ODE

IN AID OF A BENEVOLENT SOCIETY.

But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious.-Psalm lxxxvi., v. 15.

WHEN, Lord, th' afflicted sought thy care

On Jewry's holy plain,

They found the Great Physician there,

Whose skill was not in vain.

Thy pow'r the palsied tongue restor❜d

To sing thy love and praise;

And on the midnight-blindness pour'd

The sun's meridian rays.

Supply them with thy bounteous hand ;

Their wants and woes remove ;—

About their bed let angels stand,

And minister thy love.

PARAPHRASE OF THE 137TH PSALM.

On the brink of Euphrates, when deep in distress

We sought thee, O Zion, in vain,

The sighs of affection we could not suppress,

Nor the tears of rememb'rance restrain.

The harp, that once carol'd thy glory-the lute

So oft to thy happiness strung,

Forsaken by song and by minstrel, was mute,
And on the sad willow-boughs hung.

Our insolent foes would have made us rejoice,
And fain wip'd the tears from our eyes;

They bade us be merry and lift up our voice
In a song to Jerusalem's praise:

But how could thy children, O Zion divine!

Be merry when Babel was near?

Oh! how could we sing holy numbers like thine,

To charm an idolatrous ear?

Yet, if I forget thee, my Glory, my Joy!

If Zion I cease to adore,

May Heaven the skill of my right-hand destroy,

And

my harp be awaken'd no more:

Yea-if I forget thee-if Babel should sever

From Zion, the praise of my song,

May the lips, that adore thee, be silent for ever,

And evermore mute be my tongue!

The

cry of the children of Edom was heard—

"Raze Salem's proud walls to the ground!" Let the pitiless words be remember'd, O Lord,

And judgments for Edom be found.