PSALM CXV. Second Metre. As the New Tune of the 50th Psalm. Idolatry reproved.
1
NOT to our names, thou only just and true,
Not to our worthless names is glory due:
Thy power and grace, thy truth and justice claim
Immortal honours to thy sovereign name;
Shine thro' the earth from heaven thy blest abode;
Nor let the heathens say: And where's your God?
2
Heaven is thine higher court: There stands thy throne
And thro' the lower worlds thy will is done:
GOD fram'd this earth, the starry heavens he spread,
But fools adore the gods their hands have made;
The kneeling croud, with looks devout behold
Their silver-saviours, and their saints of gold.
3
[Vain are those artful shapes of eyes and ears;
The molten image neither sees nor hears:
Their hands are helpless, nor their feet can move,
They have no speech, nor though, nor power, nor love
Yet sottish mortals make their long complaints
To their deaf idols, and their moveless saints.
4
The rich have statues well adorn'd with gold;
The poor content with gods of coarser mould,
With tools of iron carve the senseless stock
Lopt from a tree, or broken from a rock:
People and priest drive on the solemn trade,
And trust the gods that saws and hammers made.]
5
Be heaven and earth amaz'd! 'Tis hard to say
Which are more stupid, or their gods, or they.
O Israel, trust the Lord: He hears and sees,
He knows thy sorrows and restores thy peace▪