Contemplative-on God to fix
His musings, and above the six
The Sabbath-day he blessed;
'Twas then his thoughts self-conquest pruned,
And heavenly melancholy tuned,

To bless and bear the rest.

Serene to sow the seeds of peace,
Remembering, when he watched the fleece,
How sweetly Kidron purled-
To further knowledge, silence vice,
And plant perpetual paradise,

When God had calmed the world.

Strong in the Lord, who could defy
Satan, and all his powers that lie
In sempiternal night;

And hell, and horror, and despair
Were as the lion and the bear
To his undaunted might.

Constant-in love to God, the Truth,
Age, manhood, infancy, and youth:
To Jonathan his friend
Constant, beyond the verge of death;
And Ziba, and Mephibosheth,
His endless fame attend.

Pleasant-and various as the year;
Man, soul, and angel without peer,
Priest, champion, sage, and boy;
In armour or in ephod clad,
His pomp, his piety was glad;
Majestic was his joy.

Wise-in recovery from his fall,
Whence rose his eminence o'er all,

Of all the most reviled;

The light of Israel in his ways,

Wise are his precepts, prayer, and praise,
And counsel to his child.

His muse, bright angel of his verse,

Gives balm for all the thorns that pierce,

For all the pangs that rage;

Blest light, still gaining on the gloom,

The more than Michal of his bloom,
The Abishag of his age.

He sang of God-the mighty source
Of all things the stupendous force
On which all strength depends;

From Whose right arm, beneath Whose eyes,
All period, power, and enterprise

Commences, reigns, and ends.

Angels their ministry and meed,
Which to and fro with blessings speed,

Or with their citterns wait;

Where Michael, with his millions, bows,
Where dwells the seraph and his spouse,
The cherub and her mate.

Of man-the semblance and effect
Of God and love-the saint elect
For infinite applause-

To rule the land, and briny broad,
To be laborious in his laud,

And heroes in his cause.

The world-the clustering spheres He made, The glorious light, the soothing shade,

Dale, champaign, grove, and hill;

The multitudinous abyss,

Where Secrecy remains in bliss,

And Wisdom hides her skill.

Trees, plants, and flowers-of virtuous root; Gem yielding blossom, yielding fruit,

Choice gums and precious balm;

Bless ye the nosegay in the vale,
And with the sweetness of the gale

Enrich the thankful psalm.

Of fowl-even every beak and wing
Which cheer the winter, hail the spring,
That live in peace or prey;

They that make music, or that mock,
The quail, the brave domestic cock.
The raven, swan, and jay.

Of fishes-every size and shape,
Which nature frames of light escape,
Devouring man to shun:

The shells are in the wealthy deep,
The shoals upon the surface leap,
And love the glancing sun.

Of beasts-the beaver plods his task;
While the sleek tigers roll and bask,
Nor yet the shades arouse;

Her cave the mining coney scoops;
Where o'er the mead the mountain stoops,
The kids exult and browse.

Of gems their virtue and their price,
Which, hid in earth from man's device,
Their darts of lustre sheath;
The jasper of the master's stamp,
The topaz blazing like a lamp,
Among the mines beneath.

Blest was the tenderness he felt,
When to his graceful harp he knelt,

And did for audience call;

When Satan with his hand he quelled,
And in serene suspense he held

The frantic throes of Saul.

His furious foes no more maligned
As he such melody divined,

And sense and soul detained;

Now striking strong, now soothing soft,
He sent the godly sounds aloft,

Or in delight refrained.

When up to heaven his thoughts he piled,
From fervent lips fair Michal smiled,

As blush to blush she stood;

And chose herself the queen, and gave

Her utmost from her heart-' so brave,
And plays his hymns so good.'

The pillars of the Lord are seven,
Which stand from earth to topmost heaven;
His Wisdom drew the plan;

His Word accomplished the design,
From brightest gem to deepest mine,
From CHRIST enthroned to Man.

Alpha, the cause of causes, first
In station, fountain, whence the burst
Of light and blaze of day;

Whence bold attempt, and brave advance.
Have motion, life, and ordinance,

And heaven itself its stay.

Gamma supports the glorious arch
On which angelic legions march,
And is with sapphires paved;

Thence the fleet clouds are sent adrift,
And thence the painted folds that lift
The crimson veil, are waved.

Eta with living sculpture breathes,
With verdant carvings, flowery wreathes,
Of never-wasting bloom;

In strong relief his goodly base
All instruments of labour grace,
The trowel, spade, and loom.

Next Theta stands to the supreme-
Who formed in number, sign, and scheme,

The illustrious lights that are;

And one addressed his saffron robe,

And one, clad in a silver globe,

Held rule with every star.

Iota's tuned to choral hymns

Of those that fly, while he that swims
In thankful safety lurks;

And foot, and chapiter, and niche,
The various histories enrich

Of God's recorded works.

Sigma presents the social droves
With him that solitary roves,
And man of all the chief;

Fair on whose face, and stately frame,
Did God impress His hallowed name,
For ocular belief.

Omega! greatest and the best,
Stands sacred to the day of rest,
For gratitude and thought;

Which blessed the world upon his pole,
And gave the universe his goal,
And closed the infernal draught.

O David, scholar of the Lord!
Such is thy science, whence reward,
And infinite degree;

O strength, O sweetness, lasting ripe!
God's harp thy symbol, and thy type
The lion and the bee!

There is but One who ne'er rebelled,
But One by passion unimpelled,
By pleasures unenticed;

He from himself hath semblance sent,
Grand object of his own content,
And saw the God in Christ.

Tell them, I AM, Jehovah said
To Moses; while earth heard in dread,
And, smitten to the heart,

At once above, beneath, around,
All Nature, without voice or sound,
Replied, O Lord, THOU ART.'