Amidst the slain, whom none deplore;
Whose hated name revives no more,
Whom God to death consigns.
4 Down sinking to the lowest pit,
Darkness and deeps around him meet,
And wrath o'erwhelms his soul:
The sorrows which our sins impart,
With wave on wave oppress his heart,
And ceaseless o'er him roll.
5 Disciples fled, and friends afar,
No pitying eye his griefs to share,
By Priest and Scribe abhorr'd;
Jesus our weighty guilt sustains!
The Mighty dies!-the tomb detains!
We bless our Dying Lord.
SECOND PART. (vv. 9-14.)
O! in Gethsemane's dark shade,
Our sins upon the Saviour laid,
He pours his tears and cries;
Through life oppress'd with ceaseless woes
But now in blood those sorrows close,
While thus his prayers arise-
2" Say, shall the dead thy wonders see?
Shall death its captive prisoners free,
Thy praises to display?
Say, shall thy kindnesses be shown,
Unchang'd thy faithfulness be known,
Where all things else decay?
3" Lord, shall thy wonders meet our sight,
Where darkness, in eternal night,
Its sable throne maintains ?
Thy righteousness be there confest,
Where all, unseen, forgotten, rest,
And deep oblivion reigns?
"Oft did My morning prayers arise:
Before the dawn o'erspread the skies.
I sought thy aid divine:
Why, O my God, withdraw thy love?
Father, the bitter cup remove-
But, silent, I esign!"
THIRD PART. (vv. 15-18.)
1 HALL, Man of Sorrows: we adore
The love which all our sorrows bore,
From the first infant breath;
But now the Lord, his terrors spread,
His wrath hangs heavy o'er his head,
And sinks his soul in death.
2 Like mighty billows, rolling near,
Around his Cross his foes appear;
His Friends, his God, afar!
But for our guilt his Cross atones,
He triumphs in his dying groans,
And we his victory share.
In this Psalm, appointed to be read on Christmas Day, the Church celebrates
the mercies of God in Christ, and the happiness and security of His people:
and prays for the accomplishment of the promises.
FIRST PART. (vv. 1, 5.) L. M.
Praise for Divine Mercies.
1 THY mercies, Lord, shall be my song;
My song on them shall ever dwell:
To ages yet unborn, my tongue
Thy never-failing truth shall tell.
2 For such stupendous truth and love,
Both heaven and earth just praises owe;
By choirs of angels sung above,
And by assembled saints below.
SECOND PART. (vv. 15-18.) C. M.
The Happiness and Security of the People of God.
LEST are the souls that hear and know
The Gospel's joyful sound;
Peace shall attend the path they go,
And light their steps surround.
2 Their joy shall bear their spirits up
Through their Redeemer's Name;
His righteousness exalts their hope,
Nor Satan dares condemn.
3 The Lord, our Glory and Defence,
Strength and salvation gives;
Israel, thy King for ever reigns,
Thy God for ever lives.
THIRD PART. (vv. 47-52.) F. M.
Life, Death, and Resurrection.
1 THINK, Mighty God, on feeble man,
How few his hours, how short his span!
Short from the cradle to the grave:
Who can secure his vital breath
Against the bold demands of death,
With skill to fly, or power to save?
2 Lord, shall it be for ever said,
'The race of man was only made
For sickness, sorrow, and the dust ?"
Are not thy servants, 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 seed, a heavenly crown?
Why should our trembling hearts despair?
For ever blessed be the Lord,
That faith can read his Holy Word,
And find a Resurrection there.
4 For ever blessed be the Lord,
Who gives his saints a long reward
For all their toil, reproach, and pain!
Let all below, and all above,
Join to proclaim thy wondrous love,
And each repeat a loud Amen.
This Psalm is called, in its title, "A prayer of Moses, the man of God." By him it is imagined to have been composed, when God shortened the days of the murmuring Israelites in the wilderness. See Numb. xiv. It is, however, a Psalm of general use, and is made by the Church a part of her Funeral Service.
FIRST PART. (vv. 1-6.)
God the Help and Hope of frail Man.
GOD, our Help in ages past,
Our Hope for years to come,
Our Shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal Home!
2 Under the shadow of thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure :
Sufficient is thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.
3 Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame;
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
4 A thousand ages in thy sight,
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night,
Before the rising sun.
5 Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away:
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
6 O God! our Help in ages past,
Our Hope for years to come;
Be thou our Guard while life shall last,
And our eternal Home!
SECOND PART. (vv. 7-12.) L. M.
Infirmities and Mortality the effect of Sin.
1 THINE anger, Lord-thine anger's just!
Has doom'd our guilty race to dust:
Thy wrath perpetual round us flows,
And strews the path of life with woes.
2 Our guilt can ne'er escape thine eye
Thou bid'st our sins before Thee lie:
Thy piercing beams our paths survey,
And bring our secret crimes to day.
3 Laden with sorrow and with care,
Our days thy just displeasure bear;
Our years a tale, which flies apace,
Nor memory can the facts retrace.
4 Threescore and ten life's full amount !
Or if, through strength, we eighty count,
The rest what anxious fears attend!
And swift they hasten to their end.
5 But who, Great God, thy judgments round,
Trembles upon the vast profound?
Who can thine awful power declare,
Or know how great thy terrors are?
6 Thou Great Instructor! grace bestow :
Teach us to count our days below:
Let wisdom guide and guard our way,
Then welcome death and endless day.
THIRD PART. (vv. 13-17.) C. M.
Breathing after Mercy and Glory.
1 HOW long! O Lord! return, return,
And change thy wrath for grace :
Propitious, while thy servants mourn,
Oh save a guilty race!
2 Early, my God! thy Mercy send,
And fill our souls with joy;
Then praise shall all our steps attend,
And all our days employ.
3 Now let thy love our peace restore,
Proportion'd to our tears;
Nor let thy just displeasure more
Afflict our following years.
4 Thy work to all thy servants show,
Redemption-work divine!
And let thy glory here below
Around thy children shine.
5 Let all thy grandeur beam abroad,
By all thy Church ador'd;
The beauties of the Lord our God,
Thy glory in thy Word.
6 Our work confirm, our labours bless,
Till from our toils we rise;
And crown our warfare with success,
Eternal in the skies!
This Psalm is addressed, primarily, to Messiah. That it relates to Him. Jews and Christians are agreed; and the Devil, Matt. iv. 6, cited two verses from it,
as universally known and allowed to have been spoken of Him.
"This Psalm may properly be called, the Charter of the Christian's Privi. leges. In its fullest sense it is applicable to Christ; and so part of it was applied by the Devil, in his temptation in the wilderness: but it shall also be realized in the preservation and ultimate salvation of every true Believer in Him."-GOODE.
Safety in Divine Protection.
E that hath made his refuge God,
Shall find a most secure abode;
Shall walk all day beneath his shade,
And there at night shall rest his head.
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