For ever to thy Country dear,

Proceed, ILLUSTRIOUS YOUTH! to clear

From Mifts and Artifice Her Laws:
Merit---and take Her juft Applause.

And while She waits Thy growing Praise,

And meditates Diviner Lays,

Accept this Prelude, FAGEL! nor refuse

Th' auspicious Omens of a British Muse.

13 Sept. 1727.

PSALM XCVII, in Paraphrastic Verse.

I.

EHOVAH reigns: Thou, Earth, rejoice;

JEye return

Ye diftant Ifles return the Voice ;

Ev'n fartheft Britain take the Sound;

Let the glad Concert from thy Hills rebound,

And from thy Cliffs the Sacred Noise!

II. Ye

II.

Ye Rivers, Hear! Thou, Ocean! ftand
Attentive to receive the Song;

Silence to thy loud Waves command,

And calm thy troubled foamy Sand,

While thro' the hollow Rocks the Mufick rowls along.

III.

What fudden Glory This, that fills the Air? Whence Those dark Clouds, involv'd, that form yon' dreadful Dreadful, for 'tis th’ALMIGHTY's Throne. [Sphere? There Justice, fee! and Judgment There; How terrible they Both appear,

When Wrath, with Mercy Unallay'd, comes down To scourge a wicked World, Rebellious to his Crown.

IV.

Before him rapid Fires confume:

Amaz'd, the Sinner views his Doom:
Deep Terrors seize his impious Soul.
Such rattling Thunders rend the Skies,
With Such quick Glare the Lightning flies,

Thro' the vext Elements Such Tempests rise,
As the fixt Pillars of the Globe controul.

V.

Earth's Bowels from her Centre quake : Such ftrong Convulfions her Foundations shake, As if with Horror fhe would fain have fled.

Like melted Wax her Mountains flow;

Her flinty Rocks diffolve like Snow,

Which Once to Heaven Sublimely rear'd their Head,

As if, with daring Pride, they would ev'n Heaven invade,

VI.

Whence all this Terror? What Strange Sight

Does thus the trembling World affright?

THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD is here;
THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD,.

Whofe Righteoufnefs the Heavens declare;
Whofe Glory all the Nations fear,

And dread the Awful Sound of his Eternal Word.

VII.

Before his glorious Prefence, All

The Heathen Gods Confounded fall:

Their fond Adorers, in their Dagon's Fate,

Their monftrous Folly learn too late;

Too

Too late their Own prodigious Madness fee,

And curfe their dull Stupidity,

When humbly proftrate on the Ground,
The shatter'd Deity is found;

Where, with low Homage and Obeifance prone,
The Vanquish'd Idol feems to own

The GoD of Ifrael, GOD Alone.

VIII.

`While Pale Confusion shall surprize,
And Shame poffefs thine Enemies,
Who to a Senfelefs Idol bend,

And worship Gods, Unable to defend

Themselves; Thy Church thy Judgment hears
With Joy; and triumphs in the Sinners Fears,
When the Great GOD, the Lord of Hofts,
Defeats their proud and impious Boasts,

His Godhead terribly maintains,

And his Eternal Rule o'er Heaven and Earth proclaims.

IX.

Against the Atheist Race thy Bolts are aim'd;

Against the Godless Crew thy Vengeance is enflam'd

While,

While, thro' the deep Obfcurity,

For Thine the Seeds of Light are sown,

While They, Secure, thy Smiles can see,

And thro' the hovering Shades their great Protector own.

X.

Thus, while Substantial Darkness shrouds

The Chamian Heaven in Solid Clouds,

And with black Wings o'er frighted Mizraim broods;

In Gohen's favour'd Land

Thy Chofen Ifrael ftand,

Enjoy the Sun's enlivening Ray,

And wonder what Strange Night Ufurps th' Ægyptian Day!