But ftill in virtue of a Savior's plea,
Not blind by choice, but destin'd not to see.
Their fortitude and wisdom were a flame
Celestial, though they knew not whence it came,
Deriv'd from the fame fource of light and grace
That guides the chriftian in his swifter race;
Their judge was confcience, and her rule their law,
That rule purfued with rev'rence and with awe,
Led them, however fault'ring, faint and flow,
From what they knew, to what they wish'd to know;
But let not him that shares a brighter day,
Traduce the fplendor of a noon-tide ray,
Prefer the twilight of a darker time,
And deem his bafe ftupidity no crime;
The wretch that flights the bounty of the skies,
And finks while favour'd with the means to rise,
Shall find them rated at their full amount,
The good he scorn'd all carried to account.
Marshalling all his terrors as he came,
Thunder and earthquake and devouring flame,
From Sinai's top Jehovah gave the law,
Life for obedience, death for ev'ry flaw.
When the great sov'reign would his will express,
He gives a perfect rule; what can he lefs?
And guards it with a fanction as fevere
As vengeance can inflict, or finners fear:
Elfe his own glorious rights he would difclaim,
And man might safely trifle with his name:
He bids him glow with unremitting love
To all on earth, and to himself above;
Condemns th' injurious deed, the fland'rous tongue,
The thought that meditates a brother's wrong;
Brings not alone, the more confpicuous part,
His conduct to the teft, but tries his heart.
Hark! univerfal nature shook and groan'd,
'Twas the last trumpet-fee the judge enthron'd:
Roufe all your courage at your utmost need,
Now fummon ev'ry virtue, ftand and plead.
What, filent? Is your boasting heard no more? That felf-renouncing wisdom learn'd before,
Had fhed immortal glories on your brow,
That all your virtues cannot purchase now.
All joy to the believer! He can speak→
Trembling yet happy, confident yet meek.
Since the dear hour that brought me to thy foot, And cut up all my follies by the root,
I never trusted in an arm but thine,
Nor hop'd, but in thy righteousness divine:
My pray'rs and alms, imperfect and defil'd,
Were but the feeble efforts of a child,
Howe'er perform'd, it was their brightest part,
That they proceeded from a grateful heart :
Cleans'd in thine own all-purifying blood,
Forgive their evil and accept their good;
I caft them at thy feet-my only plea
Is what it was, dependence upon thee;
While struggling in the vale of tears below,
That never fail'd, nor fhall it fail me now.
Angelic gratulations rend the skies,
Pride falls unpitied, never more to rife,
Humility is crown'd, and faith receives the prize. ̧
In England's cafe to move the mufe to tears?
From fide to fide of her delightful ifle,
Is the not cloath'd with a perpetual smile?
Can nature add a charm, or art confer
A new found luxury not seen in her ?
Where under heav'n is pleasure more pursued,
Or where does cold reflection lefs intrude?
Her fields a rich expanfe of wavy corn
Pour'd out from plenty's overflowing horn,
Ambrofial gardens in which art fupplies
The fervor and the force of Indian skies,
Her peaceful fhores, where bufy commerce waits
Το pour his golden tide through all her gates,
Whom fiery funs that scorch the ruffet spice
Of eastern groves, and oceans floor'd with ice;
Forbid in vain to push his daring way
To darker climes, or climes of brighter day,
Whom the winds waft where'er the billows roll,
From the world's girdle to the frozen pole ;
The chariots bounding in her wheel-worn streets,
Her vaults below where ev'ry vintage meets,
Her theatres, her revels, and her sports,
The fcenes to which not youth alone reforts,
But age
Still haunts, in hope to dream of youth again,
in fpite of weakness and of pain
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