181 By these expedients I shall still
Maintain an empire there

(Where death himself no more can kill),
Which nothing can impair.

182 Death grins at me; I grin at him,
And at his sting of sin;
But, look he howsoever grim,
I'll give him grin for grin.'

HYMN TO GOD,

ON THE FOREGOING SUBJECT OF THE PRESENT TIMES AND FASHIONS.

183 O SPRING of being, and resource
Of all things thou hast made,

To thee distress'd we have recourse,
To thee apply for aid.

184 Once more, Almighty Lord, descend,
These mischiefs to remove,

Our faith and morals to amend

And warm us with thy love.

185 Recall our hearts to thee once more
Thou fountain of all good;

Teach us our riches to deplore,
Unworthy even of food.

186 Break forth, O Lord, and cause thy face
Again on us to shine;

Let tears again recall thy grace,

And own us still for thine.

187 Correct us, but with judgment, Lord,
Not in thy wrath, tho' just,

Lest, crush'd to nothing by thy sword,
We shrink to less than dust.

188 O King of kings, and God of all,
Whose power hath overthrown

Astarte, Astoroth, and Baal,
And trod all idols down;

189 Thou, who hast clear'd the earth and skies, And not one demon left,

To whom mankind may sacrifice,
Of common sense bereft ;

190 Beneath whose hand the gods of lust,
Of drunk'nness, theft, and blood,
Have crouch'd, and vanquish'd into dust,
As toys of stone and wood;

191 Fashion, who still thy kingdom braves,
Insults thy chast'ning rod:

O'erwhelm, O Lord, this slave of slaves,
This despicable god.

192 Arise, Almighty God, arise,
Dissolve this magic spell;
And open thou in time our eyes,
Ere we awake in hell.

193 Arise, Almighty Son, arise

This dragon's head to bruise,
This hell-born rebel to chastise,
Who all things here subdues.

194 Let loose thy thunders, mighty Lord,
To strike this monster dead;

Nature and virtue will accord

To bare his impious head.

195 Thou know'st, it is alone by wealth,
That he his empire gains;

By fraud, oppression, and by stealth,
That he his wealth maintains.

196 Down, blessed Lord, down strike them all, Oppress'd religion cries;

To poverty grant us a fall,

That we may fall to rise.

197 Let us no longer, Lord, thy gifts
Embrace, and thus abuse;

No longer seek for senseless shifts,
Our conscience to amuse.

198 So shall our hearts to thee return,
Arous'd and thus set free,

That they in piety may burn,
And flame anew to thee.

199 The modes of thy celestial court
To study we shall strive,

And by our deeds those modes support,
That they may spread and thrive.

200 By poverty, that humble nurse
Of virtue, we shall rise,

High o'er the envied rich man's curse,
To wealth above the skies.

201 Curs'd be those blessings, which on fools Produce effects so dire.

What is the learning of their schools,
But lust and pride on fire?

202 Nowhere on earth the Christian light
So clearly shines, as here;

Yet, as at first, infernal night
Forbids it to appear.

203 Since by this light no mortal moves
This lamp, this light divine,

But each man rather darkness loves,
Why should it longer shine?

204 Yet Lord, this saving light prolong,
By which the blind man sees,
Still as refulgent, still as strong,
For better times than these.

205 Put thy protecting hand about
This thy own glorious lamp,
Lest windy doctrines puff it out;
Here once again encamp.

206 O Holy Ghost, fresh oil instil,
And trim this lamp anew

To warm, and yet reguide, the will
By knowledge safe and true.

207 As solar light and heat still flow
In one united ray;

O sun of souls, on us bestow
Of both the mental day.

208 Thus guided up the arduous steep,
And prompted by thy grace,

We neither shall descend, nor sleep,
But upward mend our pace.

209 O source of fire with hearts of ice, And with a victim lame,

How can we offer sacrifice,

Or make it upward flame?

210 Let piety, O Lord, revive, And on some future day Again return, and all alive,

Its light and warmth display.

211 So shall our minds its lustre own,
Our hearts its vigour feel,

And godless rebels, humble grown,
To thee devoutly kneel.

212 Their souls shall at its ardour fuse,
And in a godlike mould

Take a new figure, not like Jews,
Tenacious of the old;

213 Nor yet, like fickle slaves of mode,
Each new opinion seize,

Nor, these to prove, thy sacred code
In every passage teaze.

214 To smattering fops, and empty beaus,
Religion adds some shreds,

Which thread of gold but loosely sews
To airy coxcombs heads.

215 Their utmost wealth can scarcely buy
For literary daws

(A cheat discern'd by every eye)

The plumage of macaws.

216 What, wedded with religious truth,
Can wealth or fashion breed,

But the corruption of our youth
In conduct and in creed?

217 When wealth and fashion once shall fly To hell from whence they came,

We'll build on plaiuness, and build high,
A great and deathless fame.

218 Then joyful we a final leave
Of disbelief shall take,

Shall to thy precepts strongly cleave,

For theirs and our own sake.

219 Our robes of glory, then how bright!
How high shall nod our plume,

When we for ribbons, beams of light,
For diamonds, stars assume.

220 Tear off the love of pomp and pelf,
Display'd in every toy;

Clothe us, O Jesus, with thyself,
Thou glorious robe of joy.

221 Elijah's chariot then shall wait
To waft us to the court,
Where majesty supremely great,
Maintains celestial port.

222 Or we poor worms, now wound in thread, Shall burst our silken strings,

And thither soar, by love upled,
On our own purple wings.

HOW GREAT AND GOOD IS GOD.

1 O Lord, when I behold on high
The sun, the moon, the starry sky
And all the worlds around;
Snail-like I shrink into my shell
All self-importance soon dispel,
And grovel on the ground.

2 But when my soul resumes the thought,
That from the empty womb of nought

These things by thee were call'd ;
That in thy sight they're little things,
In thine, thou glorious King of kings,
How is my soul appall'd!

3 All these by one creative word,
Pronounc'd by thee, Almighty Lord,
Arose, and may again

By one destructive word of thine,
To their primeval nought decline,
The creature then how vain!