Love is our only business here,
Love, fimple, conftant, and fincere ;
O bleffed days, thy servants fee!
Spent, O Lord! in pleafing Thee.

22. LOVE FAITHFUL IN THE ABSENCE OF THE BELOVED.

N vain ye woo me to your harmless joys, Ye pleasant bowers, remote from ftrife and noise;

Your shades, the witneffes of many a vow, Breathed forth in happier days, are irksome now : Denied that smile 'twas once my heaven to fee, Such scenes, such pleasures, are all past with me.

In vain He leaves me, I fhall love him ftill; And though I mourn, not murmur at his will; I have no cause-an object all divine

Might well

grow weary of a foul like mine; Yet pity me, great God! forlorn, alone, Heartless and hopeless, Life and Love all gone.

23. LOVE PURE AND FERVENT.

EALOUS, and with love o'erflowing,
God demands a fervent heart;
Grace and bounty ftill bestowing,
Calls us to a grateful part.

Oh, then, with fupreme affection

His paternal Will regard!
If it cost us fome dejection,
Every figh has its reward.

Perfect Love has power to foften
Cares that might our peace destroy,
Nay, does more transforms them often,
Changing forrow into joy.

Sovereign Love appoints the measure,
And the number of our pains;
And is pleased when we find pleasure
In the trials he ordains.

24. THE ENTIRE SURRENDER.

EACE has unveil'd her fmiling face, And woos thy foul to her embrace, Enjoy'd with ease, if thou refrain From earthly love, else fought in vain; She dwells with all who Truth prefer, But feeks not them who seek not her.

Yield to the Lord, with fimple heart,
All that thou haft, and all thou art;
Renounce all strength but ftrength divine;
And peace fhall be for ever thine:
Behold the path which I have trod,
My path, till I go home to God.

25. THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.

PLACE an offering at thy shrine,

From taint and blemish clear,

Simple and pure in its defign,

Of all that I hold dear.

I yield thee back thy gifts again,
Thy gifts which most I prize;
Defirous only to retain

The notice of thine eyes.

But if, by thine adored decree,
That bleffing be denied;
Refign'd, and unreluctant, see
My every wish fubfide.

Thy will in all things I approve,

Exalted or caft down!
Thy will in every state I love,
And even in thy frown.

26. GOD HIDES HIS PEOPLE.

O lay the foul that loves him low,
Becomes the Only-wife:

To hide, beneath a veil of woe,
The children of the skies.

Man, though a worm, would yet be great; Though feeble, would feem ftrong; Affumes an independent state,

By facrilege and wrong.

Strange the reverse, which, once abased,

The haughty creature proves!
He feels his foul a barren wafte,
Nor dares affirm he loves.

Scorn'd by the thoughtless and the vain,
To God he preffes near;
Superior to the world's disdain,
And happy in its sneer.

Oh welcome, in his heart he says,
Humility and shame!

Farewell the wish for human praise,
The mufic of a name!

But will not scandal mar the good
That I might elfe perform?
And can God work it, if he would,
By fo despised a worm?

Ah, vainly anxious!-leave the Lord
To rule thee, and difpofe;
Sweet is the mandate of his word,
And gracious all He does.

He draws from human littleness
His grandeur and renown;

And generous hearts with joy confess
The triumph all his own.

Down then with felf-exalting thoughts;
Thy faith and hope employ,
To welcome all that he allots,
And fuffer fhame with joy.

No longer, then, thou wilt encroach
On his eternal right;

And He shall smile at thy approach,
And make thee his delight.

27. THE SECRETS OF DIVINE LOVE ARE TO BE KEPT.

UN! ftay thy courfe, this moment stay-
Sufpend the o'erflowing tide of day,
Divulge not fuch a love as mine,

Ah! hide the mystery divine;

Left man, who deems my glory shame,
Should learn the fecret of my flame.

O Night! propitious to my views,
Thy fable awning wide diffuse;
Conceal alike my joy and pain,
Nor draw thy curtain back again,
Though Morning, by the tears she shows,
Seems to participate my woes.

Ye Stars! whose faint and feeble fires

Express my languishing defires,

Whose slender beams pervade the skies
As filent as my fecret fighs,