Text: | 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 is more stupid, or their gods, or they/
O Israel, trust the Lord: He hears and sees,
He knows thy sorrows and restores thy peace;
His worship does a thousand comforts yield,
He is thy help, and he thine heavenly shield.
6 In GOD we trust; our impious foes in vain
Attempt our ruin and oppose his reign;
Had they prevail'd darkness had clos'd our days,
And death and silence had forbid his praise:
But we are sav'd, and live: Let songs arise,
And Zion bless the GOD that built the skies.
Text Information | |
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First Line: | Not to our names, thou only just and true |
Title: | Idolatry reproved |
Language: | English |
Publication Date: | 1785 |
Scripture: | |
Notes: | Second Metre. As the New Tune of the 50th Psalm |