With reafon's line the boundless distance fcan;
Oppofe heaven's awful majesty to man.
To what a length his vaft dominions run?
How far beyond the journeys of the sun ?
He hung yon' golden balls of light on high,
And launch'd the planets through the liquid fky:
To rolling worlds he mark'd the certain space,
Fixt and fuftain'd the elemental peace.
Unnumber'd as thofe worlds his armies move,
And the gay legions guard his realms above;
High o'er th' ethereal plains, the myriads rife,
And pour their flaming ranks along the skies :
From their bright arms inceffant fplendors stream,
And the wide azure kindles with the gleam.
To this low world he bids the light repair,
Down through the gulphs of undulating air:
For man he taught the glorious fun to roll,
From his bright barrier to his weftern goal.
How then fhall man, thus infolently proud,
Plead with his Judge, and combat with his God?
How from his mortal mother can he come,
Unftain'd from fin, untin&tur'd from the womb?
The Lord from his fublime empyreal throne,
As a dark globe, regards the filver moon.
Those stars, that grace the wide celestial plain,
Are but the humbleft sweepings of his train;
Dim are the brighteft fplendors of the sky;
And the fun darkens in Jehovah's eye.
But does not fin diffuse a fouler stain,
And thicker darkness cloud the foul of man?
Shall he the depths of endless wisdom know?
This fhort-liv'd fovereign of the world below?
His frail original confounds his boast,
Sprung from the ground, and quicken'd from the duft.
The Song of MoSES, in the Fifteenth Chapter of EXODUS, Paraphrafed..
HEN to the Lord, the vaft triumphant throng
Of Ifrael's fons, with Mofes, rais'd the fong. To God our grateful accents will we raise, And every tongue shall celebrate his praise : Behold display'd the wonders of his might; Behold the Lord triumphant in the fight! With what immortal fame and glory grac'd! What trophies rais'd amid the watery waste! How did his power the steeds and riders sweep Ingulph'd in heaps, and whelm'd beneath the deep? Whom should we fear, while he, heaven's awful Lord, Unfheaths for Ifrael his avenging sword? His outstretch'd arm, and tutelary care, Guarded and fav'd us in the last despair : His mercy eas'd us from our circling pains, Unbound our fhackles, and unlock'd our chains. To him our God, our Fathers God, I'll rear A facred temple, and adore him there, With vows and incenfe, facrifice and prayer. The Lord commands in war; his matchless might Hangs out and guides the balance of the fight: By him the war the mighty leaders form, And teach the hovering tumult where to storm.
His Name, O Ifrael, Heaven's Eternal Lord,
For-ever honour'd, reverenc'd, and ador'd.
When to the fight from Ægypt's fruitful foil,
Pour'd forth in myriads all the fons of Nile;
The Lord o'erthrew the courfer and the car,
Sunk Pharaoh's pride, and o'erwhelm'd his war.
Beneath th' encumber'd deeps his legions lay,
For many a league impurpling all the sea:
The chiefs, and fteeds, and warriors whirl'd around, Lay midft the roarings of the furges drown'd.
Who fhall thy power, thou mighty God, withstand,
And check the force of thy victorious hand ?
Thy hand, which red with wrath in terror rose,
To crush that day thy proud Ægyptian foes.
Struck by that hand, their drooping fquadrons fall,
Crowding in death; one fate o'erwhelms them all.
Soon as thy anger, charg'd with vengeance, came,
They funk like ftubble crackling in the flanie.
At thy dread voice the fummon'd billows crowd,
And a ftill filence lulls the wondering flood:
Roll'd up, the crystal ridges strike the skies,
Waves peep o'er waves, and feas o'er feas arife.
Around in heaps the liftening furges ftand,
Mute and obfervant of the high command.
Congeal'd with fear attends the watery train,
Rouz'd from the fecret chambers of the main.
With favage joy the fons of Egypt cry'd,
(Vaft were their hopes, and boundless was their pride)
Let us pursue thofe fugitives of Nile,
This fervile nation, and divide the spoil:
And spread fo wide the flaughter, till their blood
Dyes with a stronger red the bluthing flood.
Oh! what a copious prey their hofts afford,
To glut and fatten the devouring fword!
As thus the yawning gulf the boasters pass'd,
At thy command rush'd forth the rapid blast.
Then, at the fignal given, with dreadful sway,
In one huge heap roll'd down the roaring fea;
And now the difintangled waves divide,
Unlock their folds, and thaw the frozen tide.
The deeps alarm'd call terribly from far
The loud, embattled furges to the war;
Till her proud fons astonish'd Ægypt found,
Cover'd with billows, and in tempefts drown'd.
What God can emulate thy power divine,
Or who oppofe his miracles to thine?
When joyful we adore thy glorious name,
Thy trembling foes confefs their fear and fhame.
The world attends thy abfolute command,
And nature waits the wonders of thine hand.
That hand, extended o'er the fwelling fea,
The confcious billows reverence and obey.
O'er the devoted race the furges fweep,
And whelm the guilty nation in the deep.
That hand redeem'd us from our fervile toil,
And each infulting tyrant of the Nile:
Our nation came beneath that mighty hand,
From Ægypt's realms, to Canaan's facred land.
Thou wert their Guide, their Saviour, and their God, To fmooth the way, and clear the dreadful road.
The diftant kingdoms shall thy wonders hear,
The fierce Philistines fhall confefs their fear;
Thy fame shall over Edom's princes spread,
And Moab's kings, the universal 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 recesses of the floods.
Crown'd with their tribes fhall proud Moriah rise,
And rear his fummit nearer to the skies.
Through ages, Lord, shall stretch thy boundless power,
Thy throne shall stand when Time shall be no more :
For Pharaoh's fteeds, 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 gafping fishes lay :
Till, all around with liquid toils beset,
The Lord fwept o'er their heads the watery net.
He freed the ocean from his secret chain,
And on each hand discharg'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 past
O'er the dry path, and trod the watery waste.
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