Sure Thou, Almighty, canst not act
From cruelty or wrath!

O, free my weary eyes from tears,
Or close them fast in death!

But, if I must afflicted be,

To suit some wise design;

Then man my soul with firm resolves,

To bear and not repine !

PARAPHRASE OF THE FIRST PSALM

THE man, in life wherever plac'd,
Hath happiness in store,

Who walks not in the wicked's way,
Nor learns their guilty lore!

Nor from the seat of scornful pride
Casts forth his eyes abroad,

But with humility and awe

Still walks before his God.

That man shall flourish like the trees,
Which by the streamlets grow;
The fruitful top is spread on high,
And firm the root below.

But he whose blossom buds in guilt
Shall to the ground be cast,
And, like the rootless stubble, tost
Before the sweeping blast.

For why? that God the good adore,
Hath giv❜n them peace and rest,
But hath decreed that wicked men
Shall ne'er be truly blest.

THE FIRST SIX VERSES OF THE NINETIETH

PSALM VERSIFIED.

O THOU, the first, the greatest friend

Of all the human race!

Whose strong right hand has ever been
Their stay and dwelling place!

Before the mountains heav'd their heads
Beneath Thy forming hand,
Before this ponderous globe itself,
Arose at Thy command;

That Pow'r which rais'd and still upholds

This universal frame,

From countless, unbeginning time

Was ever still the same.

Those mighty periods of years

Which seem to us so vast,
Appear no more before Thy sight
Than yesterday that's past.

Thou giv'st the word: Thy creature, man,
Is to existence brought;

Again Thou say'st, "Ye sons of men,

Return ye into nought!"

Thou layest them, with all their cares,
In everlasting sleep;

As with a flood Thou tak'st them off
With overwhelming sweep.

They flourish like the morning flow'r,
In beauty's pride array'd;

But long ere night-cut down, it lies
All wither'd and decay'd.

A PRAYER IN THE PROSPECT OF DEATH.

O THOU unknown, Almighty Cause

Of all my hope and fear!

In whose dread presence, ere an hour,
Perhaps I must appear!

If I have wander'd in those paths
Of life I ought to shun-

As something, loudly, in my breast,
Remonstrates I have done-

Thou know'st that Thou hast formed me
With passions wild and strong;
And list'ning to their witching voice
Has often led me wrong.

Where human weakness has come short,
Or frailty stept aside,

Do Thou, All-Good-for such Thou art—
In shades of darkness hide.

Where with intention I have err'd,

No other plea I have,

But, Thou art good; and Goodness still
Delighteth to forgive.

[This composition appears, under the date August 1784, in the Commonplace Book, as "A Prayer when fainting fits and other alarming symptoms of a pleurisy, or some other dangerous disorder, which indeed still threaten me, first put nature on the alarm."]

STANZAS, ON THE SAME OCCASION.
WHY am I loth to leave this earthly scene?
Have I so found it full of pleasing charms—
Some drops of joy with draughts of ill between—
Some gleams of sunshine 'mid renewing storms?
Is it departing pangs my soul alarms?

Or death's unlovely, dreary, dark abode?
For guilt, for guilt, my terrors are in arms :
I tremble to approach an angry God,
And justly smart beneath His sin-avenging rod.

Fain would I say, "Forgive my foul offence !"
Fain promise never more to disobey;
But, should my Author health again dispense,
Again I might desert fair virtue's way;
Again in folly's path might go astray;

Again exalt the brute and sink the man;
Then how should I for heavenly mercy pray,

Who act so counter heavenly mercy's plan? Who sin so oft have mourn'd, yet to temptation ran?

O Thou great Governor of all below!

If I may dare a lifted eye to Thee,

Thy nod can make the tempest cease to blow,
Or still the tumult of the raging sea :

With that controlling pow'r assist ev'n me,
Those headlong furious passions to confine,

For all unfit I feel my pow'rs to be,

To rule their torrent in th' allowed line;

O, aid me with Thy help, Omnipotence Divine!

[This composition is set down in the poet's Common-place Book immediately following the preceding, and entitled "Misgivings in the Hour of Despondency and Prospect of Death."

Dr John Brown (author of "Rab and his Friends") has introduced an anecdote concerning it in his little book—" Pet Marjorie: a Story of Child Life Fifty Years Ago."]

FICKLE FORTUNE.- -"A FRAGMENT."

THOUGH fickle Fortune has deceived me,

She promis'd fair and perform'd but ill ;
Of mistress, friends, and wealth bereav'd me,
Yet I bear a heart shall support me still.-

I'll act with prudence as far as I'm able,
But if success I must never find,

Then come misfortune, I bid thee welcome,
I'll meet thee with an undaunted mind.

[The poet has set this down in his Common-place Book, under date, September 1785, and thus remarks:-"The above was an extempore, under the pressure of a heavy train of misfortunes, which indeed threatened to undo me altogether. It was just at the close of that dreadful period mentioned, [when the prayer 'O Thou great Being,' was composed,] and though the weather has brightened up a little with me, yet there has always been since, a 'tempest brewing round me in the grim sky' of futurity, which I pretty plainly see will some time or other-perhaps ere long-overwhelm me, and drive me into some doleful dell to pine in solitary, squalid wretchedness."]

RAGING FORTUNE.-FRAGMENT OF SONG.

O RAGING Fortune's withering blast

Has laid my leaf full low !

O raging Fortune's withering blast
Has laid my leaf full low !

My stem was fair, my bud was green,
My blossom sweet did blow;
The dew fell fresh, the sun rose mild,
And made my branches grow;

But luckless Fortune's northern storms
Laid a' my blossoms low,-

But luckless Fortune's northern storms
Laid a' my blossoms low !