3 City of God, most glorious things Of thee abroad are spoke; 4 I mention Egypt, where proud kings Did our forefathers yoke. I mention Babel to my friends, Philistia full of scorn, And Tyre with Ethiop's utmost ends, Lo this man there was born: 5 But twice that praise shall in our ear Be said of Sion last, This and this man was born in her, High God shall fix her fast. 6 The Lord shall write it in a scroll That ne'er shall be out-worn, When he the nations doth inroll, That this man there was born. 7 Both they who sing, and they who dance, In thee fresh brooks, and soft streams glance, PSALM LXXXVIII. 1 LORD God, that dost me save and keep, All day to thee I cry ; And all night long before thee weep, Before thee prostrate lie. 2 Into thy presence let my pray'r With sighs devout ascend, And to my cries that ceaseless are, 10 15 20 25 5 3 For cloy'd with woes and trouble store 4 Reckon❜d I am with them that pass I am a man, but weak alas, And for that name unfit. 5 From life discharg'd and parted quite Among the dead to sleep, And like the slain in bloody fight Whom thou rememberest no more, Dost never more regard, Them from thy hand deliver'd o'er 6 Thou in the lowest pit profound Where thickest darkness hovers round, In horrid deeps to mourn. 7 Thy wrath, from which no shelter saves, Full sore doth press on me; a Thou break'st upon me all thy waves, a And all thy waves break me. 8 Thou dost my friends from me estrange, And mak'st me odious, Me to them odious, for they change, And I here pent up thus. 3 * Heb. A man without manly strength. The Heb. bears both. 9. trouble store] So edition Fenton, read sore. T. War Tonson, Tickell, and ton. 1673. 9 Through sorrow, and affliction great, Mine eye grows dim and dead, Lord, all the day I thee intreat, My hands to thee I spread. 10 Wilt thou do wonders on the dead, Shall the deceas'd arise And praise thee from their loathsome bed With pale and hollow eyes? 11 Shall they thy loving kindness tell On whom the grave hath hold, Thy faithfulness unfold? 12 In darkness can thy mighty hand Or wondrous acts be known, Thy justice in the gloomy land Of dark oblivion? 13 But I to thee, O Lord, do cry, Ere yet my life be spent, And up to thee my pray'r doth hie, Each morn, and thee prevent. 14 Why wilt thou, Lord, my soul forsake, And hide thy face from me? 15 That am already bruis'd, and shake With terror sent from thee? Bruis'd, and afflicted, and so low As ready to expire, While I thy terrors undergo Astonish'd with thine ire. 16 Thy fierce wrath over me doth flow, Thy threat'nings cut me through: Heb. Præ Concussione. 40 45 50 55 60 65 17 All day they round about me go, Like waves they me pursue. 18 Lover and friend thou hast remov'd, They fly me now whom I have lov'd, A Paraphrase on PSALM CXIV.* 70 This and the following Psalm were done by the Author at fifteen years old. WHEN the blest seed of Terah's faithful son After long toil their liberty had won, 5 And pass'd from Pharian fields to Canaan land, *This and the following Psalm are Milton's earliest performances. The first he afterwards translated into Greek. In the last are some very poetical expressions, The golden-tressed sun, God's thunder-clasping hand, the moon's spangled sisters bright, above the reach of mortal eye, &c. 10 I will here throw together some of the most striking stanzas in Milton's Psalms. T. Warlon. 13. Why fled the ocean? And why skipp'd the mountains ?] The original is weakened. The question should have been asked by an address, or an appeal, to the sea and mountains. T. Warton. Shake, Earth, and at the presence be aghast PSALM CXXXVI. LET us with a gladsome mind Let us blaze his name abroad, For of Gods he is the God; For his &c. O let us his praises tell, 15 5 Who doth the wrathful tyrants quell. 10 For his &c. Who with his miracles doth make Amazed heav'n and earth to shake. For his &c. Who by his wisdom did create The painted heav'ns so full of state. Who did the solid earth ordain To rise above the wat❜ry plain. 15 20 22.watry plain.] Pope, Windsor For. 146. And pikes the tyrants of the wat ry See note on Comus 429. T. |