Classic Poem

1.

Let songs of joy to God ascend,
Whose Love nor limit knows nor end.
But O, what tongue in equal lay
His acts can speak, his praise display?

2.

Thrice happy who with stedfast will
The dictates of his Law fulfil!
With These, thy chosen Flock, assign'd
May I my lot for ever find:

3.

O grant me, Lord, with These to prove
The pow'r of thy redeeming Love,
The grace thy Saints are blest to know
That Grace to me benignant shew.

4.

Too faithful followers of our Sires,
Our Life with theirs, great God, conspires
Thy wrath on Judah 's Realm to call,
And teach thy terrors where to fall.

5.

O say, thou Erythraean Main,
(Thy Waves beheld the rebel Train;)
How soon Oblivion could efface
Each act of God's stupendous Grace, —

6.

How soon efface each act his hand
Perform'd in Cham 's affrighted land:
Yet, still, that Man his pow'r might own,
Conspicuous in their aid it shone:

7.

Aw'd by his voice the briny Flood
In gath'ring heaps suspended stood,
While, safe as o'er the sandy waste,
Th' admiring troops betwixt them past:

8.

Soon as they reach the adverse strand
Th' impetuous wave the hostile Band
O'erwhelms; nor one exempted Man
Back with the dreadful tidings ran.

9.

Convinc'd they now (What could they less?)
His words the words of truth confess,
Yield to his Name th' extorted praise,
And songs of grateful triumph raise;

10.

But soon rebellious as before
(His Works remember'd now no more,)
To Times by Them prescrib'd confine
The counsels of the Will divine.

11.

By lawless appetite impell'd,
As o'er the Wild their course they held,
Fierce rise their Bands, in evil hour,
And challenge to the proof his Pow'r:

12.

That pow'r (while ev'ry eager eye
Rashly demands the quick supply)
Displeas'd the wish'd for ill shall grant
And satiate their imagin'd want:

13.

That pow'r alone their outrage fell
From Thee, O Moses , could repel,
And uncontested rev'rence claim
To consecrated Aaron 's name.

14.

Wide, discontinuous, yawn'd the ground,
And Dathan in the dark profound,
With proud Abiram 's frantic Train,
Receiving instant, clos'd again;

15.

The Almighty Lord, with wrath inflam'd
His vengeance dire at Israel aim'd,
His Fires impetuous, roll'd along,
Wrapt in the blaze th' apostate Throng.

16.

But Horeb ! What is wrought on Thee?
Blush, conscious Earth, O blush to see
A figure from the grazing herd
To God, the living God, prefer'd:

17.

That God, their Glory late confest;
But Ah! within their thankless breast
No longer now recorded stand
The wonders of his saving hand;

18.

No more with gratitude impress'd
His Miracles their hearts attest
In vain on Egypt shown, in vain
Repeated on the bord'ring Main:

19.

See, as in awful threatnings heard,
Eternal Justice gives the word,
The summon'd Storms the heav'nly Throne
Surround, impatient to be gone:

20.

But Moses in the breach appears,
And, as his suppliant voice he rears,
Averts, yet waiting on the wing,
The vengeance of th' Almighty King.

21.

As now in near approach they stand
To promis'd, Canaan 's fertile Land,
That promise, seal'd by Truth divine,
They doubt, and at the gift repine:

22.

From tent to tent the murmur runs,
While each the heav'nly counsel shuns,
That bids them safe in Him confide,
Their God, their Guardian and their Guide.

23.

Their guilt mature for vengeance found,
Th' uplifted sword, in act to wound,
Hangs imminent; and myriads slain
In heaps promiscuous load the plain.

24.

The conqu'ring Foe through unknown ways
The scatter'd Fugitives conveys;
Secluded from their promis'd home,
In foreign countries long they roam.

25.

Their names Bel-phegor 's fanes behold
Amidst his Votaries enroll'd,
While pleas'd, the impious board they spread,
And eat the off'rings of the Dead.

26.

New crimes new chastisements provoke;
And forth the Pest wide-wasting broke,
Unseen the furious onset gave,
And swept them to the crouded grave;

27.

Till, Phineas , thy prevenient care
Purg'd from its taint the deathful air:
The pious deed to latest days
Shall consecrate the Hero's praise.

28.

Nor Meribah 's yet thirsty ground
Unconscious of their guilt is found;
Till, summon'd from the rock, the wave
Her plain in full effusion lave.

29.

Nor He, who often mildly strove
To draw them with the cords of Love;
Not Moses , Leader of their Bands,
From touch of blame exempted stands:

30.

While murmurs heard on ev'ry side,
And loud reproach, his patience tried,
Resentment quick his bosom stung,
And words unweigh'd escap'd his tongue.

31.

The Nations round, with error blind,
To just excision long design'd,
Rebellious to their God they spare,
Nor shun the heathen rite to share.

32.

Prostrate they fall to sculptur'd stone,
And frenzy's deepest influence own,
To Daemons rear'd their altars stand,
And scenes of blood pollute the Land.

33.

While with untrembling hands the Sires
Their Son, their Daughter, to the fires
A Victim yield, and, of their cry
Regardless, see their offspring die.

34.

To images, to lifeless Gods
(Such, Canaan , shame thy dire abodes;)
Streams on the knife the filial gore,
And, guiltless, stains th' unhallow'd floor.

35.

What, Israel , now shall wash thee clean,
While Lessons of inventive Sin
Have prompted thy adult'rous heart
Thus from thy Maker to depart?

36.

Fierce o'er thy head his anger burns;
From his own Heritage he turns,
Abhorrent: now let Jacob 's foes
At will th' abandon'd race inclose.

37.

Behold them by oppression torn,
And fix'd the mark of hostile scorn,
With flatt'ring Lip their homage pay,
And trembling own tyrannic sway.

38.

Oft they were sav'd, and oft again
Rebellious spurn'd his equal Reign,
Again their ruin'd state deplor'd,
And bow'd beneath a foreign Lord.

39.

Yet He with pity from on high,
True to his Compact, heard their cry,
His hand in their Defence he rear'd,
And gracious in their cause appear'd.

40.

He saw them drag the servile chain,
And, studious to relieve their pain,
Compassion's tend'rest sense impress'd
On the stern Victor's iron breast.

41.

O still our Father, still our Friend,
To Israel 's woes, great God attend:
From distant climes, and hostile lands,
Collect once more our scatter'd Bands;

42.

That Sion with delighted ear
The hallow'd strains again may hear;
Thy Name the subject of each song,
Thy Praise the boast of ev'ry tongue.

43.

O thankful hail th' Almighty Lord,
The God by Jacob 's Sons ador'd:
His fame, ere Time its course began,
O'er Heav'n's wide region echoing ran;

44.

To Him through endless ages raise
One song of oft-repeated praise;
And let consenting Nations join
To bless with Us the Pow'r divine.