"Jesus, the God whom angels fear,
"Comes down to dwell with you;
"To-day he makes his entrance here,
"But not as monarchs do.

"No gold, nor purple swaddling-bands, "Nor royal shining things; "A manger for his cradle stands, "And holds the King of kings.

"Go, shepherds, where the infant lies, "And see his humble throne; "With tears of joy in all your eyes, "Go, shepherds, kiss the Son."

Thus Gabriel sang, and straight around,
The heavenly armies throng,
They tune their harps to lofty sound,
And thus conclude the song:

"Glory to God, that reigns above, "Let peace surround the earth; "Mortals shall know their Maker's love, "At their Redeemer's birth."

Lord! and shall angels have their songs,
And men no tunes to raise ?

O may we lose these useless tongues
When they forget to praise!

Glory to God that reigns above,

That pitied us forlorn,

We join to sing our Maker's love,

For there's a Saviour born.

GOD GLORIOUS, AND SINNERS SAVED.

FATHER, how wide thy glory shines!
How high thy wonders rise!

Known through the earth by thousand signs,
By thousand through the skies.

Those mighty orbs proclaim thy power,

Their motions speak thy skill;

And on the wings of every hour,
We read thy patience still.

Part of thy name divinely stands
On all thy creatures writ,

They shew the labour of thine hands,
Or impress of thy feet.

But when we view thy strange design
To save rebellious worms,

Where vengeance and compassion join
In their divinest forms;

Our thoughts are lost in reverend awe:

We love and we adore;

The first archangel never saw

So much of God before.

Here the whole Deity is known,

Nor dares a creature guess Which of the glories brightest shone, The justice or the grace.

When sinners broke the Father's laws,

The dying Son atones;
Oh, the dear mysteries of his cross!
The triumph of his groans!

Now the full glories of the Lamb
Adorn the heavenly plains;

Sweet cherubs learn Immanuel's name,
And try their choicest strains.

may

I bear some humble part

In that immortal song!

Wonder and joy shall tune my heart
And love command my tongue.

2

THE HUMBLE ENQUIRY.

A FRENCH SONNET IMITATED. 1695.

"Grand Dieu, tes Jugemens." &c.

GRACE rules below, and sits enthron'd above, How few the sparks of wrath! how slow they move, And drop and die in boundless seas of love!

But me, vile wretch! should pitying love embrace
Deep in its ocean, hell itself would blaze,
And flash and burn me thro' the boundless seas.

Yea, Lord, my guilt to such a vastness grown
Seems to confine thy choice to wrath alone,
And calls thy power to vindicate thy throne.

Thine honour bids, "Avenge thy injur'd name,"
Thy slighted loves a dreadful glory claim,
While my moist tears might but incense thy flame.

Should heaven grow black, almighty thunder roar, And vengeance blast me, I could plead no more, But own thy justice, dying, and adore.

Yet can those bolts of death that cleave the flood To reach a rebel, pierce this sacred shroud, Tinged in the vital stream of my Redeemer's blood?

THE PENITENT PARDONED.

HENCE from my soul, my sins, depart,
Your fatal friendship now I see;

Long have you dwelt too near my heart,
Hence, to eternal distance flee.

Ye gave my dying Lord his wound,
Yet I caressed your viperous brood,
And in my heart-strings lapped you round,
You, the vile murderers of my God.

Black heavy thoughts, like mountains, roll O'er my poor breast, with boding fears, And crushing hard my tortured soul, Wring through my eyes the briny tears.

Forgive my treasons, Prince of grace!
The bloody Jews were traitors too,
Yet thou hast pray'd for that curs'd race,
"Father, they know not what they do."

Great Advocate, look down and see
A wretch, whose smarting sorrows bleed;
O plead the same excuse for me!
For, Lord, I knew not what I did.