SONG LXXIII.
Quest. 4. Concerning the Springs of the Sea.

Jub xxxviii. 16.

Ver; SAY, Haft thou div'd in lower things,

Descended to survey
Hid passages and secret springs,

That feed the spacious fea?
Halt thou the ocean fearch'd around,

And headful wander'd o'er
The many wat'ry walks profound,

Their wonders to explore ?

SONG LXXIV. Quest. 5. About the Gates of Dearb. Job xxxviii 17. 17 HATH

ATH death to thec op'd and disclos'd

Her gloomy gates and rooms ?
Or hell its dismal shades expos'd

And horrid longæve * homes ?
Tell then how souls by death at last,

From bodies are unty'd,
And launch'd into the ocean vast,

Of an abyss untry'd?

18 HA

SONG LXXV.
Quest. 6. Concerning tbe Breadtb of tbe Eartb.

Job xxxvii. 18.
AST thou about the earth, O Job,

E’er drawn thy compass round,
And of this whole terraqueous globe,

Th' exact demensions found?
If not, fince earth is but a point,

To the vast universe,
How shall thy art and science joint

My counsels deep traverse ?

As applied to bell, it significs everlafting.

1

SONG LXXVI.
Quest. 7. About the Place and Parb of Light and

Darkness. Job xxxviii. 19, 20, 21, 24. Ver. KNOW ST thou the magazines on high, 19

In which my stores I lay,
And bright materials, to supply

The burning lamps of day?
20 My fair etherial mines from whence

I deal out light so fast,
As to the most profuse expence

The fun and stars can wate?
21 Canst thou, for age and skill, explain

The place of darkness, where
Black night, and all her sable train

Of gloomy shades, repair.
24 Couldst thou at first, commanding light,

Divide, for equal sway;
The path, for day, to chase the night ;
For night, to chase the day,

SONG LXXVII.
Quest 8. Concerning ibe Treasures of Snow and Hail.

Job xxxviii. 22, 23,
22 TELL, haft thou been where hail and snow,

My martial treasures are,
Which I reserye, for times and woe,

And for the day of war?
23 Halt thou these airy realms survey'd,

Where I this armour lay,
Gainst finful lands to be display'd,
On that tremendous day.

SONG LXXVIII.
Quest. 9. Concerning the daily Changes of the Morn-

ing and Evening. Job xxxviij. 24.
24 TELL how the parts of light through clouds

Of shades their lufture share,
Ev'n as the east-wind {catters clouds,

And clears the ambient air?

Ver. Discover plain, how doth the light

Its radiant wings display,
Hot to pursue the flying night,

And spread the dawning day?
[Each morning makes a mighty change

By the return of light;
Each ev’ning too seems equal strange,

By the relapse of night :
Yet man, who still the change expect

And see't without surprise,
These daily miracles neglect,

Just wrought before their eyes.]

SON G. LXXIX.
Quest. 1o. Concerning Tbunder and Ligbening,
Clouds and Rain ; by wbat sacred Counsels tbey are
directed, and by wbose Order emitted.

Job xxxvii. 25, 26, 27, 34, 35.
25 AGAIN, canst 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, soon as his lightnings pass,

Red thunderbolts are wrought ?
Who raises vapours from the ground,

Which, pois'd in liquid air,
Fall down in show'rs, thro’ which around,

These 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-course divide,

And for the rain that falls
By drops, or violent show'rs, provide

Fit conduits and canals.

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 show'rs that fill the brooks,

Likewise the wilderness,
Refresh'd does in its chearful looks

Alacrity express.
In places where no man resides,

Nor does the product fare,
The Father of the rain provides

For's other creatures there.
27 Like healing balm distilling rains

Yield juice to plants and trees,
With drink restore the parched plains,

And thirsty mouths appease.
Then rising sap that round does glide,

Thursts out the tender bud,
And crowns, with flow'ry verdant pride,

The defart's shady wood.
34 Say, to thy voice or orders will

The circling clouds attend ?
And when thou bids them rain distill,

Will then the rain descend?
35 Will ready light’nings sudden fly,

Or through the æther shine,
And thunder-claps ring round the sky,
At thy command or mine?

SONG LXXX.
Quest. 11. Concerning the Dew, sbe Ice, and boar

Frost. Job xxxviii. 28, 29, 30.
IF
F thou canst secret things explain,

And hidden causes Ihew,
Where dwells the Father of the rain ?

And who begat the dew ?
How are the hov'ring mists, so soft,

Arrested in their flight;
Then harden'd in the air aloft,

And whiten'd in the night?

28

Ver. Canst thou the nature of the ice,
29 With great exactness show ;
Which, with its fetc'ring artifice,

Forbids the foods to fiow;
Compeis the fluid element,

So ftill and calm, to stand;
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 stone.
Fierce is the front; what womb did then

So fell a tamer breed,
That's equal bardy on the main,

As boary on the mead?

SONG LXXXI.
Quest. 12. Aboui directing of the Stars and their

Influences. Job xxxviii. 31, 32, 33.
31 WEAK man, canst thou in spring restrain,

the influence,
Which with the kindly fertile rain,

The Pleiades dispense?
Canst thou in winter loose the chains,

Or break the frusty bands,
With which Orion roughly strains,

And binds the passive lands ?
32 Canst thou with constellations clothe

And deck the azure skies,
And, in his turn, make Mazzaroth,

With fouthren stars arise ?
Or, canst thou guide Arourus' pace, ,

Around the northren pole ;
And bid his bright attending race,

His sons in order roll?
33 Know'st thou the fix'd celestial laws

Of starry pow'rs above?
Canst thou on earth their influence caufu

Descend, or theụce remove?