THE STORM AT SEA ALLUSIVE.

1 SINCE it hath pleas'd thee, gracious Lord,

upon

this sea

To launch bark
my
Of men, of monsters, and of storms,
O guide it in thy perfect way.

2 From hence thy wonders I behold,
With eyes astonish'd and aghast;
The winds arise, the furious winds,
The billows too obey the blast.

3 When thou art angry at our sins,
The fiends, let loose, commotions raise
On this too agile element,

These boist'rous, these politic seas.

4 I mount to heaven, when truth and peace
With strong and temperate spirit blow;
But when the wind of faction reigns,
To hell-ward down again I go.

5 Above I hear the angel choir,
Below I hear the infernal yell;
I reel, I stagger to and fro,

And tremble between heaven and hell.

6 These foaming waters cast up mire,
Which flash'd opprobious in my face;
My character attempt to sink,
As well as life in deep disgrace.

7 This element so cold to thee,
To me appears to burn and blaze,
And, as if kindled up by hell,
Around me darts malignant rays.

8 This way and that it quickly moves
As popular magicians blow;

It boils, it foams, it vapours high,
And down again it falls in snow.

9 Lo the seditious monsters gape
For me,
the grampus and the shark!
Night too comes on, and how shall I

haven in the dark?

10 Methinks I see the monster near,
(How wide and dreadful is his jaw!)
That seiz'd thy falling prophet, Lord,
And lodg'd him in his hideous maw.
11 Lo, all the little I laid in

For my long passage o'er the sea,
The factious waves have swallow'd down,
Yet bounce, and gape for farther prey.
12 A thousand factious blasts of wind,
With every wild and madding wave,
Contend my aged head to sink,
And furious all around me rave.

13 Ah! Lord, my conscience hears that peal Of dreadful thunders o'er my head; Thou too art angry at my sins;

The judgments I deserve, I dread.

14 The surges mount and meet the skies,
High o'er my bark and me they foam.
Is not thy holy church my bark?
What else can bring me safely home?

15 To save the human race of old,

Thou did'st, O Lord, prescribe an ark;
And from a more pernicious flood
To save mankind, hast made this bark.
16 The angry billows rage and roar;

The floods, O Lord, exalt their voice;
O dash them on the shore in froth,
Thou God, more mighty, than their noise.

17 How dare, ye surges, thus presume!
'Tis God omnipotent that reigns;
Subside, ye waves, ye people quake;
Behold, he shakes his sword and chains!

18 Those lofty rocks I see with dread,
And clearly seeing, strive to shun,
While on these latent sands and shoals
My unsuspecting efforts run.

19 O'er these the dimpling waters smile,
And lambent round my vessel play;
Frightful are rocks, but flattering shoals
Are far more dangerous than they.

20 Thou, Lord, alone canst calm the sea, And bid its billows cease to roar;

Thou too the noisy crowd canst quell,
And bid it's tumults rage no more.

21 This way and that, now high, now low,
Bandied by every furious wave,
My sympathetic brain begins
To falter, and just not to rave.
22 As drunk, deserted by myself,

Of my own wits I find the end;
To thee, O Lord, I lift my voice,
My Saviour, Comforter, and Friend.

23 Still, Lord, the fury of these waves;
These schisms and heresies assuage,
Which raise this tempest in the deep,
Which blow up faction into rage.

24 Though life and safety must depend On strict concurrence of our crew, On mutual aid of one and all,

And all confess, that this is true;

25 Yet mutual hatred takes the place
Of this most salutary truth:
We're all engag'd, and all embroil'd
In strife untimely and uncouth.

26 Each hand on board wou'd all direct
In managing the helm and sails,
The compass and the chart unview'd,
Not one regards the stars or gales.

27 This way, says one, another, that,

Our wish'd-for land, and harbour lies:
Expand the canvas, here one roars,
No, furl it up, another cries.

28 Loud as the storm is, Lord, I hear
The drunkards bellow under deck,
Outrageous scold, or sing, or curse,
Insensate of control or check.

29 The passengers, as if in league
With this tempestuous wind and sea,
And as forgetful of their lives,
Are as tumultuous as they.

30 They twice have set the ship on fire,
And cry, what mortal that can swim,
Would trust his life to boards and nails?.
To this too frail mechanic whim?

31 They value neither ship nor sails,
But trust a bladder fill'd with wind,
Not worse replenish'd than their brains,
An emblem of their bloated mind.

32 The wisdom both of thee and man
These self-sufficient fools arraign;
Depending on themselves alone,
They every borrowed aid disdain.
33 Two others, not much better skill'd,
Than these, in maritime affairs,

Have seiz'd the cock-boat, and declare
Their confidence in faith and prayers.

34 But who believes? or who can pray?
Not he who disobeys, or hates

Or thee or men; or who to man
Too freely of thy Godhead prates.

35 Self-will'd they are, and far too proud
To thy appointment to conform :
Thy ship they overweening quit,
And trust a cock-boat in this storm.

36 The Dathans and Abirams here,
Like those of old to yawning ground,
Down to their kindred monsters plunge
To find a grave, not less profound.

37 Here one in drink, for a Divine,
Feels a foul spirit from below;
There one, as drunk, for aid implores
A wooden woman at the prow.

38 The crew, a faithless tribe, conspire
To sell us to that ship in sight,
Which hoists a white seductive flag,
And hopes a capture without fight.

39 Our captain, to whom sea and land,
And all the starry host were known,
Who, as a path-way trod the deep,
Hath overboard been lately thrown.

40 His chart too, as a hated scroll
I see still floating on the waves,
Toss'd by the demon of the air,
As every billow sinks or heaves,

41 His footsteps, we no longer trace.
The winds, our pilots thro' the sea,
May drive us as the prince of air
Shall on destruction urge our way.

42 That demon now employs the winds,
And all the raging billows rolls,
To lacerate our sails and mast,
To dash us on the rocks and shoals.

43 "Tis not at sea alone this fiend

Plays off th' artillery of his air;
At land he raises wilder storms,
And lends them greater fury there.

44 By poison'd air his plagues are spread,
And fairest characters undone ;
Murder is breath'd, a single word
Is death, and every mouth a gun.

45 Whole states and kingdoms by his blasts,
Strongly through factious bellows blown,
In earthquakes politic are shook,
And into wild convulsions thrown.

46 His legal hurricanes lay waste
The rights of mankind at the bar :
Here he a city sets on fire,

And there enkindles furious war.

47 His moral Etnas loudly roar

Terrific thunders from the tongue;
Hence blasphemies in face of heaven
With violence infernal flung.

48 This prince of air, O Lord, dethrone,
And to his cavern deep confine,
So shall the land and sea confess,
That all the universe is thine.

49 The rebel winds and waves obey,
And softly breathe, and gently glide,
The popular commotions cease

The moment thou shalt deign to chide.