While sinners, who grow old in sin,
Are harden'd in their crimes.
4. "Twill save us from a thousand snares,
To mind religion young;
It will preserve our foll'wing years,
And make our virtue strong.
5. To thee, Almighty God! to thee
Our childhood we resign;
"Twill please us to look back, and see
That our whole lives were thine.
6. Let the sweet work of prayer and praise
Employ our youngest breath;
Thus we're prepar'd for longer days,
Or fit for early death.
SECTION III.
Peace and love recommended.
1. LET dogs delight to bark and bite ;
For God has made them so:
Let bears and lions growl and fight;
For 'tis their nature too.
2. But, children, you should never let
Such angry passions rise;
Your little hands were never made
To tear each other's eyes.
3. Let love through all your actions run,
And all your words be mild;
Live like God's well beloved Son,
That sweet and lovely child.
4. His soul was gentle as a lamb;
And as in age he grew,
He grew in favour both with man,
And God his Father too.
5. The Lord of all who reigns above
Does from his heav'nly throne,
Behold what children dwell in love,
And marks them for his own.
To a young woman with a Watch.
1. WHILE this gay toy attracts thy sight,
Thy reason let it warm;
And seize, my dear, that rapid time,
That never must return.
2. If idly lost, no art or care
The blessing can restore;
And Heav'n requires a strict account
For every mispent hour.
3. Short is our longest day of life,
And soon its prospect ends;
Yet on that day's uncertain date,
Eternity depends.
4. But equal to our being's aim,
'The space to virtue giv'n;
And every minute well improv'd,
Secures an age in heav'n.
Verses accompanying a Nosegay.
1. THOU canst not steal the rose's bloom, To decorate thy face;
But the sweet blush of modesty,
Will lend an equal grace.
2. These violets scent the distant gale ;
(They grew in lowly bed ;)
So real worth new merit gains,
By diffidence o'erspread.
3. Nor wilt thou e'er that lily's white,
In thy complexion find;
Yet innocence may shine as fair,
Within thy spotless mind.
4. Now, in the opening spring of life,
Let every flow'ret bloom:
The budding virtues in thy breast,
Shall yield the best perfume.
5. This nosegay, in thy bosom plac'd,
A moral may convey:
For soon its brightest tints shall fade,
And all its sweets decay.
6. So short liv'd are the lovely tribes
Of Flora's transient reign:
They bud, blow, wither, fall, and die,
Then turn to earth again.
7. And thus, my dear, must every charm,
Which youth is proud to share,
Alike this quick succession prove,
And the same truth declare.
8. Sickness will change the roseate hué,
Which glowing health bespeaks;
And age will wrinkle with its cares,
The smile on beauty's cheeks.
9. But as that fragrant myrtle wreath,
Will all the rest survive;
So shall the mental graces still,
Through endless ages live.
Duties of the morning.
1. SEE the time for sleep has run ;
Rise before or with the sun.
Lift thy hands, and humbly pray,
The fountain of eternal day,
That as the light serenely fair,
Illumines all the tracts of air;
The sacred spirit so may rest,
With quick'ning beams upon thy breast;
And kindly clean it all within,
From darker blemishes of sin;
And shine with grace until we view
The realm it gilds with glory too.
2. See the day that dawns in air,
Brings along its toil and care.
From the lap of night it springs,
With heaps of business on its wings:
Prepare to meet them in a mind,
That bows submissively resign'd:
That would to works appointed fall;
That knows that God has order'd all,
3. And whether, with a small repast,
We break the sober morning fast;
Or in our thoughts and houses lay
The future methods of the day;
Or early walk abroad to meet
Our business with industrious feet:
Whate'er we think, whate'er we do,
His glory still be kept in view.
4. O, Giver of eternal bliss,
Heav'nly Father, grant me this!
Grant it to all, as well as me,
All whose hearts are fix'd on thee;
Who revere the Son above;
Who thy sacred Spirit love!
SECTION VII.
The mind to be cultivated.
1. HEAR, ye fair mothers of our isle,
Nor scorn your poet's homely style.
What though my thoughts be quaint or new,
I'll warrant that my doctrine's true:
Or if my sentiments be old,
Remember, truth is sterling gold.
2. You judge it of important weight,
To keep your rising offspring straight?
For this such anxious moments feel,
And ask the friendly aid of steel;
For this import the distant cane,
Or slay the monarch of the main.
3. And shall the soul be warp'd aside,
By passion, prejudice, and pride?
Deformity of heart I call
The worst deformity of all.
4. Your cares to body are confin'd;
Few fear obliquity of mind.
Why not adorn the better part?
This is a nobler theme for art.
For what is form, or what is face,
But the soul's index, or its case?
5. Now take a simile at hand;
Compare the mental soil to land.
Shall fields be till'd with annual care
And minds lie fallow every year?
O! since the crop depends on you,
Give them the culture which is due;
Hoe every weed, and dress the soil;
So harvest shall repay your toil.
6. If human minds resemble trees,
(As every moralist agrees,)
Prune all the stragglers of your vine ;
Then shall the purple clusters shine..
The gard'ner knows, that fruitful life
Demands his salutary knife:
For every wild luxuriant shoot,
Or robs the bloom, or starves the fruit.
SECTION VIII.
Dependence on Providence.
1. REGARD the world with cautious eye,
Nor raise your expectation high.
See that the balanc'd scales be such,
You neither fear nor hope too much.
For disappointment's not the thing;
"Tis pride and passion point the sting.
2. Life is a sea where storms must rise i
'Tis folly talks of cloudless skies:
He who contracts his swelling sail,
Eludes the fury of the gale.
3. Be still, nor anxious thoughts employ,
Distrust embitters present joy;
On God for all events depend;
You cannot want when God's your
Weigh well your part, and do your best;
Leave to your Maker all the rest.
4. The hand which formed thee in the womb,
Guides from the cradle to the tomb.
Can the fond mother slight her boy?
Can she forget her prattling joy?
Say then shall sov'reign love desert
The humble and the honest heart?
5. Heav'n may not grant thee all thy mind;
Yet say not thou that Heav'n's unkind.
God is alike, both good and wise,
In what he grants, and what denies :
Perhaps what Goodness gives to-day,
To-morrow, Goodness takes away.
6. You say, that troubles intervene ;
That sorrows darken half the scene.
True; and this consequence you see,
The world was ne'er design'd for thee;
You're like a passenger below,
That stays perhaps a night or so!
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