O SING a new song to the Lord,
Make, all and every one,
A joyful noise, even for the King
His restoration.
The sons of Belial in the land
Did set their heads together;
Come, let us sweep them off, said they,
Like an oerflowing river.
They set their heads together, I say,
They set their heads together;
On right, on left, on every hand,
We saw none to deliver.
Thou madest strong two chosen ones
To quell the Wickeds pride;
That Young Man, great in Issachar,
The burden-bearing tribe.
And him, among the Princes chief
In our Jerusalem,
The judge thats mighty in thy law,
The man that fears thy name.
Yet they, even they, with all their strength,
Began to faint and fail:
Even as two howling, ravenous wolves
To dogs do turn their tail.
Th ungodly oer the just prevaild,
For so thou hadst appointed;
That thou mightst greater glory give
Unto thine own anointed.
And now thou hast restored our State,
Pity our Kirk also;
For she by tribulations
Is now brought very low.
Consume that high-place, Patronage,
From off thy holy hill;
And in thy fury burn the book
Even of that man MGill. 1
Now hear our prayer, accept our song,
And fight thy chosens battle:
We seek but little, Lord, from thee,
Thou kens we get as little.
Note 1. Dr. William MGill of Ayr, whose Practical Essay on the Death of Jesus Christ led to a charge of heresy against him. Burns took up his cause in The Kirk of Scotlands Alarm (p. 351).Lang. [back]
