JESUS Christ, my Lord and Saviour,
Once became a child like me :
Oh, that in my whole behaviour,
He my pattern still might be.
All my nature is unholy—
Pride and passion dwell within; But the Lord was meek and lowly, And was never known to sin.
While I'm often vainly trying
Some new pleasure to possess ;
He was always self-denying—
Patient in his worst distress.
Lord, assist a feeble creature ;
Guide me by thy word of truth;
Condescend to be my teacher
Through my childhood and my youth.
Often I shall be forgetful
Of the lessons thou hast taught
Idle, passionate, and fretful,
Or indulging foolish thought.
Then permit me not to harden
In my sin, and be content;
But bestow a gracious pardon,
And assist me to repent.
HAVE found out a gift for my fair;
"Tis a nest where the wood-pigeons breed :
But let me that plunder forbear—
She will say 'tis a barbarous deed.
For he ne'er can be true, she averr'd,
Who can rob a poor bird of its young;
And I lov'd ber the more, when I heard
Such tenderness fall from her tongue.
[The African Prince, who was some years ago in England, being asked what he had given for his watch? replied "What I will never give again j I gave a fine boy for it."]
WHEN avarice enslaves the mind,
And selfish views alone bear sway;
Man turns a savage to his kind,
And blood and rapine mark his
Alas! for this poor simple toy,
I sold a blooming Negro Boy!
His father's hope, his mother's pride,
Tho' black, yet comely to their view ;
I tore him helpless from their side,
And gave him to a ruffian crew:
To fiends that Afric's coast annoy,
I sold the blooming Negro Boy.
From parents, friends, and country torn,
His tender limbs in chains confin'd,
I saw him o'er the billows borne,
And mark'd his agony of mind:
But still, to gain this simple toy,
I gave away the Negro Boy.
In isles that deck the western wave,
I doom'd the hapless youth to dwell:
A poor, forlorn, insulted slave!
A beast that Christians buy and sell!
And in their cruel tasks employ
The much-enduring Negro Boy.
His wretched parents long shall mourn,
Shall long explore the distant main,
In hopes to see the youth return ¿
But all their hopes and sighs are vain:
They never shall the sight enjoy
Of their lamented Negro Boy.
Beneath a tyrant's harsh command,
He wears away his youthful prime,
Far distant from his native land,
A stranger in a foreign clime:
No pleasing thoughts his mind employ
A poor dejected Negro Boy,
But He who walks upon the wind,
Whose voice in thunder's heard on high.
Who doth the raging tempest bind,
And hurl the lightning thro' the sky,
In his own time will sure destroy
Th' oppressors of the Negro Boy.
Now, for a while, aside I'll lay
My childish trifles and my play,
And call my thoughts, which rove abroad,
To view myself, and view my God.
I'll look within, that I may see
What I now am, what I must be.
I am the creature of the Lord;
He made me by his powerful word;
This body, in each curious part,
Was wrought by his unfailing art;
From him my noble spirit came,
My soul, a spark of heavenly flame;
That soul by which my body lives,
Which thinks, and hopes, and joys, and grieves,
And must in heaven or hell remain,
When flesh is turn'd to dust again.
What business then should I attend,
Or what esteem my noblest end?
Sure it consists in this alone,
That God, my maker, may be known;
So known, that I may love him still,
And form my actions by his will;
That he may bless me while I live,
And when I die my soul receive—
To dwell for ever in his sight,
In perfect knowledge and delight.
FAR from the narrow scenes of night
Unbounded glories rise,
And realms of infinite delight,
Unknown to mortal eyes.
Fair distant land-could mortal eyes
But half its charms explore,
How would our spirits long to rise,
And dwell on earth no more!
There pain and sickness never come; There grief no more complains; Health triumphs in immortal bloom, And purest pleasure reigns.
No malice, strife, or envy, there,
The sons of peace molest;
But harmony, and love sincere,
Fill ev'ry happy breast.
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