PSALM CXXXVI. Abridged. Long Met. [*]
GIV
IVE to our God immortal praise !
Mercy and truth are all his ways;
Wonders of grace to God belong,
Repeat his mercies in your fong.
2 Give to the Lord of lords renown,
The King of kings with glory crown;
His mercies ever fhall endure,
When lords and kings are known no more.
3 He built the earth, he fpread the sky,
And fix'd the ftarry lights on high:
Wonders of grace to God belong,
Repeat his mercies in your fong
4 He fills the fun with morning light, He bids the noon direct the night: His mercies ever fhall endure,
When funs and moons fhall fhine no more. 5 The Jews he freed from Pharaoh's hand, And brought them to the promis'd land:
Wonders of grace to God belong,
Repeat his mercies in your fong.
6 He faw the Gentiles dead in fin,
And felt his pity work within :
His mercies ever fhall endure,
When death and fin fhall reign no more.
7 He fent his Son with power to save
From guilt, and darknefs, and the grave;
Wonders grace to God belong,
Repeat his mercies in your fong.
8 Through this vain world he guides our feet, And leads us to his heavenly feat;
His mercies ever fhall endure,
When this vain world fhall be no more.
PSALM CXXXVIII. Long Metre. [*] Reloring and preferving grace.
WI
WITH all my powers of hart and tongue,
I'll praife my Maker in my fong :
Angels fhall hear the notes I raife,
Approve the fong, and join the praife.
Angels, that make thy church their care,
Shall witnefs my devotion there,
While holy zeal directs my eyes
To thy fair temple in the skies.]
3 I'll fing thy truth and mercy, Lord;"
I'll fing the wonders of thy word;
Not all thy works and names below,
So much thy power and glory show.
4 To God I cry'd when troubles rofe;
He heard me, and fubdu'd my foes;
He did my rifing fears control,
And ftrength diffus'd through all my foul.
5 The God of heaven maintains his ftate,
Frowns on the proud and fcorns the great;
But from his throne defcends to fee
The fons of humble poverty,
6 Amidst a thoufand fnares I ftand,
Upheld and guarded by thy hand;
Thy words my fainting foul revive,
And keep my dying faith alive.
7 Grace will complete what grace begins,
To fave from forrows or from fins;
U
The work that wifdom undertakes,
Eternal mercy ne'er forfakes.
PSALM CXXXIX. 1ft Part. Long Met. [b] The all-feeing God.
Li ORD, thou haft fearch'd and feen me through; Thine eye commands with piercing view My rifing and my refting hours, My heart and flesh, with all their powers. 2 My thoughts, before they are my own, Are to my God diftinctly known; He knows the words I mean to fpeak, Ere from my opening lips they break. 3 Within thy circling power I fland; On every fide I find thy hand: Awake, afleep, at home, abroad, I am furrounded ftill with God.
10 "O may these thoughts poffefs my breast
"Where'er I rove, where'er I reft!
"Nor let my weaker paffions dare
"Confent to fin, for God is there."
PAUSE II.
11 The veil of night is no difguife,.
No fcreen from thy all-fearching eyes:
Thy hand can feize thy foes as foon
Through midnight fhades as blazing noon.
12 Midnight and noon in this agree,
Great God, they're both alike to thee;
Not death can hide what God will spy,
And hell lies naked to his eye.
13
"O may thefe thoughts poffefs my breast,
"Where'er 1 rove, where'er I reft!
"Nor let my weaker paffions dare
"Confent to fin, for God is there."
PSALM CXXXIX. 2d Part. Long Met. [b] The wonderful formation of man.
1 WAS from thy hand, my God, I came,
a curious frame;
In me thy fearful wonders fhine,
And each proclaims thy fkill divine.
2 Thine eyes did all my limbs furvey,
Which yet in dark confufion lay;
Thou faw't the daily growth they took,
Form'd by the model of thy book.
3 By thee iny growing parts were nam'd, And what thy fovereign counfels fram'd, (The breathing lungs, the beating heart) Were copy'd with unerring art.
4 At laft, to fhew my Maker's name,
God ftamp'd his image on my frame,
And in fome unknown moment join'd
The finifh'd members to the mind.
5 There the young feeds of thought began,
And all the paffions of the man :
Great God, our infant nature pays
Immortal tribute to thy praife.
PAUSE.
6 Lord, fince in my advancing age
I've acted on life's bufy ftage,
Tny thoughts of love to me furmount
The power of numbers to recount.
7 I could furvey the ocean o'er,
And count each fand that makes the fhore,
Before my fwifteft thoughts could trace
The numerous wonders of thy grace.
8 Thefe on my heart are fill imprefs'd,
With these I give mine eyes to reft;
And at my waking hour I find
God and his love poffefs my mind.
PSALM CXXXIX. 3d Part. Long Met. [b] Sincerity profeffed, and grace tried; or, the heartJearching God.
1 MY God, what inward grief I feel,
I mourn to hear their lips profane
Take thy tremendous name in vain.
2 Does not my foul deteft and hate
The fons of malice and deceit ?
Thofe that oppofe thy laws and thee,
I count them enemies to me.
3 Lord, fearch my foul, try every thought; Though mine own heart accufe me not Of walking in a falfe difguife,
I beg the trial of thine eyes.
4
Doth fecret mischief lurk within?
Do I indulge fome unknown fin?
O turn my feet whene'er I ftray,
And lead me in thy perfect way.
PSALM CXXXIX. 1ft Part. Com. Met. [*] God is every where.
1 N all my vaft concerns with thee,
try
To fhun thy prefence, Lord, or flee
The notice of thine eye.
2 Thine all-furrounding fight surveys
My rifing and my reft;
My public walks, my private ways,
And fecrets of my breast.
3 My thoughts lie open to the Lord, Before they're form'd within;
|