Ye glitt'ring planets of the sky,
Whose lamps the absent Sun supply,

With him the song pursue;
And let himself submissive own,
He borrows from a brighter Sun

The light he lends to you.

Ye show'rs and dews, whose moisture shed
Calls into life the op'ning seed,

To him your praises yield,
Whose influence wakes the genial birth,
Drops fatness on the pregnant earth,

And crowns the laughing field.

Ye winds, that oft tempestuous sweep
The ruffled surface of the deep,

With us confess your God;
See through the heav'ns the King of kings,
Upborne on your expanded wings,

Come flying all abroad.
Ye floods of fire, where'er ye flow,
With just submission humbly bow

To his superior pow'r,
Who stops the tempest on its way,
Or bids the flaming deluge stray,

And gives its strength to roar.

Ye summer's heat, and winter's cold,
By turns in long succession roll'd,

The drooping world to cheer,
Praise him who gave the Sun and Moon
To lead the various seasons on,

And guide the circling year.

Ye frosts, that bind the watry plain,
Ye silent show'rs of fleecy rain,

Pursue the heav'nly theme;
Praise him who sheds the driving snow,
Forbids the harden'd waves to flow,

And stops the rapid stream.

Ye days and nights, that swiftly borne
From morn to eve, from eve to morn,

Alternate glide away,
Praise him, whose never-varying light,
Absent, adds horror to the night,

But, present, gives the day.

Light, from whose rays all beauty springs ; Darkness, whose wide-expanded wings

Involve the dusky globe; Praise him, who, when the heav'ns he spread, · Darkness his thick pavilion made,

And light his regal robe.
Praise him, ye lightnings, as ye fly
Wing'd with his vengeance through the sky,

And red with wrath divine;
Praise him, ye clouds that wand'ring stray,
Or, fix'd by him, in close array

Surround his awful shrine.

Exalt, О Earth! thy Heav'nly King,
Who bids the plants that form the spring

With annual verdure bloom;
Whose frequent drops of kindly rain
Prolific swell the rip’ning grain,
And bless thy fertile womba

Ye mountains, that ambitious rise,
And heave your summits to the skies,

Revere his awful nod;
Think how you once affrighted fled,
When Jordan sought his fountain-head,

And own'd th' approaching God.
Ye trees, that fill the rural scene;
Ye flow'rs, that o'er th' enamellid green

In native beauty reign;
O praise the Ruler of the skies,
Whose hand the genial sap supplies,

And clothes the smiling plain.
Ye secret springs, ye gentle rills,
That murm'ring rise among the hills,

Or fill the humble vale;
Praise him, at whose Almighty nod
T'he rugged rock dissolving flow'd,

And form'd a springing well.
Praise him, ye floods, and seas profound,
Whose waves the spacious earth surround,

And roll from shore to shore : Aw'd by his voice, ye seas, subside; Ye floods, within your channels glide,

And tremble and adore.

Ye whales, that stir the boiling deep,
Or in its dark recesses sleep,

Remote from human eye,
Praise him, by whom ye all are fed ;
Praise him, without whose heavenly aid

Ye languish, faint, and die.

Ye birds, exalt our Maker's name; Begin, and with th' important theme

Your artless lays improve; Wakē with your songs the rising day, Let music sound on ev'ry spray,

And fill the vocal grove.

Praise him, ye beasts, that nightly roam Amid the salutary gloom,

Th' expected prey to seize : Ye slaves of the laborious plough, Your stubborn necks submissive bow,

And bend your wearied knees. Ye sons of men, his praise display, Who stamp'd his image on your clay,

And gave it pow'r to move : Ye that in Judah's confines dwell, From age to age successive tell

The wonders of his love. Let Levi's tribe the lay prolong, Till angels listen to the song,

And bend attention down; Let wonder seize the heavenly train, Pleas'd while they hear a mortal strain

So sweet, so like their own.

And you your thankful voices join,
That oft at Salem's sacred shrine

Before his altars kneel;
Where thron'd in majesty he dwells,
And from the mystic cloud reveals

The dictates of his will.

Ye spirits of the just and good,
That, eager from the bless'd abode,

To heavenly mansions soar ;
O let your songs his praise display,
Till heaven itself shall melt away,

And time shall be no more!

Praise him, ye meek and humble train,
Ye saints, whom his decrees ordain

The boundless bliss to share ;
O praise him, till ye take your way
To regions of eternal day,

And reign for ever there !
Let us, who now impassive stand,
Aw'd by the tyrant's stern command,

Amid the fiery blaze;
While thus we triumph in the flame,
Rise, and our Maker's love proclaim,

In hymns of endless praise. Merricks

PART OF THB NINETIETH PSALM.

O thou, the first, the greatest friend,

Of all the human race!
Whose strong right hand has ever been

Their stay and dwelling place!

Before the mountains heav'd their heads

Beneath thy forming hand, Before this pond'rous globe itself

Arose at thy command ;