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Of my incessant' prayers afford
Thy hearing graciously.

I in the day of my distress,
Will call on thee for aid;
For thou wilt grant' me 'free access,
And' answer what I pray'd.'

8 Like thee among the Gods is none,
O Lord, nor any works

'Of all that other Gods have done'
Like to thy glorious' works.

9 The nations all whom thou hast made
Shall come, and all shall frame'
To bow them low before thee, Lord,
And glorify thy name.

10 For great thou art, and wonders great
By thy strong hand are done,

Thou in thy everlasting seat'
Remainest God alone.

11 Teach me, O Lord, thy way 'most right; I in thy truth will bide,

To fear thy name my heart unite,
'So shall it never slide.

12 Thee will I praise, O Lord my God,
'Thee honour and adore'

With my whole heart, and blaze abroad
Thy name for evermore.

13 For great thy mercy is toward me,
And thou hast freed my soul,

Even from the lowest Hell set free,

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From deepest darkness foul.'

14 O God, the proud against me rise,
And violent men are met

To seek my life, and in their eyes
No fear of thee have set.

15 But thou, Lord, art the God most mild, Readiest thy grace to shew,

Slow to be angry, and art styled'
Most merciful, most true.

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16 O turn to me thy face at length'

And me have mercy on,

Unto thy servant give thy strength,
And save thy handmaid's son.

7 Some sign of good to me afford,
And let my foes 'then' see,

And be ashamed; because thou Lord
Dost help and comfort me.

PSALM LXXXVII.

'high'

1 AMONG the holy mountains '
Is his foundation fast,
'There seated in his sanctuary,
His temple there is placed."

2 Sion's fair' gates the Lord loves more
Than all the dwellings 'fair'

Of Jacob's land, though there be store,
And all within his care.'

3 City of God, most glorious things
Öf thee abroad' are spoke;

4 I mention Egypt,' where proud kings
Did our forefathers yoke.'

I mention Babel to my friends,
Philistia' full of scorn,'

And Tyre with Ethiops' utmost ends,'
Lo this man there was born:

5 But twice that praise shall in our ear
Be said of Sion 'last,'

This and this man was born in her,
High God shall fix her fast.

6 The Lord shall write it in a scroll
That ne'er shall be out-worn,
When he the nations doth inroll,
That this man there was born.

7 Both they who sing, and they who dance
'With sacred songs are there,'

In thee fresh brooks, and soft streams glance, And all my fountains clear.'

PSALM LXXXVIII.

1 LORD God that dost me save and keep,

All day to thee I cry ;

And all night long before thee weep,
Before thee prostrate lie."

2 Into thy presence let my prayer
With sighs devout ascend;'

And to my cries, that 'ceaseless are,'
Thine ear with favour bend.

3 For cloy'd with woes and trouble sore
Surcharged my soul doth lie,
My life at death's uncheerful door,'
Unto the grave draws nigh.

4 Reckon'd I am with them that pass
Down to the dismal' pit,

I am a man, but weak alas,
And for that name unfit.

5 From life discharged and parted quite
Among the dead to 'sleep,'
And like the slain in 'bloody fight'
That in the grave lie deep."

Whom thou rememberest no more,
Dost never more regard,

Them from thy hand deliver'd o'er,
'Death's hideous house hath barr'd.'

6 Thou in the lowest pit profound'
Hast set me all forlorn,'

Where thickest darkness hovers round,'
In horrid deeps' to mourn.'

7 Thy wrath, from which no shelter saves,'
Full sore doth press on me ;
Thou break'st upon me all thy waves,
And all thy waves break me.

8 Thou dost my friends from me estrange, And makest me odious,

Me to them odious, for they change,'
And I here pent up thus.

9 Through sorrow, and affliction great,
Mine eye grows dim and dead,
Lord, all the day I thee entreat,
My hands to thee I spread.

10 Wilt thou do wonders on the dead,
Shall the deceased- arise,

And praise thee from their loathsome bed
With pale and hollow eyes?'

11 Shall they thy loving kindness tell
On whom the grave' hath hold,'
Or they who in perdition dwell,'
Thy faithfulness 'unfold?'

12 In darkness can thy mighty 'hand
Or' wonderous acts be known,
Thy justice in the 'gloomy' land
Of 'dark' oblivion?

13 But I to thee, O Lord, do cry,
'Ere yet my life be spent,'

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And up to thee' my prayer doth hie,'
Each morn, and thee prevent.

14 Why wilt thou, Lord, my soul forsake,
And hide thy face from me?

15 That am already bruised, and shake
With terror sent from thee?

Bruised, and afflicted, and so low'
As ready to expire,
While I thy terrors undergo

Astonish'd with thine ire.

16 Thy fierce wrath over me doth flow, Thy threatenings cut me through: 17 All day they round about me go, Like waves they me pursue.

18 Lover and friend thou hast removed,
And sever'd from me far:

They fly me now' whom I have loved,
And as in darkness are.

A PARAPHRASE ON PSALM CXIV.

This and the following Psalm were done by the Author at fifteen years old.

WHEN the bless'd seed of Terah's faithful son
After long toil, their liberty had won,
And pass'd from Pharian fields to Canaan land,
Led by the strength of the Almighty's hand,
Jehovah's wonders were in Israel shown,
His praise and glory was in Israel known

That saw the troubled sea, and shivering fled,
And sought to hide his froth-becurled head
Low in the earth; Jordan's clear streams recoil
As a faint host that hath received the foil.
The high, huge-bellied mountains skip like rams
Amongst their ewes, the little hills like lambs.
Why fled the ocean? and why skipp'd the mountains?
Why turned Jordan toward his crystal fountains?
Shake Earth, and at the presence be aghast
Of Him that ever was, and aye shall last,
That glassy floods from rugged rocks can crush,
And make soft rills from fiery flint-stones gush.

PSALM CXXXVI.

LET us with a gladsome mind
Praise the Lord, for he is kind,
For his mercies aye endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.
Let us blaze his name abroad,
For of Gods he is the God.
For his, &c.

O let us his praises tell,

Who doth the wrathful tyrants quell.

For his, &c.

Who with his miracles doth make

Amazed Heaven and Earth to shake.

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Who by his all-commanding might

Did fill the new-made world with light
For his, &c.

And caused the golden-tressed sun,
All the day long his course to run.
For his, &c.

The horned moon to shine by night,
Amongst her spangled sisters bright.
For his, &c.

He with his thunder-clasping hand
Smote the first-born of Egypt land.
For his, &c.

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