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The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by the flood,
And lost in following years.

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

Like flowery fields the nations stand,
Pleased with the morning light;
The flowers beneath the mower's hand
Lie withering ere 'tis night.

O God! our help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come,

Be Thou our guard while troubles last, And our eternal home.

THE HEBREW BARD.

SOFTLY the tuneful shepherd leads
The Hebrew flocks to flowery meads,
He marks their path with notes divine,
While fountains spring with oil and wine.

Rivers of peace attend his song,

And draw their milky train along:
He jars; and lo! the flints are broke,
But honey issues from the rock.

When kindling with victorious fire,
He shakes his lance across the lyre;
The lyre resounds unknown alarms,
And sets the thunderer in arms.

Behold the God! the Almighty King,
Rides on a tempest's glorious wing;
His ensigns lighten round the sky,
And moving legions sound on high.

Ten thousand cherubs wait his course,
Chariots of fire, and flaming horse:
Earth trembles; and her mountains flow
At his approach, like melting snow.

But who those frowns of earth can draw,
That strike heaven, earth, and hell, with awe?
Red lightning from his eyelids broke,

His voice was thunder, hail, and smoke.

He spake! the cleaving waters fled,
And stars beheld the ocean's bed:
While the great Master strikes his lyre,
You see the affrighted floods retire.

In heaps th' affrighted billows stand,
Waiting the changes of his hand;
He leads his Israel through the sea,
And watery mountains guard their way.

Turning his hand with sovereign sweep,
He drowns all Egypt in the deep;
Then guides the tribes, a glorious band,
Through deserts to the promised land.

Here camps with wide-embattled force,
Here gates and bulwarks stop their course;
He storms the mounds, the bulwark falls:
The harp lies strewed with ruined walls.

See his broad sword flies o'er the strings,
And mows down nations with their kings:
From every chord his bolts are hurled,
And vengeance smites the rebel world.

Lo! the great poet shifts the scene,
And shows the face of God serene,
Truth, meekness, peace, salvation, ride,
With guards of justice at his side.

THE CREATION.

"Now let the spacious world arise!"
Said the Creator Lord:

At once the obedient earth and skies
Rose at his sovereign word.

Dark was the deep, the waters lay

Confused, and drowned the land; He called the light, the new-born day Attends on his command.

He bids the clouds ascend on high:
The clouds ascend, and bear

A watery treasure to the sky,
And float on softer air.

The liquid element below

Was gathered by his hand;

The rolling seas together flow,

And leave a solid band.

With herbs and plants, a flowery birth,
The naked globe He crowned,
Ere there was rain to bless the earth,
Or sun to warm the ground.

Then He adorned the upper skies:
Behold! the sun appears;

The moon and stars in order rise,

To mark our months and years.

Out of the deep th' Almighty King
Did vital beings frame,

And painted fowls of every wing,
And fish of every name.

He gave the lion and the worm

At once their wondrous birth; And grazing beasts of various form Rose from the teeming earth.

Adam was formed of equal clay,
The sovereign of the rest;
Designed for nobler ends than they,
With God's own image blest.

Thus glorious in the Maker's eye
The young creation stood;
He saw the building from on high,
His word pronounced it good.

GOD'S DOMINION AND DECREES.

KEEP silence, all created things,

And wait your Maker's nod:

The Muse stands trembling while she sings

The honours of her God.

Life, death, and hell, and worlds unknown,

Hang on his firm decree;

He sits on no precarious throne,

Nor borrows leave to be.

Th' Almighty voice bid ancient Night
Her endless realm resign,

And, lo! ten thousand globes of light,
In fields of azure shine.

Now wisdom, with superior sway,

Guides the vast moving frame, Whilst all the ranks of being pay Deep reverence to his name.

He spake! the sun obedient stood,
And held the falling day:

Old Jordan backward drives his flood,
And disappoints the sea.

Lord of the armies of the sky,
He marshals all the stars;

Red comets lift their banners high,
And wide proclaim his wars.

Chained to his throne a volume lies,
With all the fates of men ;
With every angel's form and size,
Drawn by the Eternal pen.

His Providence unfolds the book, And makes his counsels shine: Each opening leaf, and every stroke, Fulfils some deep design.

Here He exalts neglected worms
To sceptres and a crown;
Anon the following page He turns,
And treads the monarch down.

Nor Gabriel asks the reason why,
Nor God the reason gives;
Nor dares the favourite angel pry
Between the folded leaves.

My God, I never longed to see
My fate with curious eyes;

What gloomy lines are writ for me,

Or what bright scenes shall rise.

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