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A HYMN.

BY THE SAME.

PART I.

1 GOD of my health, whose tender care
2 First gave me power to move,
3 How shall my thankful heart declare
4 The wonders of thy love?
5 While void of thought and sense I lay,
6 Dust of my parent Earth,
7 Thy breath inform'd the sleeping clay,
8 And call'd me to the birth.
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9 From Thee the parts their fashion took,
10 E'er life was yet begun,
11 And in the volume of thy Book
12 Were written one by one.
13 Thine eye beheld in open view
14 The yet unfinish'd plan:
15 The portrait lines thy pencil drew,
16 And form'd the future Man.
17 O may this frame, that rising grew
18 Beneath thy plastic hands,
19 Be studious ever to pursue
20 Whate'er thy Will commands!
21 The Soul, that moves this earthly load,
22 Thy semblance let it bear,
23 Nor lose the traces of the God
24 Who stamp'd his image there.

PART II.

25 THOU, who within this earthly shrine
26 Hast pour'd thy quick'ning ray,
27 O! let thine influence on me shine,
28 And purge each mist away.
29 With curious search let others ask
30 Thro' Nature's depths to see:
31 O teach my soul the better task,
32 To know itself and Thee!
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33 Teach me to know how weak the mind
34 That yields to erring pride;
35 And let my doubting Reason find
36 Thy Word its safest guide.
37 Let me not, lost in Learning's maze,
38 Religion's flame resign:
39 For what's the worth of human praise,
40 Compar'd, my God, to Thine?
41 Keep in my soul the strong delight,
42 The hopes that in me rise,
43 While Faith presents before my sight
44 The bliss that never dies.
45 O be those Hopes my only boast,
46 That Faith my whole employ,
47 Till Faith in Knowledge shall be lost,
48 And Hope in fullest Joy!

PART III.

49 WHERE-E'ER I turn my wakeful thought,
50 Unnumber'd foes I see:
51 Guide of my youth, forsake me not,
52 But lead me safe to Thee.
53 As on I press, Distrust and Doubt
54 Dissuasive step between;
55 While Pleasures tempt me from without,
56 And Passions war within.
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57 Yet, fix'd on Thee, I lose each fear,
58 Each vain assault I brave:
59 I know Thee, Lord, nor slow to hear,
60 Nor impotent to save.
61 O cast my errors from thy sight,
62 And let them pass away,
63 Unheeded, as a watch by night,
64 Or as a cloud by day.
65 So while, in secret thought arraign'd,
66 O'er my past life I go,
67 And mark how oft I urg'd thy hand
68 To strike th' avenging blow,
69 So oft shall my repeated lays
70 My thankful heart declare,
71 And joy to celebrate thy praise,
72 Whose Mercy deign'd to spare.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): A HYMN.
Author: James Merrick
Themes: God
Genres: hymn
References: DMI 23343

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Source edition

Pearch, G. A collection of poems in four volumes. By several hands. Vol. I. [The second edition]. London: printed for G. Pearch, 1770, pp. 148-151. 4v. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T116245; DMI 1122; OTA K093079.001) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [(OC) 280 o.788].)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.