Classic Poem

PSALM CV.

Part I.

T O God, O pay your vows; invoke His Name,
And to the world His noble acts proclaim!
O sing His praises in immortal verse,
And His stupendous miracles rehearse.
You saints rejoice, and glory in His grace;
His pow'r adore; for ever seek His Face.
Old Abraham's seed, you sons of the elect,
You Israelites, O you, who God affect,
Report the wonders by His finger wrought,
When in your cause th' inferior creatures fought.
Jehovah rules the many-peopled earth;
His judgment known to all of human birth.
He never will forget His promise past;
His covenants inviolable last,
Which He to faithful Abram made before,
And after to the holy Isaac swore;
To Jacob sign'd, confirm'd to Israel,
That their large offspring should in Canaan dwell.
When they, but few in number, wandered
In unknown regions, and their cattle fed,
He did their lives from violence protect,
And for their sakes ev'n mighty princes checkt.
Touch not, said He, my anointed; fear to wrong
Those sacred prophets who to Me belong.

Part II.

When raging famine in these climates reign'd,
He broke the staff of bread which life sustain'd.
But Joseph sent before them, sold to save
His brethren, by whose envy made a slave.
There for th' accuser's guilt in prison thrown,
With galling fetters bound for crimes unknown;
Tried with affliction, at the time decreed,
At once by Pharaoh both advanc'd and freed.
He of his household gave him the command,
And made him ruler over all his land;
His princes to his government subjects.
The prudent youth grave senators directs.
Then aged Jacob into Egypt came,
And sojourn'd in the fruitful fields of Ham.
God in that land His people multiplied;
Their foes, which now their greater strength envied,
Hate what they fear; He alienates their hearts,
To seek their ruin by deceitful arts.

Part III.

Then Moses on a sacred embassy
And Aaron sent, th' elect of the Most High.
There wrought His dreadful wonders, from the isle
Of sea-girt Pharos to the falls of Nile.
He bade Cimmerian darkness dim the day;
Th' assembled vapours His commands obey.
He their sev'n-channell'd waters turn'd to blood,
The fishes strangled in their native flood.
Frogs from the slimy earth in millions spring,
And skip about the chambers of the king.
All parts with swarms of noisome flies abound,
And lice, like quick'n'd dust, crawl on the ground.
He storms of killing hail for show'rs bestows,
And from the breaking clouds His light'ning throws.
Blasts all the vines and fig-trees in the land;
The woods with tempests torn or naked stand.
Innumerable locusts these succeed.
And caterpillars on their leavings feed.
They bite the tender herb, the bud and flow'r,
And all the verdure of the earth devour.
Their strength (the first-born) slew; which fill'd their ears
With female screeches, and their hearts with fears.

Part IV.

Then He the Hebrews out of Goshen brought
In able health, with gold and silver fraught.
Th' inhabitants, whose tears augment the Nile,
At their departure joy, and fear exile.
A cloud to shade them from the sun was spread,
And nightly by a flaming pillar led.
At their request He sends them show'rs of quails,
And bread from heav'n, like coriander, hails.
Cleaves the hard rocks, from whence a fountain flows,
And unknown rivers to those deserts shows.
For He His sacred promise call'd to mind,
To Abraham His friend and servant sign'd.
Thus He His people brought from servitude,
Whose long-felt miseries in joy conclude.
From hence the heathen by our weapons chas'd,
And us His sons in their possessions plac'd,
That from His statutes we might never swerve.
O praise the Lord, and Him devoutly serve.