MELISSA.

Ducetur ad tuam domum;

Fidelis, ægrum quicquid aut lætabile est,

Et vera tecum particeps; Solando quæ curarum amara leniat,

Et consulendo temperet;

Fruendo quæ felicitates augeat,

Et quæ novis addat novas. Irrupta copula hisce continebitur, His vinculis firmabitur,

Validis ab annis ad senectam, si tuæ

Melissa sit vitæ comes;

Quam, Marce, cùm ducetur uxor, elige,
Mensæque consortem et tori.

95

WE

HYMN THE FIRST.*

HEN all thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,

Transported with the view I'm lost
In wonder, love, and praise.

O how shall words with equal warmth
The gratitude declare

That glows within my ravish'd breast!
But Thou canst read it there.

Thy providence my life sustain'd,
And all my wants redress'd,
When in the silent womb I lay,
And hung upon the breast.

To all my weak complaints and cries.

Thy mercy lent an ear,

Ere yet my feeble thoughts had learn'd

To form themselves in prayer.

*First published in ed. S. 1743, p. 154. See Spectator.

No. 453.

C

HYMNUS PRIMUS.

UM misericordias recolligo, tua Paterna quas, Jehova, cura contulit, Suspensa cogitando, mens hæret mea, Amorne major siet an admiratio.

Quæ verba, quæ pietatis eloquentia
Ardore eodem gratias effabitur,

Quo pectus intus concipit! Sed gaudium,
Quod fervet intus, Tu legis, Tu intelligis.

Tua cura, præsens semper et semper vigil,
Me conditum uteri vidit in silentio,
Eademque cura me secuta est provida,
Cùm matris ad mammam pependi infantulus.

Quos edidit questus meæ imbecillitas
Infantiæ, Tua auris accepit statim;
Cùm mens tenella, cogitare nec potis,
Colligere nondum noverat sese in preces.

H

38

98

HYMN THE FIRST.

Unnumber'd comforts to my

Thy tender care bestow'd,

soul

Before my infant heart conceived
From whom those comforts flow'd.

When in the slippery paths of youth
With heedless steps I ran,

Thy arm unseen convey'd me safe,
And led me up to man.

Through hidden dangers, toils, and deaths, It gently clear'd my way;

And through the pleasing snares of vice, More to be fear'd than they.

When worn with sickness, oft hast Thou
With health renew'd my face;
And when in sins and sorrows sunk,
Revived my soul with grace.

Thy bounteous hand with worldly bliss
Has made my cup run o'er;
And in a kind and faithful friend

Has doubled all my store.

Ten thousand thousand precious gifts

My daily thanks employ;
Nor is the least a cheerful heart,

That tastes those gifts with joy.

HYMNUS PRIMUS.

Quæ nullus æquat computus, solamina
Tua administravit mihi indulgentia ;
Infantulum cor antequam resciverat,
A fonte quo profluxerint tot munera.

Cùm per juventæ lubricas decurrerem,
Incogitans, animique præceps, semitas,
Tua alma sospitavit occulte manus,
Ævumque me provexit ad maturius.

Per multa mortis abditæ discrimina
Aperta eunti et tuta porrecta est via,
Vitiique blandimenta per fallacia,
Periculum præ cæteris ferentia.

Cùm morbi acutiore vi tabescerem,
Me sanitate recreâsti sæpius,

Et cùm gravarer crimine et doloribus,
Tua revocavit in salutem gratia.

Tuæ, Jehova, largitati debeo,
Quòd sat superque me beârit copia,
Eamque amicus copiam consortio
Dulci quòd unus et quòd alter auxerit.

Pretiosa mille dona de die in diem,
Et mille millies reposcunt gratias,
Et inter illa dona cor lætabile,
Oblata quod pio accipit cum gaudio.

99