University of Virginia Library

PSALM CXXXV.

Ye Servants of your God, his fame
In songs of highest praise proclaim:
Ye who, on his behests intent,
The Courts of Israel's Lord frequent,
And pleas'd within his hallow'd gate
In regular succession wait:
Him praise, the everlasting King,
And Mercy's unexhausted spring:
Haste, to his Name your voices rear;
What Name like his the heart can chear?
Whose Love from out the num'rous Birth,
That crowns the wide-extended earth,
Selects the Race of Isaac's Sons,
And Jacob his possession owns.
Thy Greatness, Lord, my thoughts attest,
With awful gratitude impress'd,
Nor know, among the Seats divine,
A Pow'r that shall contend with Thine;
O Thou, whose All-disposing Sway
The Heav'ns, the Earth, and Seas, obey;
Whose Might through all extent extends,
Sinks through all depth, all height transcends,
From Earth's low margin to the skies
Now bids the pregnant Vapours rise,
The Lightning's pallid sheet expands,
And glads with show'rs the surrow'd lands;
Now from thy Storehouse, built on high,
Permits th' imprison'd Winds to fly,
And, guided by thy Will, to sweep
The surface of the foaming Deep.
By thy resistless stroke assail'd,
Her Eldest-born proud Egypt wail'd:
Nor rag'd thy sword on Man alone;
Her flocks, her herds, its fury own,
While Nature's varied pow'rs conspire,
At thy Decree, Almighty Sire,
With scenes of dread to strike her eyes,
The haughty Tyrant to chastise,
And Each who lent th' assisting hand
To execute his stern command.
From Egypt's desolated shore
Its course thy vengeance onward bore,
To distant realms by Justice led;
And mightiest Kings beneath it bled:
Their Monarch Hesbon's Coasts deplor'd,
And Basan wept her Giant Lord,
While fell Destruction stalks around
Far as to Canaan's utmost bound,
And vindicates her forfeit lands
To conq'ring Israel's chosen Bands.
Thy Name shall ever live, thy Praise,
Immortal God, through longest days
Extend: From Thee we wait our doom:
Thou, Lord, the balance wilt assume,
And, prompt thy People's woes to heal,
The sentence of thy wrath repeal.
Behold on each polluted shore
The heathen tribes their Gods adore,
Of silver form'd, or fusile gold,
That late within the guiding mould
To shapes prescrib'd obedient ran,
The Creatures of thy Creature Man;
Of sense-belying parts possess'd,
In useless imag'ry express'd,
Of Mouth, but not for speech design'd,
Of Ears and Eyes, yet deaf and blind:
Whose lips, by Nature's finger seal'd,
Ne'er knew the vital breath to yield:
Unvisited by Wisdom's ray
Their breast: Nor less insensate They,
Who made their mimic forms, or, made,
With fruitless pray'r invoke their aid.
Jehovah's praise with grateful tongue
Proclaim, Ye Tribes from Israel sprung;
Him bless, Ye Sons of Aaron's race;
Ye who your birth from Levi trace,
And All whose heart his Laws delight,
In thanks to Him your songs unite.
Let Sion with enraptur'd ear
His fame throughout her precincts hear,
Who 'midst her walls, eternal Guest,
Has fix'd the Mansion of his rest.