When shall thy love constrain, Thy condescending grace It calls me still to seek thy face, Ah! what avails my strife, Lord, at thy feet I fall, 1 groan to be set free; I fain would now obey thy call, To rescue me from woe, Thou didst with all things part; My worthless heart to gain, Take, then, O Saviour, take, Come, and possess me whole, Nor hence again remove; Settle and fix my wavering soul With all thy weight of love. My one desire be this, Thy love alone to know, To seek, and taste no other bliss, No other good below. My Life, my Portion, thou, Thou all-sufficient art; My Hope, my heav'nly Treasure, now Enter, and keep my heart. Rather than let it burn For earth, O quench its heat; And when it would to earth return, O let it cease to beat. Snatch me from ill to come, When I from thee would fly; SINKING underneath my load, Let me ask, My God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me?' Still I ask, nor yet receive, Hope, though urg'd to hope no more, Hear, in mercy, my complaint, Hear, and hasten to my aid; Help, or utterly I faint; Fails the spirit thou hast made: Still I at thy footstool keep, Pray and hope, despair and weep. Struggling in temptation's snare, Lo! I ever look to thee; Come, then, O my Saviour, come! Waft me to that happy shore, Safe in my Redeemer's breast. RISE, my soul, the dawn appears Quit, in hope, the vale of tears, Darting through this lower sphere, In the wedding garb of love, To mine elder Brother join'd, I shall there my partner see; In the arms of Jesus find The soul that twin'd with me. There we shall with transport meet, And see our Saviour's face; There the heav'nly song repeat, In ecstacy of praise. Bright as his, our bodies are; Like the Head, the members shine; All our open foreheads bear The glorious stamp divine. With the high and lofty One Banquet on angelic food, Father, Son, and Spirit know; A FRAGMENT. MIXT with the guardian angels, bend Happy, might I the grace receive, In thee, my only friend, confide Delightfully alone; And desolate with thee abide, Till all my course be run. Surely, I now rely on thee, I know the prayer of faith is heard, LETTERS. TO MRS. GRANDIDIER. My dear Mrs. G St. John's, Antigua, 1775. THE long and steady friendship which has subsisted between us in sickness and in health, in prosperity and in adversity, ever the same, without change or diminution, leaves me no room to doubt that it will extend to my little family, and that you will be as ready, to the utmost of your power, to befriend them, as you have been the dear father already gone, and your friend, who is, perhaps, about to follow. If it should please God to take me away in my approaching confinement, I leave you and Captain G. full power to dispose of every thing in this house, and belonging to me in this island, as you shall think most for the advantage of my little family. You know that my extreme tenderness for their dear father, made me unable to part with any of his clothes; but these can be of no consequence to me when I shall again have joined him for whose sake I kept them; you may therefore dispose of them, and also of my own, if you think that what they will fetch will be of more service to the children. But I do not choose to leave any particular directions about my trifling effects; you will consult with other friends; and I am certain that you will act for them to the best of your judgment. It is |