When harps and cymbals join'd in echoing clang,
When psalteries tinkled, and when trumpets rang,
And white rob'd Levites round thine altar sang!
Thou didst descend, and, rolling through the crowd,
Inshrine thine ark and altar in thy shroud,
And fill the temple with thy mantling cloud. 18
And now, Almighty Father, well we know,
When humble strains from grateful bosoms flow,
Those humble strains grow richer as they rise,
And shed a balmier freshness on the skies.

What though no Cherubim are here display'd,
No gilded walls, no cedar colonnade,
No crimson curtains hang around our quire,
Wrought by the ingenious artisan of Tyre;
No doors of fir on golden hinges turn;
No spicy gums in golden censers burn;
No frankincense, in rising volumes, shrouds
The fretted roof in aromatic clouds;
No royal minstrel, from his ivory throne,
Gives thee his father's numbers or his own;-

If humble love, if gratitude inspire,

Our strain shall silence even the temple's quire,
And rival Michael's trump, nor yield to Gabriel's lyre.
In what rich harmony, what polished lays,

Should man address thy throne, when Nature pays
Her wild, her tuneful tribute to the sky!

Yes, Lord, she sings thee, but she knows not why.
The fountain's gush, the long resounding shore,
The zephyr's whisper, and the tempest's roar,

The rustling leaf, in autumn's fading woods,
The wintry storm, the rush of vernal floods,
The summer bower, by cooling breezes fann'd,
The torrent's fall, by dancing rainbows spann'd,
The streamlet, gurgling through its rocky glen,
The long grass, sighing o'er the graves of men,
The bird that crests yon dew-bespangled tree,
Shakes his bright plumes, and trills his descant free,
The scorching bolt, that from thine armoury hurl'd,
Burns its red path, and cleaves a shrinking world;
All these are music to Religion's ear :-

Music, thy hand awakes, for man to hear.
Thy hand invested in their azure robes,

Thy breath made buoyant yonder circling globes,
That bound and blaze along the elastic wires,
That viewless vibrate on celestial lyres,
And in that high and radiant concave tremble,
Beneath whose dome adoring hosts assemble,

To catch the notes, from those bright spheres that flow,
Which mortals dream of, but which angels know.

Before thy throne, three sister Graces kneel;

Their holy influence let our bosoms feel!
FAITH, that with smiles lights up our dying eyes;
HOPE, that directs them to the opening skies;
And CHARITY, the loveliest of the three,
That can assimilate a worm to thee.
For her our organ breathes; to her we pay
The heart-felt homage of an humble lay;

And while to her symphonious chords we string,
And Silence listens while to her we sing,
While round thine altar swells our evening song,
And vaulted roofs the dying notes prolong,
The strain we pour to her, wilt thou approve,
For LOVE is CHARITY, and THOU art LOVE.

NOTES.

THE desert wak'd at that proud anthem flung

From Miriam's timbrel and from Moses' tongue.

For the song of Moses on this occasion, see Exodus, xv. 1—22.

2 At Nebo's base, that mighty bard resigns

His life and empire in prophetic lines.

See the whole of the pathetic and eloquent valedictory address of Moses to the Israelites, in the 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy, from the beginning to the 43rd verse. His death, and other events here mentioned, follow in regular course.

5 Unfolds o'er Jericho's devoted towers,

And, like the storni o'er Sodom, redly lowers.

For the account of the destruction of Jericho, by the Jews under the command of Joshua, see Joshua, vi. particularly ver. 20. "So the people shouted, when the priests blew the trumpets; and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpets, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him; and they took the city."

4 And cold and pale o'er Ajalon she hung.

Then spake Joshua to the Lord, in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, “ Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies."-Joshua, x. 12, 13.

5 And builds on Libanus his humble shed.

Horeb et Sinai, le Carmel et le Liban, le torrent de Cedron, et la vallée de Josaphat, redise encore la glorie de l'habitant de la cellule et de l'anachorète du rocher.-Génie du Christianisme, tom. iv. p. 48. Lyons Edition.

6 But o'er his face his flowing mautle flings,

And hears a whisper from the King of kings.

"And after the earthquake, a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire, a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What dost thou here, Elijah?” -1 Kings, xix. 12, 13.

7 In what tremendous pomp Jehovah shone,

When on that mount he fix'd his burning throne!

See the sublime account of the descent of God upon Mount Sinai.-Exodus, xix. particularly from the 16th to the 19th verse, as also Heb. xii. 18-21.

8 Even now, the heralds of his monarch tear
The son of Jesse from his fleecy care.

"Wherefore Saul sent out messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep. And Jesse took an ass, laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul. And David came to Saul, and stood before him; and he loved him greatly, and he became his armour bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favour in my sight. And it came to pass, that when the evil spirit from

D 3