That man is blest who
stands in awe
Of God, and loves His
sacred law:
His seed on earth shall
be renowned;
His house the seat of
wealth shall be,
An inexhausted treasury,
And with successive
honors crowned.
His
lib’ral favors he
extends,
To some he gives, to
others lends;
A gen’rous pity fills
his mind:
Yet what his charity
impairs,
He saves by prudence in
affairs
And thus he’s just to
all mankind.
His hands, while they
his alms bestow’d,
His glory’s future
harvest sow’d;
The sweet remembrance of
the just,
Like a green root,
revives and bears
A train of blessings for
his heirs,
When dying nature sleeps
in dust.
Beset with
threat’ning dangers
round,
Unmov’d shall he
maintain his ground;
His conscience holds his
courage up:
The soul that’s fill’d
with virtue’s light,
Shines brightest in
affliction’s night,
And sees in darkness
beams of hope.
Ill tidings never can
surprise
His heart that fix’d on
God relies,
Though waves and
tempests roar around:
Safe on the rock he
sits, and sees
The shipwreck of his
enemies,
And all their hope and
glory drown’d.
The wicked shall his
triumph see,
And gnash their teeth in
agony,
To find their
expectations cross’d;
They and their envy,
pride, and spite,
Sink down to everlasting
night,
And all their names in
darkness lost.