In numbers great, that can’t be told;
And call Thy lambs, that wander, home.”
These lines are thrown into a form which partakes of the nature of an ode more than that of a hymn: certainly they are altogether unfit for Divine worship, and the same remark may be made of all the verses printed in Taylor’s works.
POETRY.
Robert Herrick, who comes within our range of time—for he died about 1674—wrote a beautiful litany to the Holy Spirit, which bears a lyrical character suitable for psalmody, and contains the following earnest cries:—
“In the hour of my distress,
When temptations me oppress,
And when I my sins confess,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me!
When I lie within my bed,