LONG FOR HIS RETURN.

O'TWAS a mournful parting day!
Farewell, my spouse, he said;
(How tedious, Lord, is thy delay!
How long my Love hath staid!)

Farewell! at once he left the ground,
And climb'd his Father's sky:
Lord, I would tempt thy chariot down,
Or leap to thee on high.

Round the creation wild I rove,

And search the globe in vain ; There's nothing here that's worth

Till thou return again.

My passions fly to seek their King,
And send their groans abroad,
They beat the air with heavy wing
And mourn an absent God:

my love

With inward pain my heart-strings sound, My soul dissolves away,

Dear Sovereign, whirl the seasons round,

And bring the promis'd day.

HOPE IN DARKNESS.

YET, gracious God,

Yet will I seek thy smiling face;

What though a short eclipse his beauties shroud, And bar the influence of his rays,

"Tis but a morning vapour, or a summer cloud : He is my sun, though he refuse to shine,

Though for a moment he depart

I dwell for ever on his heart,

For ever he on mine.

Early before the light arise
I'll spring a thought away to God;
The passion of my heart and eyes
Shall shout a thousand groans and sighs,
A thousand glances strike the skies,

The floor of his abode.

Dear Sovereign, hear thy servant pray,
Bend the blue heavens, eternal King,
Downward thy cheerful graces bring;

Or shall I breathe in vain and pant my hours away?
Break, glorious Brightness thro' the gloomy veil,
Look, how the armies of despair

Aloft their sooty banners rear

Round my poor captive soul, and dare

Pronounce me prisoner of hell.

But thou, my Sun, and thou, my Shield,

Wilt save me in the bloody field;

Break, glorious Brightness, shoot one glimmering

ray,

One glance of thine creates a day,

And drives the troops of hell away.

Happy the times, but ah! the times are gone
When wondrous power and radiant grace
Round the tall arches of the temple shone,
And mingled their victorious rays:
Sin, with all its ghastly train,
Fled to the deeps of death again,
And smiling triumph sat on every face:

Our spirits, raptur'd with the sight,

Were all devotion, all delight,

And loud hosannas sounded the Redeemer's praise.

(And point the place whereon I stood)
Here I enjoy'd a visit half the day
From my descending God:

I was regal'd with heavenly fare,
With fruit and manna from above;
Divinely sweet the blessings were
While mine Emmanuel was there:
And o'er the head

The conqueror spread
The banner of his love.

Then why my heart sunk down so low? Why do my eyes dissolve and flow,

And hopeless nature mourn?

Review, my soul, those pleasing days,
Read his unalterable grace
Through the displeasure of his face,
And wait a kind return.

A father's love may raise a frown
To chide the child, or prove the son,
But love will ne'er destroy;

The hour of darkness is but short,
Faith be thy life, and patience thy support,
The morning brings the joy.

COME, LORD JESUS.

WHEN shall thy lovely face be seen?
When shall our eyes behold our God?
What lengths of distance lie between,
And hills of guilt; a heavy load!

Our months are ages of delay,
And slowly every minute wears:
Fly, winged time, and roll away

These tedious rounds of sluggish years.

HORE LYRICE.

Ye heavenly gates, loose all your chains,
Let the eternal pillars bow;

Blest Saviour, cleave the starry plains,
And make the crystal mountains flow.

Hark, how thy saints unite their cries,
And pray and wait the general doom;
Come, thou, the Soul of all our joys,
Thou, the desire of nations, come.

Put thy bright robes of triumph on,
And bless our eyes, and bless our ears,
Thou absent Love, thou dear Unknown,
Thou fairest of ten thousand fairs.

Our heart-strings groan with deep complaint,
Our flesh lies panting, Lord, for thee,

And every limb, and every joint,
Stretches for immortality.

Our spirits shake their eager wings,
And burn to meet their flying throne;
We rise away from mortal things

To attend thy shining chariot down.

Now let our cheerful eyes survey

The blazing earth and melting hills,
And smile to see the lightnings play,
And flash along before thy wheels.