University of Virginia Library

PSALM LXXVIII.

Your Ear, my People! to my Dictates bend;
And to my Words your whole Attention lend:
My Lips I will in Parables unfold,
Involv'd in mystic Sentences of old.
What mighty Deeds have we receiv'd from Fame!
And certain Knowledge has confirm'd the same;
Each to his Son, as by his Father taught
Shall tell the Wonders which the Lord has wrought:
To future Age shall send his Praises down,
And Miracles perform'd by him alone.
His Covenant confirm'd with Jacob stands;
To Israel thus he fix'd his high Commands:
This, with enjoin'd Obedience to our Sires,
To teach their future Children he requires;
That unborn Race, who wait the natal Day,
Shall this to a successive Race convey,
To trust in God, remember, and obey.
And not with impious Imitation trace
Their Ancestors, a false obdurate Race,
Refusing to direct their Hearts aright;
Nor wou'd they to the Lord their Souls unite.
So Ephraim's Sons, tho' arm'd they bore the Bow,
Yet turn'd their Backs, when they beheld the Foe:
From God's disclaim'd Alliance they withdraw;
Rejecting all Obedience to his Law;
His Benefits forgot, and Acts that prove,
Ev'n to their conscious Eyes, his boundless Love;
The Prodigies their Fathers once beheld
In Egypt's Land, in Zoan's wond'ring Field.
He parts the Sea, and leads them thro' the Tide;
And heaps the Billows high on either Side:
A pillar'd Cloud conducts them all the Day;
By Night the Blaze of Fire directs their Way.
He burst the Rocks, in Wilds which never knew
The bubbling Fountain, or refreshing Dew;
To quench their Thirst he bad the Moisture flow,
Plenteous as from the vast Abyss below:
Forth from the Rift the living Streams distill;
As swelling Floods their spacious Channel fill.
Yet still their Crime proceeds; they still conspire
To tempt the Highest to vindictive Ire,
Amid the Solitude: For so suggests
The Diffidence of their ingrateful Breasts.
The Deity they challenge, to supply
The Banquet for their wanton Luxury.
In open Accents now the Murmurs broke,
And thus of God in bold Defiance spoke.
Can he amid the thirsty Wild prepare
The Table charg'd with hospitable Fare?
He smote the Rock indeed, the Waters flow
From gaping Clefts, obedient to the Blow,
And all around in limpid Currents spread:
But can he add the Nourishment of Bread?
Or with the Food of solid Flesh maintain
The Numbers of his faint exhausted Train?
The Almighty heard, nor long delay'd his Ire;
In Jacob soon burst forth the kindled Fire;
At Israel's Race his Indignation rose;
Who scorn'd on him their Credence to repose,
Distrustful of the Aid which he bestows.
Tho' he to gath'ring Clouds command had giv'n,
And open'd wide the azure Gate of Heav'n,
To pour the Food, whose memorable Name,
Unheard before, from their Inquiry came.
Ethereal Heav'n produc'd the pearly Grain,
Such Dainties as angelic Boards sustain
Were then indulg'd to Man; till Hunger ceas'd
Repress'd with Plenty of the copious Feast.
He sent the rapid East beneath the Skies:
The softer South by his Commission flies:
Thick as the Dust descends the living Rain,
Of feather'd Fowls; or Sands beside the Main.
These thro' the Limit of their Camp he strow'd.
Around, and in the Midst of their Abode.
They eat, their craving Appetite they fill,
For he indulg'd them to their utmost Will;
Nor was their Wish debarr'd: But while they press'd
With eager Teeth the yet unfinish'd Feast,
The Wrath of God surpriz'd them all, and slew
The wealthy Chiefs of that intemp'rate Crew:
And all the Choice of Israel's Sons o'erthrew.
Yet they persist to Sin; nor to believe
His signal Prodigies Attention give:
For this their Days in Vanity he wears;
And unavailing Labour wastes their Years.
Destroy'd by him, to seek him they return;
Their early Diligence prevents the Morn:
Then God their Strength they call to Mind once more;
That the most High their Freedom did restore.
While they on him with fawning Accents hung,
False were their Lips, and faithless was their Tongue:
Nor was their Heart to him approv'd sincere!
Nor did they to his Covenant adhere.
But him serene Benevolence inspires;
Their Guilt he pardons, nor their Fate requires:
How oft from them his Indignation turn'd,
And his diminish'd Ire with slacker Fury burn'd!
The frail Condition of our earthly Kind
To him appears but as the passing Wind
That comes no more, nor leaves its Track behind.
Him in the Wild how oft did they incense,
And grieve his heav'nly Mind with their Offence?
Retreating back they tempt the Pow'r divine;
And Israel's Holy One they dar'd confine.
Forgetful of his Hand; and of the Day
When from their Foes he led them safe away:
When Ægypt once his Prodigies beheld;
The Wonders he perform'd in Zoan's Field.
He bad the River roll a purple Store:
They pine for Thirst, and loath the tasted Gore.
At his Command the putrid Air supplies
The clust'ring Legions of envenom'd Flies,
With Stings infix'd to riot in their Blood:
With these, the noisy Frogs, aquatic Brood,
Annoy'd their fainting Sense. In vain appear
The globous Buds in Promise of the Year:
Upon the ravag'd Sweets the Canker feeds;
The Locust to the lab'ring Hind succeeds.
In vain the curling Vines are hung around
With swelling Gems; for with a rattling Sound
The marble Tempest bears them to the Ground.
Pinch'd by untimely Winter scatter'd lye
The juicy Berries of a sanguin Dye:
The weighty Hail upon their Herds he threw;
To blast their Flocks the ruddy Lightning flew,
And hissing Bolts with flaming Sulphur blue.
He pours upon them his Revenge severe;
Fury, and Consternation, and Despair:
And to malignant Angels gives Command
To bear his Terrors thro' the guilty Land.
He gave his Anger way; nor deign'd to save
Their sinking Spirit from the gaping Grave:
Their Cattle first the dire Destruction find,
By him to wasteful Pestilence resign'd.
And now a deeper Wound the Ægyptians mourn,
In mingl'd Fun'rals of their eldest born:
The Choice of Youth, and who in Strength excell'd,
Wherever Ham's detested Offspring dwell'd.
But, as the Shepherd to the flow'ry Meads
Conducts his Flock, his People forth he leads:
Secure and fearless they, their March he guides;
But whelms their Foes beneath the rushing Tides:
On to the Limits of his sacred Land,
This Mountain purchas'd by his own right Hand:
From thence the Natives he before them drives:
And by the Line to them Possession gives,
Proportion'd; thus the Tribes of Israel dwell'd
In their Abodes whom he from thence expell'd.
Yet to the Trial the Supreme they dare;
Nor think his Institutes deserve their Care.
Now, turn'd to Flight, they measure back their Pace,
And prove the faithless Authors of their Race:
So bursts the Bow, and to the Archer's Scope
Deceitful, frustrates his eluded Hope.
Forbidden Altars on the Hills on high,
And sculptur'd Gods provoke his Jealousy.
This when the Lord had heard, his Anger grew
To sternest Hate of Israel's impious Crew:
The Tent of Shiloh he abandon'd then;
The lov'd Pavilion he had fix'd with Men.
Their Strength he then resign'd to servile Bands:
His Glory to the bold Invader's Hands.
The People, once his own, he doom'd to feel
Th' insatiate Fury of the deathful Steel;
When on his own Domain burst forth his Ire:
Their blooming Youth in cruel Flames expire;
In bridal Song no more the Virgin hears
Her Praises chaunted by her late Compeers.
Fall'n by the Sword the holy Priests lye slain:
The Widows fix'd in silent Woe remain.
Then, as from quiet Sleep, arose the Lord:
As when some Hero finds his Strength restor'd
By Spirits which the gen'rous Grape supplies,
In ecchoing Shouts his lofty Voice he tries.
Deep in their Back his Enemies he wounds:
And with eternal Infamy confounds.
He Joseph's Tents refus'd; nor him preferr'd,
On whom the Patriarch's Blessing wilful err'd:
But Juda's favour'd Tribe, his Choice approv'd;
And Sion's holy Mountain, his belov'd.
His Temple there he rais'd, to emulate
The lofty Structures of imperial State:
And laid the firm Foundation deep below;
Strong as the Earth, no Change to undergo.
His Choice on David fix'd, he took the Swain
From Flocks, and Folds, and from the rural Plain:
From following Mothers of the fleecy Breed,
The People of his Heritage to feed.
His faithful Heart, sincerely he apply'd,
For them the plenteous Pasture to provide:
And with experienc'd Skill their Ways to guide.