Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/130

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��POEMS DURING CIVIL WAR AND PROTECTORATE

��He travails big with vanity; Trouble he hath conceived of old As in a womb, and from that mould Hath at length brought forth a lie.

He digg'd a pit, and delved it deep,

And fell into the pit he made:

His mischief, that due course doth keep,

Turns on his head: and his ill trade

Of violence will undelayed

Fall on his crown with ruin steep. 60

Then will I Jehovah's praise According to his justice raise, And sing the Name and Deity Of Jehovah the Most High.

��PSALM VIII (August 14, 1653)

O JEHOVAH our Lord, how wondrous great And glorious is thy name through all the

earth, So as above the heavens thy praise to

set!

Out of the tender mouths of latest bearth, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings

thou

Hast founded strength, because of all thy foes,

��To stint the enemy, and slack the avenger's

brow,

That bends his rage thy providence to oppose.

When I behold thy heavens, thy fingers' art,

The moon and stars, which thou so

bright hast set 10

In the pure firmament, then saith my heart,

Oh, what is man that thou rememberest

yet

And think'st upon him, or of man begot That him thou visit' st, and of him art

found ? Scarce to be less than gods thou mad'st his

lot;

With honour and with state thou hast him crowned.

O'er the works of thy hand thou mad'st

him lord;

Thou hast put all under his lordly feet, All flocks and herds, by thy commanding

word,

All beasts that in the field or forest

meet, 20

Fowl of the heavens, and fish that through

the wet Sea-paths in shoals do slide, and know

no dearth.

O Jehovah our Lord, how wondrous great And glorious is thy name through all the earth !

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