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Ver. We on our necks the heavy yoke

5

Of perfecution bear;

We toil, and have not from the fhock
A relting day nor year.

6 With Egypt we were forc'd to make
A bargain for our bread;

And alfo hands with Afhur shake,
To fatisfy our need.

7 Our fathers finn'd, and are no more,
On earth their grief to vent;
But of their fins, as heirs, we bore
The daily punishment.

8 Base flaves have o'er us domineer'd;
We drudged at their beck:

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Yet none have for our help appear'd,
Their infolence to check.

In peril of our life with pain,

Our bread we daily fnatch'd;
For round the city, in the plain,
The bloody fword difpatch'd.

10 The ftorm of famine's fierce attack,
So terrible hath prov❜n;

Our skin was dry'd and parched black,
In colour liker an ov'n.

II In Zion, women of chafte names

Were ravish'd and o'erpower'd;
In Judah's cities younger dames
And maidens were devour'd.

12 Ev'n princes, with their hands in rage, Were hang'd up by the neck:

To elders faces, grave and fage,
They yielded no refpect.

13 Young men were fet to grind, and stress'd With work in flavish mode;

And children fmall, with wood opprefs'd,
Fell down beneath the load.

14 Elders and judges from the gate,
Now cease to give decrees;

Muficians young, their lutes tranflate
To harps on willow-trees,

Ver. Our former folemn feft'al mirth

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And joy of heart is gone;

Our merry dance is turn'd on earth
Into a mourning moan.

16 The crown is fallen from off our head,
The royal ftate and fway;

Wo's us, for we have finn'd indeed,
And thrown our blifs away!

17 For this our fin and guilt fo grim,
Faint hearts we have and fears;
For these our woes, our eyes are dim,
And blinded all with tears.

18 For Zion mount's fo defolate,
That foxes as they please,

And crafty foes of church and state,
Tread down the spot with ease.

19 Juftly uncrown'd, uncrown'd, we chime;
But thou, Lord, ftay'ft for ay:
From age to age enthron'd fublime,
No changes mar thy fway.

20 Lord, wherefore doft thou us forget?
For ever fhall it be?

Why left in this deserted ftate
Are we fo long by thee?

21 Turn us to thee, Lord, and we shall
Be turn'd into thy mould:
Renew our days, reftore our all,

And fave us, as of old.

22 For wilt thou quite reject us, Lord,
In wrath to endless years?

Then, where's thy love, thy truth, thy word?
Let faith diffolve our fears.

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PART. VI.

POEMS Selected from the Minor PROPHETS.

INTRODUCTION.

The twelve Prophets, whofe writings compofe the latter part, and, confequently, complete the cannon of the Old Teftament, are ufually denominated the leffer Prophets: not as if they themselves were any way inferior to the other Prophets, or lefs in Gon's account; or their writings of lefs authority, importance, and ufefulness, than thefe of the greater prophets: but only because they are thorter, and lefs in fize than the other. There is the greateft reafon to believe, that thefe Prophets preached as much as the other; but did not commit fo much of what they delivered to writing: and it is certain they were as ufeful in their day, and held in as great reputation as the other, although there is not fo much of their prophecies kept on record, and tranfmitted to pofterity. On this account, their compofitions cannot be fuppofed to contain fo many facred odes, or fo much fertile matter for divine hymns, as the other prophets, whofe writings are vaftly larger; yet the following Songs are felected from them.

SONG I..

JONAH's Prayer out of the Whale's belly.

S.

JONAH ii. 1,-9. "Then Jonah prayed unto the
Lord his God, out of the fifh's belly, and faid,"

Ver. I CRY'D to God the Lord most high,

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When trouble me befel;

He hear'd, and liften'd to my cry,
From out the womb of hell.

3 Thou me into the fwelling deeps
Amidft the feas hadft caft;
Around me floods, and o'er me heaps,
Of waves and billows paft.

4 Quite from thy fight I'm caft, said I,
And bury'd in the main:

Yet, to thine holy place mine eye
Will dare to look again.

Ver. Around me to my very foul

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The roaring feas were spread:

The fwelling deeps inclos'd me whole;
The weeds inwrap'd my head.

6 To bottoms of the mountains down
Ship'd in the whale's dark womb:
Earth's bars about me feem'd anon
My everlasting tomb:

Yet, Lord, my life thou didst restore
From rotting death's abode,
And mad'ft my grave caft me afhore,
O my almighty God.

7 For when amidst the rolling waves
My heart was faint in me,

I call'd to mind the Lord who faves,
And fets the captives free:
Then from my goal my pray'r fent,
Before thy face appear'd,
Into thy holy temple went,

And was in mercy heard.

8 All these from their own mercies fwerve,
Who their own duty fhun,

Who lying vanities obferve,
And fcorn to kifs the Son.

9 But I with thankful voice will found
Thy glorious praise abroad;

I'll pay my vows afhore, undrown'd:
Salvation is of God.

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A prayer of HABAKKUK the prophet, upon Sigionoth; [or, according to the variable fongs or tunes.]

2

L

Hab. iii. 2,-19.

SECT. I HABAKKUK's Prayer.

ORD, I have heard thy awful fpeech,
Which ftruck my heart with fears;

Revive thy work, Lord, I befeech,

Amidst the woful years;

Ver. Amidst the feventy years of thrall
Make known thy faithfulness:

In wrath, though just, to mind recall
Free mercy prone to blifs.

3 [Our fathers in their loweft ftate
Thine arm did fafe uphold;
Let hope revive while I relate
Thy wonders done of old.]
From Teman came the holy One;
God came from Paran-hill:
O'er all the heav'ns his glory fhone;
His praise the earth did fill.

4 His brightness pure outfhon the light,
Beams darted from each fide;
And there he pleas'd to fhew his might,
Yet more his might to hide.

5 Before him went the peftilence,
And burning at his feet;

Hot plagues went forth in Egypt, thence,
To guard his folks retreat.

6 He stood and mete the promis'd land:
He look'd but from above
Upon the heathen nations grand,
And them afunder drove.

States, that like movelefs mountains were,
He scatter'd all abroad;
Perpetual hills did bow with fear

At the rebuke of God.

[On him may Ifra'l's children place
Their hope in ev'ry thrall ;]

His ways of pow'r, and truth, and grace,
Are everlasting all.

7 [They're ftill the fame to dafh and fhake
The force that Zion harms :]
Lo! Cufhan tent and Midian's quake,
When God appears in arms!

8 Did heav'n against the rivers frown?
Did wrath the fea betide?

That thou didst mount thy horfe, and on
Salvation's chariot ride?

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