light I roll,

Where wisdom, justice, mercy, shines;

Infinite rays in crossing lines

Beat thick confusion on my sight, and overwhelm my soul.

Come to my aid, ye fellow-minds,

And help me reach the throne;
(What single strength, in vain designs,
United force hath done;

Thus worms may join, and grasp the poles,
Thus atoms fill the sea)

But the whole race of creature-souls

Stretch'd to their last extent of thought, plunge and are lost in thee.

Great God! behold my reason lies
Adoring; yet my love would rise
On pinions not her own;

Faith shall direct her humble flight,

Through all the trackless seas of light, To thee, the eternal Fair, the infinite Unknown,

DEATH AND ETERNITY.

My thoughts that often mount the skies,
Go, search the world beneath,
Where nature in all ruin lies,

And owns her sovereign, death.

The tyrant, how he triumphs here!
His trophies spread around!
And heaps of dust and bones appear
Through all the hollow ground.

These skulls, what ghastly figures now!
How loathsome to the eyes!

These are the heads we lately knew

So beauteous and so wise.

But where the souls, those deathless things, That left his dying clay?

My thoughts, now stretch out all your wings, And trace eternity.

O that unfathomable sea!

Those deeps without a shore! Where living waters gently play, Or fiery billows roar.

Thus must we leave the banks of life,
And try this doubtful sea;

Vain are our groans, and dying strife,
To gain a moment's stay.

There we shall swim in heavenly bliss,
Or sink in flaming waves,

While the pale carcass thoughtless lies,
Among the silent graves.

Some hearty friend shall drop his tear,
On our dry bones, and say,

"These once were strong, as mine appear,
"And mine must be as they."