Joy to the earth! The Saviour reigns!

Let men their songs employ,

While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains,
Repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground:
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love.

Psalm c.

Sing to the Lord with joyful voice;
Let every land His name adore;
The British isles shall send the noise
Across the ocean to the shore.

Nations attend before His throne

With solemn fear, with sacred joy,
Know that the Lord is God alone;
He can create, and He destroy.

His sovereign power, without our aid,
Made us of clay, and formed us men;
And when like wandering sheep we strayed,
He brought us to His fold again.

[Besides the sacred poetry contained in his Psalms, his Hymns, and his Lyrics, Dr Watts appended a hymn to many of his sermons; and some beautiful verses are contained in his "Miscellaneous Thoughts." Of these there are perhaps none more exquisite than the following:-]

Unveil thy bosom, faithful tomb;

Take this new treasure to thy trust,

And give these sacred relics room
To seek a slumber in the dust.

Nor pain, nor grief, nor anxious fear,
Invade thy bounds. No mortal woes
Can reach the lovely sleeper here;

And angels watch her soft repose.

So Jesus slept: God's dying Son

Pass'd through the grave, and bless'd the bed.
Rest here, fair saint, till from His throne

The morning break, and pierce the shade.

Break from His throne, illustrious morn!
Attend, O earth, His sovereign word!
Restore thy trust, O glorious form!
She must ascend to meet her Lord.

Musings in a Grove.

[To combine the Christian and the classical was a habitual aspiration of Dr Watts's devout and highly-cultivated mind. With this view he went so far as to give religious imitations of the Odes of Horace; and his "Lyric Poems," his "Miscellaneous Thoughts," and his "Remnants of Time Employed," are all efforts in the same direction. It will be allowed that he was not always and entirely successful; but his aim was a right one; and we should not like to be so fastidious as to perceive no charm in such numbers as the following :]

Sweet muse, descend, and bless the shade,

And bless the evening grove;

Business, and noise, and day are fled,

And every care but love.

But hence, ye wanton, young, and fair:

Mine is a purer flame;

No Phillis shall infect the air

With her unhallowed name.

Jesus has all my powers possess'd,

My hopes, my fears, my joys:
He, the dear Sovereign of my breast,
Shall still command my voice.

What astonishing variety of artifices, what innumerable millions of exquisite works, is the God of Nature engaged in every moment! How gloriously are His all-pervading wisdom and power employed in this useful season of the year, this Spring of Nature! What infinite myriads of vegetable beings is He forming this very moment, in their roots and branches, in their leaves and blossoms, their seeds and fruit! Some, indeed, begun to discover their bloom amidst the snows of January, or under the rough cold blasts of March: those flowers are withered and vanished in April, and their seeds are now ripening to perfection. Others are shewing themselves this day in all their blooming pride and beauty; and while they adorn the gardens and meadows with gay and glowing colours, they promise their fruits in the day of harvest. The whole nation of vegetables is under the Divine care and culture; His hand