to The beams of noon, the midnight-hour,
Are both alike to thee :
O may I ne'er provoke that pow'r
From which I cannot flee.
PSALM CXXXIX. 2d Part. Com. Met.
The wisdom of God in the formation of man.
HEN I with pleasing wonder stand,
And all my frame furvey,
Lord, 'tis thy work: I own thy hand Thus built my humble clay.
2 Thy hand my heart and reins possest, Where unborn nature grew; Thy wisdom all my features trac'd, And all my members drew. 3 Thine eye with niceft care furvey'd The growth of ev'ry part, 'Till the whole scheme thy thoughts had laid, Was copy'd by thine art.
4 Heav'n, earth and fea, and fire and wind, Shew me thy wond'rous skill;
But I review myself, and find
Diviner wonders still.
5 Thy awful glories round me shine,
My flesh proclaims thy praise;
Lord, to thy works of nature join
Thy miracles of grace.
PSALM CXXXIX. 3d Part. Com. Met.
Ver. 14, 17, 18. The mercies of God innumerable.
I count thy mercies o'er,
They strike me with surprise;
Not all the sands that spread the shore
To equal numbers rife.
2 My flesh with fear and wonder stands,
The product of thy skill;
And hourly blessings from thy hands
Thy thoughts of love reveal.
3 These on my heart by night I keep;
How kind, how dear to me!
O may the hour, that ends my fleep,
Still find my thoughts with thee.
PSALM CXLI. ver. 2-5. Long Metre.
Watchfulness and brotherly reproof.
A morning or evening Pfalm.
Y God, accept my early vows,
Like morning incenfe in thy house;
And let my nightly worship rife,
Sweet as the ev'ning facrifice.
2 Watch o'er my lips, and guard them, Lord,
From ev'ry rash and heedless word;
Nor let my feet incline to tread
The guilty path where sinners lead.
3 O may the righteous, when I stray,
Smite and reprove my wand'ring way!
Their gentle words, like ointment, shed,
Shall never bruise, but cheer my head.
4 When I behold them prest with grief,
I'll cry to heav'n for their relief;
And by my warm petitions prove
How much I prize their faithful. love.
God is the hope of the helpless.
O God I made my forrows known,
From God I fought relief;
In long complaints before his throne
I pour'd out all my grief.
2 My foul was overwhelm'd with woes,
My heart began to break;
My God, who all my burdens knows,
He knows the way I take.
3 On ev'ry side I cast mine eye,
And found my helpers gone ;
While friends and strangers past me by,
Neglected and unknown.
4 Then did I raise a louder cry,
And call'd thy mercy near,
"Thou art my portion when I die,
"Be thou my refuge here."
5 Lord, I am brought exceeding low;
Now let thine ear attend;
And make my foes, who vex me, know
I've an Almighty Friend.
6 From my fad prison fet me free,
Then shall I praise thy name ;
And holy men shall join with me
Thy kindness to proclaim.
PSALM CXLIII. Long Metre. Complaint of heavy afflictions in mind and body. MY righteous Judge, my gracious God, Hear when I fpread my hands abroad,
And cry for fuccour from thy throne,
O make thy truth and mercy known.
2 Let judgment not against me pass;
Behold thy fervant pleads thy grace:
Should justice call us to thy bar,
No man alive is guiltless there.
3 Look down in pity, Lord, and see
The mighty woes that burden me ;
Down to the dust my life is brought,
Like one long bury'd and forgot.
4 I dwell in darkness and unfeen,
My heart is defolate within ;
My thoughts in musing filence trace
The ancient wonders of thy grace.
5 Thence I derive a glimpse of hope
To bear my sinking spirits up;
I stretch my hands to God again,
And thirst, like parched lands, for rain.
6 For thee I thirst, I pray, I mourn ;
When will thy smiling face return ?
Shall all my joys on earth remove ?
And God for ever hide his love?
7 My God, thy long delay to fave
Will fink thy pris'ner to the grave;
My heart grows faint, and dim mine eye;
Make hafte to help before I die.
8 The night is witness to my tears,
Distressing pains, distreffing fears ;
O might I hear thy morning voice,
How would my weary'd pow'rs rejoice!
9 In thee I trust, to thee I figh,
And lift my weary foul on high ;
For thee fit waiting all the day,
And wear the tiresome hours away.
10 Break off my fetters, Lord, and show
Which is the path my feet should go;
If fnares and foes befet the road,
I flee to hide me near my God.
II Teach me to do thy holy will,
And lead me to thy heav'nly hill;
Let the good spirit of thy love
Conduct me to thy courts above.
12 Then shall my foul no more complain,
The tempter then shall rage in vain ;
And flesh, that was my foe before,
Shall never vex my spirit more.
PSALM CXLIV. 1st Part. Com. Metre. Ver. 1, 2. Assistance and victory in the spiritual warfare.
FOREVER blessed be the Lord,
My Saviour and my shield;
He sends his spirit with his word,
To arm me for the field.
2 When fin and hell their force unite,
He makes my foul his care,
Instructs me to the heav'nly fight,
And guards me through the war.
3 A friend and helper so divine
Doth my weak courage raise ;
He makes the glorious vict'ry mine,
And his shall be the praise.
PSALM CXLIV. 2d Part. Com. Metre.
Ver. 3-6. The vanity of man, and condefcenfion
ORD, what is man, poor feeble man,
Born of the earth at first!
His life a fhadow, light and vain,
Still haiting to the dust.
20 what is feeble, dying man,
Or any of his race,
|