Lift their eyes, and from afar THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD. PLACED on the verge of youth, my mind I viewed its ills of various kind, But chief my fear the dangers moved, For see! ah see! while yet her ways A hostile world its terrors raise, Oh! how shall I, with heart prepared, How from the thousand snares to guard As thus I mused, oppressive sleep An object strange and new, Before me rose on the wide shore The gathering storms around me roar, And heave the boiling flood. Near, and more near the billows rise, What hope, or whither to retreat, I feel my heart within me die; A voice descending from on high "What though the swelling surge thou see Impatient to devour, Rest, mortal, rest, on God's decree, "Know when He bade the deep appear, Thus far,' the Almighty said, Thus far, nor farther, rage, and here I heard, and lo! at once controlled, Deeps to assembling deeps in vain The shores the rushing weight sustain, Convinced in nature's volume wise, Then why thus heavy, O my soul ! Thy thoughts with vain impatience roll Let faith suppress each rising fear, He to thy every trial knows And faithful to relieve. Then why thus heavy, O my soul! Thy thoughts with vain impatience roll Though griefs unnumbered throng thee round, Whose finger marks the seas their bound, CHRISTOPHER SMART. CHRISTOPHER SMART was born at Shipbourne, in Kent, in 1722, and was educated at Cambridge. He was elected Fellow of Pembroke Hall in 1745, and took the degree of M. A. in 1747. Shortly after he removed to London, where he became acquainted with the most celebrated men of his day. He was subject to fits of insanity, which were at last attended with paroxysms so violent that he was obliged to be placed in a madhouse. He died, a prisoner for debt, in the King's Bench, on the 10th of May, 1770. Smart seems to have had much respect and sympathy, notwithstanding his dissolute and unhappy life. "His piety," says Southey," was so fervent, that when composing his religious poems he was frequently so impressed as to write upon his knees." His works possess considerable merit. They are recommended, as Mr. Wilmot observes, by an air of sincerity and enthusiasm; but they are generally wanting in finish. INVOCATION. ARISE, divine Urania, with new strains To hymn thy God! and thou, immortal Fame, All glory to the Omniscient, and praise, A living sacrifice before his throne! And may the eternal high mysterious tree That in the centre of the archéd heavens Bears the rich fruit of knowledge, with some branch THE FINAL JUDGMENT. A DAY shall come when all this earth shall perish, Nor leave behind e'en chaos; it shall come When all the armies of the elements Shall war against themselves, and mutual rage, The enormous blaze of the destructive flames. In vain ye swell; will a few drops suffice To quench the unextinguishable fire? Ye mountains, on whose cloud-crowned tops the cedars That prop the painted chambers of the heavens, Nor shall the verdant valleys then remain More largely, and, with filial tears must weep, Nor thou, illustrious monarch of the day; Nor thou, fair queen of night; nor you, ye stars, |