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Shall then this verse to future age pretend

Thou wert my guide, philosopher, and friend?
That urg'd by thee, I turn'd the tuneful art
From sounds to things, from fancy to the heart:
For wit's false mirror held up nature's light;
Show'd erring pride, WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT:
That reason, passion, answer one great aim
That true self-love and social are the same :
That virtue only makes our bliss below,
And all our knowledge is, OURSELVEs to know.

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390

395

THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER.

DEO OPTIMO MAXIMO.

FATHER OF ALL! in every age,
In ev'ry clime ador'd,
By saint by savage, and by sage,
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord!

Thou great First Cause, least understood,
Who all my sense confin'd*

To know but this, that Thou art God,
And that myself am blind:

Yet gave me, in this dark estate,
To see the good from ill;
And binding nature fast in fate,

Left free the human will.

What conscience dictates to be done,

Or warns me not to do:

This, teach me more than hell to shun,
That, more than heaven pursue.

What blessings thy free bounty gives,
Let me not cast away;

For God is paid, when man receives-
T' enjoy, is to obey.

Yet not to earth's contracted span
Thy goodness let me bound;
Or think Thee Lord alone of man,

When thousand worlds are round:

UNIVERSAL PRAYER.

Let not this weak, unknowing hand,
Presume thy bolts to throw,
And deal damnation round the land,
On each I judge thy foe.

If I am right, oh! teach my heart
Still in the right to stay!
If I am wrong, thy grace impart,
To find that better way.

Save me alike from foolish pride,
Or impious discontent,
At aught thy wisdom has deny'd,
Or aught thy goodness lent.

Teach me to feel another's woe,
To hide the fault I see;
That mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me.

Mean though I am, not wholly so,
Since quicken'd by thy breath;

Oh! lead me wheresoe'er I go,
Through this day's life or death.

This day be bread and peace my lot:
All else beneath the sun,

Thou know'st if best bestow'd or not;
And let thy will be done.

To Thee, whose temple is all space,

Whose altar, earth, sea, skies!

One chorus let all beings raise !

All nature's incense rise!

AMEN

59

MESSIAH.

A SACRED ECLOGUE.

Ye Nymphs of Solyma! begin the song:
To heav'nly themes sublimer strains belong;
The mossy fountains, and the sylvan shades,
The dreams of Pindus, and th' Aonian maids,
Delight no more.-O Thou, my voice inspire,
Who touch'd Isaiah's hallow'd lips with fire!

Rapt into future times, the bard begun ;
A Virgin shall conceive, a Virgin bear a Son!
From Jesse's root behold a branch arise,

Whose sacred flow'r with fragrance fills the skies:
Th' Ethereal Spirit o'er its leaves shall move,
And on its top descends the mystic dove,
Ye heav'ns! from high the dewy nectar pour,
And in soft silence shed the kindly show'r!
The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid,
From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade.
All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail,
Returning justice lift alone her scale;

Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend,
And white rob'd Innocence from heav'n descend,
Swift fly the years, and rise the expected morn;
Oh spring to light, auspicious Babe, be born!
See Nature hastes, her earliest wreathes to bring,
With all the incense of the breathing spring;

See lofty Lebanon his head advance,

See nodding forests on the mountains dance,
See spicy clouds from lowly Sharon rise,

And Carmel's flow'ry top perfumes the skies!
Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers;
Prepare the way! a God, a God appears:
A God, a God! the vocal hills reply,
The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity.
Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies!
Sink down ye mountains, and, ye vallies, rise!
With heads declin'd, ye cedars, homage pay :
Be smooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods give way!
The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold;
Hear him, ye deaf! and, all ye blind, behold!
He from thick films shall purge the visual ray,
And on the sightless eye-ball pour the day;
'Tis he th' obstructed paths of sound shall clear,
And bid new music charm th' unfolding ear:
The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe.
No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear;
From ev'ry face he wipes off ev'ry tear.
In adamantine chains shall Death be bound,
And hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound.

As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care, Seeks freshest pasture and the purest air, Explores the lost, the wand'ring sheep directs, By day o'ersees them, and by night protects : The tender lambs he raises in his arms,

Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms; F

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