Gentlemen, IF the underwritten lines merit a place in your very useful and edifying publication, entitled the New Christian's Magazine, by inserting them as soon as convenient, will lay under a great obligation, Your constant reader and admirer,

ADOLESCENS. Worcester, 41h O. 1783.

Before that God, whose piercing eye,

This curious frame survey’d; And in my embrio-state his skill, In

every part display'd. Thy boundless thought contriv'd the scheme,

And each proportion plann'd ;
Before the clay, my future frame,

Was fashioned by thy hand.
How Thall my tongue describe my souł,

Or paint the love I bear;
Or court the num'rous thanks I owe,

For thy surrounding care !
Less num'rous are the countless fands,

That twell the lengthen’d shore ;
And in the morning when I wake,

I find the nuinber more.
Search me, O God! with stricteft view,

Explore each secret part;
Know the recefles of my Youl,
And frailties of

my heart! If error clouds

my darken'à mind, Remove the dismal gloom; Conduct me with a Father's hand,

And bring thy fervant home.

PS A L M CXXXIX.

Ghou

my

REAT Cod! thou guardian of each

hour, Thou guide of all my ways ; My morning itens confess thy pow'r,

And night proclaims thy praise.
The secret purpose of soul

Is to thy wisdom known;
Thine eye directs my walk by day,
And fees

my lying down. On ev'ry side I find thy hand,

Where'er I turn my view;
And, 'ere my lips could speak my heart,

Thou, Lord, my meaning knew.
Vainly to trace such wondrous love,

My grov'ling reason tries;
Fruitless attempt! my stricteít search,

Th' amazing subject flies.
Should hell infpire the blackened thought,

From thee my God to hide; Where should a helpless mortal go,

In secret to abide.

If I to heav'n direct my course,

There thy full glories thine ;
And hell's dark prison feels thy arm,

And owns the wrath divine.
If with the mornings early light,

I seek the western sea;
There shall thine hand detect my flight,

And disappoint my stay.
If 'favour'd with the ev'ning shades,

I court tbe rayless night;
The gloom dispers'd, at thy command,

Shall yield me to thy light. Darkness and light, to thee the same,

Fulfil thy great design ; And suns, and thades, before their God,

With equal brightness thine,

The New CHRISTIAN'S MAGAZINL.

Gentlemen, THE following elegant lives were copied from a monument in Bristol cathedral, erected to the memory of a pious young clergyman, who departed this life in the year 1773. The depositing them in your valuable work, will doubtless please your readers, and will much oblige,

Your most fincere well-wisher,
November 4, 1783.

W.W-
HEN worthless grandeur fills the

embellish'd urn, No poignant grief attends the fable bier : But when distinguilli'd excellence we moura,

Deep is the sorrow, genvine's the tcar. Stranger, should it thou draw near this awful

thrine, The merits of the honour'd dead to seek : The Friend, the Son, the Christian, the

Divine,
Let those who knew him, those who lov'd

him, fpcak. Oh! let them in some pause of anguish say, What zeal jinspir'd, what faith enlary'd

his breast; How soon th' unfetter'd spirit wing dits way, Froin eartk to heav'n, from blessing to be bleft.

HOPE.

O king of terrors! how couldst thou de

stroy The widow's hope, and her dear childrens'

joy : Alas'he's gone, and like a spotless

dove, To increase the number of the blest above.

OPE sheds on all its genial ray,

Our clouded life it gilds ; It brightens cv'ry gloomy day,

In forms our castle builds.
It is a cordial to the breast

That feels distress and grief;
It rocks the troubled mind to rest,

And gives th' oppress’d relief.
It gilds the chambers of distress,

The captive's woes affuage!
It chears the widow, fatherless,,

And aids the tott’ring sage.
The Christian's friend in death's dread hour,

Difpels his fears away;
Prepares him by its soothing pow'r,
For everlasting day.

w. w

TO A YOUNG LADY, WHO LEFT LON

DON, TO ENJOY THE ADVANTAGES OF A RELIGIOUS RETIREMENT IN THE COUNTRY.

APPY, highly favour'd maid,

From the noise of folly fled,
Like tlic silver-pinion'd dove,
To the land of peace and love.
Not a nyoment would't thou stay,
When thou heard'lt thy Saviour say,
" Rife, iny fair one, come away.”
Knowing, if thau didit repair
To holy folitude and pray’r,
He who call'd would meet thee there,
In retirement thou fhalt know
Joys religion can befiow.
She hall of them all partake,
Who could earthly joys forsake;
Youthful pleasures who could fly,
(Crackling thorns that blaze and dic;)
And in bloom of beauty thew'd
How to quit the world for Cod.
In the still sequefter'd hour
Gay delufions tempt no more.
Pride and envy soon are dead,
Wantonness and folly Hed.
In whose places we nay.

see The lovely grace

humility,
As at Bethle'm the was 'ípy'd, -
Waiting by the manger's lide :
Charity from heav'n descending,
Hand and heart to all extendinge
Innocence as noon, day bright,
All array'd in lily white :
Wisdom born and bred on high,
Guide of mortals to the sky,
Still, with sweet, tho' pensive look,
Musing on the mystic book.
All of these we feek in vain
In the busy hum of men.
They thun the mad fantastic croud,
Giddy, thoughtless, light, and loud.
In the mind preserv'd ledate,
Meek, and quiet, they are met:
And in bofoins, such as thine,
All with beams united thine.

Let the world in sucering tone
Ridicule and ceasure on,
'Till in men and angels fight
Death and judgment prove thee rights
And manifest to ev'ry heart,
Thou hast chose the better part.
Happy, highly favour'd maid,
From the noite of fully fled !

ACADEMICUS.

C ο Ν Τ Ε Ν Τ.

GRATITUDE 10 GOD FOR PROVIDEN

TIAL MERCIES.

O gends,

HAIL

TAIL,' sweet content ! whose magie

pow'r, Can blunt misfortune's keenelt dart, And when black skies with tempest lour,

Serene and chearful guard the heart, All gracious, hither urge thy way,

And make my breast thy dearest cello My mind protect from dire dismay,

And round me spread thy potent spell. Instead of pride, which now consumes,

And wears my spirits by her cares,
At fancied Nights full idly fumes,

The victim of her peevis airs.
Good humour then still, blithe and free

Despising pomp and hating strife,
Shall crown with gay hilarity

The circling periods of my life. Instead of envy's baleful train,

That moun amidA fair plenty's store;
If heaven's funshine, or its rain,

Pour greater at a neighbour door:
Benevolence, with heart humane,

Wishing all happy as herself,
Shall then extract from thy rich mean,
Gold far inore precious than inere pelf.

S. P G.

Its maker and its king;
And owns thy goodness far transcends

The praises I can bring :
My scanty praises, Lord, how mean!

How despicably poor!
For all the gifts thy bounties bring,

And make my cup run o'er?
While many of thy dearest saints,

And better far than I,
Pour out their piteous fad complaints,

And pierce us with their cry!
While in their fouls ch' invenom'd darts

Of bitter anguith lie,
Or cruth'd by milery, their hearts

Groan their last galp and die;
Lord! what am I, my God, my King !

That I thy grace shou'd prove!
Should tune a cbearful note and fing

Thy prezidential love !
Lord what am I, or what are mine,

That thou so kind thouldst be ;
Shouldīt lavith all these gifts of thine,

On such a wretch as me!
O’er dimpling waves my little bark,

Thy gentle spirit bears,
Protects from adverse storms my heart,

And keeps my head from cares.
O! may this head to know thy will

Continually improve !
O may that heart be fervent still,

And flame with heav'nly love !
Thus gliding down life's gentle stream

May I advance to thee;
'Till safe I launch with heart serene,

On vast eternity.

SWE

T!

RELIGION.
TO what sequester'd lone retreat,

Lov'd nymph, doit thou direct thy feet.
Far distant from the noisy crowd,
The great, the busy and the proud;
Dost thou reside in cavern boar,
With sages vers'd in myftic lore ?
Ah no!--The friend of God and man,
Far, far superior is thy plan;
"Tis thine to footh the widow's figh,
Tis thine the orphan's tear to dry :
To raise distress's drooping head,
To give the naked cloaths and bread.
When sorrows o'er the mind prevail,
Thy balm celestial shall not fail;
Thy faithful servants, after death,
Thou crown'st with glory's lafting wreath.
Still, ftill display thy sacred art,
And warm and animate the heart.

WEET companion of the musc,

Lovely Solitude, appear ; All thy calm content infuse, Soften anguith, banish care :

Lead me, o majestic queen,

Through the aromatic scere. Nature's copied here by art,

Joyful we che fraud confess, Yer so close performs her part, 'Tis but nature's better dreis

Solitude, here fix thy seat,

Here in Cowley's soft retreat. Teach me all the healing pow'rs,

Of each plant and every tree; Say how short-liv'd are the flowers; Bring the moral home to me.

Eid me fleeting life despise !

Make me humble, make me wise. Stretch me on the verdant mead,

Where the murin'ring river flows, Where the elm erpands her thade, And each riling beauty blows ;

There I'll lay in peace of mind,

“ Empty greatness, fall behind," Pride within thy humble cell,

Never yet uprear'd her head;
Solitude, with thee I'll dwell,
I'ride with me is long since derd.

Cold to pleasure, deaf to praise,
Here I wish to end my days.

LIST