The mourning earth was waste;
Confusion roll'd her tide;
When down the Virtues glide;

Soft Mercies urg'd their haste,

And o'er the bleeding world the sacred mantle cast.

III.

Beyond created sense

Mysterious goodness, hid in deepest night!
In vain our feeble sight

Would pierce the gloom, O mighty Providence!
Where the deep mazes meet

Beneath thy awful throne no eye hath seen,
Where wrapt in darkness sits thy power serene,
And the loud thunders roll beneath thy feet.
O, when shall close the scene!

And Hope be lost in Truth's wide-bursting ray?
O haste, auspicious day!

O haste to light on earth

Great Nature's second birth i

New inmate of the skies,

When man renew'd shall shine

With innocence divine!

And blest Obedience rise

To snatch the palm that crowns her faithful victories.

ODE XIII.

THE

CURE OF SAUL.

COMPOSED FOR MUSIC.

BY JOHN BROWN, D.D.

VENGEANCE, arise from thy infernal bed, "And pour thy tempest on his guilty head!" Thus Heav'n's decree, in thunder's sound, Shook the dark abyss profound.—

The unchain'd Furies come!

Pale Melancholy stalks from hell:

Th' abhortive offspring of her womb,
Despair and Anguish, round her yell.
By sleepless terror Saul possess'd,

Deep feels the fiend within his tortur'd breast.
Midnight spectres round him howl:

Before his eyes

In troops they rise;

And seas of horror overwhelm his soul.

Haste! to Jesse's son repair :
He best can sweep the lyre,
Wake the solemn-sounding air,
And lead the vocal choir :

On every string soft-breathing raptures dwell,
To sooth the throbbings of the troubled breast ;
Whose magic voice can bid the tides of passion swell,
Or lull the raging storm to rest.

Sunk on his couch, and loathing day,
The heaven-forsaken monarch lay:
To the sad couch the shepherd now drew near;
And, while th' obedient choir stood round,
Prepar'd to catch the soul-commanding sound,
He dropp'd a generous tear.-

Thy pitying aid, O God, impart !
For lo, thy poison'd arrows drink his heart!

The mighty song from chaos rose.— Around his throne the formless atoms sleep, And drowzy Darkness broods upon the deep.Confusion, wake!

Bid the realms of Chaos shake!

Rouse him from his dread repose!

Hark! loud Discord breaks her chain:

The hostile atoms clash with deaf'ning roar:
Her hoarse voice thunders thro' the drear domain,
And kindles every element to war.-

"Tumult cease!

"Sink to peace!

"Let there be light!"-th' Almighty said:

And lo, the radiant Sun,

Flaming from his orient bed,
His endless course begun.
See the twinkling Pleiads rise:
Thy star, Orion, reddens in the skies:
While slow around the northern plain,
Arcturus wheels his nightly wane.

Thy glories, too, refulgent moon, he sung;
Thy mystic mazes, and thy changeful ray;
O fairest of the starry throng!

Thy solemn orb of light

Guides the triumphant car of Night O'er silver clouds, and sheds a softer day!

Ye planets, and each circling constellation,
In songs harmonious tell your generation!
Oh, while yon radiant Seraph turns the spheres,
And on the stedfast pole-star stands sublime;
Wheel your rounds

To heavenly sounds;

And sooth his song-enchanted ears

In dumb surprise the list'ning monarch lay; (His woe suspended by sweet Music's sway ;)

And awe-struck, with uplifted eye

Mus'd on the new-born wonders of the sky.

Lead the soothing verse along:

He feels, he feels the power of song

Ocean hastens to his bed:

The lab'ring mountain rears his rock-encumber'd head : Down his steep and shaggy side

The torrent rolls his thundering tide:

Then smooth and clear, along the fertile plain
Winds his majestic waters to the distant main.
Flocks and herds the hills adorn :

The lark, high-soaring, hails the morn.
And while along yon crimson-clouded steep
The slow sun steals into the golden deep,
Hark! the solemn nightingale

Warbles to the woodland dale.

See, descending Angels shower
Heaven's own bliss on Eden's bower:
Peace on Nature's lap reposes;
Pleasure strews her guiltless roses :

Joys divine in circles move,

Link'd with Innocence and Love.
Hail, happy Love, with Innocence combin'd!
All hail, ye sinless parents of mankind!

They paus'd :—the monarch, prostrate on his bed,
Submissive, bow'd his head;

Ador'd the works of boundless Power divine: