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DIVINE EJACULATION.

GREAT GOD! whose sceptre rules the earth, Distil thy fear into my heart,

That being rapt with holy mirth,

I may proclaim how good thou art : Open my lips, that I may sing

Full praises to my God, my King.

Great God! thy garden is defaced,

The weeds thrive there, thy flowers decay; O call to mind thy promise past,

Restore thou them, cut these away: Till then let not the weeds have power To starve or stint the poorest flower.

In all extremes, Lord, thou art still
The mount whereto my hopes do flee;

O make my soul detest all ill,

Because so much abhorred by thee:
Lord, let thy gracious trials show
That I am just, or make me so.

Shall mountain, desert, beast, and tree,
Yield to that heavenly voice of thine,

And shall that voice not startle me,

Nor stir this stone-this heart of mine?
No, Lord, till thou new-bore mine ear,
Thy voice is lost, I cannot hear.

Fountain of light and living breath,
Whose mercies never fail nor fade,

Fill me with life that hath no death,

Fill me with light that hath no shade;
Appoint the remnant of my days
To see thy power, and sing thy praise.

Lord God of gods, before whose throne
Stand storms and fire, O what shall we
Return to heaven, that is our own,

When all the world belongs to thee?
We have no offering to impart,
But praises and a wounded heart.

O thou that sitt'st in heaven, and see'st
My deeds without, my thoughts within,
Be thou my prince, be thou my priest-
Command my soul, and cure my sin:
How bitter my afflictions be
I care not, so I rise to thee.

What I possess, or what I crave,
Brings no content great God, to me,
If what I would, or what I have
Be not possest and blest in thee:
What I enjoy, O make it mine

In making me-that have it-thine

When winter-fortunes cloud the brows

Of summer friends-when eyes grow strange

When plighted faith forgets its vows,

When earth and all things in it change;

O Lord, thy mercies fail me never,

Where once thou lov'st, thou lov'st for ever.

Great God! whose kingdom hath no end,
Into whose secrets none can dive,
Whose mercy none can apprehend,

Whose justice none can feel-and live,
What my dull heart cannot aspire

To know, Lord, teach me to admire.

QUARLES.

TRUE NOBILITY.

SEARCH We the springs,

And backward trace the principles of things:
There shall we find that when the world began,
One common mass composed the mould of man;
One paste of flesh on all degrees bestowed;
And kneaded up alike with moist❜ning blood.
The same Almighty power inspired the frame
With kindled life, and formed the souls the same.
The faculties of intellect and will,

Dispensed with equal hand, disposed with equal skill;
Like liberty indulged, with choice of good or ill.
Thus born alike, from Virtue first began
The difference that distinguished man from man.
He claimed no title from descent of blood,
But that which made him noble, made him good.
Warmed with more particles of heavenly flame,
He winged his upward flight, and soared to fame;
The rest remained below, a tribe without a name.
This law, though custom now diverts the course,
As nature's institute, is yet in force,
Uncancelled, though diffused: and he whose mind
Is virtuous, is alone of noble kind;

Though poor in fortune, of celestial race:

And he commits the crime, who calls him base.

DRYDEN.

ALEXANDER'S FEAST.

"TWAS at the royal feast for Persia won

By Philip's warlike son;

Aloft in awful state

The godlike hero sate

On his imperial throne:

His valiant peers were placed around; Their brows with roses and with myrtles bound, (So should desert in arms be crowned):

The lovely Thais, by his side,

Sate, like a blooming eastern bride,

In flower of youth and beauty's pride.

Happy, happy, happy pair!

None but the brave,

None but the brave,

None but the brave deserves the fair.

Timotheus, placed on high

Amid the tuneful quire,

With flying fingers touched the lyre:

The trembling notes ascend the sky,
And heavenly joys inspire.

The song began-from Jove,

Who left his blissful seats above
(Such is the power of mighty love).
A dragon's fiery form belied the god,
Sublime on radiant spires he rode,

When he to fair Olympia pressed,

And stamped an image of himself, a sovereign of the

world.

The listening crowd admire the lofty sound,

A present deity! they shout around:

A present deity! the vaulted roofs rebound:
With ravished ears

The monarch hears,

Assumes the god,
Affects to nod,

And seems to shake the spheres.

The praise of Bacchus then, the sweet musicians sung: Of Bacchus ever fair and ever young :

The jolly god in triumph comes;

Sound the trumpets, beat the drums;
Flushed with a purple grace,

He shows his honest face;

Now give the hautboys breath: he comes! he comes!
Bacchus, ever fair and young,

Drinking joys did first ordain;

Bacchus' blessings are a treasure,
Drinking is the soldier's pleasure:
Rich the treasure,

Sweet the pleasure;

Sweet is pleasure after pain.

Soothed with the sound, the king grew vain ;

Fought all his battles o'er again;

And thrice he routed all his foes; and thrice he slew the slain.

The master saw the madness rise;

His glowing cheeks, his ardent eyes;

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