What time good hope my soul doth cheer,
My thanks to Thee I will assay;

And when my spirit quails with fear,
Be it my privilege to pray.

When I approach life's closing scene, Good Lord, be Thou my help and stay ;

Be with me in the vale of death,

To Zion guide me—thus I pray.

TO AN INFANT.

Steele.

CAN I bid thee, little stranger,
Welcome to a world of care?

Where attends thee many a danger,
Where awaits thee many a snare?

Hence, away, ye dark surmises,
Hope presents a fairer scene;
Many a blooming pleasure rises,
Many a sunbeam shines serene.

Oh, may Providence defend thee!
Circled in his guardian arms,

Dangers shall in vain attend thee,-
Safe amid surrounding harms..

Shall I wish the world caressing?
Wish thee pleasure, grandeur, wealth?
No-but many a nobler blessing-
Wisdom, virtue, friendship, health.

May'st thou know the gracious Donor,
Early know, and love, and praise!
Then shall real wealth and honour,
Peace and pleasure crown thy days.

PRAISE TO GOD.

Hogg.

BLESSED be Thy name for ever,
Thou of life the guard and giver ;
Thou canst guard thy creatures sleeping;
Heal the heart long broke with weeping.
God of stillness and of motion,

Of the desert and the ocean,

Of the mountain, rock, and river,

Blessed be thy name for ever.

Thou who slumberest not, nor sleepest, Blest are they thou kindly keepest; God of evening's parting ray,

Of midnight's gloom, and dawning day, That rises from the azure sea,

Like breathings of eternity;

God of life! that fade shall never,
Blessed be thy name for ever!

CHILDHOOD.

Scott.

CHILDHOOD, happy stage of life!
Free from care and free from strife,
Free from Memory's ruthless reign,
Fraught with scenes of former pain;
Free from Fancy's cruel skill,
Fabricating future ill!

Time, when all that meets the view,
All can charm, for all is new.

Then to toss the circling ball,
Caught rebounding from the wall;

Then the mimic ship to guide
Down the kennel's dirty tide;
Then the hoop's revolving pace
Through the dusty streets to chase;
O what joy! it once was mine,
Childhood, pleasing boon of thine!

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.

Sir John Davies.

O IGNORANT poor man! what dost thou bear Lock'd up within the casket of thy breast? What jewels, and what riches hast thou there? What heavenly treasure in so weak a chest?

Look in thy soul, and thou shalt beauties find,
Like those which drown'd Narcissus in the flood:
Honour and pleasure both are in thy mind,
And all that in the world is counted good.

Think of her worth, and think that God did mean,
This worthy Mind should worthy things em-

brace :

Blot not her beauties with thy thoughts unclean, Nor her dishonour with thy passion base.

Kill not her quickening power with surfeitings:

Mar not her sense with sensuality:

Cast not away her wit on idle things:
Make not her free will slave to vanity.

And when thou think'st of her eternity,
Think not that death against her nature is;
Think it a birth: and when thou goest to die,
Sing like a swan, as if thou went'st to bliss.

And if thou, like a child, didst fear before,

Being in the dark, where thou didst nothing see; Now I have brought thee torch-light, fear no more; Now, when thou diest, thou canst not hoodwink'd be.

And thou, my soul, which turn'st with curious eye To view the beams of thine own form divine, Know that thou canst know nothing perfectly, Whilst thou art clouded with this flesh of mine. Take heed of overweening, and compare,

Thy peacock's feet with thy gay peacock's train:
Study the best and highest things that are,
But of thyself an humble thought retain.

Cast down thyself, and only strive to raise
The glory of thy Maker's sacred name :
Use all thy power, that blessed Power to praise,
Which gives thee power to be, and use the same.

Q