Ver. He, o'er the airy empty place,

7

In pomp difplays on high

The wide expance, and ample fpace,
Of all the northern iky.

The pond'rous earth, at his command,
Hangs in the ambient air;
No pillars bear the fabric grand,
But juft his will and care.

8 He bids the clouds with water pent,
Imprifon'd tempefts chain;
Then their big floating wombs, unrent,
Sufpend the birth of rain.
Again he bids their bofom ope,
And down the bleffing pours,
To feed the lab'ring farmer's hope
With warm prolific fhow'rs.

9 Left his high throne, fo dazling bright,
By naked eyes unseen,

With too much glore opprefs our fight,
He spreads his clouds between.

10 He raises rocky fences round

The fpacious fwelling deep,
Which do the raging billows bound,
Mad waves in prifon keep:
That while the rule of day and night,
The fun and moon maintain,

The rolling feas may have no might
To drown the earth again.

II High hills, that pillars feem and props
Of heav'n's expanded roof,

Do quake, and bow their tow'ring tops
Aghaft at his reproof.

12 He cleaves the main, bids billows rife,
Then curbs the fwelling tide:

How foon they cope with clouds and fkies,
So foon he lays their pride.

The trembling waves, at his command,
Creep foftly to the fhore;

Storms over-aw'd do filent fland,

Do quickly ceafe to roar.

1

Ver. Thus lawless feas he does control,
Deverfifies the deep;

He makes the fleeping billows roll,
The rolling billows fleep.

13 He fpreads the heav'ns, their azure face
He garnish'd by his might:
And did them moft profufely grace
With conftellations bright.

14 His hand the crooked ferpent made;
But who can speak his art?
Of whom all's nothing that is said,
We know fo fmall a part.

2

3

4

Who can the utmoft force explore
Of his almighty hands!

For ev'n the thunder of his pow'r
What mortal understands?

SONG XLIII.

JOB folemnly maintaining bis Integrity against the falfe Accufations of bis Friends. Job xxvii. 2,-6.

AS

S God-Creator lives, who now
To Judge my caufe denies;
Th' Almighty, who my vexed foul
With fharp affliction tries:

While in my noftrils breath remains,
Which God infpir'd at first,

No wicked guile fhall by my lips,
Nor falfhood be exprefs'd.

I'm flander'd by my cruel friends,
Their cenfures underly,

Charg'd with hypocrify and fraud,
And crimes of deepeft dye.

5 Should I acquit their calumnies,
Abfolve their fland'rous tongue,
Confefs their libel ftuff'd with lies,
My innocence to wrong?
Forbid it Heav'n! so black a charge
Of crimes to me unknown,

I, to my last expiring breath,
Will fledfaftly difown.

Ver. This my rejoicing ftill fhall be,
The teftimony clear,

6

And confcience of integrity,

I in my bofom bear.
Reproachfully they me accufe;
But from approved fin

My Judge fhall me acquit, as does
His juftice-court within.

SONG XLIV.

The hopeless State of the Hypocrite. Job xxvii. 7, 10.

7 WHERE is the hypocrite's falfe hope,
Though for a time he gain'd

Praise and applaufe, and lifted up,
In pomp and pleasure reign'd?
8 Where is his hope at last, when once
The mighty God fhall wrest
His trembling foul, with violence,
From his reluctant breaft?

9

Will God give ear unto his cry,
When troubles o'er him flow,

Prefaging worse calamity,

His everlasting woe?

Will painted pray'rs avert the blast,
When he perceives with dread,
The clouds of vengeance gath'ring faft
Above his guilty head?

10 Will God almighty be his joy,
Devotion his delight;

Or pray'er to God his clofe employ,
When crutches fail him quite ?

He prays, compell'd with heavy ftrokes;
But unregarded prayer

He quits; nor more his Judge invokes,
But finks in deep defpair.

No favour dare the rebel feek,
That fcorn'd redeeming-grace;
His guilty confcience, dragon-like,
Still flying in his face.

SONG XLV.

Wifdom's Price great, and its Place fecret: and the
Wifdom that is bid in GoD, unfearchable by Na-
ture; but the Wisdom that is revealed to Man,
practicable through Grace. Job xxviij. 12,-28.

AIN man would be efteemed wife;

Ver. VA

12

But who, alas! can tell

The place where understanding stays,
Or where does wifdom dwell?

13 Nay, wifdom's price, and worth renown'd,
Dull mortals do not know;
Nor is the precious treasure found,
When fearch'd for here below.
The land exclaiming, fays aloud,
Ah! never was I blefs'd
To be the lodging or abode
Of this celestial gueft.

14 The fea and fwelling waves in rage,
With roaring voice declare,

In vain ye feek to find the fage
And facred stranger here.

Th' infernal deep, with voice auflere,
And with a hollow found,

Cries out, There's no apartment here,
For wifdom, under ground.

15 Th' inestimable blifs was ne'er
With gold of Ophir bought;

16 In price with it the onyx rare And faphires ftand for nought.

17 Rich jewels, pearls, and diamonds choice, In crowns that draw regard,

18 And rubies fine, are worthless toys With this fine gen compar'd.

19

20 Who then, by learning, is in cafe
To fhew whence wifdom flows?
And who the happy dwelling-place
Of understanding knows?

1

Ver. Since clofe 'tis hid from all the eyes
21 Of creatures every-where,

That tread the earth, or cut the feas,
Or wing the lucid air.

22 Death and deftruction's caves profound, Cry, Here the never came,

Only our ears have heard the found
Of her immortal fame.

23 Alone the glorious and the great,
All-penetrating God,

Knows his own offspring's hidden feat,
True wifdom's blefs'd abode.

24 For he, from off the height immenfe
Of heav'n's bright cryftal-brow,
Surveys in all its vaft expanfe,
The universe below.

He diftant ages, regions, ifles, Views with omnifcient eyes: 25 And in exactly poifing scales

Both winds and water weighs. 26 When he decreed the meafure just, And manner of the rain;

27

When he a way for thunder first
And light'ning did ordain :

Then faw he wifdom where it fhin'd,
And did its home declare;

He fearch'd his own all-feeing mind,
And found it only there.

28 But then to man (from whom he hid
His fecret will and way,

Yet duty to him open laid)
Thus did Jehovah fay,

Behold, to fear the Lord, and fill

From evil to depart;

This, this is wifdom; this is fkill;
Yea, this is heav'nly art.

Let me attempt to know no more
Than God moft high revals;
Nor boldly fearch for fecret ftore,
He in his breaft conceals.