Divine and moral songs, attempted in easy language, for the use of children

PITY the sorrows of a poor old man,

Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door, Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span;

O! give relief, and heav'n will bless your store.

These tatter'd clothes my poverty bespeak,

These hoary locks proclaim my lengthen'd years;
And many a furrow in my grief-worn cheek
Has been the channel to a flood of tears.

Yon house erected on the rising ground,
With tempting aspect drew me from my road;
For Plenty there a residence has found,
And Grandeur a magnificent abode.

Hard is the fate of the infirm and poor;
Here, as I crav'd a morsel of their bread,
A pamper'd menial drove me from the door,
To seek a shelter in a humbler shed.

O! take me to your hospitable dome;

Keen blows the wind, and piercing is the cold;

Short is my passage to the friendly tomb,
For I am poor, and miserably old.

Should I reveal the sources of my grief,

If soft Humanity e'er touch'd your breast,
Your hands would not withold the kind relief,
And tears of pity would not be represt.

Heav'n sends misfortunes; why should we repine?
'Tis heaven has brought me to the state you see;
And your condition may be soon like mine,
The child of Sorrow and of Misery.

A little farm was my paternal lot;

Then, like the lark, I sprightly hail'd the morn:
But, ah! Oppression forc'd me from my cot,
My cattle dy'd, and blighted was my corn.

My daughter, once the comfort of my age,
Lur'd by a villain from ner native home,
Is cast abandon'd on the world's wide stage,
And doom'd in scanty poverty to roam.
My tender wife, sweet soother of my care,
Struck with sad anguish at the stern decree,
Fell, ling'ring fell, a victim to despair,

And left the world to wretchedness and me.

Pity the sorrows of a poor old man,

Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door, Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span;

O! give relief, and heav'n will bless your store.

Song

1 A General Song of Praise to God

2 Praise for Creation and Providence

3 Praise to God for our Redemption

4 Praise for Mercies spiritual and temporal

5 Praise for Birth and Education in a Christian Land.

6 Praise for the Gospel

7 The Excellency of the Bible