A hymn

Omnicient and eternal God,

Who hear'st the faintest pray'r

Distinct as Hallelujahs loud,

Which round thee hymned are.

Here, far from all the world retir'd,

I humbly bow the knee,

And wish, (as I have long desir'd,)

An interest in thee.

But my revolting heart recedes

And rushes to the croud;

My passions stop their ears and lead,

Tho' conscience warns aloud.

How deeply sinful is my mind?

To every ill how prone?

How stubborn my dead heart I find

Insensible as stone?

The hardest marble yet will break,

Nor will resist the steel;

But neither wrath nor love can make

My flinty bosom feel.

My passions like a torrent roar,

And tumbling to hell's glooms

Sweep me away from Reason's shore,

To "where Hope never comes."

By labour turn'd the useless stream

Thro' fertile vales has play'd;

But for to change the course of sin

Demands immortal aid.

All nature pays the homage due

To the supremely blest;

All but the favour'd being who

Was plac'd above the rest.

He bids the teeming earth to bear,

The blushing flow'rs arise;

At his command the sun appears

And warms the orient skies.

Oh! was I but some plant or star,

I might obey him too;

Nor longer with the Being war,

From whom my breath I drew.

Change me, oh God! with ardent cries

I'll venture to thy seat;

And if I perish; hell must rise

And tear me from thy feet.