Bless'd is he, whose soul so learns,

And discerns

Their false hopes, and them forsaketh, Who the God of Jacob's seed,

At his need,

His sure help and refuge maketh.

Who both heav'n and earth did make, And but spake,

And the sea, with their hid treasure, Who doth keep his word, and oath, Firmly both,

And, in keeping them, takes pleasure.

Who doth justice execute,

Ne'er being mute

For the wrongfully oppressed;

Who with plenteous bread doth feed

Them that need,

Loosing prisoners distressed.

God restores the blind to sight,

And sets right

Limbs distorted, lameness curing;

And his love to him that still,

Doth his will,

Is for evermore enduring.

God relieves the fatherless,

In distress,

Widows' plaints to him are moving,
Strangers safely he protects,

PREPARE the voice, and tune the joyful lyre,
And let the glorious theme my soul inspire:
To thee, my God, I sing; thy mighty name
With heav'nly rapture shall my soul inflame.
My tuneful homage shall like incense rise,
And glad the air, and reach th' approving skies;
While life informs this frame, the sacred song
Shall fill my breast, and dwell upon my tongue.

As some fair structure, whose firm basis lies On strength of rocks, the threat'ning winds defies, So stedfastly my hopes on Heav'n are plac'd, Nor earth, nor hell, my confidence can blast. Let others still for human help attend, And on the flatt'ries of the great depend; Relentless death shall mock their airy trust, And lay their boasted confidence in dust. As the fantastic visions of the night, Before the op'ning morning take their flight; So perish all the boasts of men, their pride, And vain designs, the laughing skies deride.

But he alone securely guarded lives,
To whom the mighty God protection gives;
The mighty God, who made the stedfast earth,
And
gave the springs, that swell the ocean, birth;
Who form'd the stars, and spread the circling skies,
And bade the sun in all his glory rise:

No breach of faithfulness his honour stains,
With day and night his word unchang'd remains :
On human woes he looks with pitying eyes,
To help th'oppress'd, and answer all their cries;
The orphan's soft complaint, and widow's tears
Obtain redress, and fix his list'ning ears;
His throne from changes stands for ever free,
And his dominion shall no period see.

MAS. ROWE.

PSALM CXLVIII.

THE Ode is in its nature sufficiently expressive of its origin. It was the offspring of the most vivid, and the most agreeable passions of the mind, of love, joy, and admiration. If we consider man on his

first creation, such as the Sacred Writings represent him; in perfect possession of reason and speech; neither ignorant of his own, nor of the Divine nature, but fully conscious of the goodness, majesty, and power of God; not an unobservant spectator of the beautiful fabric of the universe; is it not probable, that on the contemplation of these objects, his heart would glow with gratitude and love? And is it not probable, that the effect of such an emotion would be an effusion of praise to his great Creator, accompanied with a suitable energy and exaltation of voice? Such indeed were the sensations experienced by the author of that most beautiful Psalm, in which the whole creation is invited to celebrate the glory of the most high God:

"Praise Jehovah from the heavens ;

"Praise him in the heights:

"Praise him all his angels;

"Praise him all his hosts."*

Ps. cxlviii.

This hymn is, therefore, most elegantly imitated, and put into the mouth of Adam by our countryman Milton, who is justly accounted the next in sublimity to those poets, who wrote under the influence of Divine inspiration. Indeed we scarcely seem to conceive rightly of that original and perfect state of man, unless we assign him some of the aids of harmony and poetical expression, to enable him to testify in terms becoming the dignity of the subject, his devout affections towards his infinite Creator.-Lowrн, Lect. 25.

This Hymn*, one of the greatest ornaments of Paradise Lost, is, as Bishop Newton justly observes, an imitation, or rather a sort of a paraphrase, of the cxlviiith Psalm, and (of what is a paraphrase of that) the Canticle placed after Te Deum in the Liturgy, O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord, &c. which is the song of the three children in the Apocrypha.-BISHOP OF SALISBURY's Vindication of Milton, against Lauder.

These are thy glorious works, Parent of good,

Almighty!