ETERNAL WISDOM! thee we praise,
Thee the creation sings;
With thy loud name rocks, hills, and seas,
And heaven's high palace rings.
Thy hand, how wide it spreads the sky,
How glorious to behold!
Tinged with a blue of heavenly dye,
And starred with sparkling gold.
There thou hast bid the globes of light
Their endless circles run:
There, the pale planet rules the night;
The day obeys the sun.
If down I turn my wond'ring eyes
On clouds and storms below,
Those under regions of the skies
Thy num'rous glories shew.
The noisy winds stand ready there
Thy orders to obey;
With sounding wings they sweep the air,
To make thy chariot way.
There, like a trumpet loud and strong,
Thy thunder shakes our coast;
While the red lightnings wave along,
The banners of thy host.
On the thin air, without a prop,
Hang fruitful showers around;
At thy command they sink, and drop
Their fatness on the ground.
Thy wondrous power and skill arrays
The earth in cheerful green;
A thousand herbs thy art displays,
A thousand flowers between.
The rolling mountains of the deep
Obey thy strong command:
Thy breath can raise the billows steep,
Or sink them to the sand.
Thy glories blaze all nature round,
And strike the gazing sight,
Through skies, and seas, and solid ground,
With terror and delight.
Infinite strength and equal skill
Shine through thy works abroad, Our souls with vast amazement fill, And speak the builder God.
But the mild glories of thy grace
Our softer passions move;
Pity Divine in Jesus's face
We see, adore, and love!
THE TWO MULES.
Two mules met as travelling companions one day,
They both carried burdens (one load was of hay),
The other the gains of that impost fell
Which we call the salt-tax (in the French la gabelle).
Of this precious burden the mule was so proud,
He would rather by far lose his life than his load.
As he strutted along,
Rang his bell ding-dong,
A troop, who the coin
Seemed inclined to purloin,
Threw themselves on the mule and his treasure,
Held the bridle, and made him await their pleasure;
But he, while defending himself from his foes,
Received for his pains the most terrible blows.
'Is this,' groaned he, 'the reward promised me?
That donkey, who follows, the danger will pass,
While I, fallen into it, perish-alas !'
Said his friend of the thistle :
'You've paid for your whistle.
The highest employment's by no means the best; Had you been but a poor miller's mule like the rest, Your present misfortune had proved but a jest.'
A SCOTTISH WINTER.
No longer autumn's glowing red
Upon your forest hills is shed;
No more beneath the evening beam
Fair Tweed reflects their purple gleam:
Away hath passed the heather-bell
That bloomed so rich on Neidpath fell;
Sallow his brow, and russet bare,
Are now the sister-heights of Yair.
The sheep before the pinching heaven,
To sheltered dale and down are driven,
Where yet some faded herbage pines,
And yet a watery sunbeam shines.
In meek despondency they eye
The withered sward and wintry sky.
The shepherd shifts his mantle fold,
And wraps him closer from the cold;
His dogs no merry circles wheel,
But, shivering, follow at his heel;
A cowering glance they often cast,
As deeper moans the gathering blast.
My imps, though hardy, bold, and wild,
As best befits the mountain child,
Feel the sad influence of the hour,
And wail the daisy's vanished flower;
Their summer gambols tell, and mourn,
And anxious ask-Will spring return,
And birds and lambs again be gay,
And blossoms clothe the hawthorn spray?
Yes, prattlers, yes. The daisy's flower
Again shall paint your summer bower;
Again the hawthorn shall supply
The garlands you delight to tie ;
The lambs upon the lea shall bound,
The wild birds carol to the round,
And while you frolic light as they,
Too short shall seem the summer day.
THESE emmets, how little they are in our eyes! We tread them to dust, and a troop of them dies, Without our regard or concern :
Yet as wise as we are, if we went to their school, There's many a sluggard and many a
Some lessons of wisdom might learn.
|