Quarter'd therewith was innocence;
And thus his motto ran:
"A conscience void of all offence Before both God and man."
In the great day of wrath, tho' pride
Now scorns his pedigree,
Thousands shall wish they'd been allied
To this great family.
WHEN Christ among the sons of men,
In humble form was found,
With cruel slanders false and vain,
He was encompass'd round.
The woes of men his pity mov'd;
Their peace he still pursued;
They render'd hatred for his love,
And evil for his good.
Their malice rag'd without a cause,
Yet, with his dying breath,
He pray'd for murd'rers on his cross,
And bless'd his foes in death.
From the rich fountain of his love,
What streams of mercy flow!
"Father, forgive them," Jesus cries,
"They know not what they do."
Let not this bright example shine
In vain before our eyes!
Give us, great God, a soul like his
To love our enemies.
ALL NATURE ATTESTS THE GREAT CREATOR.
HAST thou beheld the glorious sun,
Through all the sky his circuit run,
At rising morn, at closing day,
And when he beam'd his noontide ray
Say, did'st thou e'er attentive view
The ev❜ning cloud, or morning dew?
Or, after rain, the wat❜ry bow
Rise in the east a beauteous show?
When darkness had o'erspread the skies,
Hast thou e'er seen the moon arise;
And with a mild and placid light,
Shed lustre o'er the face of night?
Hast thou e'er wander'd o'er the plain,
And view'd the fields and waving grain;
The flow'ry mead, the leafy grove,
Where all is melody and love?
Hast thou e'er trod the sandy shore,
And heard the restless ocean roar,
When rous'd by some tremendous storm,
Its billows roll in dreadful form.
Hast thou beheld the lightning stream,
Thro' night's dark gloom with sudden gleam; While the bellowing thunder's sound,
Roll'd rattling through the heav'ns profound?
Hast thou e'er felt the cutting gale,
The sleety show'r, the biting hail;
Beheld bright snow o'erspread the plains;
The water, bound in icy chains ?
Hast thou the various beings seen,
That sport along the valley green;
That sweetly warble on the spray,
Or wanton in the sunny ray :
That shoot along the briny deep,
Or under ground their dwellings keep;
That thro' the gloomy forest range,
Or frightful wilds and deserts strange?
Hast thou the wond'rous scenes survey'd,
That all around thee are display'd?
And hast thou never rais'd thine eyes
TO HIM who caus'd these scenes to rise?
"Twas GOD who form'd the concave sky,
And all the shining orbs on high;
Who gave the various beings birth,
That people all the spacious earth.
"Tis he that bids the tempest rise,
And rolls the thunder through the skies,
His voice the elements obey :
Thro' all the earth extends his sway.
His goodness all his creatures share :
But man is his peculiar care.
Then, while all proclaim his praise,
Let man his voice the loudest raise.
GENTLE TEMPER OF GREAT IMPORTANCE TO THE HAPPINESS OF LIFE
SINCE trifles make the sum of human things,
And half our mis'ry from our foibles springs;
Since life's best joys consist in peace and ease,
And few can save, or serve, but all can please ;
Oh! let th' ungentle spirit learn from hence,
A small unkindness is a great offence.
Large bounties to bestow, we wish in vain ;
But all may shun the guilt of giving pain.
To bless mankind with tides of flowing wealth,
With pow'r to grace them or to crown with health,
Our little lot denies; but Heav'n deerees
To all the gift of minist'ring to ease,
The gentle offices of patient love,
Beyond all flatt'ry, and all price above;
The mild-forbearance of another's fault;
The taunting word suppress'd as soon as thought.
On these Heav'n bade the sweets of life depend;
And crush'd ill fortune when it made a friend.
A solitary blessing few can find ;
Our joys with those we love are intertwin'd:
And he whose wakeful tenderness removes
Th' obstructing thorn which wounds the friend he loves,
Smooths not another's rugged path alone,
But scatters roses to adorn his own.
Small slights, contempt, neglect, unmix'd with hate, Make up in number what they want in weight: These and a thousand griefs, minute as these, Corrode our comfort and destroy our peace.
HAIL, artless Simplicity, beautiful maid,
In the genuine attractions of nature array'd:
Let the rich and the proud, and the gay and the vain,
Still laugh at the graces that move in thy train.
No charm in thy modest allurements they find;
The pleasures they follow a sting leave behind.
Can criminal passions enrapture the breast,
Like virtue, with peace and serenity blest?
O would you Simplicity's precepts attend,
Like us with delight at her altar you'd bend ;
The pleasures she yields would with joy be embrac'd ;
You'd practise from virtue, and love them from taste.
The linnet enchants us the bushes among,
Tho' cheap the musician, yet sweet is the song ;
We catch the soft warbling in air as it floats,
And with ecstacy hang on the ravishing notes.
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