Classic Poem

Part I.

D UE honours, Lord, on Thee attend,
Where Sion's sacred tow'rs ascend.
There Thy devoted Israelites
Shall pay their vows with solemn rites.
To Thee shall all mankind repair,
Since Thou vouchsaf'st to hear our pray'r.
Our sins Thy mercies expiate,
When burthen'd with their loathed weight.
Thrice happy he of whom Thou mak'st
Thy choice, and to Thy service tak'st;
That may within Thy courts reside,
There with Thy goodness satisfied,
And taste of that sincere delight
Which never cloys the appetite.
From Thee, O God, our safety springs,
Thy judgment threatens dreadful things,
Their hope whom soils remote sustain,
Who float upon the toiling main.
Great is Thy pow'r; propp'd by Thy Hand
Cloud-touching mountains steadfast stand.
Thou with Thy sceptre dost appease
The roaring of the high-wrought seas,
And the tumultuary jars
Of people breathing blood and wars.

Part II.

Who dwell upon the earth's confines,
They tremble at Thy fearful signs.
Where first the sun his beam displays,
And where he sets his golden rays,
They triumph in the fruits of peace,
Enriched by the earth's increase.
He rain upon her bosom pours,
His swelling clouds abound with show'rs,
And so prepares the lusty soil
To recompense the reapers' toil.
Mellows the glebe with fatt'ning juice,
Whose furrows hopeful blades produce.
With plenty crowns the smiling years,
Shed from the influence of the spheres.
The desert with sweet claver fills,
And richly shades the joyful hills.
Flocks cover all the higher plain,
The ranker valleys cloth'd with grain,
These, in abundance solacing,
Without a tongue Thy praises sing.