SONG LXXIII.

Queft. 4. Concerning the Springs of the Sea.
Job xxxviii. 16.

Ver. SAY, Halt thou div'd in lower things,
16 Defcended to furvey

Hid paffages and fecret fprings,
That feed the fpacious fea?

Haft thou the ocean fearch'd around,
And headful wander'd o'er
The many wat'ry walks profound,
Their wonders to explore?

SONG LXXIV.

Queft. 5. About the Gates of Death. Job xxxviii 17. 17 HATH death to thee op'd and disclos'd Her gloomy gates and rooms?

Or hell its difmal fhades expos'd

And horrid longæve

homes?

Tell then how fouls by death at last,

From bodies are unty'd,

And launch'd into the ocean vast,

Of an abyfs untry'd?

Queft. 6. Concerning the Breadth of the Earth.
Job xxxvii. 18.

AST thou about the earth, O Job,

18 HAS

E'er drawn thy compass round,

And of this whole terraqueous globe,
Th' exact demenfions found?

If not, fince earth is but a point,

To the vaft univerfe,

How fhall thy art and science joint
My counfels deep traverfe?

* As applied to bell, it signifies everlafting.

SONG LXXVI.

Queft. 7. About the Place and Path of Light and
Darknefs. Job xxxviii. 19, 20, 21, 24.

Ver. KNOW'ST thou the magazines on high,
In which my ftores I lay,

19

And bright materials, to fupply
The burning lamps of day?

20 My fair etherial mines from whence
I deal out light so fast,

As to the most profufe expence

The fun and ftars can wafte?

21 Canft thou, for age and skill, explain
The place of darkness, where
Black night, and all her fable train
Of gloomy fhades, repair.

24 Couldst thou at firft, commanding light,
Divide, for equal sway;

The path, for day, to chafe the night;
For night, to chase the day,

Queft 8. Concerning the Treasures of Snow and Hail. Job xxxviii. 22, 23,

22 TELL, haft thou been where hail and fnow, My martial treasures are,

Which I referve, for times and woe,

And for the day of war?

23 Haft thou these airy realms furvey'd,
Where I this armour lay,
'Gainft finful lands to be difplay'd,
On that tremendous day.

SONG LXXVIII.

Queft. 9. Concerning the daily Changes of the Morning and Evening. Job xxxviii. 24.

24 TELL how the parts of light through clouds
Of fhades their lufture fhare,

Ev'n as the eaft-wind fcatters clouds,
And clears the ambient air?

Ver. Discover plain, how doth the light
Its radiant wings display,
Hot to purfue the flying night,
And spread the dawning day?

[Each morning makes a mighty change
By the return of light;

Each ev'ning too feems equal strange,
By the relapfe of night:

Yet man, who still the change expect
And fee't without furprise,

Thefe daily miracles neglect,
Juft wrought before their eyes.

Queft. 10. Concerning Thunder and Lightning, Clouds and Rain; by what facred Counfels they are directed, and by whofe Order emitted.

25 A

Job xxxvii. 25, 26, 27. 34, 35.

GAIN, canft thou declare what way

The heav'nly Architect

His cloudy forges up did lay,

And in the air erect?

And how the mighty pond'rous mass

Aloft was thither brought,

From which, foon as his light'nings pafs,
Red thunderbolts are wrought?

Who raises vapours from the ground,
Which, pois'd in liquid air,

Fall down in fhow'rs, thro' which around,
Thefe dreadful light'nings glare ?

How are the heav'nly aqueducts,

And water-pipes contriv'd,

Whence floods are to the thirsty flocks,
Fruits to the earth deriv'd?

26 Who doth the water-courfe divide,
And for the rain that falls

By drops, or violent fhow'rs, provide
Fit conduits and canals.

3.

Ver. Discharg'd again to overflow,

As once the earth and hills;

Each drop does, by direction, go
To rivers and to rills.

Yet by the fhow'rs that fill the brooks,
Likewife the wilderness,

Refresh'd does in its chearful looks
Alacrity exprefs.

In places where no man refides,
Nor does the product share,
The Father of the rain provides
For's other creatures there.

27 Like healing balm diftilling rains
Yield juice to plants and trees,
With drink restore the parched plains,
And thirsty mouths appease.

Then rifing fap that round does glide,
Thurfts out the tender bud,
And crowns, with flow'ry verdant pride,
The defart's fhady wood.

34 Say, to thy voice or orders will
The circling clouds attend?

And when thou bids them rain diftill,
Will then the rain defcend?

35 Will ready light'nings fudden fly,
Or through the æther fhine,
And thunder-claps ring round the sky,
At thy command or mine?

SONG LXXX.

Quelt. 11. Concerning the Dew, the Ice, and boar
Froft. Job xxxviii. 28, 29, 30.

28 IF thou canft fecret things explain,

And hidden caufes fhew,

Where dwells the Father of the rain?
And who begat the dew?

How are the hov'ring mists, so foft,

Arrested in their flight;

Then harden'd in the air aloft,

And whiten'd in the night?

Ver. Canft thou the nature of the ice,
29 With great exactness show;
Which, with its fett'ring artifice,
Forbids the floods to flow;
Compels the fluid element,
So ftill and calm, to ftand;
Binds rivers with its hard cement,
And makes the water land?

30 The billows of the fea congeal'd,
Can roll no farther on;

The ocean's wat'ry face conceal'd
As with a marble ftone.

Fierce is the froft; what womb did then

So fell a tamer breed,
That's equal bardy on the main,
As boary on the mead?

SONG LXXXI.

Queft. 12. About directing of the Stars and their
Influences. Job xxxviii. 31, 32, 33.

31 WEAK man, canft thou in spring restrain,

And bind the influence,

Which with the kindly fertile rain,
The Pleiades difpenfe?

Canft thou in winter loofe the chains,
Or break the frofty bands,
With which Orion roughly ftrains,
And binds the paffive lands?

32 Canft thou with conftellations clothe
And deck the azure skies,

And, in his turn, make Mazzaroth,
With fouthren ftars arife?

Or, canst thou guide Ar&turus' pace,
Around the northren pole;

And bid his bright attending race,
His fons in order roll?

33 Know'st thou the fix'd celeftial laws
Of ftarry pow'rs above ?

Canft thou on earth their influence caufe
Defcend, or thence remove?