Now leave me? when, enamoured of thy laws,
I make thy glory my supreme delight;
Now blot me from thy register, and cause
A faithful soul to perish from thy sight?

What can have caused the change which I deplore >
Is it to prove me, if my heart be true?
Permit me then, while prostrate I adore,
To draw, and place its picture in thy view.

'Tis thine without reserve, most simply thine;
So given to thee, that it is not my own;
A willing captive of thy grace divine;

And loves, and seeks thee, for thyself alone.

Pain cannot move it, danger cannot scare;

Pleasure and wealth, in its esteem, are dust;
It loves thee, even when least inclined to spare
Its tenderest feelings, and avows thee just.

Tis all thine own; my spirit is so too,
An undivided offering at thy shrine;
It seeks thy glory with no double view,
Thy glory, with no secret bent to mine.

Love, holy Love! and art thou not severe,
To slight me, thus devoted and thus fixed?
Mine is an everlasting ardour, clear

From all self-bias, generous and unmixed.

But I am silent, seeing what I see,

And fear, with cause, that I am self-deceived;
Not even my faith is from suspicion free,
And that I love seems not to be believed.

Live thou, and reign for ever, glorious Lord!
My last, least offering, I present thee now ;-
Renounce me, leave me, and be still adored!
Slay me, my God, and I applaud the blow.

WATCHING UNTO GOD IN THE NIGHT SEASON

SLEEP at last has fled these eyes,
Nor do I regret his flight;

More alert my spirits rise,

And my heart is free and light.

Nature silent all around,

Not a single witness near; God as soon as sought is found, And the flame of love burns clear.

Interruption, all day long,

Checks the current of my joys Creatures press me with a throng, And perplex me with their noise

Undisturbed I muse all night
On the First Eternal Fair;
Nothing there obstructs delight,
Love is renovated there.

Life, with its perpetual stir,
Proves a foe to Love and me;
Fresh entanglements occur,-

Comes the night, and sets me free.

Never more, sweet sleep, suspend
My enjoyments, always new:
Leave me to possess my friend;
Other eyes and hearts subdue.

Hush the world, that I

may

wake

To the taste of pure delights;
Oh the pleasures I partake,-
God the partner of my nights!

David, for the selfsame cause,
Night preferred to busy day:
Hearts whom heavenly beauty draws
Wish the glaring sun away.

Sleep, self-lovers, is for you ;-
Souls that love celestial know
Fairer scenes by night can view
Than the sun can ever show.

ON THE SAME

SEASON of my purest pleasure,
Sealer of observing eyes!
When, in larger, freer measure,
I can commune with the skies;

While, beneath thy shade extended,

Weary man forgets his woes, I, my daily trouble ended,

Find in watching my repose.

Silence all around prevailing,
Nature hushed in slumber sweet,
No rude noise mine ears assailing,
Now my God and I can meet :
Universal nature slumbers,

And my soul partakes the calm,
Breathes her ardour out in numbers,
Plaintive song or lofty psalm.

Now my passion, pure and holy,

Shines and burns without restraint, Which the day's fatigue and folly Caused to languish, dim and faint: Charming hours of relaxation!

How I dread the ascending sun! Surely idle conversation

Is an evil, matched by none.

Worldly prate and babble hurt me,
Unintelligible prove,

Neither teach me nor divert me;

I have ears for none but Love.
Me they rude esteem, and foolish,
Hearing my absurd replies;

I have neither art's fine polish
Nor the knowledge of the wise.

Simple souls, and unpolluted
By conversing with the great,
Have a mind and taste ill suited
To their dignity and state;
All their talking, reading, writing,
Are but talents misapplied;
Infants' prattle I delight in,
Nothing human choose beside.

'Tis the secret fear of sinning
Checks my tongue, or I should say,
When I see the night beginning,
I am glad of parting day :
Love this gentle admonition
Whispers soft within my breast;
"Choice befits not thy condition,
"Acquiescence suits thee best."

1

Henceforth, the repose and pleasure
Night affords me I resign;

And thy will shall be the measure,
Wisdom Infinite! of mine:
Wishing is but inclination

Quarrelling with thy decrees; Wayward nature finds the occasion,— "Tis her folly and disease.

Night, with its sublime enjoyments,
Now no longer will I choose;
Nor the day with its employments,
Irksome as they seem, refuse:
Lessons of a God's inspiring

Neither time nor place impedes ;
From our wishing and desiring
Our unhappiness proceeds.

ON THE SAME

NIGHT! how I love thy silent shades, My spirit they compose;

The bliss of heaven my soul pervades, In spite of all my woes.

While sleep instils her poppy dews
In every slumbering eye,

I watch, to meditate and muse,
In blest tranquillity.

And when I feel a God immense

Familiarly impart,

With every proof he can dispense,
His favour to my heart;

My native meanness I lament,
Though most divinely filled
With all the ineffable content
That Deity can yield.

His purpose and his course he keeps; Treads all my reasonings down; Commands me out of nature's deeps, And hides me in his own.

When in the dust, its proper place,

Our pride of heart we lay, 'Tis then a deluge of his grace

Bears all our sins away.

Thou whom I serve, and whose I am,
Whose influence from on high
Refines and still refines my flame,
And makes my fetters fly;

How wretched is the creature's state
Who thwarts thy gracious power;
Crushed under sin's enormous weight,
Increasing every hour!

The night, when passed entire with thee,
How luminous and clear;

Then sleep has no delights for me,
Lest thou shouldst disappear.

My Saviour! occupy me still
In this secure recess;
Let reason slumber if she will,
My joy shall not be less:

Let reason slumber out the night;
But if thou deign to make

My soul the abode of truth and light,
Ah, keep my heart awake!

THE JOY OF THE CROSS

LONG plunged in sorrow, I resign
My soul to that dear hand of thine
Without reserve or fear;

That hand shall wipe my streaming eyes,
Or into smiles of glad surprise

Transform the falling tear.

My sole possession is thy love;
In earth beneath, or heaven above,

I have no other store;

And though with fervent suit I pray,
And importune thee night and day,
I ask thee nothing more,