Yet give my pains their bounds to know,
And fixa period to iny woe.
Retura, great God, return, and fave
Thr fervant from the greedy grave.
Shall Death's long-filent tongue, O say,
The records of thy pow'r difplay,
Or pale Corruption's startled ear
Thy praife within its prifon hear?
By languor, grief, and care opprefs'd,
With groans perpetual heaves my breast,
And tears, in large profufion fhed,
Inceffant lave my fleepless bed.
My life, though yet in mid career,
Beholds the winter of its year,
(While clouds of grief around me roll,
And hoftile ftorms invade my foul,)
Relentless from my cheek each trace
Of youth and blooming health erafe,
And spread before my wafting fight
The fhades of all-obfcuring night.
Hence, ye profane: My Saviour hears;
White yet I fpeak, he wipes my tears,
Accepts my prayer, and bids each foe
With fame their vain attempts forego,
And, ftruck with horror from on high,
In wild diforder backward fly.

13. Pfalm 8th. MERRICK.
Mmortal King! Through Earth's wide frame
How great thy honour, praife, and name !
Whofe reign o'er diftant worlds extends,
Whofe glory heav'n's vaft height tranfcends.
From infants Thou canft ftrength upraise,
And form their lifping tongues to praise:
By thefe the vengeance-breathing Foe
Thy mightier terrors taught to know,
In mute aftonifhment fhall ftand,
And bow beneath thy conqu'ring hand.
When, rapt in thought, with wakeful eye
I view the wonders of the sky,
Whofe frame thy fingers o'er our head
In rich magnificence have spread;
The filent Moon, with waxing horn
Along th' ethereal region borne;
The Stars with vivid luftre crown'd,
That nightly walk their deftin'd round,
'Lord! What is Man, that in thy care
His humble lot fhould find a fhare;
Or what the Son of Man, that Thou
Thus to his wants thy ear shouldft bow?
His rank awhile, by thy decree,
Th' Angelic Tribes beneath them fee,
Till round him thy imparted rays
With unextinguifh'd glory blaze.
Subjected to his feet by thee,
To Him all Nature bows the knee;
The beafts in him their Lord behold;
The grazing herd, the bleating fold,
The favage race, a countless train,
That range at large th' extended plain,
The fowls, of various wing, that fly
O'er the vaft defert of the sky,
And all the wat'ry tribes, that glide
Through paths to human fight deny'd.

Immortal King! Through Earth's wide frame, How great thy honour, praife, and name!

14. Pfalm 23d. MERRICK. LO, my Shepherd's hand divine!

Want fhall never more be mine.
In a pasture fair and large
He fhall feed his happy Charge,
And my couch with tend'reft care
'Midft the fpringing grass prepare;
When I faint with fummer's heat,
He fhall lead my weary feet
To the ftreams that still and flow
Through the verdant meadow flow.
He my foul anew fhall frame,
And, his mercy to proclaim,
When through devious paths I ftray,
Teach my fteps the better way.
Though the dreary vale I tread
By the fhades of death o'erfpread;
There I walk from terror free,
While my ev'ry with I fee
By thy rod and staff supplied;
This my guard, and that my guide.
While my focs are gazing on,
Thou thy fav'ring care haft shown;
Thou my plenteous board haft fpread;
Thou with oil refresh'd my head;
Fill'd by Thee my cup o'erflows i
For thy Love no limit knows.
Conftant, to my latest end,
This my footsteps fhall attend,
And fhall bid thy hallow'd Dome
Yield me an eternal home.

15. Pfalm 122d. MERRICK.

I.

THE feftal Morn, my God, is come,
That calls me to thy honour'd Dome,
Thy prefence to adore:

My feet the fummons shall attend,
With willing steps thy Courts afcend,
And tread the hallow'd floor.

2.

Ev'n now to our tranfported eyes Fair Sion's tow'rs in prospect rife

Within her gates we stand, And, loft in wonder and delight, Behold her happy Sons unite

In friendship's firmest band.

3.

Hither from Judah's utmost end
The Heav'n-protected Tribes afcend;
Their off'rings hither bring;
Here, eager to atteft their joy,
In hymns of praife their tongues employ,
And hail th' immortal King.

4.

By his Command impell'd, to Her Contending Crowds tacir caufe refer;

While Princes from her Throne, With equal doom, th'unerring Law Difpenfe, who boaft their birth to draw From Jeffe's favour'd Son.

§ 16. The 8th Psalm translated.
CHRISTOPHER PITT.
KING eternal and divine!
The world is thine alone:
Above the stars thy glories fhine,.
Above the heavens thy throne.
How far extends thy mighty name!

Where'er the fun can roll,
That fun thy wonders thall proclaim,
Thy deeds from pole to pole.

The infant's tongue shall speak thy power,
And vindicate thy laws;

The tongue that never spoke before,

Shall labour in thy cause.

For when I lift my thoughts and eyes,

And view the heavens around,
Yon ftretching wafte of azure skies,

With ftars and planets crown'd;
Who in their dance attend the Moon,
The empress of the night,
And pour around her filver throne
Their tributary light:

Lord! what is mortal man? that he

Thy kind regard thould have? What is his fon, who claims from thee, And challenges thy care?

Next to the bleft Angelic kind,

Thy hands created man,

And this inferior world affign'd
To dignify his fpan.

Him all revere, and all obey

His delegated reign;

The flocks that through the valley ftray,

The herds that graze the plain.

The furious tiger fpeeds Lis fight,
And trenibles at his power;

In fear of his fuperior might,
The lions cuale to real.

All bleffings on his head.

Of thofe who feek his righteous ways

Is this the chofen race,

Who bask in all his bounteous fmiles,
And flourish in his grace.

Lift up your ftately heads, ye doors,
With hafty reverence rife;
Ye everlasting doors, who guard
The paffes of the skies,
Swift from your golden hinges Icap,
Your barriers roll away,
Now throw your blazing portals wide,
And burft the gates of day.

For fee the King of glory comes
Along th' ethereal road:

The cherubs through your folds fhall bear
The triumphs of your God.

Who is this great and glorious King?
Oh! 'tis the Lord, whofe might
Decides the conqueft, and fufpends
The balance of the fight.

Lift up your fately heads, ye doors!
With hafty reverence rife;

Ye everlatting doors! who guard
The palles of the fkies.

Swift from your golden hinges leap,
Your barriers roll away,

Now throw your blazing portals wide,
And burit, the gates of day;

For

For fee! the King of Glory comes

Along th' ethereal road:

The cherubs through your folds shall bear
The triumphs of their God.
Who is this great and glorious King?
Oh! 'tis the God, whofe care
Leads on his Ifrael to the field,

Whose power controuls the war.

§18. Pfalm.29th. PITT. YE mighty princes, your oblations bring, And pay due honours to your awful King; His boundless power to all the world proclain, Bend at his thrine, and tremble at his name. For hark! his voice, with unrefifted fway, Rules and controuls the raging of the Sea; Within due bounds the mighty ocean keeps, And in their watery cavern awes the deeps: Shock by that voice, the nodding groves around Start from their roots, and fly the dreadful found. The blafted cedars low in dust are laid, And Lebanon is left without a fhade. See! when he speaks, the lofty mountains crowd, And dy for fhelter from the thundering God: Sirion and Lebanon like hinds advance, And in wild measures lead th' unwieldy dance. His voice, his mighty voice, divides the fire, Back from the blast the shrinking flames retire. Evin Cades trembles when Jehovah fpeaks, With all his Savages the defert shakes. At the dread found the hinds with fear are ftung, And in the lonely foreft drop their young; While in his hallow'd temple all proclaim His glorious honours, and adore his name. High o'er the foaming furges of the fea He fits, and bids the liftening deeps obey: He reigns o'er all; for ever lafts his power, Till nature finks, and time fhall be no more. With ftrength the fons of Ifrael fhall he blefs, And crown our tribes with happiness and peace.

19. Pfalm 46th paraphrafed. PITT.

ON God we build our fure defence,
In God our hope repose:
His hand protects us in the fight,

And guards us from our woes.
Then, be the earth's unwieldy frame

From its foundations hurl'd, We may, unmov'd with fear, enjoy The ruins of the world.

What though the folid rocks be rent,

In tempefts whirl'd away?

What though the hills should burst their roots, And roll into the Sea>

Thou fea, with dreadful tumults fwell,

And bid thy waters rife

In furious furges, till they dash

The flood-gates of the skies.
Our minds (hall be ferenc and calm,

Like Siloah's peaceful flood;
Whole foft and filver streams refresh
The City of our God.

Within the proud delighted wayes
The wanton turrets play';'

The ftreams lead down their humid train,
Reluctant to the Sea.

Amid the fcene the temple floats,

With its reflected towers,

Gilds all the furface of the flood,
And dances to the fhores.
With wonder fee what mighty power
Our facred Sion cheers,

Lo! there amidst her ftately walls,
Her God, her God appears.

Fixt on her bafis we fhall ftand,'

And, innocently proud,

Smile on the tumults of the world,
Beneath the wings of God.

See

how their weakness to proclaim, The heathen tribes engage! See! how with fruitlefs wrath they burn, And impotence of rage!

But God has fpoke; and lo! the world,"
His terrors to display,

With all the melting globe of earth,
Drops filently away.

Still to the mighty Lord of hofts
Securely we refort;
For refuge fly to Jacob's God,

Our fuccour and fupport.
Hither, ye numerous nations, crowd,
In filent rapture, ftand,
And fee o'er all the earth: difplay'd
The wonders of his hand.

He bids the din of war be sti!!,

And all its tumults cease;
He bids the guiltlefs trumpet found
The harmony of peace.
He breaks the tough reluctant, bow,
He burfts the brazen fpear,
And in the crackling fire his hand
Confumes the blazing ear.

Hear then his formidable voice,

66

"Be ftill, and know the Lord; By all the heathen I'll be fear'd; "By all the earth ador'd." Still to the Mighty Lord of hosts Securely we refort; For refuge fly to Jacob's God, Our fuccour and fupport.

Eternal God! thy early days

Beyond duration run,
Ere the first race of startling time
Was meafur'd by the Sun.
We die; but future nations hear
Thy potent voice again,
Rife at the fummons, and restore
The perifh'd race of man.
Before thy comprehensive sight,
Duration fleets away;
And rapid ages on the wing,
Fly swifter than a day.

As great Jehovah's piercing eyes
Eternity explore,

The longeft æra is a night;
A period is an hour.

We at thy mighty call, O Lord,

Our fancy'd beings leave,

Rous'd from the flattering dream of life, To fleep within the grave.

Swift from their barrier to their goal

The rapid moments pafs,

And leave poor man, for whom they run, The emblem of the grass.

In the first morn of life it grows,

And lifts its verdant head; At noon decays, at evening dies, And withers in the mead.

We in the glories of thy face

Our fecret fins furvey,
And fee how gloomy thofe appear,
How pure and radiant they.
To death as our appointed goal

Thy anger drives us on;
To that full period fix'd at length
This tale of life is done.
With winged fpeed, to ftated bounds
And limits we mult fly,
While feventy rolling funs complete
Their circles in the sky.

Or if ten more around us roll,

'Tis labour, woe, and ftrife,
Till we at length are quite drawn down
To the laft dregs of life.
But who, O Lord, regards thy wrath,
Though dreadful and fevere?
That wrath, whatever fear he feels,
Is equal to his fear.

So teach us, Lord, to count our days,

And eye their conftant race, To measure what we want in time,

By wifdom, and by grace.
With us repent, and on our hearts

Thy choiceft graces fhed,
And thowe, from thy celeftial throne
Thy bleffings on our head.

Oh! may thy mercy crown us here,
And come without delay;

Then our whole courfe of life will feem
One glad triumphant day.

21. Pfalm 144th paraphrafed. PITT. MY foul, in raptures rife to blefs the Lord Who taught my hands to draw the fatal fwo Led by his arm, undaunted I appear In the first ranks of death, and front of war. He taught me firft the pointed fpear to wield, And mow the glorious harveft of the field. By him infpir'd, from ftrength to ftrength I pa Plung'd through the troops, and laid the bat

fo

In him my hopes I centre and repofe, [wat He guards my life, and fhields me from my He held his ample buckler o'er my head, And fereen'd me trembling in the mighty fhad Against all hoftile violence and power, He was my fword, my bulwark, and my tower He o'er my people will maintain my fway, And teach my willing fubjects to obey.

Lord! what is man, of vile and humble birth Sprung with his kindred reptiles from the earth That he fhould thus thy fecret counfels fhare? Or what his son, who challenges thy care? Why does thine eye regard this nothing, mana His life a point, his measure but a span? The fancy'd pageant of a moment made, Swift as a dream, and fleeting as a fhade.

Come in thy power, and leave th'ethereal plair And to thy harnefs'd tempeft give the rein; You ftarry arch fhall bend beneath the load, So loud the chariot, and fo great the God! Soon as his rapid wheels Jehovah rolls, The folding fkies fhall tremble to the poles: Heaven's gaudy Axle with the world fhall fall Leap from the centre, and unhinge the ball.

Touch'd bythyhands,the labouring hills expir Thick clouds of fmoke, and deluges of fire; On the tall groves the red deftroyer preys, And wraps th'eternal mountains in the blaze: Full on my foes may all thy lightnings fly, On purple pinions through the gloomy fky.

Extend thy hand, thou kind all-gracious God, Down from the heaven of heavens thy bright abode,

And shield me from my foes, whofe towering prido Lowers like a form, and gathers like a tide: Againft ftrange children vindicate my caufe, Who curie 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

Thy name fil dwell for ever on my tongue, And guidefcred numbers of my fong; To thee or Mafe fhall confecrate her lays, And every nere fhall labour in thy praife; The hale'd theme fhall teach me how to fing, Sw."" on the lyre, and tremble on the firing. Ofaty Land from fight the monarch led, When Cath few raging, and the battle bled; And thach'd thy tervant in the laft despair From all the ring tumult of the war.

Agurt ftrange children vindicate my cause, We care thy came, and trample on thy laws; Th1 cur fair fons may fimile in carly bloom, Our Day, the hopes of all our years to come: Like wants that nurs'd by foftering fhowers arife, And if their spreading honours to the skies: That our chatte daughters may their charms dplay,

}

Like the right pillars of our temple, gay,
Porad, and tail, and fimcoth, and fair as they.
Pid with plenty let our barns appear,
Abark with all the Scafons of the Year;
Let pregnant docks in every quarter bleat,
Andris their tender young in every street.
Safe from leriabours may our oxen come,
Safe tay y bring the gather'd fummer home.
On my no fighs, no ftreams of forrow flow,
Tofanour triumphs with the tears of woe.

Blets'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

22. 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;
Whole 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,
Shrowd the blue vault, and blacken all the fkies;
May God o'erlook it from his heavenly throne,
Nor roufe 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 darkness from that dreadful
night

Size and arreft the ftraggling gleams of light;
To pay due vengeance for its fatal crime,
Still be it banith'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 dufky range may filence

roam,

There may no ray, no glimpse 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 fkirts come on,
Tipp'd with the glories of the rifing fun;
Becaufe that dreadful period fix'd my doom,
Nor feal'd the dark receifes of the womb.
To that original my ills I owe;
Heir of affliction, and the fon of wor.
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 reft,
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 lumber'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,
Aflicted Job an equal rest must have,
And fhare the dark retirement of the grave;
Or as a fhapeless embryo feck the tomb,
Rude and imperfect from the abortive womb:
Ere motion's carly principle began,
Or the dim fubftance kindled into man. [ccafe,
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'&'flave
Enjoys the common refuge of the grave.
An equal lot the mighty victor shares,
And lics amidst the captives of his wars;
The fame in death, nor leffen'd by their chains.
With his, those captives mingle their remains,
Why curft to bear the painful light of day?
Why are we doom'd to view the genial ray?
And pant in bitterness of foul for death!
O! with what joy the wretches yield their breath,
As a rich prize the diftant blifs they crave,
And find the glorious treafure in the grave.
To combat woe, and tread the round of grief,
Why is the wretch condemn'd without relief
Whom in the toils of fate his God has bound,
And drawn the line of miferies around?

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

§ 23. The 25th Chapter of Job paraphrased.

PITT.

THEN will vain man complain and murmur still,

And ftand on terms with his Creator's will? Shall this high privilege to clay be given? Shall duft ariaign the providence of Heaven?