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Where with intention I have err'd,
No other plea I have,

But, Thou art good; and goodness still
Delighteth to forgive.

STANZAS

ON THE SAME OCCASION.

WHY am I loth to leave this earthly scene!
Have I so found it full of pleasing charms!
Some drops of joy with draughts of ill between :
Some gleams of sunshine mid renewing storms:
Is it departing pangs my soul alarms?

Or death's unlovely, dreary, dark, abode? For guilt, for guilt, my terrors are in arms; I tremble to approach an angry God, And justly smart beneath his sin-avenging rod. Fain would I say, 'Forgive my foul offence !' Fain promise, never more to disobey; But, should my Author health again dispense, Again I might desert fair virtue's way; Again in folly's path might go astray: Again exalt the brute, and sink the man; Then how should I for heavn❜ly mercy pray, Who counteract so heav'nly mercy's plan? Who sin so oft have mourn'd, yet to temptation ran.

O thou great Governor of all below!

If I may dare a lifted eye to Thee,
Thy nod can make the tempest cease to blow,
Ör still the tumult of the raging sea :
With that controlling power assist ev'n me,
Those headlong furious passions to confine;
For all unfit I feel my pow'rs to be,

To rule the torrent in th' allowed line:

O, aid me with thy help, Omnipotence Divine !

LYING AT A REVEREND FRIEND'S HOUSE ONE

NIGHT, THE AUTHOR LEFT

THE FOLLOWING VERSES

IN A ROOM WHERE HE SLEPT.

O THOU dread Pow'r, who reign'st above!

I know thou wilt me hear,
When for this scene of peace and love
I make my pray'r sincere.

The hoary sire-the mortal stroke,
Long, long, be pleas'd to spare;
To bless his little filial flock,

And show what good men are.

She, who her lovely offspring eyes
With tender hopes and fears,
O, bless her with a mother's joys,
But spare a mother's tears!

Their hope, their stay, their darling youth,
In manhood's dawning blush;

Bless him, thou God of love and truth,
Up to a parent's wish.

The beauteous, seraph, sister-band,
With earnest tears I pray,

Thou know'st the snares on ev'ry hand,

Guide thou their step alway.

When soon or late they reach that coɛst,
O'er life's rough ocean driv❜n,

May they rejoice, no wand'rer lost,
A family in Heav'n!

• Dr. Laurie, then minister of the parish of Loudos.

THE FIRST PSALM.

THE man, in life wherever plac'd,

Hath happiness in store,

Who walks not in the wicked's way,
Nor learns their guilty lore!

Nor from the seat of scornful pride
Casts forth his eyes abroad,
But with humility and awe

Still walks before his God.

That man shall flourish like the trees
Which by the streamlets grow;
The fruitful top is spread on high,
And firm the root below.

But he whose blossom buds in guilt
Shall to the ground be cast,
And like the rootless stubble tost,
Before the sweeping blast.

For why? that GOD the good adore,
Hath giv'n them peace and rest
But hath decreed that wicked men
Shall ne'er be truly blest.

A PRAYER,

UNDER THE PRESSURE OF VIOLENT ANGUISH.

O THOU Great Being! what thou art

Surpasses me to know:

Yet sure I am, that known to thee

Are all thy works below.

Thy creature here before thee stands,

All wretched and distrest;

Yet sure those ills that wring my soul
Obey thy high behest.

Sure thou, Almighty, canst not act
From cruelty or wrath!

O, free my weary eyes from tears,
Or close them fast in death!

But if I must afflicted be,

To suit some wise design;

Then man my soul with firm resolves
To bear, and not repine!

THE

FIRST SIX VERSES

OF THE NINETIETH PSALM.

O THOU, the first, the greatest friend

Of all the human race!

Whose strong right hand has ever been
Their stay and dwelling place!

Before the mountains heav'd their heads
Beneath thy forming hand,

Before this pond'rous globe itself
Arose at thy command;

That pow'r that rais'd and still upholds
This universal frame,

From countless unbeginning time
Was ever still the same.

Those mighty periods of years

Which seem to us so vast, Appear no more before thy sight Than yesterday that's past.

Thou giv'st the word: Thy creature, man, Is to existence brought;

·

Again thou say'st, Ye sons of men,
Return ye into nought!'

Thou layest them, with all their cares
In everlasting sleep;

As with a flood thou tak'st them off
With overwhelming sweep.

They flourish'd like the morning flow'r, In beauty's pride array'd;

But long ere night cut down it lies,

All wither'd and decay'd.

TO RUIN.

ALL hail! inexorable lord!
At whose destruction-breathing word
The mightiest empires fall!
Thy cruel woe-delighted train,
The ministers of grief and pain,
A sullen welcome, all!
With stern, resolv'd, despairing eye,
I see each aimed dart;
For one has cut my dearest tye,

And quivers in my heart;

Then lowering and pouring,

The storm no more I dread; Though thickening and blackening Round my devoted head.

And thou grim pow'r,by life abhorr'd,
While life a pleasure can afford,
Oh! hear a wretch's pray'r!
No more I shrink appall'd, afraid;
J court, I beg thy friendly aid,
To close this scene of care!

Whe shall my soul, in silent peace,
Resign life's joyless day;

My weary heart its throbbing cease,
Cold mould'ring in the clay?
No fear more, no tear more,
To stain my lifeless face;
Enclasped, and grasped
Within thy cold embrace!

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