English

Part I.

M Y people, hear my words: I will unfold
Dark oracles and wonders done of old:
By our great ancestors both heard and known,
Successively unto their children shown.
Which we will to posterity relate,
That people yet unknown may celebrate
God's pow'r, His praise and glorious acts; since He
Wills this tradition by divine decree,
Until one day shall give the world an end,
That all their hopes might on His help depend.
Nor ever let His noble actions sleep

God in Judah is renown'd,
Salem with his temple crown'd.
He in sacred Sion dwells,
Israel His wonders tells.
He their flying ensigns tears,
Shivers the Assyrian spears.
He their swords, shields, arrows, broke;
Kill'd, subdu'd, without a stroke.
Thou more excellent than they
That on Jewry's mountains prey.
Who the great in battle foil'd,
Of their lives and honours spoil'd.
Not the mighty could withstand,
Nor so much as find a hand.
Princes, by Thy only breath,
With the vulgar sleep in death.

Thy praises, O eternal King,
Our souls in sacred verse will sing,
The wonders of Thy works declare,
Thy presence in Thy pow'r and care.
When I shall wear the Hebrew crown,
High justice shall my reign renown.
The land with weak'ning discord rent,
The people without government,
Faint and dissolve. Her pillars I
Support, her breaches fortify.
Proud man, I said, renounce thy pride,
Thou fool, thy folly cast aside,
Do not so high your horns erect,
Nor bellow as with yoke uncheck'd.
Preferment from the orient,

Part I.

L ORD , why hast Thou abandoned?
O why for ever shall Thine ire
Consume, like a devouring fire,
The sheep which in Thy pastures fed?

O think of those who were Thy own,
By Thee of old from bondage brought;
Th' inheritance which Thou hast bought,
And Sion, Thy affected throne.

Come, O come quickly, and survey
What spoil the barbarous foe hath made.

Part I.

T HAT Pow'r of pow'rs, who Israel protects,
The pure of heart eternally affects.
Yet I began to stagger in my faith,
My feet almost had swerved from His path,
When I the fool beheld with envious eyes,
Saw prosp'rous vice to wealth and honour rise.
Their thread of life is close and firmly spun,
Whom feeble age and pale diseases shun.
They, while we suffer, surfeit in content,
As if alone exempt from punishment.
Pride hangs like precious chains about their necks,

Part I.

T HE king, Jehovah, with Thy justice crown,
And in a Godlike reign his son renown.
He shall with equity Thy people sway,
And judgment in the scales of justice weigh.
Then little hills shall riot with increase,
And mountains flourish in the fruits of peace.
He shall the poor from violence protect,
Exalt the humble and the proud deject.
They, while the restless sun directs the year,
While moons increase and wane, Thy Name shall fear.
He shall descend like plenty-dropping show'rs,

Part I.

I TO Thy wing for refuge fly,
Protect me from foul infamy,
Lord, in Thy justice save.
Deliver from their treach'rous snares,
O, favourably hear my pray'rs,
Snatch from the yawning grave.

Be Thou my fortress of defence,
There let me fix my residence,
O Thou, my rock, my tow'r!
Who hast Thy angels giv'n in charge,
That they Thy servants should enlarge
From circumventing pow'r.

Deliver from their cruel might

Haste , Lord, from such as would devour,
Defend by Thy almighty pow'r;
Delay not in so fear'd an hour.

But let confusion seize on those
Who seek my soul; to shame expose;
Be sudden in their overthrows.

Let those with infamy return,
Dejected and unpitied mourn,
Who laugh and blast me with their scorn.

Who love Thy Name with joy invest,
Let them in shades of safety feast,
And ever say, The Lord be blest.

But I am poor and full of need,
Haste, Lord, deliver me with speed,

Part I.

L ORD , snatch me from the raging flood,
Now in deep eddies almost drown'd,
That struggle in the yielding mud,
There, where no bottom can be found.
The rising waves my head surround,
And with their terrors chill my blood.

Tir'd with complaining, hoarse and sore,
Sight fails my long-expecting eyes.
My hairs are not in number more
Than my uninjur'd enemies.

Part I.

L ET God, the God of battle, rise
And scatter His proud enemies.
O let them flee before His Face,
Like smoke which driving tempests chase.
As wax dissolves with scorching fire,
So perish in His burning ire.
But let the just with joy abound,
In joyful songs His praise resound,
Who, riding on the rolling spheres,
The Name of Great Jehovah bears.
Before His Face your joys express,
A Father to the fatherless.
He wipes the tears from widows' eyes,