O that my wandring Steps might guided be, To keep the Road whose Paths direct to thee.

II.

PSALM CXix. 5.

O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!

T

1.

HUS I, the object of the world's disdain,

With pilgrim face surround the weary earth : I only relish what the world counts vain;

Her mirth's my grief; her sullen grief my mirth ; Her light my darkness; and her truth my error. Her freedom is my goal; and her delight my terror.

2.

Fond earth! proportion not my seeming love,
To my long stay; let not thy thoughts deceive thee;"
Thou art my prison, and my home's above ;
My life's a prepartion but to leave thee :

Like one that seeks a door, I walk about thee.
With thee I cannot live; I cannot live without thee.

3.

The world's a lab'rinth, whose anfractuous ways
Are all compos'd of rubs and crook'd meanders:
No resting here; he's hurry'd back that stays
A thought; and he that goes unguided, wanders :
Her way is dark, her path untrod, unev’n;
So hard's the way from earth; so hard's the way to
[heav'n!

4.

This gyringt lab'riuth is betrench'd about

On either hand with streams of sulph'rous fire; Streams closely sliding, erring in and out,

But seeming pleasant to the fond descrier:

Where, if his footsteps trust their own invention, He falls without redress, and sinks without dimension. • Anfractuous; i, e. winding about. † Gyring; i, e. full of turnings. Where

K 3

5.

Where shall I seek a guide? where shall I meet
Some lucky hand to lead my trembling paces?
What trusty lantern will direct my feet

To 'scape the danger of these dang'rous places? What hopes have I to pass without a guide ? Where one gets safely through, a thousand fall beside.

6.

An unrequested star did gently slide
Before the wise men, to a greater light ;
Backsliding Isra'l found a double guide;
A pillar and a cloud-by day, by night:
Yet in my desp'rate dangers, which be far
More great than theirs, I have no pillar, cloud, nor star.

7.

O that the pinions of a clipping* dove

Would cut my passage through the empty air; Mine eyes being seal'd, how would I mount above The reach of danger and forgotten care!

My backward eyes should ne'er commit that fault, Whose lasting guilt should build a monument of salt.

8.

Great God, that art the flowing spring of light,
Enrich mine eyes with thy refulgent ray :
Thou art my path direct my steps aright;
I have no other light, no other way:

I'll trust my God, and him alone pursue;
His law shall be my path; his heavenly light my clue.

*Clipping; i. e. swift-flying.

S. AU

S. AUGUST. Soliloq. Cap. iv.

;

O Lord, who art the light, the way, the truth, the life in whom there is no darkness, error, vanity, nor death: the light, without which there is darkness; the way without which there is wandering; the truth, without which there is error; the life, without which there is death: say, Lord, Let there be light, and I shall see light, and eschew darkness; I shall see the way, and avoid wandering; I shall see the truth, and shun error ; I shall see life, and escape death: illuminate, O illuminate my blind soul, which sitteth in darkness, and the shadow of death; and direct my feet in the way of peace.

EPIG. 2.

Pilgrim trudge on, what makes thy soul complain,
Crowns thy complaint; the way to rest is pain:
The road to resolution, lies by doubt:
The next way home's the farthest way about.

PSALM