Lends to his fifler orb inferior day,
And paints the filver moon's alternate ray ;
Thy hand the waste of eating time renews,
Thow fhed'ft the tepid morning's balmy dews
When raging winds the blacken'd deep deform,
Thy fpirit rides commiffion'd in the ftorm;
Bids at thy will the flack'ning tempest ceafe,
While the calm'd ocean fmooths its ruffled face;

When light'nings thro' the air tremendous fly,

Or the blue plague is loofen'd to destroy,

Thy hand directs, or turns afide the stroke,
Thy word the fatal edict can revoke; /
When fubterraneous fires the furface heave,
And towns are bury'd in one common grave;
Thou fuffer'it not the mischief to prevail,
Thy fov'reign touch the recent wound can heal.
To Zembla's rocks thou fend'ft the chearful gleam,
O'er Libya's fands thou pour'ft the cooling stream;
Thy watchful Providence o'er all intends,

Thy works obey their

great Creator's ends.

And all the ills we feel or blifs we share,
Are tokens of a heav'nly Father's care.
When man too long the paths of vice pursu'd,
Thy hand prepar'd the univerfal flood;
Gracious, to Noah gave the timely fign,
To fave a remnant from the wrath divine!

One

One fhining wafte the globe terreftrial lay,
And the ark heav'd along the troubled fea;
Thou bad'ft the deep his antient bed explore,
The clouds their watry deluge pour'd no more!
The skies were clear'd,-the mountain tops were seen,
The dove pacific brought the olive-green.

On Ararat the happy Patriarch toft,

Found the recover'd world his hopes had loft;
There his fond eyes review'd the pleafing fcene,
The earth all verdant, and the air ferene!
Its precious freight the guardian ark display'd,
While Noah grateful, adoration paid!
Beholding in the many-tinctur'd bow,
The promise of a fafer world below.
When wild ambition rear'd its impious head,
And rifing Babel heav'n with pride furvey'd ;
Thy word the mighty labour cou'd confound,
And leave the mafs to moulder with the ground.
From the mad toil, while focial order fprung
A peopled world-diftinct by many a tongue.
From Thee all human actions take their springs,
The rife of empires, and the fall of kings!
See the vaft theatre of time display'd,
While o'er the fcene fucceeding heroes tread!
With pomp the fhining images fucceed,

What leaders triumph! and what monarchs bleed !

Perform the parts thy Providence affign'd,
Their pride, their paffions to thy ends inclin'd:
A while they glitter in the face of day,

Then at thy nod the phantoms pass away;
No traces left of all the busy scene,

But that remembrance fays,The things have been!
While learning thro' the gloom benighted strays,
And the dim objects vanish as we gaze!

"But (queftions doubt) whence fickly nature feels
"The ague-fits her face so oft reveals?

"Whence earthquakes heave the earth's astonish'd breaft?

"Whence tempefts rage? or yellow plagues infest?
"Whence draws rank Afric her empoison'd ftores ?
"Or liquid fires explofive Ætna pours ?"
Go, fceptic mole! demand th' eternal caufe,
The fecret of his all-preferving laws?

The depths of Wisdom infinite explore,

And ask thy Maker ?-why thou know'ft no more ?
Thy error still in mortal things as great,
As vain to cavil at the ways of fate.
To ask why prosp'rous vice so oft fucceeds,
Why fuffers innocence, or virtue bleeds!

Why monsters, nature must with blushes own,

By crimes grow pow'rful, and disgrace a throne!

4

Why

Why faints and fages, mark'd in ev'ry age,
Perish, the victims of tyrannic rage!
Why Socrates for truth and freedom fell,
While Nero reign'd the delegate of hell!
In vain by reason is the maze purfu'd,
Of ill triumphant, and afflicted good.
Fix'd to the hold, fo might the failor aim
To judge the pilot, and the fteerage blame;
As we direct to God what should belong,
Or fay that fov'reign Wisdom governs wrong.
Nor always vice does uncorrected go,
Nor virtue unrewarded pafs below!

Oft facred juftice lifts her awful head,..
And dooms the tyrant and th' ufurper dead;
Oft Providence, more friendly than severe,
Arrefts the hero in his wild career;

Directs the fever, poinard or the ball,

By which an Ammon, Charles, or Cæfar fall:

*

Or when the curfed Borgias brew the cup

For merit,-bids the monsters drink it up;
On violence oft retorts the cruel fpear,

Or fetters cunning in its crafty fnare:

Relieves the innocent, exalts the juft,

And lays the proud oppreffor in the duft!

* Pope Alexander VI. and his fon, Cæfar Borgia. See Mr. Gordon's history.

But faft as Time's fwift pinions can convey,
Haftens the pomp of that tremendous day,
When to the view of all created eyes,
God's high tribunal fhall majeflic rife,
. When the loud trumpet fhall affemble round
The dead, reviving at the piercing found!
Where men and angels fhall to audit come,
And millions yet unborn receive their doom!
Then fhall fair Providence, to all display'd,
Appear divinely bright without a fhade;
In light triumphant all her acts be shown,
And blufhing doubt, eternal Wisdom own!
Mean while, thou great intelligence fupreme,
Sov'reign director of this mighty frame,
Whofe watchful hand, and all-observing ken,
Fashions the hearts, and views the ways of men,
Whether thy hand the plenteous table spread,
Or measure sparingly the daily bread;
Whether or wealth or honours gild the scene,
Or wants deform, and wafting anguish stain;
On thee let truth and virtue firm rely,
Blefs'd in the care of thy approving eye!

Know that thy Providence, their conflant friend,
Thro' life fhall guard them, and in death attend;
With everlasting arms their caufe embrace,

And crown the paths of piety with peace.

GOODNESS.