Poems on Several Occasions With Imitations from Horace, Ovid, Martial, Theocritus, Bachylides, Anacreon, &c. To which is prefix'd A Discourse on Criticism, and the Liberty of Writing. In a letter to a Friend. By Samuel Cobb ... The Third Edition. To which is added, Poems on the Duke of Marlborough, Prince Eugene, the Electoral Prince of Hannover, with other Poems. Never before Printed |
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The 103d Psalm Paraphras'd.
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 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
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The 103d Psalm Paraphras'd.
A Thanksgiving after a Deliverance from Sickness and Trouble.
Jan. 1703,4.
[I.]
Glory, my Soul, and Blessing giveTo God Alone, by whom you live;
To God, whose Mercy did impart
New Health and Vigour to my Heart.
Nor cease, my sprightly Blood, to shew
His Love, who taught you how to Flow;
Who rais'd me from Disease and Sin,
From Ills without, and Ills within.
Just had they plung'd me to the Grave,
But These he Cur'd, and Those Forgave.
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Like a bright Diadem's Embrace,
Blaz'd round my Head, and Lighten'd in my Face.
Thou, Lord, art infinitely Good,
Thou, like an Eagle's, hast renew'd
My Youth; and like an Eagle, I
Will mount, and tell thy Praises thro the Sky.
II.
Tell how nor Death, nor Hell's more dreadful Stings,Can shake a Soul o'ershadow'd with thy Saving Wings.
Tell how Egyptian Lords in vain,
With Iron Hands presume to reign;
When for their Tyranny and Wrong,
Billows on crowding Billows throng,
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This Moses saw, when on the farther Strand
He wav'd aloft the mighty Wand,
And th' Amaz'd Sea his Ancient Strength regain'd.
O Wonders of insuperable Height!
Above the Stretch of Reason! shewn
To Jacob's Moody Race alone:
Unfathomable Depth of Mercy Infinite!
So strong the Rivers of his Goodness flow!
So Swift his Love! His Wrath so Slow!
Which, if it chance to Swell, and rise
To meet our Crimes, which dare the Skies;
His Pity then begins to chide
His Rage, and Calm the Rapid Tide.
His Crushing Thunder, which might justly Slay,
Is only Shaken at Unmindful Clay.
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Speaks the Kind Father, and Forbearing God.
III.
As this Round Globe's inferiour Face,Compar'd with yon' Ethereal Space,
Is but a Point to those Above:
So Infinite is Heav'nly Love
To a Religious Race.
Thy Mercy, Lord, from Sin has set us free,
As farthest East is from the Western Sea,
So distant are our Crimes from Us and Thee.
Tho' We, thro Weakness, ev'ry Hour
Like Idle, Heedless Children, fall,
Thou like a Father, sparest all
Who love Thy Goodness, and who fear Thy Pow'r.
Thou knowest whence we came;
How brittle Dust compos'd our Frame:
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Too Prone to break! too Weak to stand!
IV.
Can Nature's Dress appear more Gay,Than in her Darling flow'ry May?
Yet must those short-liv'd Honours of the Field
To the rude North their Beauty yield;
Or to the cruel Scythe become a Prey.
Such are our Days, an empty Shade:
Death stalks behind us, to deride
Our noisie Vanity and Pride,
Which smil'd like Lillies, and like them decay'd.
Nothing is sure and permanent below,
Corruption reigns within us as we grow.
Thou only, Glorious Father, e're the World begun,
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When Time's no more: Then shall thy Blessed Saints
Be rank'd among the Bright Inhabitants.
They with their Children's Children then shall see
A long Succession of Posterity;
Who practis'd what thy Prophets taught,
Sincere in Word, and pure in Thought.
They with Repenting Sinners, shall thy Mercies taste,
And Joys, which never can be told, and never can be past.
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V.
High supereminent in Heav'n, the ThroneOf God is fix'd: He Reigns Alone.
All Things above us, and below, obey
His Just, his Good, his Universal Sway:
While the proud Lords of this round Mole hill here,
Like Emmets, in his Sight appear,
Mere Royal Worms, and Gilded Clay.
Praise him, ye holy Angels, which excel
In Strength, or Michael, or Ithuriel,
Or Gabriel; Blest Names! who fly
At his Command, from ev'ry Corner of the Sky.
Whose high Examples teach us to fulfil
His Word, and execute his Will.
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All Things in Air, Earth, Sea, their Gratitude express:
And Thou, my Soul, thy Pious Offering bring
To God, the Wise, the Gracious King.
Who Life to Thee, and Being gave,
Who now has snatch'd Thee from the Grave,
And taught Thee whom to praise, and how to sing.
| Poems on Several Occasions | |