Contemplative-on God to fix
His musings, and above the six
The Sabbath-day he blessed;

'Twas then his thoughts self-conquest pruned, And heavenly melancholy tuned,

To bless and bear the rest.

Serene to sow the seeds of peace,
Remembering, when he watched the fleece,
How sweetly Kidron purled-
To further knowledge, silence vice,
And plant perpetual paradise,

When God had calmed the world.

Strong-in the Lord, who could defy
Satan, and all his powers that lie
In sempiternal night;

And hell, and horror, and despair
Were as the lion and the bear
To his undaunted might.

Constant-in love to God, the Truth,
Age, manhood, infancy, and youth:
To Jonathan his friend
Constant, beyond the verge of death;
And Ziba, and Mephibosheth,

His endless fame attend.

Pleasant and various as the year;
Man, soul, and angel without peer,
Priest, champion, sage, and boy;

In armour or in ephod clad,
His pomp, his piety was glad;
Majestic was his joy.

Wise-in recovery from his fall,

Whence rose his eminence o'er all,

Of all the most reviled;

The light of Israel in his ways,

Wise are his precepts, prayer, and praise,
And counsel to his child.

His muse, bright angel of his verse,

Gives balm for all the thorns that pierce,

For all the pangs that rage;

Blest light, still gaining on the gloom,

The more than Michal of his bloom,
The Abishag of his age.

He sang of God-the mighty source
Of all things-the stupendous force
On which all strength depends;

From Whose right arm, beneath Whose eyes,
All period, power, and enterprise

Commences, reigns, and ends.

Angels-their ministry and meed,
Which to and fro with blessings speed,
Or with their citterns wait;

Where Michael, with his millions, bows,
Where dwells the seraph and his spouse,
The cherub and her mate.

Of man-the semblance and effect
Of God and love-the saint elect
For infinite applause-

To rule the land, and briny broad,
To be laborious in his laud,

And heroes in his cause.

The world-the clustering spheres He made, The glorious light, the soothing shade,

Dale, champaign, grove, and hill;

The multitudinous abyss,

Where Secrecy remains in bliss,

And Wisdom hides her skill.

Trees, plants, and flowers-of virtuous root; Gem yielding blossom, yielding fruit,

Choice gums and precious balm; Bless ye the nosegay in the vale, And with the sweetness of the gale Enrich the thankful psalm.

Iota's tuned to choral hymns

Of those that fly, while he that swims
In thankful safety lurks;

And foot, and chapiter, and niche,
The various histories enrich

Of God's recorded works.

Sigma presents the social droves
With him that solitary roves,
And man of all the chief;

Fair on whose face, and stately frame,
Did God impress His hallowed name,
For ocular belief.

Thou art to give and to confirm,
For each his talent and his term;
All flesh thy bounties share:
Thou shalt not call thy brother fool:
The porches of the Christian school
Are meekness, peace, and prayer.

Open and naked of offence,

Man's made of mercy, soul, and sense:
God armed the snail and wilk;
Be good to him that pulls thy plough;
Due food and care, due rest allow
For her that yields thee milk.

Rise up before the hoary head,
And God's benign commandment dread,
Which says thou shalt not die:
'Not as I will, but as Thou wilt,'

Prayed He, whose conscience knew no guilt;

With Whose blessed pattern vie.

Use all thy passions! love is thine,
And joy and jealousy divine;
Thine hope's eternal fort,
And care thy leisure to disturb,
With fear concupiscence to curb,
And rapture to transport.

Act simply, as occasion asks;
Put mellow wine in seasoned casks;
Till not with ass and bull:
Remember thy baptismal bond;
Keep thy commixtures foul and fond,
Nor work thy flax with wool.

Distribute; pay the Lord His tithe,
And make the widow's heart-strings blithe;
Resort with those that weep:

As you from all and each expect,
For all and each thy love direct,

And render as you reap.

Of fowl-even every beak and wing
Which cheer the winter, hail the spring,
That live in peace or prey;

They that make music, or that mock,
The quail, the brave domestic cock,
The raven, swan, and jay.

Of fishes-every size and shape,
Which nature frames of light escape,
Devouring man to shun:

The shells are in the wealthy deep,
The shoals upon the surface leap,
And love the glancing sun.

Of beasts-the beaver plods his task;
While the sleek tigers roll and bask,
Nor yet the shades arouse;

Her cave the mining coney scoops;
Where o'er the mead the mountain stoops,
The kids exult and browse.

Of gems-their virtue and their price,
Which, hid in earth from man's device,
Their darts of lustre sheath;
The jasper of the master's stamp,
The topaz blazing like a lamp,
Among the mines beneath.

Blest was the tenderness he felt,
When to his graceful harp he knelt,

And did for audience call;

When Satan with his hand he quelled,
And in serene suspense he held

The frantic throes of Saul.

His furious foes no more maligned
As he such melody divined,

And sense and soul detained;

Now striking strong, now soothing soft, He sent the godly sounds aloft,

Or in delight refrained.