Classic Poem

Now try what patron can thy cause defend;
What saint wilt thou solicit, or what friend?
The storm of his own rage the fool confounds,
And envy's rankling sting th'imprudent wounds.
Oft have I seen him like a cedar spread
His ample root, and his ambitious head
With clouds invest; then, to th'amaze of all,
Plough up the earth with his prodigious fall.
His wand'ring orphans find no safe retreat,
But friendless suffer at the judgment-seat.
The greedy eat the harvest of their toil,
Snatch'd from the scratching thorns; to thieves a spoil.
Though sorrow spring not from the womb of earth,
Nor troubles from the dust derive their birth,
Yet man is born to num'rous miseries,
As dying sparks from trembling flames arise.
Should I the burthen of thy fate sustain,
I would not justify myself in vain,
But at His feet my humble soul deject
With pray'rs and tears, Who wonders can effect,
As infinite, as great, and far above
That sphere wherein our low conceptions move.
He waters from celestial casements pours,
Which fall upon the furrow'd earth in show'rs,
To comfort those who mourn in want, and give
The famish'd food, that they may eat and live.
The counsels of the subtle He prevents,
And by His wisdom frustrates their intents;
Entangles in the snares themselves contrive,
Who desp'rately to their own ruin drive.
They meet with darkness in the clearest light,
And grope at noon, as if involv'd with night.
Licentious swords, oppression arm'd with pow'r,
Nor envy's jaws, the righteous shall devour.
They ever hope, though exercis'd with care;
The wicked silenc'd by their own despair.
Happy is he whom God's own hands chastise;
Since so, let none His chastisements despise.
For He both hurts and heals; binds up again
The wounds He made, and mitigates their pain.
In six afflictions will thy refuge be,
And from the sev'nth and last shall set thee free.
From meagre famine's bloodless massacres,
And from the cruel thirst of horrid wars.
Preserved from the scourge of poisonous tongues,
The sting of malice, and insulting wrongs,
Thou shalt in safety smile, when all the earth
Shall suffer by the rage of war and dearth.
The Midian tiger, the Arabian bear.
Nor Idumaean lion shalt thou fear.
They all their native fierceness shall decline,
And senseless stones shall in thy aid combine.
Thy tents shall flourish in the joys of peace,
The wealth and honour of thy house increase,
Thy children, and their offspring, shall abound
Like blades of grass that clothe the pregnant ground.
Thou, full of days, like weighty shocks of corn
In season reap'd, shall to thy grave be borne.
This truth, by long experience learnt, apply
To thy disease; and on the cure rely. "