Classic Poem

1.

Yes: mightiest Lord! Mysoul has known
Thy Love to Israel 's Offspring shown,
And owns the Bliss by Thee ordain'd
To each who bears a heart unstain'd.

2.

Yet griev'd awhile thy paths, my God,
With hesitating step I trod,
And, but for Thee, the faithful Guide,
My erring feet had swerv'd aside.

3.

As fix'd in happiest state I see
The foes to Virtue, Truth, and Thee,
Their Blessings on my thoughts impress'd
With envy near had fill'd my breast:

4.

Health strings their nerves; and Death, (their hour
Approaching), with remitted pow'r
And flow advance his easy doom
Inflicting, bows them to the tomb.

5.

Forbid the gen'ral lot to share
Of pain, affliction, want, and care,
The lawless Tribe with cruel skill
Augment the woes that others feel.

6.

Pride on their neck its chain has bound,
And Violence invests them round;
Their swelling eyes and pamper'd frame
Their boundless appetite proclaim:

7.

Their wishes by success outrun,
Their headlong wills controulment shun;
And words with fury wing'd impart
The genuine dictates of their heart.

8.

Lo, train'd to insolence and wrong,
Against the Heav'ns their impious tongue
Defiance and reproach has hurl'd,
And unresisted walks the world.

9.

Untaught to scan thy wise Decree,
With wonder, Lord, thy People see
Lise's choicest gifts their want supply,
Whose breasts thy ev'ry threat desy:

10.

Who ask, " Shall He our acts survey,
" Whose hands th' ethereal scepter sway?
" Shall He, inthron'd above the stars,
" To Earth's low scene extend his cares? "

11.

While daring Mortals thus each hour
Thee, Lord, insult, and brave thy pow'r,
Yet, sunk in ease, and blest with health,
Amass in heaps their growing wealth;

12.

In vain, (thy Servant cried,) in vain,
I purge my breast from ev'ry stain,
My acts conform to thy commands,
And wash in innocence my hands.
13.

Each day opprest with fiercest pains,
Thy scourge my chasten'd Soul sustains;
Each Morn, that rising streaks the sky,
Awakes me but to misery.

14.

My heart, while thus by grief assail'd,
In silence long its thought has veil'd,
Lest Doubts like mine thy Saints betray
From thy Decrees, great God, to stray.

15.

Thy Conduct weigh'd, awhile my mind
Its hidden Cause essay'd to find;
That Cause, as deeper it inquires,
Still farther from its search retires.

16.

Thy Fane at length I seek; and there,
(My anxious soul effus'd in pray'r,)
Instructed by thy Spirit, read
The period to their guilt decreed.

17.

I see Thee on the slipp'ry seat
Of high Ambition plant their feet,
Then mark them as they downward bend,
And headlong to the earth descend.

18.

Thy hand in unexpected hour
Destroys the phantom of their pow'r,
How swift, how sudden is their fate!
What horrors, Lord, their death await!

19.

Wrapt in Oblivion's shade they lie,
Their image vanish'd from the eye,
As the light fabric of a Dream,
Dissolv'd by day's intruding beam.

20.

Such woes, in error's fetters chain'd,
Such heart-felt anguish, I sustain'd,
Insensate, as the Brutes that rove
Th' extended Wild, or shady Grove:

21.

Yet still thy Care confess'd me thine;
My hand within the hand divine
Was lock'd; Thou, Thou, Almighty friend,
Propitious shalt my cause defend.

22.

By thy directive counsel led,
Life's maze I yet, secure, shall tread,
And wait till thy appointed hour
The promis'd Glory round me pour.

23.

O say, in Heav'n's capacious round
What Friend like Thee my Soul has sound;
Or who, great God, on Earth resides,
Whose love with thine my breast divides.

24.

My heart, my flesh, have fail'd; but Thee
My lasting heritage I see;
Thy strength my fainting spirit chears,
And checks my grief, and calms my fears.

25.

Who, taught to spurn his equal sway,
From Israel 's God adult'rous stray,
His Justice, with reverseless doom,
In Life's full vigour shall consume:

26.

While, warm with holy transport, I
To Him with sure success apply,
Him trust, and, guarded by his Care,
To Man's whole race his acts declare.