The Elevation

While I survey the azure sky
With wonder and delight,
A thousand beauties meet my eye,
A thousand lambent glories deck the night.
I do not ask to know their names,
Nor their magnitude inquire;
What avails it me to prove
Which are fix'd, and which remove?
Let the sons of science rove
Through the boundless fields of space,
And amazing wonders trace;
Bright worlds beyond those starry flames,
My nobler curiosity inspire.

When o'er the shining plain,
Thought ranges unconfin'd,
Night with her sparkling train
Awhile may entertain,
But cannot fix the mind.
The restless mind, insatiate still,
(Which all creation cannot fill,)
Fain would rise
Beyond the skies,
And leave their glitt'ring wonders far behind.
Beyond them brighter wonders dwell,
By mortal eyes unseen;
Not angel eloquence can tell
The endless glories of the blissful scene.
Wonders, all to sense unknown!
Glories, seen by faith alone!
Come, faith, with heaven-illumin'd ray,
Arise, and lead the shining way,
And teach my longing mind
The path of life to find;
A path proud science never found
In all her wide, unwearied round;
A path by bold philosophy untry'd:
Nor will I ask the twinkling eyes of night.;
The sacred Word alone directs my flight,
Nor can I miss my way with this unerring guide.

From awful Calvary the flight begins;
For there the burthen'd mind
Divine relief can find;
'Tis there she drops her load of sins;
Accursed load, which held her from the skies!
'Tis love, almighty love,
Which bids the load remove,
And shews the heavenly way, and bids my soul arise
Jesus, the true, the living way
To the blissful realms of day!
Come, dearest Lord, my heart inspire
With faith, and love, and warm desire;
And bear me, raptured, to the blest abode,
Thy glorious dwelling, O my Saviour God.

In those happy worlds are given
To the favourites of heaven,
Mansions brighter far
Than the brightest star
Which gilds the fair etherial plains.
Stars must resign their temporary ray,
These shine resplendent with immortal day,
Nor cloud, nor shade, their spotless glory stains.
Radiant mansions, all divine!
They shall forever, ever shine
With undecaying light;
When stars no more shall set and rise,
And all these fair expanded skies
Are roll'd away, and lost in everlasting night.

Adieu, ye shining fields of air,
Ye spangled heavens, that look so fair,
And smiling court the eye;
Your fading beauties charm no more,
While contemplation lost in sweet amaze,
Dwells on the splendors of a brighter sky:
But, O my soul, at humble distance gaze,
With trembling joy adore.
There reigns th' eternal source of light,
Full-beaming from his awful throne
Dazzling glories,— oh, how bright!
To thought unknown.
Too strong th' unsufferable day
For the strongest angel's eye!
Seraphs veil'd and prostrate lie
Adoring at his feet;
But love attempers every ray,
And mingles holy awe with bliss divinely sweet

Extatic joy! immense delight!
Here fainting contemplation dies,
The glory overwhelms her sight;
Nor faith can look with stedfast eyes.
No more, my soul, attempt no more
Those awful glories to explore,
From frail mortality conceal'd.
Yet in the sacred word
I may behold my Lord;
In those celestial lines
A ray of glory shines,
Pointing upward to the skies;
Scenes of joy, though distant, rise,
To faith, and hope, and humble love reveal'd

Jesus, whom my soul adores,
O let thy reviving ray,
(Sweet dawn of everlasting day,)
With heavenly radiance cheer my fainting powers
And when I drop this mortal load,
Free and joyful to the sky
Let my raptur'd spirit fly,
With unknown swiftness wing the aerial road,
And find a mansion in thy bright abode.
Transporting thought — and shall I see
The heavenly friend who died for me?
While seraphs tune the golden lyre,
Jesus, to thy charming name,
Let me join the blissful choir,
Thy love the everlasting theme!
But not the joy-resounding lay,
Harmonious o'er the worlds above,
Through endless ages can display,
Dear Saviour, half the glories of thy love,
END OF VOLUME I.