 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
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DIVINE POEMS.
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DEDICATION.
To the Reverend Mr. Hildrop, Master of Marleborough-School, (under whom I had the honour of receiving my education) these Divine Poems are humbly Dedicated by his most Obliged, and Obedient Servant,
W. Harte.
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PSALM the CIVth, PARAPHRASED.
Awake my soul! in hallow'd raptures praise
Th' Almighty God, who in th' empyreal height
Majestic shines, too glorious to behold.
Methinks the broad expansion of the sky
O'erspreads thy throne: in air thy chambers hang
Eternal, and unmov'd. Clouds roll'd on clouds
Thy chariot form; in thund'rings wrapt and fires
Thou walk'st, incumbent on the wings of wind.
Th' Almighty God, who in th' empyreal height
Majestic shines, too glorious to behold.
Methinks the broad expansion of the sky
O'erspreads thy throne: in air thy chambers hang
Eternal, and unmov'd. Clouds roll'd on clouds
Thy chariot form; in thund'rings wrapt and fires
Thou walk'st, incumbent on the wings of wind.
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Active as flames, all intellect, God forms
Angels of essence pure, whose finer parts
Invisible, and half dissolv'd in light,
Should fleet thro' worlds of air. Th' Almighty hand
Fixt earth's eternal basis, and prescrib'd
Its utmost limits to the raging main.
Angels of essence pure, whose finer parts
Invisible, and half dissolv'd in light,
Should fleet thro' worlds of air. Th' Almighty hand
Fixt earth's eternal basis, and prescrib'd
Its utmost limits to the raging main.
Forth from their deeps a world of waters rose
And delug'd earth. He spoke, the waves obey'd
In peace, subsiding to their ancient springs.
Part murmur headlong down the mountain's sides:
Part thro' the vales in slow Mæanders play,
As pleas'd, yet loth to leave the flow'ry scene.
And delug'd earth. He spoke, the waves obey'd
In peace, subsiding to their ancient springs.
Part murmur headlong down the mountain's sides:
Part thro' the vales in slow Mæanders play,
As pleas'd, yet loth to leave the flow'ry scene.
Thither by instinct savage beasts repair
To slake their thirst. Along the margin trees
Wave in the watry gleam, amid whose boughs
The winged songsters chaunt their Maker's pow'r.
To slake their thirst. Along the margin trees
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The winged songsters chaunt their Maker's pow'r.
God with prolific dews, and genial rain
Impregnates earth, then crowns the smiling fields
With lively green: the vegetative juice
Flows briskly thro' the trees; the purple grape
Swells with nectareous wines t' inspire the soul.
With verdant fruits the clust'ring olive bends
Whose spritely liquor smooths the shining face.
Impregnates earth, then crowns the smiling fields
With lively green: the vegetative juice
Flows briskly thro' the trees; the purple grape
Swells with nectareous wines t' inspire the soul.
With verdant fruits the clust'ring olive bends
Whose spritely liquor smooths the shining face.
On Lebanon the sacred cedar waves,
And spiry firr-tree, where the stork conceals
Her clam'rous young. The rocks bare, unadorn'd,
Have uses too: there goats in quest of food
Hang pendulous in air, there rabbits form
Their mazy cells—In constant course the moon
Nocturnal sheds her kindly influence down,
Marks out the circling year, and rules the tydes.
And spiry firr-tree, where the stork conceals
Her clam'rous young. The rocks bare, unadorn'd,
Have uses too: there goats in quest of food
Hang pendulous in air, there rabbits form
Their mazy cells—In constant course the moon
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Marks out the circling year, and rules the tydes.
In constant regularity the sun
Purples the rosy east, or leaves the skies.
Then awful night o'er all the globe extends
Her sable shades: the woods and defarts ring
With hideous yell, what time the lions roar
And tear their prey; but when the glim'ring morn
Dawns o'er the hills, their depredations cease,
And sacred silence reigns. Then painful man
Commences with the sun his early toil,
With him retires to rest. O Pow'r supreme,
How wonderful thy works! the bounteous earth
Pours from its fruitful surface plants and herbs
Adapt for ev'ry use: its bowels hold
Rich veins of silver, and the golden oar.
Purples the rosy east, or leaves the skies.
Then awful night o'er all the globe extends
Her sable shades: the woods and defarts ring
With hideous yell, what time the lions roar
And tear their prey; but when the glim'ring morn
Dawns o'er the hills, their depredations cease,
And sacred silence reigns. Then painful man
Commences with the sun his early toil,
With him retires to rest. O Pow'r supreme,
How wonderful thy works! the bounteous earth
Pours from its fruitful surface plants and herbs
Adapt for ev'ry use: its bowels hold
Rich veins of silver, and the golden oar.
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Unnumber'd wonders in the deeps appear,
Incredible to thought. There tow'rs of oak
Float o'er the surges; there enormous whales
In awkward gambols play, th' inferior fry
Sportive thro' groves of shining coral glide.
These with observance due, when hunger calls
Expect their meat from God, who sometimes gives
A just sufficiency, or more profuse
Show'rs down his bounty with a copious hand.
When God withholds his all-sustaining care,
To dust, their former principle they fall.
Then thy prolific spirit forms anew
Each undecaying species. Mighty God,
How great, how good thy pow'r; that was, and is,
And e'er shall be immutably the same!
Incredible to thought. There tow'rs of oak
Float o'er the surges; there enormous whales
In awkward gambols play, th' inferior fry
Sportive thro' groves of shining coral glide.
These with observance due, when hunger calls
Expect their meat from God, who sometimes gives
A just sufficiency, or more profuse
Show'rs down his bounty with a copious hand.
When God withholds his all-sustaining care,
To dust, their former principle they fall.
Then thy prolific spirit forms anew
Each undecaying species. Mighty God,
How great, how good thy pow'r; that was, and is,
And e'er shall be immutably the same!
Earth at thy look with reverential fear
Ev'n to the center shakes: the mountains blaze
Beneath thy touch! Hail awful pow'r of heav'n,
Eternal three and one! The slaves of vice
Thy vengeance, like a sudden whirlwind's rage,
Sweeps from mankind. My muse, thrice glorious task!
While my blest eyes behold the chearful sun,
While life shall animate this mortal frame,
In heav'nly flights shall spread a bolder wing,
And sing to Him, who gave her first to sing!
Ev'n to the center shakes: the mountains blaze
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Eternal three and one! The slaves of vice
Thy vengeance, like a sudden whirlwind's rage,
Sweeps from mankind. My muse, thrice glorious task!
While my blest eyes behold the chearful sun,
While life shall animate this mortal frame,
In heav'nly flights shall spread a bolder wing,
And sing to Him, who gave her first to sing!
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PSALM the CVIIth, PARAPHRASED.
Mortals, rejoice! with raptures introduce
Your grateful songs, and tell what mercies God
Deigns to bestow on man: but chiefly you
The progeny of David, whom the Lord
Selected from each region of the globe
Beneath the Arctic or Antarctic pole:
Or where the purple sun with orient beams
Strikes parallel on earth, or prone descends
T'illumine worlds beyond th' Hesperian main.
Your grateful songs, and tell what mercies God
Deigns to bestow on man: but chiefly you
The progeny of David, whom the Lord
Selected from each region of the globe
Beneath the Arctic or Antarctic pole:
Or where the purple sun with orient beams
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T'illumine worlds beyond th' Hesperian main.
With weary feet, and mournful eyes they pass'd
Erroneous thro' the dreary waste of plains,
Immeas'rable: the broad expanse of heav'n
Their canopy, the ground of damp malign
Their bed nocturnal. Thus in wild despair
Anxious they sought some hospitable town.
In shame, and bitterness of soul once more
They recogniz'd the Lord, and trembling cry'd
Have mercy on us! he, the source of mercy,
Kindly revisited his fav'rite race,
Consol'd their woes, and led the weary train
Thro' barren wilds to the long promis'd land,
Then plac'd 'em there in peaceful habitations.
Erroneous thro' the dreary waste of plains,
Immeas'rable: the broad expanse of heav'n
Their canopy, the ground of damp malign
Their bed nocturnal. Thus in wild despair
Anxious they sought some hospitable town.
In shame, and bitterness of soul once more
They recogniz'd the Lord, and trembling cry'd
Have mercy on us! he, the source of mercy,
Kindly revisited his fav'rite race,
Consol'd their woes, and led the weary train
Thro' barren wilds to the long promis'd land,
Then plac'd 'em there in peaceful habitations.
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“O that the sons of men in grateful songs
“Wou'd praise th' unbounded goodness of the Lord,
“Declare his miracles, and laud his pow'r!
He chears the sad, and bids the famish'd soul
Luxuriant feast till nature craves no more.
He often saves th' imprison'd wretch that lies
Tortur'd in iron chains no more to see
The chearful light, or breathe the purer air.
(The due reward imperious mortals find,
When swell'd with earthly grandeur, they despise
The Pow'r supreme) thus Jesse's sacred seed
Elated with the num'rous gifts of heav'n,
Slighted the giver: then the wrathful Lord
With-held his hand. They impotent to save
Their forfeit lives, in piercing accents cry'd
Help Lord, we die! he soon with aspect mild
Commiserates their anguish, and reliev'd
Those limbs, which sedentary numbness e'rst
Had crampt, when they in doleful shades of death
Sate inconsolable—“O then that men
“Wou'd praise th' unbounded goodness of the Lord,
“Declare his miracles, and laud his pow'r!
Luxuriant feast till nature craves no more.
He often saves th' imprison'd wretch that lies
Tortur'd in iron chains no more to see
The chearful light, or breathe the purer air.
(The due reward imperious mortals find,
When swell'd with earthly grandeur, they despise
The Pow'r supreme) thus Jesse's sacred seed
Elated with the num'rous gifts of heav'n,
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With-held his hand. They impotent to save
Their forfeit lives, in piercing accents cry'd
Help Lord, we die! he soon with aspect mild
Commiserates their anguish, and reliev'd
Those limbs, which sedentary numbness e'rst
Had crampt, when they in doleful shades of death
Sate inconsolable—“O then that men
“Wou'd praise th' unbounded goodness of the Lord,
“Declare his miracles, and laud his pow'r!
Man, thoughtless of his end, in anguish reaps
The fruits of folly, and voluptuous life.
Sated with luxury his stomach loaths
Most palatable meats: with heavy pain
His eyes roul slowly; if he drops to rest,
He starts delirous, and still seems to see
Horrible fiends, that tear him from mankind.
His flushing cheeks now glow like flames of fire:
Now chill'd, he trembles with extremes of cold
That shoots, like darts of ice, thro' every vein.
Ev'n then, when art was conquer'd, pray'rs and vows
Lenient of anger soon appeas'd the Lord,
Whose saving providence restor'd his health,
And snatch'd th' expiring from the jaws of death.
The fruits of folly, and voluptuous life.
Sated with luxury his stomach loaths
Most palatable meats: with heavy pain
His eyes roul slowly; if he drops to rest,
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Horrible fiends, that tear him from mankind.
His flushing cheeks now glow like flames of fire:
Now chill'd, he trembles with extremes of cold
That shoots, like darts of ice, thro' every vein.
Ev'n then, when art was conquer'd, pray'rs and vows
Lenient of anger soon appeas'd the Lord,
Whose saving providence restor'd his health,
And snatch'd th' expiring from the jaws of death.
But mostly they who voyage o'er the deeps
Observe the works of God. Sudden, from high
Down pours a rushing storm, more dreadful made
By darkness: save what light the flashing waves
Disclose. The vessel rides sublime in air
High on the surging billows, or again
Precipitous thro' yawning chasms descends.
Heart-thrilling plaints, and hands up-rear'd to heav'n
Speak well their anguish, and desires to live.
Shock'd by each bursting wave that whirls 'em round,
They stagger in amaze, like reeling men
Intoxicated with the fumes of wine.
Yet when they cry to God, his saving pow'r
Hushes the winds, and bids the main subside.
Instead of storms the whisp'ring zephyrs fan
The silent deep, and wave their pendent sails.
Then ev'ry heart exults: joyous repose
Dismisses each terrific thought, when once
(At heav'ns command) the weary vessel makes
Her long-expected haven. “O that men
“Would praise th' unbounded goodness of the Lord,
“Declare his miracles, and laud his pow'r!
Observe the works of God. Sudden, from high
Down pours a rushing storm, more dreadful made
By darkness: save what light the flashing waves
Disclose. The vessel rides sublime in air
High on the surging billows, or again
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Heart-thrilling plaints, and hands up-rear'd to heav'n
Speak well their anguish, and desires to live.
Shock'd by each bursting wave that whirls 'em round,
They stagger in amaze, like reeling men
Intoxicated with the fumes of wine.
Yet when they cry to God, his saving pow'r
Hushes the winds, and bids the main subside.
Instead of storms the whisp'ring zephyrs fan
The silent deep, and wave their pendent sails.
Then ev'ry heart exults: joyous repose
Dismisses each terrific thought, when once
(At heav'ns command) the weary vessel makes
Her long-expected haven. “O that men
“Would praise th' unbounded goodness of the Lord,
“Declare his miracles, and laud his pow'r!
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To him once more address your songs of praise
In ev'ry temple sacred to his name,
Or where the rev'rend senators conven'd
In council sit. He turns the limpid streams,
And flow'ry meadows to a dreary waste.
Where corn has grown, and fragrant roses fill'd
The skies with odoriferous sweets, he bids
The baleful aconite up-lift its head.
(The curse of impious nations) and again
In lonely desarts at his high behests
Soft-purling rills in sportive mazes glide
Mæander'd thro' the valleys: there he bids
The hungry souls encrease and multiply.
His bounteous hand the while pours goodness down
Ineffable, and guards their num'rous herds.
Tho' thousands fall, his mercy still renews
The never-ending race—When tyrants, proud
Of arrogated greatness, without law
Unpeople realms, and breathe, but to destroy;
Then God his high prerogative asserts,
Resumes his pow'r, and blasts their guilty heads:
Then raises from the dust the humble soul
Who meekly bore indignities and woe.
In ev'ry temple sacred to his name,
Or where the rev'rend senators conven'd
In council sit. He turns the limpid streams,
And flow'ry meadows to a dreary waste.
Where corn has grown, and fragrant roses fill'd
The skies with odoriferous sweets, he bids
The baleful aconite up-lift its head.
(The curse of impious nations) and again
In lonely desarts at his high behests
Soft-purling rills in sportive mazes glide
Mæander'd thro' the valleys: there he bids
The hungry souls encrease and multiply.
His bounteous hand the while pours goodness down
Ineffable, and guards their num'rous herds.
Tho' thousands fall, his mercy still renews
The never-ending race—When tyrants, proud
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Unpeople realms, and breathe, but to destroy;
Then God his high prerogative asserts,
Resumes his pow'r, and blasts their guilty heads:
Then raises from the dust the humble soul
Who meekly bore indignities and woe.
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To my Soul.
I
Far from mankind, my weary soul retire,Still follow truth, contentment still desire.
Who climbs on high, at best his weakness shows,
Who rouls in riches, all to fortune owes.
Read well thy self, and mark thy early ways,
Vain is the muse, and envy waits on praise.
II
Wav'ring as winds the breath of fortune blows,No pow'r can turn it, and no pray'rs compose.
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Repose and ease and contemplation dwell.
Let conscience guide thee in the days of need;
Judge well thy own, and then thy neighbour's deed.
III
What Heav'n bestows with thankful eyes receive;First ask thy heart, and then thro' faith believe.
Slowly we wander o'er a toilsome way,
Shadows of life, and pilgrims of a day.
“Who wrestles in this world, receives a fall;
“Look up on high, and thank thy God for all!
FINIS.
| Poems on Several Occasions | |