[Vision2020] Calvinist imprecatory prayer (Standard English)

[Sue Hovey]

Well this certainly is more an imprecatory prayer than, say, "May the Bird 
of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose," which, it seems to me, is quite appropriate 
for several of your detractors.  And thanks for the Std English Translation. 
I missed more than just a bit of it in the original.

Sue Hovey

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ralph Nielsen" <nielsen at uidaho.edu>
To: <Vision2020 at moscow.com>
Cc: "J Ford" <privatejf32 at hotmail.com>; "Taro Tanaka" 
<taro_tanaka at hotmail.com>
Sent: Monday, December 18, 2006 3:51 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] Calvinist imprecatory prayer (Standard English)


> Standard English Translation
>
> Holy Willie''s Prayer
>
>
> O You that in the Heavens does dwell,
> Who, as it pleases best Yourself,
> Sends one to Heaven and ten to Hell
> All for Your glory,
> And not for any good or ill
> They have done before You!
>
> I bless and praise Your matchless might,
> When thousands You have left in night,
> That I am here before Your sight,
> For gifts and grace
> A burning and a shining light
> To all this place.
>
> What was I, or my generation,
> That I should get such exaltation?
> I, who deserved most just damnation
> For broken laws
> Six thousand years before my creation,
> Through Adam's cause!
>
> When from my mother's womb I fell,
> You might have plunged me deep in hell
> To gnash my gums, and weep, and wail
> In burning lakes,
> Where damned devils roar and yell,
> Chained to their stakes.
>
> Yet I am here, a chosen sample,
> To show Your grace is great and ample:
> I am here a pillar of Your temple,
> Strong as a rock,
> A guide, a buckler, and example
> To all Your flock!
>
> But yet O Lord! confess I must:
> At times I am irked with fleshly lust;
> And sometimes, too, in worldly trust,
> Vile self gets in;
> But You remembers we are dust,
> Defiled with sin.
>
> O Lord! last night, You know, with Meg -
> Your pardon I sincerely beg -
> O, may it never be a living plague
> To my dishonour!
> And I will never lift a lawless leg
> Again upon her.
>
> Besides, I further must avow -
> With Leezie's girl (daughter), three times, I think -
> But, Lord, that Friday I was drunk,
> When I came near her,
> Or else, You know, Your servant true
> Would never meddle with her.
>
> Maybe You let this fleshly thorn
> Buffet Your servant evening and morning,
> Lest he too proud and high should turn
> That he is so gifted:
> If so, Your hand must even be borne
> Until You lift it.
>
> Lord, bless Your chosen in this place,
> For here You have a chosen race!
> But God confound their stubborn face
> And blast their name,
> Who bring Your elders to disgrace
> And open shame!
>
> Lord, remember Gavin Hamilton's deserts:
> He drinks, and swears, and plays at cards,
> Yet has so many taking arts
> With great and small,
> From God's own Priest the peoples hearts
> He steals away.
>
> And when we chastened him therefore,
> You know how he bred such a row,
> And set the world in a roar
> Of laughing at us:
> Curse You his basket and his store,
> Cabbage and potatoes!
>
> Lord, hear my earnest cry and prayer
> Against that Presbytery of Ayr!
> Your strong right hand, Lord, make it bear
> Upon their heads!
> Lord, visit them, and do not spare,
> For their misdeeds!
>
> O Lord, my God! that glib-tongued Aiken,(preacher)
> My very heart and flesh are quaking
> To think how we stood sweating, shaking,
> And pissed with dread,
> While he, with hanging lip and sneering,
> Held up his head.
>
> Lord, in Your day of vengeance try him!
> Lord, visit him who did employ him!
> And pass not in Your mercy by them,
> Nor hear their prayer,
> But for Your people's sake destroy them,
> And do not spare!
>
> But, Lord, remember me and mine
> With mercies temporal and divine,
> That I for grace and wealth may shine
> Excelled by none;
> And all the glory shall be Yours -
> Amen, Amen!
>
>
>
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