11 Teach me, O Lord, thy way most right, I in thy truth will bide ; So shall it never slide. 12 Thee will I praise, O Lord my God, Thee honour and adore my whole heart, and blaze abroad Thy name for evermore. 13 For great thy mercy is toward me, And thou hast freed my soul, From deepest darkness foul. 14 O God, the proud against me rise, And violent men are met No fear of thee have set. 15 But thou, Lord, art the God most mild, Readiest thy grace to show, Most merciful, most true. 16 Oh turn to me thy face at length, And me have mercy on : And save thy handmaid's son. 17 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. 1 Among the holy mountains high Is his foundation fast; His temple there is placed. 2 Sion's fair gates the Lord loves more Than all the dwellings fair And all within his care. 3 City of God, most glorious things Of thee abroad are spoke ; mention Egypt, where proud kings Did our forefathers yoke. 4 I mention Babel to my friends, Philistia full of scorn ; Lo! this man there was born : 5 But twice that praise shall in our ear Be said of Sion last; 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 enrol, 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; Before thee prostrate lie. 2 Into thy presence let my prayer, With sighs devout, ascend ; Thine ear with favour bend. 3 For, cloy'd with woes and trouble sore, Surcharged my soul doth lie; Unto the grave draws nigh. 4 Reckon'd I am with them that pass Down to the dismal pit ; And for that name unfit. 5 From life discharged and parted quite Among the dead to sleep; That in the grave lie deep : Whom thou rememberest no more, Dost never more regard ; Death's hideous house hath barr’d. 6 Thou in the lowest pit profound Hast set me all forlorn, In horrid deeps to mourn. 7 Thy wrath, from which no shelter saves, Full sore doth press on me; And all thy waves break me. 8 Thou dost my friends from me estrange, And makest me odious ; And I here pent up thus. 9 Through sorrow and affliction great, Mine eye grows dim and dead ; My hands to thee I spread. 10 Wilt thou do wonders on the dead ? Shall the deceased arise, 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 wondrous acts be known ? Of dark oblivion ? 13 But I to thee, O Lord, do cry, Ere yet my life be spent; 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, With terror sent from thee? Bruised and afflicted, and so low As ready to expire, 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: 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. |