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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,
"And burft the rocks that chain thee in the deep !"

Now, th' impetuous torrents rise;
The hoarfe-afcending deluge roars:

Down rush the cataracts from the skies;
The swelling waves o'erwhelm the shores.-
Juft, O God, is thy decree!

• Shall guilty man contend with thee!
Lo, Hate and Envy, fea-entomb'd,
And Rage with Luft in ruin fleep;
And fcoffing Luxury is doom'd
To glut the vast and ravenous deep!

In vain from Fate th' aftonish'd remnant flies :-
rife!"-

Shrink, ye rocks! Ye oceans,

The tottering cliffs no more the floods controul;

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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:

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Thus while the frowning fhepherd pour'd along
The deep impetuous torrent of his song;

Saul,

Saul, ftung by dire despair,

Gnafh'd his teeth, and tore his hair :
From his blood, by horror chill'd,
A cold and agonizing sweat diftill'd;
Then, foaming with unutterable fmart,

He aim'd a dagger at his heart.

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His watchful train prevent the blow;

And call each lenient balm to foothe his frantick woe:
But pleas'd, the fhepherd now beheld

His pride by Heaven's own terrors quell'd;
Then bade his potent lyre controul

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,
To heal the wounded mind.-

Come, fair Repentance, from the skies;

• O fainted maid, with upcaft eyes!
Defcend, in thy celeftial fhroud,
Vested in a weeping cloud!

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They come. O king, thine ear incline!

• Liften to their voice divine:

< Their voice fhall every pang compofe,

• To gentle forrow foothe thy woes ;
• Till each pure wish to heaven shall foar,
• And Peace return, to part no more!

Behold, obedient to their great command,
The lifted dagger quits his trembling hand!

Smooth'd is his brow, where fullen Care
V.. And furrow'd Horror couch'd with fell Despair:

No

No more his eyes with fury glow;

But heavenly grief fucceeds to hell-born woe.-
See, the figns of grace appear !
See the foft relenting tear,

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• Trickling at sweet Mercy's call!
Catch it, angels, ere it fall!

And let the heart-fent offering rife,
< Heaven's best-accepted facrifice!'

Yet, yet again!-Ah! fee, the pang returns!

Again with inward fire his heaving bofom burns!

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Now, fhepherd, wake a mightier strain;
Search the deep heart-rending pain;

• 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!
Sink, ye fwelling tides of fong!

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.

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• No more shall black Despair afflict his foul!

< Each gentler found, ye shepherds, now combine

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Now lowly let the ruftick measure glide,

To quell the dark remains of felf-confuming pride;
Till Nature's home-fprung bleffings he confefs,

⚫ And own that calm content is happiness.-
• Ye woods and lakes, ye cliffs and mountains!
Haunted grots, and living fountains!
Liften to your fhepherd's lay,

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• Whose artless carols close the day.
• Bounding kids around him throng;
The fteep rock echoes back his fong
• While all unfeen to mortal eye,
Sliding down the evening sky,
Holy Peace, tho' born above,
⚫ Daughter of Innocence and Love,
· Quits her throne and mansion bright,
• Her crown of stars and robe of light,
Serene, in gentle fmiles array'd,
To dwell beneath his palm-tree shade.
Hail, meek angel! awful guest !
Still pour thy radiance o'er my breast!
• Pride and Hate in courts may shine;

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,
Exalt the juft to joys refin'd,

And plunge in woe the guilty mind,

• Defcend! Oh, waft him to the skies,

And

open all Heaven's glories to his eyes!
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Beyond

Beyond yon ftarry roof, by feraphs trod,
• Where Light's unclouded fountains blaze;
Where choirs immortal hymn their God,.

• Intranc'd in extasy of ceaseless praise.

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• Behold, with dawning joy each feature glows! See, the blissful tear o'erflows !-

< The fiend is fied !-Let Mufick's rapture rise:
Now, Harmony, thy ev'ry nerve employ ;

⚫ Shake the dome, and pierce the skies;
• Wake him, wake him into joy!'

What power can ev'ry Paffion's throne controul?
What power can boast the charm divine,

To ftill the tempeft of the foul?

Celestial Harmony, that mighty charm is thine!
She, heavenly-born, came down to vifit earth,
When from God's eternal throne

The beam of all-creative Wisdom fhone,

And spake fair Order into birth.

At Wisdom's call fhe robe'd yon glitt'ring skies,
Attun'd the spheres, and taught confenting orbs to rife.

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

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Seraphick hymns and loud hofannahs rung. M

3.12 THE

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