4 Like one whose strength and hopes are fled, They number me among the dead ;

5 Like those who, shrouded in the grave,
From thee no more remembrance have;
6 Cast off from thy sustaining care,
Down to the confines of despair.

7 Thy wrath has hard upon me lain,
Afflicting me with restless pain;
Me all thy mountain waves have pressed,
Too weak, alas! to bear the least.
8 Removed from friends, I sigh alone,
In a loathed dungeon laid, where none
A visit will vouchsafe to me,
Confined, past hopes of liberty.

9 My eyes from weeping never cease; They waste, but still my griefs increase ; Yet daily, Lord, to thee I've prayed, With out-stretched hands invoked thy aid. 10 Wilt thou by miracle revive

The dead, whom thou forsook'st alive? From death restore, thy praise to sing, Whom thou from prison would'st not bring? 11 Shall the mute grave thy love confess? A mouldering tomb thy faithfulness? 12 Thy truth and power renown obtain Where darkness and oblivion reign? 13 To thee, O Lord, I cry forlorn; My prayer prevents the early morn : 14 Why hast thou, Lord, my soul forsook, Nor once vouchsafed a gracious look? 15 Prevailing sorrows bear me down, Which from my youth with me have grown; Thy terrors passed distract my mind, And fears of blacker days behind. 16 Thy wrath has burst upon my head, Thy terrors fill my soul with dread, 17 Environed as with waves combined, And for a general deluge joined ;— 18 My lovers, friends, familiars, all Removed from sight, and out of call, To dark oblivion all retired, Dead, or, at least, to me expired.

1

ΤΗ

PSALM 89.

HY 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 1 have affirmed, and still maintain, Thy mercy shall for ever last;

Thy truth, that does the heavens sustain,
Like them shall stand for ever fast.

3 Thus spak'st thou by thy prophet's voice :-
"With David I a league have made;
"To him, my servant, and my choice,

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By solemn oath this grant conveyed: 4"While earth, and seas, and skies endure, "Thy seed shall in my sight remain ; "To them thy throne I will ensure;

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They shall to endless ages reign."

5 For such stupendous truth and love,
Both heaven and earth just praises owe,
By choirs of angels sung above,

And by assembled saints below.

6 What seraph of celestial birth

To vie with Israel's God shall dare?
Or who, among the gods of earth,
With our Almighty Lord compare?

7 With reverence and religious dread,

His saints should to his temple press;
His fear through all their hearts should spread,
Who his almighty name confess.

8 Lord God of armies, who can boast

Of strength or power like thine renowned ? Of such a numerous, faithful host,

As that which does thy throne surround?

9 Thou dost the lawless sea control,

And change the prospect of the deep; Thou mak'st the sleeping billows roll, Thou mak'st the rolling billows sleep. 10 Thou brak'st in pieces Rahab's pride, And didst oppressing power disarm ; Thy scattered foes have dearly tried The force of thy resistless arm.

11 In thee the sovereign right remains
Of earth and heaven; thee, Lord, alone,
The world, and all that it contains,
Their Maker and Preserver own.

12 The poles, on which the globe does rest,
Were formed by thy creating voice;
Tabor and Hermon, east and west,
In thy sustaining power rejoice.

13 Thy arm is mighty, strong thy hand,

Yet, Lord, thou dost with justice reign;

14 Possessed of absolute command,

Thou truth and mercy dost maintain. 15 Happy, thrice happy, they, who hear Thy sacred trumpet's joyful sound, Who may at festivals appear,

With thy most glorious presence crowned. 16 Thy saints shall always be o'erjoyed, Who on thy sacred name rely,

And, in thy righteousness employed,
Above their foes be raised on high.

17 For in thy strength they shall advance, Whose conquests from thy favour spring; 18 The Lord of hosts is our Defence,

And Israel's God our Israel's King.

19 Thus spak'st thou by thy prophet's voice :"A mighty champion I will send ; "From Judah's tribe have I made choice "Of one, who shall the rest defend.

20" My servant David I have found, "With holy oil anointed him;

21" Him shall the hand support that crowned, "And guard, that gave the diadem. 22"No prince from him shall tribute force, "No son of strife shall him annoy ; 23"His spiteful foes I will disperse,

"And them before his face destroy.

24 "My truth and grace shall him sustain ;
"His armies, in well-ordered ranks,
25" Shall conquer from the Tyrian main
“To Tigris' and Euphrates' banks.

26 Me for his Father he shall take,
"His God and Rock of safety call

27" Him I my first-born son will make, "And earthly kings his subjects all.

28To him my mercy I'll secure,

"My covenant make for ever fast; 29"His seed for ever shall endure:

"His throne, till heaven dissolves, shall last.

PART II.

30 "But if his heirs my law forsake,

"And from my sacred precepts stray; 31"If they my righteous statutes break, "Nor strictly my commands obey ;32Their sins I'll visit with a rod,

"And for their folly make them smart, 33 "Yet will not cease to be their God,

"Nor from my truth, like them, depart. 34"My covenant I will ne'er revoke,

"But in remembrance fast retain ;
"The thing that once my lips have spoke
"Shall in eternal force remain.

35"Once have I sworn, but once for all,
"And made my holiness the tie,
"That I my grant will ne'er recall,
"Nor to my servant David lie,-

36"Whose throne and race the constant sun
"Shall, like his course, established see:
37"Of this my oath, thou conscious moon,
"In heaven my faithful witness be."

38 Such was thy gracious promise, Lord;
But thou hast now our tribes forsook,
Thy own Anointed hast abhorred,

And turned on him thy wrathful look. 39 Thou seemest to have rendered void The covenant with thy servant made; Thou hast his dignity destroyed,

And in the dust his honour laid. 40 Of strong holds thou hast him bereft, And brought his bulwarks to decay; 41 His frontier coasts defenceless left, A public scorn, and common prey. 42 His ruin does glad triumphs yield

To foes, advanced by thee to might;

43 Thou hast his conquering sword unsteeled, His valour turned to shameful flight.

44 His glory is to darkness fled,

His throne is levelled with the ground;

45 His youth to wretched bondage led,

With shame o'erwhelmed, and sorrow drowned.

46 How long shall we thy absence mourn?
Wilt thou for ever, Lord, retire?
Shall thy consuming anger burn,
Till that and we at once expire?
47 Consider, Lord, how short a space
Thou dost for mortal life ordain;
No method to prolong the race,

But loading it with grief and pain. 48 What man is he that can control

Death's strict, unalterable doom?
Or rescue from the grave his soul,
The grave, that must mankind entomb?
49 Lord, where's thy love, thy boundless grace,
The oath to which thy truth did seal,
Consigned to David and his race,

The grant which time shall ne'er repeal?

50 See how thy servants treated are

With infamy, reproach and spite,
Which in my silent breast I bear,
From nations of licentious might ;-

51 How they, reproaching thy great name,
Have made thy servant's hope their jest ;

52 Yet thy just praises we'll proclaim,

And ever sing, The Lord be blessed.

PSALM 90.

LORD, the Saviour and Defence
Of us thy chosen race,

From age to age thou still hast been
Our sure Abiding-place.

2 Before thou brought'st the mountains forth,
Or the earth and world didst frame,
Thou always wast the mighty God,
And ever art the same.

3 Thou turnest man, O Lord, to dust,
Of which he first was made;