THE INFINITE. WATTS. SOME seraph, lend your heav'nly tongue, Or harp of golden string, That I may raise a lofty song To our Eternal King. Thy names, how infinite they be! Thy glories shine of wondrous size, Thine essence is a vast abyss, Which angels cannot sound, An ocean of infinities Where all our thoughts are drown'd. The myst❜ries of creation lie Reason may grasp the massy hills, In vain our haughty reason swells, THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. AN ODE. WATTS. WHEN the fierce north wind with his airy forces Rears up the Baltic to a foaming fury, And the red lightning with a storm of hail comes Rushing amain down, How the poor sailors stand amaz'd and tremble! While the hoarse thunder, like a bloody trumpet, Roars a loud onset to the gaping waters, Quick to devour them. Such shall the noise be, and the wild disorder, Tears the strong pillars of the vault of heaven, Flames all around 'em. Hark the shrill outcry of the guilty wretches! Stare thro' their eye-lids, while the living worm lies Gnawing within them. Thoughts, like old vultures, prey upon their heart strings, And the smart twinges, when their eye beholds the Rolling afore him. Lofty Judge frowning, and a flood of vengeance Hopeless immortals! how they scream and shiver, While devils push them to the pit wide yawning, Hideous and gloomy, to receive them headlong Down to the centre. Stop here my fancy: (all away ye horrid Doleful ideas!) come arise to Jesus, How he sits God-like: and the saints around him Thron'd, yet adoring! may I sit there when he comes triumphant, Dooming the nations! then ascend to glory, While our Hosannas all along the passage Shout the Redeemer. LAUNCHING INTO ETERNITY. WATTS. IT was a brave attempt! advent'rous he Who in the first ship broke the unknown sea; And leaving his dear native shores behind, I see the surging brine: the tempest raves, Such is the soul that leaves this mortal land Wide to the wind, and as she sails she sings, The waves roll gentler, and the tempest dies: She floats on the broad deep with infinite delight, The seas for ever calm, the skies for ever bright. |