SELECT LESSONS

I N

PROSE and VERSE, &c.

"T

ODE on the Glories of the Heavens. ADDISON,

THE spacious Firmament on high,

With all the blue ætherial Sky,
And spangled Heavens, a shining Frame,
Their great Original proclaim:
Th’unwearied Sun, from Day to Day,
Does his Creator's Pow'r display,
And publishes to every Land
The Work of an Almighty Hand.

2. Soon as the Evening Shades prevail,

'The Moon takes up the wond'rous Tale,
And nightly to the liftning Earth
Repeats the Story of her Birth :
Whilst all the Stars that round her burn,
And all the Planets in their Turn,
Confirm the Tidings as they roll,
And spread the Truth from Pole to Pole.

B

3. What

3. What though, in folemn Silence, all

Move round the dark terrestrial Ball!
What though nor real Voice nor Sound
Amid their radiant Orbs be found !
In Reason's Ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious Voice,
For ever singing as they shine,
66. The Hand that made us is Divine."

DAVID's. Pastoral HYMN on PROVIDENCE,

ADDISON

HE LORD my

Pasture shall

prepare, And feed me with a Shepherd's Care : His Presence shall my Wants supply, And guard me with a watchful Eye; My Noon-day Walks he shall attend, And all my Mid-night Hours defend.

2. When in the fultry Glebe I faint,

Or on the thirsty Mountains pant;
To fertile Vales, and dewy Meads,
My weary wand'ring Steps he leads;
Where peaceful Rivers, soft and flow,
Amid the verdant Landskip flow.

3. Tho' in the Paths of Death I tread,

With gloomy Horrors overspread,
My stedfast Heart shall fear no Ill,
For thou, O Lord, art with me still;
Thy friendly Crook shall give me Aid,
And guide me through the dreadful Shade.

4.

Th

4. Tho' in a bare and rugged Way,

Through devious lonely Wilds I stray,
Thy Bounty shall my Pains beguile :
The barren Wilderness shall smile,
With fudden Greens and Herbage crown'd,
And Streams shall murmur all around.

HYMN on GRATITUDE.

ADDISON.

"W

HEN all thy Mercies, O my God!

My rising Soul furveys; Transported with the View, I'm lost

In Wonder, Love, and Praise :

2. O how shall Words with equal Warmth

The Gratitude declare
That glows within my ravish'd Heart ?

But Thou canst read it there.

3. Thy Providence my Life sustain'd,

And all my Wants redrest, When in the filent Womb I lay,

And hung upon the Breaft.

4. To all my weak Complaints and Cries,

Thy Mercy lent an Ear,
E're yet my feeble Thoughts had learnt

To form themselves in Pray'r.

5. Unnumber'd Comforts to my Soul.

Thy tender Care bestow'd,
Before my infant Heart conceiv'd
From whom those Comforts flow'd.

6. When

B 2

6. When in the flipp'ry Paths of Youth

With heedless Steps I ran,
Thine Arm unseen convey'd me safe,

And led me up to Man.

7. Through hidden Dangers, Toils, and Deaths,

It gently clear'd my Way,
And through the pleasing Snares of Vice,

More to be fear'd than they.

8. When worn with Sickness, oft hast thou With Health renew'd

my

Face
And when in Sins and Sorrow sunk,

Reviv'd my Soul with Grace.

9. Thy bounteous Hand with worldly Bliss

Has made my Cup run o’er,
And in a kind and faithful Friend

Has doubled all my Store.

10. Ten thousand thousand precious Gifts

My daily Thanks employ;
Nor is the least a cheerful Heart,

That tastes those Gifts with Joy.

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11. Through every Period of my Life

Thy Goodness I'll pursue ;
And after Death in diftant Worlds

The glorious Theme renew.

12. When Nature fails, and Day and Niglit

Divide thy Works no more,
My ever-grateful Heart, O LORD,
Thy Mercy fhall adore..

13. Through