At thy dread voice the funmon'd billows crowd, And a still silence lulls the wondering flood: Koll'd up, the crystal ridges ftrike the skies, Waves peep o'er waves, and feas o'er feas arife. Around in heaps the liftening furges ftand, Mute and obfervant of the high command. Congeal'd with fear attends the watery train, Rous'd from the fecret chambers of the main. With favage joy the fons of Egypt cry'd, (Vaft were their hopes, and boundlefs was their Let us pursue thofe fugitives of Nile, [pride) This fervile nation, and divide the spoil; And spread fo wide the flaughter, till their blood Dyes with a stronger red the blufhing flood. Oh! what a copious prey their hofts afford, To glut and fatten the devouring sword! As thus the yawning gulf the boafters pafs'd, At thy command rush'd forth the rapid blaft. Then, at the fignal given, with dreadful fway, In one huge heap roll'd down the roaring fea, And now the difentangled waves divide, Unlock their folds, and thaw the frozen tide. The deeps alarm'd call terribly from far The loud, embattled furges to the war; Till her proud fons aftonith'd Egypt found Cover'd with billows, and in terapeits drown'd. What God can emulate thy power divine, Or who oppofe his miracles to thine? When joyful we adore thy glorious name, Thy trembling foes confels their fear and fhame; The world attends thy abfolute command, And nature waits the wonders of thine hand. That hand, extended o'er the fwelling fea, The confcious billows reverence and obey. O'er the devoted race the furges fweep, And whelm the guilty nation in the deep. That hand redeem'd us from our fervile toil, And each infulting tyrant of the Nile: Our nation came beneath that mighty hand, From Egypt's realms, to Canaan's facred land. Thou wert their Guide, their Saviour, and their God,
To smooth the way, and clear the dreadful road. The diftant kingdoms fhall thy wonders hear, The fierce Philiftines fhall confefs their fear; Thy fame thall over Edom's princes fpread, And Moab's kings, the univerfal dread; While the vaft fcenes of miracles impart A thrilling horror to the braveit heart. As through the world the gathering terror runs, Canaan thall thrink, and tremble for his fons : Till thou haft Jacob from his bondage brought, At fuch a vaft expence of wonders bought, To Canaan's promis'd realms and bleft abodes, Led through the dark recefles of the floods. Crown'd with their tribes thall proud Moriah rife, And rear his fummit nearer to the skies. Through ages, Lord, shall stretch thy bound- Tefs power,
Thy thronefhall ftand when time fhall be no more: For Pharaoh's steeds, and cars, and warlike train, Leap'd in, and boldly rang'd the fandy plain: While in the dreadful road, and defert way, The fhining crowds of gafping fishes lay:
Till, all around with liquid toils befet, The Lord fwept o'er their heads the watery net. He freed the ocean from his fecret chain, [main. And on each hand discharg'd the thundering The loofen'd billows burit from every fide, And whelm the war and warriors in the tide; But on each hand the folid billows stood, Like lofty mounds to check the raging flood; Till the bleft race to promis'd Canaan pass'd O'er the dry path, and trod the watery wafte,
26. The 139th Pfalm paraphrafed. Pitt.
O DREAD Jehovah! thy all-piercing eyes Explore the motions of this mortal frame, This tenement of duft: Thy stretching fight Surveys the harmonious principles, that move In beauteous rank and order, to inform This cafk, and animated mafs of clay. Nor are the profpects of thy wondrous fight To this terreftria! part of man confin'd; But foot into his foul, and there difcern The firft materials of unfashion'd thought, Yet dim and undigested, till the mind, Big with the tender images, expands, And, fwelling, labours with th` ideal birth, Where'er I move, thy cares purfue my feet Attendant. When I drink the dews of fleep, Stretch'd on my downy bed, and there enjoy A fweet forgetfulness of all my toils, Unfeen, thy lov'reign prefence guards my fleep, Wafts all the terrors of my dreams away, Sooths all my foul, and foftens my repofe. Before conception can employ the tongue, And mould the ductile iniages to found; Before imagination ftands difplay'd, Thine eye the future eloquence can read, Yet unarray'd with fpeech. Thou, mighty Lord! Haft moulded man from his congenial duft, And spoke him into being; while the clay, Beneath thy forming hand, leap'd forth, infpir'd, And started into life: through every part, At thy command, the wheels of motion play'd. But fuch exalted knowledge leaves below, And drops poor man from its fuperior fphere.
In vain, with reafon's ballaft, would he try To item th' unfathomable depth: his bark O'eriets, and founders in the vaft abyfs. Then whither fhall the rapid fancy run, Though in its full career, to fpeed my flight From thy unbounded prefence? which, alone, Fills all the regions and extended space Beyond the bounds of nature! Whither, Lord! Shall my unrein'd imagination rove, To leave behind thy Spirit, and out-fly [Spread, Its influence, which, with brooding wings out- Hatch'dunfledg'dnaturefrom the dark profound? If mounted on my tow'ring thoughts I climb Into the heaven of heavens, I there behold The blaze of thy unclouded majesty! In the pure empyrean thee I view, High thron'd above all height, thy radiant fhrine Throng'd with the proftrate Seraphs, who receive Beatitude paft utterance! If I plunge
Down to the gloom of Tartarus profound, Te too I find thee, in the lowest bounds Of Erebus, and read thee in the scenes Of complicated wrath: I fee thee clad In the majesty of darkness there.
All ye who thirst for blood!--for fwoln withpride, Each haughty wretchblafphemesthy facred name, And bellows his reproaches to affront Thy glorious Majesty. Thy foes I hate Worfe than my own. O Lord! explore my foul! See if a flaw or ftain of fin infects
My guilty thoughts; then, lead me in the way That guides my feet to thy own heaven and thee,
If, on the ruddy morning's purple wings Cpbome, with indefatigable courfe Ieek the glowing borders of the east, Where the bright fun, emergent from the deeps, Wr tri glories gilds the fparkling feas, And so er the waves; ev'n there thy hand§ the watery defert guide my course, Aader the broken furges pave my way, When the dreadful whirls I hang fecure, And rock the warring ocean. If, with hopes As fond as falfe, the darkness I expect To hide, and wrap me in its mantling fhade, Van were the thought; for thy unbounded ken Drts to the thick ning gloom, and pries thro' The painie obfcure. Before thy eyes [all Thevanquish 'dnight throw soff herduiky throwd, And Kacles into day: the fhade and light Tom in various, but the fame to thee. On the is all the structure of my frame Dependent Lock'd within the filent womb
,and rip'ning to my birth; [there; Yet thy outstretch'd arm preferv'd me Bere I mov'd to entity, and trod The verge of being. To thy hallow'd name I pay cae honours; for thy mighty hand Batas corporeal fabric, when it laid ' Tugend-work of existence. Hence I read The wonders of thy art. This frame I view Wazor and delight; and, wrapt in both, I myself. My bones, unform'd Ave. aur birdening from the vifcous parts, Bended with th unanimated mass, Try eye catintly view'd; and, while I lay We the eth, imperfect, nor perceiv'd The fri fist dawn of life, with eafe furvey'd The glimmerings of the active feeds, Junding to existence, and beheld My instance scarce material. In thy book We far model of this ftructure drawn,
re every part, in just connection join'd, Cyd and perfected th` harmonious piece, Em fpeck of being learn'd to stretch h...e form, or entity had known Te and wanton in an ampler space. Hur dear, how rooted in my inmoft soul, Atay counfels, and the various ways fet eternal providence! the fum
ARISE, my foul! on wings feraphic rife! And praise th' almighty Sov reign of the skies; In whom alone effential glory fhines, Which not the heav'n of heav'ns, nor boundless fpace confines.
When darkness rul'd with universal sway, He fpoke, and kindled up the blaze of day; First, faireft offspring of th' omnific word! Which like a garment cloth'd its fov'reign Lord. On liquid air he bade the columns rife, That prop the ftarry concave of the skies; Diffus'd the blue expanfe from pole to pole, And fpread circumfluent æther round the whole. Soon as he bids impetuous tempefts fly, To wing his founding chariot thro' the sky, Impetuous tempefts the command obey, Suftain his flight, and sweep th' aërial way. Fraught with his mandates, from the realms on Unnumber'd hofts of radiant heralds fly [high, From orb to orb, with progrefs unconfin'd, As lightning fwift, refiftlefs as the wind.
In ambient air this pond'rous ball he hung, And bade its centre reft for ever ftrong; Heav'n, air, and fea, with all their storms in vain Affault the bafis of the firm machine. At thy almighty voice old Ocean raves, Wakes all his force, and gathers all his waves; Nature lies mantled in a wat'ry robe, And fhoreless billows revel round the globe: O'er highest hills the higher furges rife, Mix with the clouds, and meet the fluid fkies. But when in thunder the rebuke was giv'n, That shook th' eternal firmament of heav'n; The grand rebuke th' affrighted waves obey, And in confufion fcour their uncouth way; And pofting rapid to the place decreed, Wind down the hills,and fweep the humble mead. Reluctant in their bounds the waves fubfide; The bounds, impervious to the lashing tide, Reftrain its rage; whilft, with inceffant roar, It fhakes the caverns, and affaults the fhore.
adies and immenfe, it leaves behind The account of numbers; and outflies magination e'er conceiv'd: [thores, merous are the fands that crowd the Immers of the ocean. When I rife Fry foft bed, and fofter joys of fleep, Irenee. Yet lo! the impious flight By him, from mountains cloth'd in lucid (now, Trypty wonders. Shall the fons of vice Through fertile vales the mazy rivers flow. Eluce e vengeance of thy wrathful hand, Here the wild horse, unconscious of the rein, Adaxxthy ling ringthunderwhichwithholds That revels boundlefs o'er the wide campaign, I torky terrors from their guilty heads? [flv Imbibes the filver furge, with heat opprest, Taco great tremendous GOD!-Avaunt, and To cool the fever of his glowing breast.
Here rifing boughs, adorn'd with summer's | Nor does our world alone its influence fhares
Project their waving umbrage o'er the tide; While, gently perching on the leafy spray, Each feather'd warbler tunes his various lay: And, while thy praife they fymphonife around, Creation echoes to the grateful found. Wide o'er the heavens the various bow he bonds; Its tin&tures brighten, and its arch extends : At the glad fign the airy conduits flow, Soften the hills, and cheer the meads below: By genial fervour and prolific rain, Swift vegetation clothes the fmiling plain: Nature, profufely good, with blifs o'erflows, And ftill is pregnant, tho' the still bestows,
Here verdant paftures wide extended lie, And yield the grazing herd exuberant fupply. Luxuriant waving in the wanton air, Here golden grain rewards the peafant's care: Here vines mature with fresh carnation glow, And heav'n above diffufes heav'n below. Erect and tall here mountain cedars rife, Wave in the starry vault, and emulate the skies. Here the wing'd crowd, that skim the yielding' With artful toil their little domes prepare; [air, Here hatch their tender young, and nurse the rifing care,
Up the steep hill afcends the nimble doe, While timid coneys fcour the plains below, Or in the pendent rock elude the fcenting foe.) He bade the filver majefty of night Revolve her circles, and increase her light; Affign'd a province to each rolling sphere, And taught the fun to regulate the year. At his command, wide hov'ring o'er the plain. Primeval night refumes her gloomy reign: Then from their dens, impatient of delay, The favage monsters bend their speedy way, Howl thro' the spacious waste, and chase their frighted prey.
Here stalks the haggy monarch of the wood, 'Taught from thy providence to ask his food! To thee, O Father, to thy bounteous skies, He rears his mane, and rolls his glaring eyes: He roars; the defert trembles wide around, And repercuffive hills repeat the found.
Now orient gems the eastern skies adorn, And joyful nature has the op'ning morn: The rovers, confcious of approaching day, Fly to their shelters, and forget their prey. Laborious man, with moderate flumber bleft, Springs cheerful to his toil from downy reft; Till grateful evening with her argent train, Bid labour ceafe, and ease the weary swain. "Hailfov reign goodness! all-productive mind!, On all thy works thyself infcrib'd we find: How various all, how variously endow'd, How great their number, and each part how good! How perfect then muft the great Parent fhine, Wlo with one act of energy divine, Lad the valt plan, and finish'd the defign!" Where'er the pleafing fearch my thoughts ru fue,
Uubend a goo 1. els riles to my view;
Exhaustlefs bounty, and unwearied care Extends thro' all th' infinitude of space, And circles nature with a kind embrace.
The azure kingdoms of the deep below, Thy pow'r, thy wifdom, and thy goodnefs fhow Here multitudes of various beings ftray, Crowd the profound, or on the furface play: Tall navies here their doubtful way explore, And ev'ry product waft from fho e to fhore; Hence meagre want expell'd and fanguine ftrife For the mild charms of cultivated life; Hence focial union fpreads from foul to foul, And India joins in friendship with the pole. Here the huge potent of the fcaly train Enormous fails encumbent o'er the main, An animated ifle! and, in his way, Dashes to heaven's blue arch the foamy sea: When fkies and ocean mingle storm and flame, Portending inftant wreck to nature's frame, Pleas'd in the fcene, he mocks, with confciou pride
The volly'd lightning, and the furging tide; And while the wrathful elements engage, Foments with horrid fport the tempelt's rage. All these thy watchful providence fupplies, To thee alone they turn their waiting eyes; For them thou open'it thy exhaustless itore, Till the capacious with can grasp no more.
But, if one moment thou thy face should'st Thy glory clouded, or thy fmiles deny'd, [hide. Then widow'd nature veils her mournful eyes, And vents her grief in univerfal cries: Then gloomy death, with all his meagre train, Wide o'er the nations fpreads his difmal reign; Sea, earth, and air, the boundlefs ravage mourn, And all their hofts to native duft return.
But when again thy glory is difplay'd, Reviv'd creation lifts her cheerful head; New rifing forms thy potent fmiles obey, And life rekindles at the genial ray; United thanks replenish'd nature pays, And heav'n and earth refound their Maker's praise.
When time fhall in eternity be lost, And hoary nature languish into dust, For ever young, thy glory shall remain, Vaft as thy being, endlefs as thy reign. Thou from the regions of eternal day, View'ft all thy works at one immenfe furvey; I'leas'd thou behold it the whole propenfely tend To perfect happinels, its glorious end.
If thou to earth but turn thy wrathful eyes, Her bafis trembles, and her offspring dies: Thou fmit'ft the hills, and at th Almighty blow Their fummits kindle, and their inwards glow. While this immortal spark of heav'nly flame Diftends my breaft and animates my frame: To thee my ardent praifes fhall be borne On theirft breeze that wakes the bluthing morn; The lateft ftar fhall hear the pleating found, And nature in full choir fhall join around. When full of thee my foul excurfive flies Thro' earth, air, ocean, or thy regal skies ;
Fworld to world new wonders ftill I find, And the Godhead flashes on my mind; We'd with whirlwinds, vice fhall take its To the dap bofom of eternal night, [flight To the my foul fhall endlefs praises pay: k, then and angels, join th`exalted lay!
How we thy fervants bleft, O Lord!
How fare is their defence! Etendom is their guide,
The help omnipotence.
In tortiga realms, and lands remote, supported by thy care,
Thoaga burning climes I pafs'd unhurt, And breath'd in tainted air. Try mercy fweeten'd every foil
Made every region please; The bay Alpine hills it warm'd, And footh'd the Tyrrhene seas. Thek. O my foul, devoutly think, E with affrighted eyes T.. the wide extended deep I-its borrors rife!
Con dwelt in ev'ry face,
And in ev'ry heart,
When thou, O Lord, fhalt ftand disclos'd In majefty fevere,
And fit in judgment on my foul, O! how fhall I appear?
But thou haft told the troubled foul, Who does her fins lament,
The timely tribute of her tears Shall endless woe prevent.
Then fee the forrows of my heart,
Ere yet it be too late: And hear my Saviour's dying groans, To give those forrows weight. For never fhall my foul despair
Her pardon to procure,
Who knows thy only Son has died To make that pardon fure.
$30. A Hymn on the Seafons. Thomson. THESE, as they change, Almighty Father, these. Are but the varied God. The rolling year Is full of Thee. Forth in the pleafing Spring Thy beauty walks, thy tenderness and love. Wide flush the fields: the foftening air is balm; Echo the mountains round; the foreft fimiles; And every fenfe and every heart is joy.
Then comes thy glory in the Summer months, With light and heat refulgent. Then thy fun
Whe waves on waves, and gulphs in gulphs, Shoots full perfection thro' the fwelling year:
C'ercame the pilot's art.
Yet the from all my griefs, O Lord,
Thy mercy fet me free;
Pa the confidence of pray`r
took hold on thee.
dreadful whirls we hung be broken wave, Louwert not flow to hear, Narapent to fave.
The tom was laid, the winds retir'd Cecent to thy will;
The in, that roar'd at thy command, At thy command was still.
And oft thy voice in dreadful thunder speaks, And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve, Bybrooks and groves,in hollow whisp'ring gales. Thy bounty thines in Autumn unconfin'd, And fpreads a common feaft for all that lives. In Winter awful Thou! with clouds and storms Around Thee thrown,tempefto'er tempeft roli'd, Majestic darknefs! On the whirlwind's wing, Riding fublime, Thou bidd'ft the world adore, And humbleft nature with thy northern blast.
Myfterious round! what skill, what force di- Deep-felt, in thefe appear! a fimple train, [vine, Yet fo delightful mix'd, with fuch kind art, Such beauty and beneficence combin'd; And all fo forming an harmonious whole, Shade, unperceiv'd, fo foftening into fhade; That, as they ftill fucceed, they ravish ftill, But wandering oft, with rude inconscious gaze, Man marks not Thee,marks not the mighty hand That, ever bufy, wheels the filent (pheres; Works in the fecretdeep; fhoots,fteaming,thence The fair profufion that o'erfpreads the Spring; Flings from the fun direct the flaming day; Feeds ev'ry creature; hurls the tempelt forth, And, as on earth this grateful change revolves, With transport touches all the fprings of life. Nature attend! join every living foul Beneath the fpacious temple of the iky, In adoration join; and ardent raise One general fong! To him ye vocal gales, Breathefoft,wholefpiritinyourfrefhnefsbreathes: Oh talk of him in folitary glooms, Where o'er the rock the fcarcely waving pine Fills the brown fhade with a religious awe!
And ye, whose bolder note is heard afar, When even at last the folemn hour fhall com Who thaketh'astonish'd world,lift high to heav'n And wing my myftic flight to future worlds Th'impeteous fong,and fay from whom you rage. I cheerful will obey; there, with new power His praite, ye brooks, attune, ye trembling rills; Will rifing wonders fing: I cannot go And let me catch it as I mufe along. Where univerfal love not fmiles around, Ye headlong torrents, rapid and profound: Suftaining all yon orbs, and all their funs: Ye fofter floods that lead the humid maze From feeming evil ftill adducing good, Along the vale; and thou majestic main, And better thence again, and better still, A fecret world of wonders in thyself, In infinite progreffion.-But I lofe Sound his ftupendous praise, whofe greater voice Myself in Him, in light ineffable! Or bids you roar, or bids your roaring fall. Come then, expreffive filence, mufe his praise So roll your incenfe,herbs,and fruits, and flowers, In mingled clouds to Him, whofe fun exalts, Whole breath perfumes you, and whose pencil paints.
Ye forefts bend, ye harvests wave to Him; Breathe your ftill fong into the reaper's heart, As home he goes beneath the joyous moon. Ye that keep watch in heav'n, as earth asleep Unconscious lies, effufe your mildest beams, Ye conftellations, while your angels strike, Amid the fpangled fky, the filver lyre. Great fource of day) bleft image here below Of thy Creator, ever pouring wide, From world to world, the vital ocean round, On nature write with every beam his praife. The thunder rolls: be hufh'd the proftrate world; While cloud to cloud returns the folemn hymn. Bleat out afresh, ye hills; ye mofly rocks, Retain the found: the broad refponfive low, Ye valleys, raife; for the Great Shepherd reigns; And his unfuffering kingdom yet will come. Ye woodlands, all awake: a boundless fong Burftfrom the groves! and when the reftlefsday, Expiring, lays the warbling world asleep, Sweetest of birds! fweet Philomela, charm The liftening fhades,andteach thenight hispraife. Ye chief for whom the whole creation smiles; At once the head, the heart, the tongue of all, Crown the great hymn! In fwarming cities vaft, Ailembled men to the deep organ join The long-refounding voice, oft breaking clear, At folemn paufès, thro' the fwelling base; And as each mingling flame increases each, In one united ardour rife to heav'n. Or if you rather choose the rural shade, And find a fane in every facred grove: There let the thepherd's flute the virgin's lay, The prompting feraph, and the poet's lyre, Still fing the God of Seafons as they roll. For me, when I forget the darling theme, Whether the bloffom blows; the Summer ray Ruflets the plain; infpiring Autumn gleams; Or Winter rifes in the blackening east: Be my tongue mute, my fancy paint no more, And, dead to joy, forget my heart to beat. Should fate command me to the fartheft verge Of the green earth, to distant barbarous climes, Rivers unknown to fong; where first the fun Gilds Indian mountains, or his fetting beam Flames on th' Atlantic ifles, tis nought to me: Since God is ever prefent, ever felt, In the void wafte as in the city full;
§31. Hymn to Humanity. Langhorne. PARENT of virtue, if thine ear
Attend not now to forrow's cry; If now the pity-streaming tear
Should haply on thy cheek be dry; Indulge my votive ftrain, O sweet Humanity
Come, ever welcome to my breast! A tender, but a cheerful guest. Nor always in the gloomy cell Of life-confuming forrow dwell; For forrow, long-indulg'd and flow, And grief, that makes the heart its prey; Is to Humanity a foe; Wears Senfibility away,
Then comes, fweet nymph, inftead of thee, The gloomy fiend, Stupidity.
O may that fiend be banish'd far, Though paffions hold eternal war!
Nor ever let me ceafe to know The pulfe that throbs at joy or woe. Nor let my vacant cheek be dry, When forrow fills a brother's eye; Nor may the tear that frequent flows From private or from focial woes, E'er make this pleafing fenfe depart, Ye Cares, O harden not my heart!
If the fair ftar of fortune fmile,
Let not its flattering power beguile; Nor, borne along the fav'ring tide, My full fails well with bloating pride. Let me from wealth but hope content, Remembering fill it was but lent; To modeft merit fpread my ftore, Unbar my hofpitable door; Nor feed, for pomp, an idle train, While want unpitied pines in vain.
5. If Heaven, in every purpose wife, The envied lot of wealth denies; If doom'd to drag life's painful load Through poverty's uneven road, And, for the due bread of the day, Deftin'd to toil as well as pray; To thee, Humanity, till true, Il with the good I cannot do; And give the wretch, that paffes by,
And where He vital spreads, there must be joy. A foothing word-a tear-a figh.
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