E'en poisons praise thee: should a thing be lost? Should creatures want, for want of heed, their due ?

Since where are poisons, antidotes are most, The help stands close, and keeps the fear in view.

The sea, which seems to stop the traveller,

Is by a ship the speedier passage made; The winds, who think they rule the mariner, Are ruled by him, and taught to serve his trade. And as thy house is full, so I adore

Thy curious art in marshalling thy goods; Thy hills with health abound, thy vales with store; The south with marble, north with fur and woods.

Hard things are glorious; easy things, good, cheap ;

The common all men have; that which is rare, Men therefore seek to have and care to keep:

The healthy frosts with summer fruits compare. Light without wind, is glass; warm without weight,

Is wool and furs; cool without coldness, shade; Speed without pains, a horse; tall without weight, A servile hawk; low without loss, a spade.

All countries have enough to serve their need; If they seek fine things, thou dost make them

run

For their offence; and then dost turn their speed, To be commerce and trade, from sun to sun.

Nothing wears clothes but man; nothing doth need

But he to wear them. Nothing useth fire, But man alone, to show his heavenly breed: And only he hath fuel in desire.

When the earth was dry, Thou madest a sea of wet; When that lay gathered, thou didst broach the mountains;

While yet some places could no moisture get, The winds grew gardeners, and the clouds good fountains.

Rain, do not hurt my flowers, but gently spend Your honey-drops; press not to smell them here;

When they are ripe, their odour will ascend,

And, at your lodging, with their thanks appear.

How harsh are thorns to pears! and yet they make
A better hedge, and need less reparation ;
How smooth are silks, compared with a stake,
Or with a stone! yet make no good foundation.

Sometimes thou dost divide thy gifts to man-
Sometimes unite. The Indian nut alone
Is clothing, meat and trencher, drink and can,
Boat, cable, sail, and, need be, all in one.

Most herbs that grow in brooks are hot and dry;
Cold fruit's warm kernels help against the wind:
The lemon's juice and rind cure mutually;

The whey of milk doth loose, the milk doth bind.

To show Thou art not bound, as if thy lot

Were worse than ours, sometimes Thou shiftest hands:

Most things move th' under jaw; the crocodile not;

Most things sleep lying; th' elephant leans or stands.

But who hath praise enough? nay, who hath any? None can express thy works but he that knows them,

And none can know thy works, which are so many,

And so complete, but only he that owns them.

All things that are, though they have several ways,
Yet in their being join with one advice
To honour Thee; and so I give Thee praise
In all my other hymns, but in this twice.

Each thing that is, although in use and name
It
go for one, hath many ways in store
To honour Thee; and so each hymn thy fame
Extolleth many ways; yet this, one more.
GEORGE HERBERT.

O God Unseen, but not Unknown.

GOD unseen, but not unknown,
Thine eye is ever fixed on me;

I dwell beneath thy secret throne,
Encompassed by thy Deity.

Throughout this universe of space
To nothing am I long allied,
For flight of time, and change of place,
My strongest, dearest bonds divide.

Parents I had, but where are they?

Friends whom I knew, I know no more,
Companions once that cheered by way,
Have dropt behind or gone before.

Now I am one amidst the crowd
Of life and action hurrying round;
Now left alone-for like a cloud
They came, they went, and are not found.

Even from myself sometimes I part,
Unconscious sleep is nightly death;
Yet surely by my bed thou art,

To prompt my pulse, inspire my breath.

Of all that I have done or said

How little can I now recal! Forgotten things to me are dead;

With Thee they live, Thou know'st them all.

Thou hast been with me from the womb,

Witness to every conflict here ; Nor wilt Thou leave me at the tomb, Before thy bar I must appear.

The moment comes, when strength must fail, When health, and hope, and comfort flown, I must go down into the vale

And shade of death, with Thee alone.

Alone with Thee;-in that dread strife
Uphold me through mine agony,
And gently be this dying life
Exchanged for immortality.

Then, when the unbodied spirit lands
Where flesh and blood have never trod,
And in the unveiled presence stands
Of Thee, my Saviour, and my God;—

Be mine eternal portion this,

Since Thou wert always here with me,
That I may view Thy face in bliss,
And be for evermore with Thee.

ROBERT MONTGOMERY.

Oh! come it First, or come it Last.

H! come it first, or come it last,

0円!

The shadow o'er my passage cast,
Grant it may find me on my guard,
And at thy will, O God, prepared
To welcome the approaching gloom,
The deep dark stillness of the tomb!
'Tis but a transitory night:

The sun shall rise, and all be light!
Sweet thought, and of sweet solace full,
And apt the swelling grief to lull
Of those, beside a parting friend
Constrained in bitterness to bend;