 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
235
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.
237
“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,
238
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,
239
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
240
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!
241
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
242
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.
| Poems on Several Occasions | |