Divine Songs | Page 8

one effectual way to deliver them from the temptation of loving and learning those idle, wanton or profane songs, which give so early an ill taint to the fancy and memory, and become the seeds of future vices.
The Sluggard.
1 'Tis the voice of the Sluggard. I heard him complain?"You have waked me too soon! I must slumber again!"?As the door on its hinges, so he on his bed,?Turns his sides, and his shoulders, and his heavy head.
2 "A little more sleep, and a little more slumber;"?Thus he wastes half his days, and his hours without number: And when he gets up, he sits folding his hands?Or walks about sauntering, or trifling he stands.
3 I past by his garden, and saw the wild bryar?The thorn and the thistle grow broader and higher:?The clothes that hang on him are turning to rags;?And his money still wasts, still he starves, or he begs.
4 I made him a visit, still hoping to find?He had took better care for improving his mind:?He told me his dreams, talk'd of eating and drinking,?But he scarce reads his Bible, and never loves thinking.
5 Said I then to my heart, "Here's a lesson for me,"?That man's but a picture of what I might be:?But thanks to my friends for their care in my breeding:?Who taught me betimes to love working and reading!
Innocent Play.
1 Abroad in the meadows to see the young lambs,?Run sporting about by the side of their dams?With fleeces so clean, and so white;?Or a nest of young doves in a large open cage,?When they play all in love without anger or rage,?How much may we learn from the sight!
2 If we had been ducks, we might dabble in mud:?Or dogs, we might play till it ended in blood;?So foul, or so fierce are their natures.?But Thomas and William, and such pretty names,?Should be cleanly and harmless as doves, or as lambs,?Those lovely sweet innocent creatures.
3 Not a thing that we do, nor a word that we say,?Should injure another in jesting or play;?For he's still in earnest that's hurt.?How rude are the boys that throw pebbles and mire!?There's none but a mad-man will fling about fire,?And tell you, "`Tis all but in sport."
The End.
The TABLE.
1. A General Song of Praise to God.
2. Praise for Creation and Providence.
3. Praise to God for our Redemption.
4. Praise for mercies Spiritual and Temporal.
5. Praise for Birth and Education in a Christian Land.
6. Praise for the Gospel.
7. The Excellency of the Bible.
8. Praise to God for learning to read.
9. The All-seeing God.
10. Solemn Thoughts of God and Death.
11. Heaven and Hell.
12. The Advantages of early Religion.
13. The Danger of Delays.
14. Examples of early Piety.
15. Against lying.
16. Against Quarrelling and Fighting.
17. Love between Brothers and Sisters.
18. Against scoffing and calling Names.
19. Against swearing and cursing, and taking God's Name in vain.
20. Against Idleness and Mischief.
21. Against Evil Company.
22. Against Pride in Clothes.
23. Obedience to Parents.
24. The Child's Complaint.
25. A Morning Song.
26. An Evening Song.
27. An Hymn for the Lord's Day Morning.
28. An Hymn for the Lord's Day Evening. The Ten Commandments. The Sum of the Commandments. Our Saviour's Golden Rule. Duty to God and our Neighbour. The Hosanna in Long Metre.
29. in Common Metre. in Short Metre. Glory to the Father in Long Metre.
30. in Common Metre. in Short Metre.
A slight Specimen of Moral Songs, viz.
The Sluggard.?Innocent Play.
The End of the Table.
ADDENDUM to the Moral Songs.
Transcriber's Note.
In the 1715 edition, for the reasons explained by Watts in his Preface, there are only two moral songs, namely "The Sluggard" and "Innocent Play." Those added later are included in this Addendum. The texts are from an 1866 printing in New York, posted into the public domain by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) at

Song 3.?The Rose.?12,8,12,8
How fair is the Rose! what a beautiful flower!?The glory of April and May:?But the leaves are beginning to fade in an hour,?And they wither and die in a day.
Yet the Rose has one powerful virtue to boast,?Above all the flowers of the field!?When its leaves are all dead and fine colours are lost,?Still how sweet a perfume it will yield!
So frail is the youth and the beauty of man,?Though they bloom and look gay like the Rose;?But all our fond care to preserve them is vain,?Time kills them as fast as he goes.
Then I'll not be proud of my youth and my beauty,?Since both of them wither and fade;?But gain a good name by well doing my duty:?This will scent like a Rose when I'm dead.
Song 4.?The thief?8,7,8,7
Why should I deprive my neighbour?Of his goods against his will??Hands were made for honest labour,?Not to plunder, or to steal.
'Tis a foolish self-deceiving?By such tricks to hope for gain:
All that's ever got by thieving?Turns to sorrow, shame, and pain.
Have not Eve and Adam taught us?Their sad profit to compute,?To what dismal state they brought us?When they stole forbidden fruit?
Oft we see a young beginner?Practice little pilfering ways,?Till grown up a harden'd sinner,?Then the gallows ends his days.
Theft will not be