University of Virginia Library

Let songs of joy to God ascend,
Whose Love nor limit knows nor end.
But O, what tongue in equal lay
His acts can speak, his praise display?
Thrice happy, who with stedfast will
The dictates of his Law fulfill!
With These, thy chosen Flock, assign'd
May I my lot for ever find:
O grant me, Lord, with These to prove
The pow'r of thy redeeming Love,
And, while thy Mercy on our heads
The fulness of its blessing sheds,
With Them th' accepted hymn to sing
To Thee, my Saviour and my King.

Too faithful followers of our Sires,
Our Life with theirs, great God, conspires
Thy wrath on Judab's Realm to call,
And teach thy terrors where to fall.
O say, thou Erythræan Main,
(Thy Waves beheld the rebel Train;)
How soon Oblivion could efface
Each act of God's stupendous Grace,
The wonders by his mighty hand
Perform'd in Cham's affrighted Land.
Yet, still, that Man his Pow'r might own,
Conspicuous in their aid it shone:
Aw'd by his voice the briny Flood
In gath'ring heaps suspended stood,
While, safe as o'er the sandy waste,
Th' admiring troops betwixt them past:
Freed from the ruthless Tyrant's hand
Soon as they reach the adverse strand,
Its strength resum'd, th' impetuous wave
Their foes within the watry grave
Absorbs; nor one exempted Man
Back with the dreadful tidings ran.
Convinc'd they now (What could they less?)
His words the words of truth confess,
Yield to his Name th' extorted praise,
And songs of grateful triumph raise;
But soon rebellious as before
(His Works remember'd now no more,)
To times by Them prescrib'd confine
The counsels of the Will divine.

By lawless appetite impell'd,
As o'er the Wild their course they held,
Fierce rise their Bands, in evil hour,
And challenge to the proof his Pow'r:
That Pow'r the wish'd for Ill shall grant,
And satiate their imagin'd want:
That Pow'r alone their outrage fell
From Thee, O Moses, could repell,
And uncontested rev'rence claim
To consecrated Aaron's name.
Wide, discontinuous, yawn'd the ground,
And Dathan in the dark profound,
With proud Abiram's frantic Train,
Receiving instant, clos'd again;
While fires impetuous, roll'd along,
Wrapt in the blaze th' apostate Throng.
But, Horeb! What is wrought on Thee?
Blush, conscious Earth, O blush to see
A figure from the grazing herd
To God, the living God, preser'd:
That God, their Glory late confest;
But Ah! within their thankless breast
No longer now recorded stand
The wonders of his saving hand,
In vain on Egypt shown, in vain
Repeated on the bord'ring Main.
See, as in awful threatnings heard
Eternal Justice gives the word,
The summon'd Storms the heav'nly Throne
Surround, impatient to be gone:
But Moses in the breach appears,
And, as his suppliant voice he rears,
Averts, yet waiting on the wing,
The vengeance of th' almighty King.
As now in near approach they stand
To promis'd Canaan's fertile Eand,
That promise, seal'd by Truth divine,
They doubt, and at the gift repine:
From tent to tent the murmur runs,
While each the heav'nly counsel shuns,
That bids them safe in Him confide,
Their God, their Guardian, and their Guide.
Their guilt mature for vengeance found,
Th' uplifted sword, in act to wound,
Hangs imminent; And myriads slain
In heaps promiscuous load the plain.
The conqu'ring Foe through unknown ways
The scatter'd Fugitives conveys;
Their names Bel-phegor's fanes behold
Amidst his Votaries enroll'd,
While pleas'd the impious board they spread,
And eat the off'rings of the Dead.
New crimes new chastisements provoke;
And forth the Pest wide-wasting broke,
Unseen the furious onset gave,
And swept them to the crouded grave;
Till, Phineas, thy prevenient care
Purg'd from its taint the deathful air.
The pious deed to latest days
Shall consecrate the Hero's praise.
Nor Meribah's yet thirsty ground
Unconscious of their guilt is found;
Till, summon'd from the rock, the wave
Her plain in full effusion lave.
Nor He, great Leader of their Bands,
From touch of blame exempted stands:
While murmurs, heard on ev'ry side,
And loud reproach, his patience tried,
Resentment quick his bosom stung,
And words unweigh'd escap'd his tongue.
The Nations round, with error blind,
To just excision long design'd,
Rebellious to their God they spare,
Nor shun th' accursed rite to share,
That bids them bow to sculptur'd stone,
And frenzy's deepest influence own.
To Dæmons rear'd their altars stand,
And scenes of blood pollute the Land;
While with untrembling hands the Sires
Their Son, their Daughter, to the fires
A victim yield: to lifeless Gods
(Such, Canaan, shame thy dire abodes;)
Streams on the knife the filial gore,
And, guiltless, stains th' unballow'd floor.
What, Israel, now shall wash thee clean,
While Lessons of inventive Sin
Have prompted thy adult'rous heart
Thus from thy Maker to depart?
Fierce o'er thy head his anger burns;
From his own Heritage he turns,
Abhorrent: Now let Jacob's foes
At will th' abandon'd race inclose.
Behold them by oppression torn,
And fix'd the mark of hostile scorn.
Oft were they sav'd, and oft again
Rebellious spurn'd his equal Reign,
Again their ruin'd state deplor'd,
And bow'd beneath a foreign Lord.
Yet He with pity from on high,
True to his Compact, heard their cry,
Beheld them drag the servile chain,
And, studious to relieve their pain,
Compassion's tend'rest sense impress'd
On the stern Victor's iron breast.

O still our Father, still our Friend,
To Israel's woes, great God, attend:
From distant climes, and hostile lands,
Collect once more our scatter'd Bands;
That Sion with delighted ear
The hallow'd strains again may hear;
Thy Name the subject of each song,
Thy Praise the boast of ev'ry tongue.

O thankful hail th' Almighty Lord,
The God by Jacob's Sons ador'd:
His fame, e'er Time its course began,
O'er Heav'n's wide region echoing ran;
To Him through endless ages raise
One song of oft-repeated praise;
And let consenting Nations join
To bless with Us the Pow'r divine.