Ver. If, to thy pray'r, heart-pureness cleave,
6 His favour would thee raise ;
Thy prosp'rous state he would retrieve,

And crown thy righteous ways.
7 Though thy beginning, small and low,

Seem but an abject state;
Thy latter end fhall not be fo,

But have an increase great.

S O N G XII.

Time and Life fort. Job viii. 2. 9 WERE

E'RE but of yesterday's new mold,

Our life's of no regard,
When with our long-liv'd fathers old

And ancestors compar'd.
No knowledge nor experience we

Can ever justly boast :
Our days like shadows are that flee,

No sooner had, than loft.

JUST

S O N G XIII.
The Hope of the Hypocrite vain and vanishing,

Job viii. 11, -14.
II

UST as a weak and empty ruth,,

That in a wat'ry mead,
With hafty growth and easy puín,

Rears up its haughty head;
12 In moisture rich, in verdure gay,

Unmov'd and not cut down ; * Yet on a sudden wears away

Ere other plants are grown.
13
So shall the wicked's beauty fade,

The hypocrite's fair shew;
Who no foundation firm hath laid,

But mire in which he grew.
His swelling hopes, ere he's aware,

In their high tide shall ebb;
His groundless trust is weaker far

Than any spider's web,

14

Ver. He on his tott'ring house shall lean,

A false and fruitless prop,
Which, fioking foon, shall fail him clean,

And disappoint his hope.

SONG XIV.

2

WHEN

God just in judging. Job ix. 2, 3, 4.
HEN justice, out of mercy's rod,

Thoughts, words, and actions tries,
How can a man be just with God,
Or
pure

before his eyes ?
3 Once to contend, if God begins,

Vain shifts will have no fenfe;
Not one of all our thousand fins

Can bear a just defence.
4 He's wise in heart, and strong in might,

What arm can his repel;
Who can against him safely fight,

Or profper that rebel?

SONG XV.

The Rigbteousness of Words discarded.

Job ix. 15. 20, 21.
15 GOD's eyes espy our aims afar,

And, to his clearer fight,
These very ways most crooked are,

That we esteem'd most right.
Then righteous though I were, yet I

To answer him would grudge ;
And, laying proud pretences by,

Would fupplicate my Judge. 20 Should I my innocence aver,

My mouth would brand my face;
Yea, were I perfect, I'd prefer,
The way of life by grace

+ Gg

2 I

SONG XVI.
Tbe afflicted Soul's Complaint 10 God.

Jub x. 1, 2. 14, 15.
Ver. THE constant woes that load my back,

Such endless groans create ;
My present life's a very black

Uncomfortable state.
My restless weary foul abhors

This loathsome lump of clay ;
Longs to be free of fin and fores,

And wings to heav'n her way. 2 I make to God my heavy moan,

To give my sorrow vent;
But yet upon myself alone

I'll leave my fad complaint.
I'm press’d, but I condemn thee not ;

O Lord, condemn not me :
Why thou contends with me so hot

Shew, Lord, and let me fee.
14 If I be wicked in thine eyes,

Then wo to me indeed ;
If righteous, yet shall never I

Lift up my haughty head.
15 Despair and deep confusion do

My wounded foul oppress :
O fhew thy mercy, fee my wo,
And pity my distress.

SONG XVII.
God's Wisdom unsearchable. Job xi. 7, 8, 9.
7 CAN human reason’s utmost stretch,

so extend,
As shall th’Eternal's counsel reach,

His wisdom comprehend ?
8,9 What creature can, with finite hand,

The vast dimension weigh!
"Tis longer than the earth or land,

And broader than the sea.

Ver. Higher than heav'n, what canst thou know,

So infinitely steep?
Deeper then hell, what canst thou do,

But awful distance keep?

SONG XVIII.

That God may suffer the wicked to prosper, exempli

fied in Beasis, Birds, and Fishes; and this resolved into bis absolute Dominion over, and Propriety

in all bis Creatures. Job xii. 6,-10. • AFFLICTIONS great are of the just, 6

In time, the common fate ;
While wicked men, that lick the dust,

Enjoy a prosp'rous state.
Robbers and spoilers see their stock

Of worldly wealth endure ;
And these who most do God provoke,

On earth live most fecure.
Great gifts, on them he disregards,

With lavish hand he throws,
And on them multiply'd rewards,

Unmerited, bestows.
7 Alk now the beasts, and trial make,

How matters with them go ;
Soon will they tell how they partake

The self-fame kind of wo.
How bears, wolves, monsters of the wood,

That ravage and destroy, ,
Inur'd to rapine, spoil, and blood,

Yet peace and pow'r enjoy.
While harmless flocks, on hills that browse,

And useful herds, each way,
To men their friends, or beasts their foes,

Are daily made a prey.
Alk of the fowls aloft that flee,

For answer they'll return,
That they, conform to their degree,

The same disaster mourn.

Ver. They will assert their vultures rude,
8 And tyrants live secure;
While doves and birds of mildelt brood,

A thousand woes endure.
Then ask the files what's their state,

And question how they do ;
They'll tell that this unequal fate

Attends the ocean too,
Great wliales, sea-tyrants, drunk with blood,

That proiper to their wish,
Devour controulless, in the flood,

Whole thoals of harınless filh.
9 This state of things fram’dhe, whose pow'r

All beings did produce ;
Whose wisdom too, in ord'ring sure,

Hath fix'd their end and use.
10 God's creatures are his own, their lives

He may at pleasure take;
When he resumes but what he gives,

Who can objections make ?

II

SONG XIX.
Doctrine to be tried ere it be trusted. Job xü. 11.
THE
'HE ear tries words before they be

Receiv'd as true and good ;
The mouth tastes meat ere ever we

Can judge it wholesome food.
Doctrines and spirits thus we try,

By grace's inward gust;
Leit we for truth receive a lie,

For food to poison trust.

SONG XX.
Tbe Wifdom of antient Men nothing to the Wisdom

of :bé Antient of Days. Job xii. 12, 13.
12 THOUGH wisdom oft, we are allur’d,

In hoary leads appears,
And understanding is maturid

By time and numérous years :

1