4. While some poor creatures scarce can tell, Where they may lay their head,
I have a home wherein to dwell,
And rest upon my bed.
5. While others early learn to swear,
And curse, and lie, and steal,
Lord! I am taught thy name to fear,
And do thy holy will.
6. Are these thy favours, day by day,
To me above the rest?
Then let me love thee more than they,
And try to serve thee best.
SECTION III.
The excellence of the Bible.
1. GREAT GOD! with wonder and with praise
On all thy works I look;
But still thy wisdom, pow'r, and grace,
Shine brightest in thy book.
2. The stars, which in their courses roll,
Have much instruction giv'n;
But thy good word informs my soul
How I may get to heav'n.
car 7. Then let me love my Bible more,
And take a fresh delight,
By day to read these wonders o'er,
And meditate by night.
1. How does the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour;
And gather honey all the day,
From every op'ning flow'r!
2. How skilfully she builds her cell!
How neat she spreads the wax!
And labours hard, to store it well,
With the sweet food she makes.
3. In works of labour, or of skill,
ge
I would be busy too: Watoli
For Satan finds some mischief stili Jo
For idle hands to do. bril snow m
4. In books, or work, or healthful play,
Let my first years be past;
That I may give for ev'ry days
Some good account at last.
Along the dewy lawn to rove,
And hear the music of the grove!
Nor you, ye delicate and fair,
Neglect to taste the morning air;
This will your nerves with vigour brace,
Improve and heighten ev'ry grace;
Add to your breath a rich perfume;
Add to your cheeks a fairer bloom:
With lustre teach your eyes to glow;
And health and cheerfulness bestow.
SECTION VI.
The drowning fly.
IN yonder glass, behold a drowning fly!
Its little feet, how vainly does it ply!
Poor helpless insect! and will no one save?
Will no one snatch thee from the threat'ning grave?
My finger's top shall prove a friendly shore.
There, trembler, all thy dangers now are o'er.
Wipe thy wet wings, and banish all thy fear:
Go, join thy num'rous kindred in the air.
Away it flies; resumes its harmless play;
And lightly gambols in the golden ray.
2. Smile not, spectators, at this humble deed:
For you, perhaps, a nobler task's decreed:
A young and sinking family to save;
To raise the thoughtless from destruction's wave!
To you, for help, the wretched lift their eyes:
Oh! hear, for pity's sake, their plaintive cries;
Ere long, unless some guardian interpose,
O'er their devoted heads, the floods may close.
Well rewarded, if I spy
Pleasure in thy glancing eye;
See thee, when thou'st eat thy fill,
Plume thy breast and wipe thy bill.
Come, my feather'd friend, again!
Well thou know'st the broken pane.
Ask of me thy daily store;
Ever welcome to my door!
SECTION VIII.
To a child five years old.
1. FAIREST flower all flowers excelling,
Which in Milton's page we see :
Flowers of Eve's embower'd dwelling,
Are, my fair one, types of thee.
2. Mark, my Polly, how the roses
Emulate thy damask cheek;
How the bud its sweets discloses-
Buds thy op'ning bloom bespeak.
3. Lilies are by plain direction
Emblems of a double kind;
Emblems of thy fair complexion,
Emblems of thy fairer mind.
4. But, dear girl, both flowers and beauty
Blossom, fade, and die away:
Then pursue good sense and duty,
Evergreens, which ne'er decay.
1. How fair is the rose! what a beautiful flow'r! In summer so fragrant and gay!
But the leaves are beginning to fade in an hour,
And they wither and die in a day.
2. Yet the rose has one pow'rful virtue to boast,
Above all the flowers of the field:
When its leaves are all dead, and fine colours lost,
Still how sweet a perfume it will yield!
3. So frail is the youth and the beauty of men,
Though they bloom and look gay like the rose: For all our fond care to preserve them is vain; Time kills them as fast as he goes.
4. Then I'll not be proud of my youth or my beauty, Since both of them wither and fade:
But gain a good name by performing my duty;
This will scent like a rose, when I'm dead.
1. THESE emmets, how little they are in our eyes!
We tread them to dust, and a troop of them dies,
Without our regard or concern:
Yet as wise as we are, if we went to their school,
There's many a sluggard, and many a fool,
Some lessons of wisdom might learn.
2. They don't wear their time out in sleeping or play, But gather up corn in a sun-shiny day,
1. And for winter they lay up their stores:
They manage their work in such regular forms, One would think they foresaw all the frosts and the storms;
And so brought their food within doors.
3. But I have less sense than a poor creeping ant,
If I take not due care for the things I shall want,
Nor provide against dangers in time.
When death or old age shall stare in my face,
What a wretch shall I be in the end of my days,
If I trifle away all their prime !
4. Now, now, while my strength and my youth are in bloom, Let me think what will serve me when sickness shall
And pray that my sins be forgiv'n:
Let me read in good books, and believe and obey That, when death turns me out of this cottage of clay, I may dwell in a palace in Heav'n.
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