And fhield me from my foes, whofetowering pride | To pay due Vengeance for its fatal crime,

Lowrs like a storm, and gathers like a tide :
Against ftrange children vindicate my cause,
Who curfe thy name, and trample on thy laws;
Who fear not vengeance which they never felt,
Train'd to blafpheme, and eloquent in guilt:
Their hands are impious, and their deeds profane;
They plead their boafted innocence in vain.
Thy name fhall dwell for ever on my tongue,
And guide the facred numbers of my fong;
To Thee my Mufe fhall confecrate her lays,
And every note fhall labour in thy praife;
The hallow'd theme fhall teach me how to fing,
Swell on the lyre, and tremble on the string.
Oft has thy hand from fight the monarch led,
When death flew raging, and the battle bled;
And snatch'd thy fervant, in the last despair,
From all the rifing tumult of the war.

Againft ftrange children vindicate my caufe,
Who curfe thy name, and trample on thy laws;
That our fair fons may fmile in early bloom,
Our fons, the hopes of all our years to come:
Like plants that nurs'd by foftering fhowers arife,
And lift their fpreading honours to the skies;
That our chafte daughters may their charms
difplay,

Like the bright pillars of our temple, gay,
Polifh'd, and tall, and smooth, and fair as they.
Pil'd up with plenty let our barns appear,
And burft with all the Seafons of the Year;
Let pregnant flocks in ev'ry quarter bleat,
And drop their tender young in ev'ry street.
Safe from their labours may our oxen come,
Safe may they bring the gather'd fummer home.
Oh! may no fighs, no ftreams of forrow flow,
To ftain our triumphs with the tears of woe.

Blefs'd is the nation, how fincerely blefs'd!
Of fuch unbounded happiness poffefs'd,
To whom Jehovah's facred name is known,
Who claim the God of Ifrael for their own.

JOB

25. The 3d Chapter of Job. PITT.
OB curs'd his birth, and bade his curfes flow
In words of grief, and eloquence of woe;
Loft be that day which dragg'd me to my doom,
Recent to life, and ftruggling from the womb;
Whose beams with fuch malignant luftre fhone,
Whence all my years in anxious circles run.
Loft be that night in undetermin'd space,
And veil with deeper fhades her gloomy face,
Which crowded up with woes this flender fpan,
While the dull mafs rofe quick'ning into man.
O'er that curs'd day let fable darkness rife,
Shroud the blue vault, and blacken all the skies;
May God o'erlook it from his heavenly throne,
Nor rouze from fleep the fedentary fun
O'er its dark face, to fhed his genial ray,
And warm to joy the melancholy day."
May the clouds frown, and livid poifons breathe,
And ftain heaven's azure with the fhade of death.
May ten-fold darknefs from that dreadful
night

Seize and arreft the ftraggling gleams of light:

Still be it banifh'd from the train of time;
Nor in the radiant lift of months appear,
To ftain the fhining circle of the Year:
There through her dusky range may filence
roam,

There may noray,no glimpfe of gladness come;
No voice to cheer the folitary gloom.
May every ftar his gaudy light with-hold,
Nor through the vapour fhoot his beamy gold;
Nor let the dawn with radiant skirts come on,
Tipp'd with the glories of the rifing fun;
Because that dreadful period fix'd my doom,
Nor feal'd the dark receffes of the womb.
To that original my ills I owe;
Heir of affliction, and the fon of woe.
Oh! had I dy'd unexercis'd in pain,
And wak'd to life, to fleep in death again!
Why did not Fate attend me at my birth,
And give me back to my congenial earth?
Why was I, when an infant, footh'd to rest,
Lull'd on the knee, or hung upon the breast?
For now the grave would all my cares compose,
Conceal my forrows, and inter my woes:
There wrapp'd and lock'd within his cold embrace,
Safe had I fumber'd in the arms of peace;
There with the mighty kings, who lie inroll'd
In clouds of incenfe, and in beds of gold:
There with the princes, who in grandeur fhone,
And aw'd the trembling nations from the throne,
Afflicted Job an equal rest must have,
And fhare the dark retirement of the grave;
Or as a fhapeless Embryo feek the tomb,
Rude and imperfect from the abortive womb :
Ere motion's early principle began,
Or the dim fubftance kindled into man. [ceafe,
There from their monftrous crimes the wicked
Their labouring guilt is weary'd into peace;
There blended fleep the coward and the brave;
Stretch'd with his lord, the undiftinguish'd flave
Enjoys the common refuge of the grave.
An equal lot the mighty Victor fhares,
And lies amidst the captives of his wars;
With his, thofe captives mingle their remains,
The fame in death, nor leffen'd by their chains.
Why are we doom'd to view the genial ray!
Why curft to bear the painful light of day!
O! with what joy the wretches yield their breath!
And pant in bitterness of foul for death!
As a rich prize, the diftant blifs they crave,
And find the glorious treasure in the grave.
Why is the wretch condemn'd without relief
To combat woe, and tread the round of grief,
Whom in the toils of Fate his God has bound,
And drawn the line of Miferies around?

When nature calls for aid, my fighs intrude;
My tears prevent my necessary food:
Like a full ftream o'ercharg'd, my forrows flow
In bursts of anguish, and a tide of woe;
For now the dire affliction which I fled,
Pours like a roaring torrent on my head.
My terrors ftill the phantom view'd, and wrought
The dreadful image into every thought:
At length pluck'd down, the fatal ftroke I feel,
And lofe the fancy'd in the real ill.

The

ThouwerttheirGuide,their Saviour, andtheir God,
To fmooth the way, and clear the dreadful road.
The diftant kingdoms fhall thy wonders hear,
The fierce Philiftives fhall confefs their fear;
Thy fame fhall over Edom's princes fpread,
And Moab's kings, the univerfal dread;
While the vaft fcenes of miracles impart
A thrilling horror to the braveft heart.
As through the world the gathering terror runs,
Canaan fhall fhrink, 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 receffes of the floods.
Crown'd with their tribes fhall proud Moriah rife,
And rear his fuminit nearer to the skies.
Through ages, Lord, shall stretch thy bound-
lefs power,

Thy throne fhall ftand when time shall be no more:
For Pharaoh's feeds, and cars, and warlike train,
Leap'd in, and boldly rang'd the fandy plain,
While in the dreadful road and defart way,
The fhining crowds of gasping 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,
And on each hand difcharg'd the thundering main.
The loofen'd billows burft from every fide,
And whelm the war and warriors in the tide;
But on each hand the folid billows ftood,
Like lofty mounds to check the raging flood;
Till the bleft race to promis'd Canaan paft
O'er the dry path, and trod the watery waste,

28. The 139th Pfalm paraphrafed. PITT.
DREAD Jehovah! thy all-piercing eyes
Explore the motions of this mortal frame,
This tenement of duft: Thy stretching fight
Surveys th'harmonious principles, that move
In beauteous rank and order, to inform
This cafk, and animated mafs of clay.
Nor are the profpects of thy wond'rous fight
To this terreftrial part of man confin'd;
But fhoot 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 pursue 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 fov'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 du tile images to found;
Before imagination ftande 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 fpoke him into being: while the clay,
Beneath thy forming hand, leap'd forth, infpir'd,
And ftarted 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 ftem th'unfathomable depth; his bark
O'erfets, and founders in the vaft abyss.
Then whither shall 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 outfly [fpread,
Its influence, which, with brooding wings out-
Hatch'd unfledg'd nature from 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 Majefty!.
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,
There too I find thee, in the lowest bounds
Of Erebus, and read thee in the scenes
Of complicated wrath: I sce thee clad
In all the majefty of darkness there.

If, on the ruddy inorning's purple wings
Upborne, with indefatigable courfe
I feek the glowing borders of the eaft,
Where the bright fun, emergent from the deeps,
With his first glories gilds the fparkling feas,
And trembles o'er the waves; ev'n there thy hand
Shall through the watery defart guide my course,
And o'er the broken furges pave my way,
While on the dreadful whirls I hang fecure,
And mock the warring ocean. If, with hopes
As fond as falfe, the darknefs I expect
To hide, and wrap me in its mantling fhade,
Vain were the thought; for thy unbounded ken
Darts thro' the thick'ning glooin, and pries thro'
The palpable obfcure. Before thy eyes [all
The vanquifh'd night throws off her dufkyfhrowd,
And kindles into day: the fhade and light
To man ftill various, but the fame to thee.
On thee is all the structure of my frame
Dependant. Lock'd within the filent womb,
Sleeping I lay, and rip'ning to my birth;
Yet, Lord,thy outftretch'darm preferv'd me there;
Before I mov'd to entity, and trod
The verge of being. To thy hallow'd name
I'll pay due honours; for thy mighty hand
Built this corporeal fabric, when it laid
The ground work of existence. Hence I read
The wonders of thy art. This frame I view
With terror and delight; and, wrapt in both,
I ftartle at invfelf. My bones, unform'd
As yet, nor hardening from the viscous parts,
But blended with th'unanimated mafs,
Thy eye diftinctly view'd; and, while I lay
Within the earth, imperfect, nor perceiv'd
The firft faint dawn of life, with cafe furvey'd
The vital glimmerings of the active feeds,
| Juft kindling to existence, and beheld
My fubftance scarce material. In thy book

Was

Was the fair model of this ftructure drawn,
Where every part, in juft connection join'd,
Compos'd and perfected th'harmonious piece,
Ere the dim fpeck of being learn'd to stretch
Its ductile form, or entity had known
To range and wanton in an ampler space.
How dear, how rooted in my inmoft foul,
Are all thy counfels, and the various ways
Of thy eternal providence! the fum
So boundless and immenfe, it leaves behind
The low account of numbers, and outflies
All that imagination e'er conceiv'd:

Lefs numerous are the fands that crowd the fhores,
The barriers of the ocean. When I rife
From my foft bed, and fofter joys of fleep,
I rife to thee. Yet lo! the impious flight
Thy mighty wonders. Shall the fons of vice
Elude the vengeance of thy wrathful hand,
And mock thy ling'ring thunder which withholds
Its forky terrors from their guilty heads? [fly
Thou great tremendous GOD;-Avaunt, and
All ye who thirst for blood!--for,fwol'nwithpride,
Each haughty wretch blafphemes thy facred name,
And bellows his reproaches to affront
Thy glorious Majefty. 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.

29. An Hymn to the Supreme Being. An Inutation of the 104th Pfalm. BLACKLOCK.

HOR.

Quid prius dicam folitis parentis
Laudibus? 'qui res hominum ac deorum,
Qui mare & terras, variifque mundum
Temperat haris?.
ARISE, my foul! on wings feraphic rife!
And praife th'almighty Sov'reign of the skies;
In whom alone effential glory fhines,
Which not the heav'n of heav'ns, nor boundless
Space confines.

When darknefs rul'd with univerfal fway,
He fpoke, and kindled up the blaze of day;
Firft, faireft offspring of th'omnific word!
Which like a garment cloath'd its fov'reign Lord.
On liquid air he bade the columns rife,
That prop the ftarry concave of the fkies;
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 fweep 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 strong;
Heav'n, air, and fea, with all their ftorms, 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 tobe,
And thoreless 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 hook 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 thakes the caverns, and affaults the fhore.

By him, from mountains cloath'd in lucid fnow,
Through fertile vales and mazy rivers flow;

Here the wild horfe, unconfcious of the rein,
That revels boundlefs o'er the wide campaign,
Imbibes the filver furge, with heat oppreft,
To cool the fever of his glowing breaft. [pride,
Here rifing boughs, adorn'd with fummer's
Project their waving umbrage o'er the tide,
While, gently perching on the leafy fpray,
Each feather'd warbler tunes his various lay:
And, while thy praife they fymphonize around,
Creation echoes to the grateful found.
Wide o'er the heav'ns the various bow he bends,
Its tinctures 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' fhe ftill bestows.

Here verdant paftures wide extended lic,
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 diffuses heav'n below.
Erect and tall her 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 conics fcour the plains below,
Or in the pendant rock clude the fcenting foe.
He bade the filver majeity of night
Revolve her circles, and increase her light;
Affign'd a province to each rolling fphere,
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 fpacious wafte, and chace their
frighted prey.

Here ftalks the thaggy monarch of the wood,
Taught from thy providence to afk his food!
To thee, O Father, to thy bounteous skies,
He rears his mane, and rolls his glaring eves;
He roars; the defart trembles wide around,
And repercuflive hills repeat the found.

Now