Sin, Satan, Death, and Hell, Like fire, against us rose; Then had the flames consumed us quick, But God repell'd our foes. PSALM CXXV. WHо make the Lord of hosts their tower, As round about Jerusalem, The guardian mountains stand, So shall the Lord encompass them Who hold by his right hand. The rod of wickedness shall ne'er Do good, O Lord, do good to those Who cleave to Thee in heart, Who on thy truth alone repose, Nor from thy law depart. While rebel-souls, who turn aside, PSALM CXXVI. WHEN God from sin's captivity But soon their ransom'd souls rejoice, They catch the strain, and answer thus: Though the prophecy were seal'd. PSALM CXXXIII. How beautiful the sight And bonds of charity; "Tis like the precious ointment, shed O'er all his robes, from Aaron's head. "Tis like the dews that fill The cups of Hermon's flowers; Or Zion's fruitful hill, Bright with the drops of showers, When mingling odors breathe around, And glory rests on all the ground. For there the Lord commands Yea, life for evermore : PSALM CXXXIV. BLESS Ye the Lord with solemn rite, Lift up your hands amid the place Where burns the sacred sign, And pray, that thus Jehovah's face O'er all the earth may shine. From Zion, from his holy hill, The Lord our Maker send The perfect knowledge of his will, Salvation without end. PSALM CXXXVII. WHERE Babylon's broad rivers roll, In exile we sate down to weep, For thoughts of Zion o'er our soul Came, like departed joys, in sleep, Whose forms to sad remembrance rise, Though fled for ever from our eyes. Our harps upon the willows hung, Where, worn with toil, our limbs reclined; How can we sing the songs we love, My chiefest joy, may this right hand, My tongue be dumb, my pulse be still. PSALM CXXXVIII. THEE will I praise, O Lord, in light, Where seraphim surround thy throne; With heart and soul, with mind and might. Thee will I worship, Thee alone. I bow toward thy holy place; For Thou, in mercy still the same, Hast magnified thy word of grace O'er all the wonders of thy name. In peril, when I cried to Thee, How did thy strength renew my soul! Kings and their realms might bend the knee, Could I to man reveal the whole. Thou, Lord, above all height art high, Though in the depth of trouble thrown, With grief I shall not always strive, Thou wilt thy suffering servant own, And Thou the contrite heart revive. Thy purpose then in me fulfil; Forsake me not, for I am thine; Perfect in me thine utmost will; -Whate'er it be, that will be mine. PSALM CXXXIX. SEARCHER of hearts, to thee are known The inmost secrets of my breast; At home, abroad, in crowds, alone, Thou mark'st my rising and my rest, My thoughts far off, through every maze, Source, stream, and issue,-all my ways. No word that from my mouth proceeds, Evil or good, escapes thine ear; Witness Thou art to all my deeds, Before, behind, for ever near: Such knowledge is for me too high; I live but in my Maker's eye. How from thy presence should I go, Or whither from thy Spirit flee, Since all above, around, below, Exist in thine immensity? -If up to heaven I take my way, I meet thee in eternal day. If in the grave I make my bed With worms and dust, lo, Thou art there If, on the wings of morning sped, Beyond the ocean I repair, I feel thine all-controlling will, "Let darkness hide me," if I say, Darkness can no concealment be: Night, on thy rising, shines like day, Darkness and light are one with Thee, For Thou mine embryo-form didst view Ere her own babe my mother knew. In me thy workmanship display'd, And framed in secret by thy hand; I lived, ere into being brought, Through thine eternity of thought. How precious are thy thoughts of peace, They were, they are, and yet shall come, Search me, O God, and know my heart, PSALM CXLI. LORD, let my prayer like incense rise, Look down from heaven, well-pleased, on me. Set Thou a watch to keep my tongue, But let the righteous, when I stray, Smite me in love;-his strokes are kind; His mild reproofs, like oil, allay The wounds they make, and heal the mind. Mine eyes are unto Thee, my God; I kiss the hand that wields the rod, But O, redeem me from the snares With which the world surrounds my feet, -Its riches, vanities, and cares, Its love its hatred, its deceit. PSALM CXLIII. HEAR me, O Lord, in my distress, Lord I have foes without, within, These, these my fainting soul surround, Yet, in the gloom of silent thought, Ah! then to Thee I stretch my hands, O let me not thus hopeless lie, Teach me thy will, subdue my own; Release my soul from trouble, Lord; PSALM CXLII. I CRIED unto the Lord most just, I cried unto Him from the dust, When sunk my soul within me,-then I look'd for friends,-there was not one I look'd for refuge,-there was none; I cried unto the Lord;-I said,- Now, from the dungeon, from the grave,- Thy voice is freedom to the slave, PSALM CXLIV. THE Lord is gracious to forgive, Thy works, O God, thy praise proclaim; Glorious in majesty art Thou; The Lord upholdeth them that fall; Thou openest thine exhaustless store, Man, most indebted, most ingrate, Teach him to know Thee, ere too late; PSALM CXLVIII. HERALDS of creation cry, -Praise the Lord, the Lord most high; For He spake, and forth from night Praise Him, all ye hosts above, Earth, from all thy depths below, Vales and mountains, burst in song; Clap your hands, ye trees, and hail Birds, on wings of rapture, soar, Joyful sounds, from herds and flocks, Kings, your Sovereign serve with awe; Let his truth by babes be told, High above all height his throne, The Pelican Island. PREFACE. "The examination of a coral reef during the dif ferent stages of one tide, is particularly interesting. When the tide has left it for some time, it becomes dry, and appears to be a compact rock, exceedingly hard and ragged; but as the tide rises, and the waves begin to wash over it, the coral worms protrude themselves from holes which before were invisible. These animals are of a great variety of shapes and sizes, and who shall be sufficiently interested in the poem to desire further knowledge of the subjects progressively reviewed in it, may readily satisfy themselves from THE subject of this Poem was suggested by a popular books of voyages, and natural history,—the passage in Captain Flinders's Voyage to Terra Aus- Author will merely offer, in this place, an illustration tralis. Describing one of those numerous gulfs which of the nature of coral reefs, extracted from Captain indent the coast of New Holland, and are thickly BASIL HALL'S Voyage to the Island of Loo Choo, in spotted with small islands, he says:-"Upon two of the Chinese Sea. these we found many young Pelicans unable to fly. Flocks of the old birds were sitting upon the beaches of the lagoon, and it appeared that the islands were their breeding-places; not only so, but, from the number of skeletons and bones there scattered, it should seem that for ages these had been selected for the closing scene of their existence. Certainly, none more likely to be free from disturbance of every kind could have been chosen, than these islets of a hidden la- in such prodigious numbers, that, in a short time, the goon of an uninhabited island [called by Captain F. whole surface of the rock appears to be alive and in Kangaroo Island], situate upon an unknown coast, motion. The most common worm is in the form of a near the antipodes of Europe; nor can anything be star, with arms from four to six inches long, which more consonant to their feelings, if Pelicans have any, are moved about with a rapid motion in all directions, than quietly to resign their breath, surrounded by probably to catch food. Others are so sluggish, that their progeny, and in the same spot where they first they may be mistaken for pieces of the rock, and are drew it."-Captain Flinders was particularly struck generally of a dark color, and from four to five inches with the appearance of one of these islands, on the long, and two or three round. When the coral is surface of which were scattered the relics of a great broken about high-water mark, it is a solid hard stone; number of trees, prostrated by some tremendous storm, but if any part of it be detached at a spot which the or, as he conjectured, self-ignited by the friction of tide reaches every day, it is found to be full of worms dead branches in a strong wind. This fact (adopting of different lengths and colors, some being as fine as the former hypothesis) suggested the catastrophe de-a thread and several feet long, of a bright yellow, scribed at the close of the third Canto of the Poem. and sometimes of a blue color; others resemble snails, Having determined not to encumber his volume and some are not unlike lobsters in shape, but soft, with notes, which might plausibly have been done to and not above two inches long. a great extent,-and believing, that those readers, "The growth of coral appears to cease when the |