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Thy Providence supplies my food,
And 'tis thy blessing makes it good;
My soul is nourish'd by thy word,
Let soul and body praise the LORD.
My streams of outward comfort came
From him, who built this earthly frame;
Whate'er I want his bounty gives,
By whom my soul for ever lives.
Either his hand preserves from pain,
Or, if I feel it, heals again;

From Satan's malice shields my breast,
Or overrules it for the best.

Forgive the song that falls so low
Beneath the gratitude I owe!
It means thy praise, however poor,
An angel's song can do no more.

LXVII. [BK. 111. lxxxiii.]

16

I WILL PRAISE THE LORD AT ALL TIMES

WINTER has a joy for me,

While the Saviour's charms I read,
Lowly, meek, from blemish free,
In the snow-drop's pensive head.
Spring returns, and brings along
Life-invigorating suns:

Hark! the turtle's plaintive song,
Seems to speak his dying grones!
Summer has a thousand charms,
All expressive of his worth;
"Tis his sun that lights and warms,
His the air that cools the earth.

What has autumn left to say
Nothing, of a Saviour's grace?
Yes, the beams of milder day
Tell me of his smiling face.
Light appears with early dawn,
While the sun makes haste to rise,
See his bleeding beauties, drawn
On the blushes of the skies.

8

16

Ev'ning, with a silent pace,
Slowly moving in the west,
Shews an emblem of his grace,
Points to an eternal rest.

24

LONGING TO BE WITH CHRIST

[Not in the Olney Hymns. Hayley (1803) first printed verses 1-4 as a Fragment, which had been discovered in a book of Cowper's domestic accounts sent to him by Johnson. The Autobiography (1816) printed a slightly different version of verses 1, 2, and 4. Southey printed only the first two verses as Fragment of a Hymn; and the hymn was first given in its entirety by Grimshawe (1835), who says that he has been "enabled to authenticate it as the production of Cowper."]

TO JESUS, the Crown of my Hope,
My soul is in haste to be gone;
Oh bear me, ye cherubims, up,
And waft me away to his throne!
My Saviour, whom absent I love,
Whom not having seen I adore;
Whose name is exalted above

All glory, dominion, and power;
Dissolve thou the bond, that detains
My soul from her portion in thee,
And strike off the adamant chains,
And make me eternally free.

When that happy æra begins,

When array'd in thy beauty I shine,

Nor pierce any more, by my sins,
The bosom on which I recline;

Oh then shall the veil be remov'd,

And round me thy brightness be pour'd,

I shall meet him whom absent I lov'd,

I shall see whom unseen I ador'd.

And then never more shall the fears,
The trials, temptations, and woes,
Which darken this valley of tears,
Intrude on my blissful repose;

Or, if yet remember'd above,

Remembrance no sadness shall raise,

They will be but new signs of thy love,
New themes for my wonder and praise.

8

16

24

Thus the strokes which from sin and from pain Shall set me eternally free,

Will but strengthen and rivet the chain,

Which binds me, my Saviour, to thee.

32

5 Saviour] Jesus 1816. 9 these bonds... detain Grimshawe. 11 Ah... this... chain Grimshawe. 14 beauty Hayley, 1816: glories Grimshawe. 15 pierce] grieve Grimshawe (And pierce no 1816).

HYMN

FOR THE USE OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AT OLNEY [Written Aug., 1789. Published 1808.]

HEAR, LORD, the song of praise and pray'r,
In Heav'n, thy dwelling place,
From infants made the public care,

And taught to seek thy face!

Thanks for thy word, and for thy day ;

And grant us, we implore,

Never to waste in sinful play
Thy holy sabbaths more.

Thanks that we hear,-but Oh, impart
To each desires sincere,

That we may listen with our heart,
And learn, as well as hear.

8

For if vain thoughts the minds engage

Of older far than we,

What hope that, at our heedless age,
Our minds should e'er be free?

Much hope, if thou our spirits take
Under thy gracious sway,
Who canst the wisest wiser make,
And babes as wise as they.

16

Wisdom and bliss thy word bestows,
A sun that ne'er declines,

And be thy mercies show'r'd on those
Who plac'd us where it shines.

24

5 thy day] this day 1808.

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NEWPORT-PAGNEL,

Printed and Sold by J. Wakefield;
sold also by

T. WILLIAMS, 10, STATIONERS' COURT, LONDON.

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THE NATIVITY

POEME HEROIQUE.-VOL. 4, § 4.

[The translations from Madame Guion were written during the first six months of 1782, at the request of William Bull. They were first published by Bull in 1801, from a fair copy presented to him by Cowper (see notes at the end of the volume for Bull's preface). The Ash MSS. contain copies of all the translations except Living Water, and Acquiescence of Pure Love; but the readings of the 1801 edition, except where misprinted, must almost always be preferred to those of the MSS., which are all earlier drafts, many being full of interlineations and erasures. The most interesting verbal variants are given in the footnotes. A MS. of Scenes Favourable to Meditation, enclosed in a letter to Unwin, is in the British Museum.]

"TIS Folly all-let me no more be told
Of Parian porticos, and roofs of gold;
Delightful views of Nature dress'd by Art,
Enchant no longer this indiff'rent heart;
The Lord of all things, in his humble birth,
Makes mean the proud magnificence of Earth;
The straw, the manger, and the mould'ring wall,
Eclipse its lustre; and I scorn it all.

Canals, and fountains, and delicious vales,
Green slopes, and plains whose plenty never fails;
Deep-rooted groves, whose heads sublimely rise, 11
Earth-born, and yet ambitious of the skies;
Th' abundant foliage of whose gloomy shades,
Vainly the sun in all its pow'r invades ;
Where warbled airs of sprightly birds resound;
Whose verdure lives while winter scowls around;
Rocks, lofty mountains, caverns dark and deep,
And torrents raving down the rugged steep;
Smooth downs, whose fragrant herbs the spirits
cheer;

Meads, crown'd with flow'rs; streams musical and clear, 20

Whose silver waters, and whose murmurs, join
Their artless charms, to make the scene divine;
The fruitful vineyard, and the furrow'd plain,
That seems a rolling sea of golden grain;
All, all have lost the charms they once possess'd;
An infant God reigns sov'reign in my breast;
From Bethl'em's bosom I no more will rove;
There dwells the Saviour, and there rests my love.
Ye mightier rivers, that with sounding force
Urge down the valleys your impetuous course! 30

3 views... Art] scenes where nature vies with Art A. 6 proud] vain A. 12 Affect the clouds, and push into the skies A. 14 The sun, in all his pow'r, in vain

13 The plenteous A. invades 4.

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