University of Virginia Library

PSALM CVIII.

My heart is fix'd, eternal Sire;
My heart is fix'd: To Thee aspire
My thoughts; to Thee my joyous tongue
Preluding forms the grateful song:
That tongue, whose highest praise shall be
The pow'r it boasts of praising Thee.
Awake, my lute, and new-strung lyre;
Instinct, myself, with holy fire
I wake; and lo, the dawning Sun
Already hears the strain begun.
From Me assembling Crouds shall burn
The triumphs of thy Love to learn,
And, rapt with zeal, the Nations round
Catch from my lips the facred sound.
Lo! to the clouds thy Truth extends;
Thy Mercy heav'n's vast height transcends:
Inthron'd thyself above the skies,
O, bid thy fullest Glory rise,
And to the earth with cloudless ray
The wonders of thy pow'r display.
The Just, blest Objects of thy Love,
Defend propitious from above:
Let Me with Them thy Mercy share,
And hear, O hear, my ceaseless pray'r.
God with an Oath his purpose seals;
My hand with joy his word fulfills:
Behold me Sichem's plain divide;
My line, to Succoth's vale applied,
Its bound describes; Thee mine I see,
O Gilead, and, Manasses, Thee.
Thou, Ephraim, art my strong defence,
Thou, Judah, shalt my Law dispense:
A diff'rent lot shall Moab find,
A Vase to vilest use assign'd;
A doom like his let Edom meet,
And wipe the dust from off my feet.
Philistia, pleas'd thy tribute bring,
And own in Me thy future King.
Who, as our troops in close array
To Edom's forts direct their way,
Arm'd with resistless strength shall bid
Her gates unfold, her bolts recede?
Behold us, Lord, oppress'd with woe,
As exil'd from thy care we go:
Shall Israel's hosts, thy aid withheld,
Still unsuccessful take the field?
Our hope, on Man repos'd in vain,
O let thy strength, great God, sustain:
Thus arm'd, each adverse pow'r we dare,
And dauntless meet the rushing war,
While from thy sword our foes retire,
Or trampled in the dust expire.