But oh, my lyre! what accents can relate • Sinful man's appointed fate ! • He comes, he comes! th' avenging God! • Clouds and darkness round him roll: • Tremble, earth! ye mountains, nod! • He bows the fkies, and shakes the pole. The gloomy banners of his wrath unfurl'd, He calls the floods, to drown a guilty world. "Ruin, lift thy baleful head; "Rouze the guilty world from fleep; "Lead up thy billows from their cavern'd bed, Now, th' impetuous torrents rise; Down rush the cataracts from the skies; • Shall guilty man contend with thee! In vain from Fate th' aftonish'd remnant flies :- Shrink, ye rocks! Ye oceans, The tottering cliffs no more the floods controul; Sea, following fea, ingulphs the ball : • O'er the funk hills the wat'ry mountains roll, < And wide Destruction fwallows all. Now fiercer let th' empaffion'd numbers glow: Thus while the frowning fhepherd pour'd along Saul, Saul, ftung by dire despair, Gnafh'd his teeth, and tore his hair : He aim'd a dagger at his heart. 1 His watchful train prevent the blow; And call each lenient balm to foothe his frantick woe: His pride by Heaven's own terrors quell'd; The mighty ftorm that rent his foul. < Cease your cares! the body's pain • A fweet relief • But may find; gums and lenient balms are vain, Come, fair Repentance, from the skies; • O fainted maid, with upcaft eyes! They come. O king, thine ear incline! • Liften to their voice divine: < Their voice fhall every pang compofe, • To gentle forrow foothe thy woes ; Behold, obedient to their great command, Smooth'd is his brow, where fullen Care No No more his eyes with fury glow; But heavenly grief fucceeds to hell-born woe.- • Trickling at sweet Mercy's call! And let the heart-fent offering rife, Yet, yet again!-Ah! fee, the pang returns! Again with inward fire his heaving bofom burns! Now, fhepherd, wake a mightier strain; • Till the large floods of forrow roll, • And quench the tortures of his foul.'-Almighty Lord, accept his pang fincere! • Let heavenly hope dispel each dark temptation! • And, while he pours the penitential tear, O vifit him with thy falvation Stoop from heaven, ye raptur'd throng! For lo! diffolv'd by Mufick's melting power, • Celestial Sorrow rolls her plenteous shower: O'er his wan cheek the colours rife, And beams of comfort brighten in his eyes. • No more shall black Despair afflict his foul! < Each gentler found, ye shepherds, now combine Now lowly let the ruftick measure glide, To quell the dark remains of felf-confuming pride; ⚫ And own that calm content is happiness.- • Whose artless carols close the day. The fhepherd's calm and blameless tent is thine !' Softly, foftly breathe your numbers," And wrap his weary'd foul in flumbers !' • Gentle fleep becalm his breast, And close his eyes in healing reft! Defcend, celestial visions, ye who wait, "God's miniftring powers, at Heaven's eternal gate! Ye, who nightly vigils keep, And rule the filent realms of fleep, And plunge in woe the guilty mind, • Defcend! Oh, waft him to the skies, And open all Heaven's glories to his eyes! Beyond Beyond yon ftarry roof, by feraphs trod, • Intranc'd in extasy of ceaseless praise. • Behold, with dawning joy each feature glows! See, the blissful tear o'erflows !- < The fiend is fied !-Let Mufick's rapture rise: ⚫ Shake the dome, and pierce the skies; What power can ev'ry Paffion's throne controul? To ftill the tempeft of the foul? Celestial Harmony, that mighty charm is thine! The beam of all-creative Wisdom fhone, And spake fair Order into birth. At Wisdom's call fhe robe'd yon glitt'ring skies, Angels wrapt in wonder flood, And saw that all was fair, and all was good. 'Twas then, ye fons of God, in bright array, Ye fhouted o'er creation's day : Then kindling into joy, The morning ftars together fung; And thro' the vast ethereal sky W M Seraphick hymns and loud hofannahs rung. M 3.12 THE |