" My cov'nant stands for ever fast;
"My promises are strong;
"Firm as the heav'ns his throne shall last, "His feed endure as long."
PSALM LXXXIX. 5th Part. Com. Met.
The covenant of grace unchangeable; or, afflic tion without rejection,
ET, (faith the Lord) if David's race, "The children of my Son, "Should break my laws, abuse my grace, " And tempt mine anger down; 2 "Their fins I'll vifit with the rod, "And make their folly smart ; "But I'll not cease to be their God, "Nor from my truth depart.
3 "My cov'nant I will ne'er revoke, "But keep my grace in mind : "And what eternal love hath spoke, "Eternal truth shall bind.
4 "Once have I sworn, (I need no more) "And pledg'd my holiness, "To feal the sacred promise fure "To David and his race.
"The fun shall see his offspring rife,
"And fpread from fea to sea,
"Long as he travels round the skies,
"To give the nations day.
6 "Sure as the moon, that rules the night,
"His kingdom shall endure, "Till the fix'd laws of shade and light "Shall be obsery'd no more."
PSALM LXXXIX. 2d Part. Long Met.
Ver. 47, &c. Martality and Hope.
REMEMBER, Lord, our mortal state,
How frail our life! how short the date!
Where is the man that draws his breath
Safe from disease, secure from death?
2 Lord, while we see whole nations die,
Our flesh and sense repine and cry,
"Must death for ever rage and reign ?
"Or haft thou made mankind in vain ?
3 "Where is thy promise to the just?
"Are not thy servants turn'd to dust?"
But faith forbids these mournful fighs,
And fees the fleeping duft arife.
4 That glorious hour, that dreadful day,
Wipes the reproach of faints away,
And clears the honour of thy word::
Awake, our fouls, and bless the Lord.
PSALM LXXXIX, laft Part. Part.Met.
Life, Death, and the Resurrection,
THINK, mighty God, on feeble man;
How few his hours! how short his span!
Short from the cradle to the grave :
Who can fecure his vital breath
Against the bold demands of death,
With skill to fly, or pow'r to save?
2 Lord, shall it be for ever said,
"The race of man was only made
"For fickness, forrow, and the dust ?"
Are not thy fervants, day by day,
Sent to their graves, and turn'd to clay ?
Lord, where's thy kindness to the just?
3 Hast thou not promis'd to thy Son,
And all his feed, a heav'nly crown?
But flesh and fenfe indulge defpair:
For ever blessed be the Lord,
That faith can read his holy word,
And tind a refurrection there.
4 For ever blessed be the Lord,
Who gives his faints a long reward
For all their toil, reproach and pain,
Let all below, and all above,
Join to proclaim thy wond'rous love,
And each repeat a loud amen.
Long Metre.
Man mortal, and God eternal.
A mournful fong at a funeral.
THROUGH cv'ry age, eternal God!
Thou art our rest, our safe abode ;
High was thy throne ere heav'n was made,
Or earth thy humble footstool laid.
2 Long hadst thou reign'd ere time began,
Or dust was fashion'd into man;
And long thy kingdom shall endure,
When earth and time shall be no more.
3 But man, weak man, is born to die,
Made up of guilt and vanity:
Thy dreadful fentence, Lord, was just,
"Return, ye finners, to your duft."
4 [A thousand of our years amount
Scarce to a day in thine account;
Like yesterday's departed light,
Or the last watch of ending night.]
5 Death, like an overflowing stream,
Sweeps us away: our life's a dream;
An empty tale; a morning flow'r,
Cut down and wither'd in an hour.
6 [Our age to seventy years is fet:
How short the term! how frail the state !
And if to eighty we arrive,
We rather figh and groan than live.
7 But O how oft thy wrath appears,
And cuts off our expected years;
Thy wrath awakes our humble dread;
We fear the pow'r that strikes us dead.]
8 Teach us, O Lord, how frail is man!
And kindly lengthen out our span,
Till a wife care of piety
Fit us to die and dwell with thee.
PSALM XC. It Part.
Ver. 1-5. Man frail, and God eternal.
UR God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blaft,
And our eternal home.
2 Under the shadow of thy throne
Thy faints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is thine arm alone,.
And our defence is fure.
3 Before the hills in order stood,
Or carth recoiv'd her frame,
From everlasting thou art God,
To endless years the fame.
4 Thy word commands our flesh to dust,
"Return, ye fons of men :"
All nations rose from earth at first,
And turn to earth again.
5 A thousand ages, in thy fight,
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night,
Before the rifing fun.
6 [The bufy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by the flood,
And lost in following years.
7 Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its fons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the op'ning day.
8 Like flow'ry fields the nations stand,
Pleas'd with the morning light :
The flow'rs beneath the mower's hand
Lie with'ring ere 'tis night.]
9 Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.
PSALM XC. 2d Part.
Ver. 8, 11, 9, 10, 12.
Infirmities and mortality the effect of fin; or, life,
old age, and preparation for death.
if thine eyes furvey our faults,
And justice grows severe,
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