University of Virginia Library

Let God arise!
And let his enemies
Be scattered and disperst!
The unrighteous, reprobate, profane, accurst!
Let them that hate him flee before His face;
As when the winds of Heaven, with easy chace
Pursue the smoky blot that taints the sky
(In vain aspiring high
Rising and reeking from this earthly spot)
The feeble fumes that waver and dissever,
Vanish at once away dissolv'd for ever;
Or as the mass of wax within the fire
Sinks shapeless and dissolv'd, thy fervent ire,
Shall melt their hearts with horror and dismay:
So shall they perish, shrink and waste away;
The righteous shall behold it, and rejoice
Before the Lord, with cheerful heart and voice:
Praise ye the Lord in his ineffable name
Jah; the maintainer of this earthly frame;
Ruling and riding on the wheeling sphere
Like a strong horseman; curbing its career,
Bound through the barren empty tracts of space;
Thy providence and power shall also trace
A path before Thee, thro' the tracts of time:
And marshal forth the eventful march sublime,
Pacing the void of blank futurity—
God shall accomplish it. The Father He
Of all the destitute; to save and bless
The widows, the forlorn, the fatherless,
The solitary souls inur'd to chains
Planting them forth among the pleasant plains
To dwell in happy families and tribes;
But other destiny and abode prescribes
For the rebellious, barren, hard and bare,
With hunger and cold, with scanty and evil fare.

Lord, when thou wentest forth, their mighty and dread
Sovereign and Chief; their covenanted Head;
Rescuing the sons of Jacob from distress;
When thou didst march amidst the wilderness,
Veiling thy glories in an earthly tent;
The solid earth did quake; the firmament
Stood shrouded and appall'd; seeming to weep,
Blotting the soil with heavy drops and deep
—Drops of atoning sorrow from above—
And Sinai's mighty Rock was seen to move,
Bowing his antient hoary form sublime,
Mysterious, rooted in the abyss of time.
But on Thine heritage, Thou didst diffuse
A gracious shower of heavenly and holy dews;
Cheering the famish'd hearts forlorn and weary;
Appointing in the desert parch'd and dreary,
A place of rest, a plenteous habitation
For Thine own flock, Thy chosen congregation—
God gave the word—a mighty multitude
Moved forth at once, with faith and hope endued;
Invested in the panoply divine;
Train'd and arrayed in saintly discipline;
—A noble army of Martyrs—forth they went,
That (with the sound and sight, and summons sent)
Kings and embattled hosts in panic haste
Fled headlong—wide apart, disperst and chas'd;
Enriching humble households with the spoil
Of Heathen pride; without fatigue or toil,
Sharing at home the gain of godliness.
Long have ye lain in torture and distress,
The furnace of affliction; soon to rise,
Lustrous as gold or silver, with the dies
That wander o'er the changeful Dove and deck
Her silver wings, and gold-enamel'd neck:
Bright, pure, and ever welcome, such as she
Heralds of peace and safety shall ye be—
In the full triumph, Salmon's western height
Shines forth, enrob'd in pure and snowy white
The token of victory—proud Basan stands
Far eastward, overlooking heathen lands
With lofty ranges of superb ascent,
Lordly, majestical, magnificent,
Sources of health, and living springs of life,
Each in his region—but forbear the strife
Ye mighty and haughty Mountains! be not moved
Though Sion's hill be chosen and approv'd
Even as the saintly Sinai was before,
More honoured, better loved, and cherish'd more—
Even as at Sinai, there the Lord shall be
The Lord of Hosts, with might and majesty,
With fiery ministers, and cars of flame
Myriads of myriads—with a loud acclaim
In Heaven and Earth—The Lord is risen on high!
Destroying Death, leading captivity
Captive and bound; large ransom doth he give
Even for his enemies to be sav'd and live
To praise and honour Him—Here His throne and place
Are stablish'd.—Hence He deals His gifts of grace
In kingly largess—Hence He shall subdue
The rugged-headed, rude, rebellious crew
Perverse and hard, marring their shaggy crown
With His harsh sceptre, bruis'd and beaten down—
“Yet once again” the Lord hath said—“once more
“As from the field of Basan heretofore
“Will I lead forth my people ransom-free
“Rescued from labor and captivity
“From the overwhelming multitudinous sea
“To the rich purchase of fair victory
“Their promis'd land.” Thy feet shall print the ground
With bloody traces—thy familiar hound
Shall tinge his tongue with carnage.—Pomp and state,
Praises and Hymns upon Thy triumph wait,
Conqueror and Lord, and leader of the tribes!
As holy pure magnific use prescribes.
First in the march the solemn singers go
Mounting in even rank, and cadence slow;
The thronging Minstrels crowd the rear below;
And in the midst, a goodly troop and fair,
With the light timbrel tost and wav'd in air,
Are seen ascending on the sacred hill,
With happy virgin voices pure and shrill.
Praise ye the Lord in holy congregations,
Praise ye the Lord aloud among the nations,
Your kindred Chief, the stream from Jacob's well;
The Scion of the root of Israel—
There might the little Benjamin preside
Their humble early Ruler—or the Pride
Of princely Judah with his Peers of State,
Or from remoter Regions, grave and great,
Counsellors, Sages, Rulers, many a one,
Wise Nepthali, the wealthy Zabulon:
But he the Lord hath sent thee forth in strength,
Strengthen, O Lord, Thy work; assert at length
Thine own dominion; what Thy power hath wrought
Fix and confirm it to fulfilment brought:
That other Kings and Chiefs may bend the knee,
Prone and adoring; suppliant to thee
With offer'd tribute for Thy temple's sake:
When in Thy wrath Thou shalt rebuke and break
The multitude of Spearmen, and the Beast,
Hideous and huge in loathly bulk increast,
That haunts the sultry Memphian's River's edge,
Weltering and battening in the bristled sedge;
(The people of Priests, the formal haughty line,
That with the clinking silver glance and shine
The dull idolaters of Calves and Kine—)
Then shall the Lords and Chiefs of Egypt stand
And stretch before Thee the submissive hand
In supplication and surrender due:
And Ethiopia's Queen shall turn anew,
To worship in thy precincts; to behold
Thy rich array, the pomp of power and gold;
And marvels of Thy wisdom widely told—
Sing to the Lord, ye realms of Earth, O Sing
The praises of your King, in Heaven abiding,
Upon the wheeling spheres in glory riding
Before all ages, years, or earthly time,
Eternal and sublime; He sendeth forth
An image of his worth; the Eternal word
Our delegated Lord, a mighty voice,
Bidding his Saints rejoice; proclaim and tell
That here in Israel, the Lord hath placed
His temple and throne, and with His presence graced
This land alone—His power and majesty
Stretches above the sky, but Israel!
Within thy sacred cell, to daunt thy foes;
What awe does it disclose, what terrors carry,
Enshrin'd and shrouded in thy Sanctuary!
—Chaunt forth in loud accord
The glad triumphant word
Praised be the Lord for ever. Praise the Lord.