A paraphrase on the Book of Job As likewise on the Songs of Moses, Deborah, David: On Four Select Psalms: Some Chapters of Isaiah, and the Third Chapter of Habakkuk. By Sir Richard Blackmore |
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THE CXIVth PSALM PARAPHRAS'D. |
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 | A paraphrase on the Book of Job |  |
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THE CXIVth PSALM PARAPHRAS'D.
When God a thousand Miracles had wrought,
The fav'rite Tribes Deliv'rance to promote,
And marching on in Triumph at their head,
Their Host to promis'd Canaan led;
Then, Jacob, was thy rescu'd Race,
Distinguish'd by peculiar marks of Grace.
Their Happiness and Honour to advance,
He chose them for his own Inheritance.
With whom alone their gracious God
Would make his Residence, and blest abode.
They were from Heav'n instructed to adore
Their God, and with Celestial Light,
Canaan was blest, as Goshen was before,
While all their Neighbours lay involv'd in Night.
God the Foundations of their Empire laid,
The Model of their Constitution made:
He on their Throne their King in Person sate,
And rul'd with equal Laws the Sacred State.
The fav'rite Tribes Deliv'rance to promote,
And marching on in Triumph at their head,
Their Host to promis'd Canaan led;
Then, Jacob, was thy rescu'd Race,
Distinguish'd by peculiar marks of Grace.
Their Happiness and Honour to advance,
He chose them for his own Inheritance.
With whom alone their gracious God
Would make his Residence, and blest abode.
They were from Heav'n instructed to adore
Their God, and with Celestial Light,
Canaan was blest, as Goshen was before,
While all their Neighbours lay involv'd in Night.
God the Foundations of their Empire laid,
The Model of their Constitution made:
He on their Throne their King in Person sate,
And rul'd with equal Laws the Sacred State.
For this blest purpose Jacob's Seed
Was from Egyptian Bondage freed,
When God to do this wondrous work was pleas'd,
Great Consternation Nature seiz'd.
The restif Floods refus'd to flow,
Panting with Fear the Winds could find no Breath to blow.
Th' astonish'd Sea did motionless become,
Horror its Waters did benumb.
The briny Waves that reer'd themselves to see
Th' Almighty's Judgments, and his Majesty,
With Terror crystaliz'd began to halt,
Then Pillars grew, and Rocks of Salt.
Was from Egyptian Bondage freed,
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Great Consternation Nature seiz'd.
The restif Floods refus'd to flow,
Panting with Fear the Winds could find no Breath to blow.
Th' astonish'd Sea did motionless become,
Horror its Waters did benumb.
The briny Waves that reer'd themselves to see
Th' Almighty's Judgments, and his Majesty,
With Terror crystaliz'd began to halt,
Then Pillars grew, and Rocks of Salt.
Jordan as soon as this great Deed it saw,
Struck with a reverential Aw
Started, and with Precipitation fled,
In hast the thronging Waves ran backward to their Head.
Struck with a reverential Aw
Started, and with Precipitation fled,
In hast the thronging Waves ran backward to their Head.
Vast Hills were mov'd from out their place,
Terror the Mountains did constrain
To lift themselves from off their Base,
And on their rocky Roots to dance about the Plain.
The little Hills astonish'd at the Sight,
Flew to the Mother Mountains in a fright,
And did about them skip, as Lambs
Run to, and bleat around their trembling Dams.
What ail'd thee, O thou troubled Sea,
That thou with all thy watry Troops didst flee?
What ail'd thee, Jordan? tell the cause
That made thy Flood break Nature's Laws:
Thy Course thou didst not only stop,
And roll thy liquid Volumes up,
But didst ev'n backward flow, to hide,
Within thy Fountain's Head thy refluent Tyde.
Terror the Mountains did constrain
To lift themselves from off their Base,
And on their rocky Roots to dance about the Plain.
The little Hills astonish'd at the Sight,
Flew to the Mother Mountains in a fright,
And did about them skip, as Lambs
Run to, and bleat around their trembling Dams.
What ail'd thee, O thou troubled Sea,
That thou with all thy watry Troops didst flee?
What ail'd thee, Jordan? tell the cause
That made thy Flood break Nature's Laws:
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And roll thy liquid Volumes up,
But didst ev'n backward flow, to hide,
Within thy Fountain's Head thy refluent Tyde.
What did the lofty Mountains ail?
What Pangs of Fear did all the Hills assail
That they their Station could not keep,
But scar'd with danger run, like tim'rous scatter'd Sheep?
What Pangs of Fear did all the Hills assail
That they their Station could not keep,
But scar'd with danger run, like tim'rous scatter'd Sheep?
But why do I demand a Cause
Of your Amazement, which deserves Applause?
Yours was a just becoming Fear,
For when th' Almighty does appear,
Not only you, but the whole Earth should quake,
And out of Rev'rence should its place forsake.
For he is Nature's Sov'raign Lord,
Who by his great commanding Word,
Can make the Floods to solid Crystal grow,
Or melt the Rocks, and make their Marble flow.
Of your Amazement, which deserves Applause?
Yours was a just becoming Fear,
For when th' Almighty does appear,
Not only you, but the whole Earth should quake,
And out of Rev'rence should its place forsake.
For he is Nature's Sov'raign Lord,
Who by his great commanding Word,
Can make the Floods to solid Crystal grow,
Or melt the Rocks, and make their Marble flow.
| A paraphrase on the Book of Job | |