Verfes And, Lord, let this be granted me, Thy fervant David's houfe may be 27 25 For thou, my God, didit this impart, Thy fervant hence found in his heart 28 26 And now, O Lord, thou art that God, Thou haft me promis'd all this load 29 27 O then, Lord, to thy fervant's house, 10 For fince thy word is past, O Lord, With bleffings fhall my houfe be flor'd, SONG XIII DAVID'S Thanksgiving and Prayer, when he and the Princes offered willingly for building of the Temple. 1 Chron. xxix. 10,-19. E thou for ever blefs'd, O Lord, Our father Ifra'l's God; For ever be thy name ador'd, And celebrate abroad. II O Lord, the greatnefs and the might, And victory is thine; Glory belongs to thee of right, With majefty divine; For all's thine own, both great and fmall, The kingdom's thine, thou doft 'bove all 12 Both wealth and honour come of thee? O'er all thou haft command, As fov'reign Lord; ability Ver. Yea, thine it is to make them great 13 Now, therefore, O our gracious God, 14 But, who am I! and what are these Strength fhould-be giv'n, with willingness, 14 We but fojourn like ftrangers here, Our days a paffing fhade appear, 16 Of thine own hand, O Lord, it came, To build a houfe for thy great name; 17 My God, I'm alfo fure of this, Now, as for me, with heart upright, And here I fee a joyful fight, The folk have done the fame. 18 Our fathers God, this frame of heart 19 Give Sol'mon too a heart fincere, And to erect the palace fair Ver. 3 SONG XIV. DAVID'S laft Words, viewed in a twofold Lights 2 Sam. xxiii. 3,-7. SECT. I. Viewed as a Direction to Kings and Rulers THE mighty God of heav'n hath fpoke, To them and me doth Ifra'l's Rock Let mortals over mortals reign, 4 Then beauteous, like the morning ray, And fweet, like fragrant flow'ry May, 5 Though not my houfe nor throne be fo Yet he hath made with me, I know, Well order'd ev'ry way; 'Tis my whole blifs, my whole defire, 6,7 But rebel fons of Belial must As both a fhield to fence the just, To juftice, hurtful thorns he doom'd, But quite with fire and fword confum'd, Ffa SECT. II. The fame Words viewed, according to fome interpreters, and the Dutch Tranflation, as a Prophecy of CHRIST, the King of Zion: Whence they may be paraphrafed in the following manner. Ver. A GLORIOUS Ruler over men, 3 Shall in due time appear; 4 Bright, like the rifing fun, fhall he Spread, like the verdant fpring, shall be 5 Although my houfe be not with God. Yet ftands his cov'nant, wide and broad, To which it fall for ever fure, Till he in whom my lines fecure, 6, 7 But, when he mounts, in royal ftate, (Though ftill he'll keep the mercy-feat, Yet fhall his fword of juftice chafe The rebel crew to hell, And walle his murd'rers in the place, Ev'n Salem, where they dwell. PART II. JOB's HYMNS; or, SONGS on feveral Select Places in the Book of JOB. P R E F A C E. THE Occafion of compofing thefe Songs, upon this Book, was, that after a report made in an open Synod, that most of the Scripture Songs were already attempted in common metre, and ready to be tranfcribed, a queftion was put, Whether the book of JCB was confidered in that category? And though a doubt was raised by the Author, if it was to be reckoned among the number of the Scripture Songs, yet the question fet him afterwards a mufing upon the fubject of this book. It is much doubted, among the learned, whether this book of Job is written originally in metre, yea, or not; but though they are of different judgments on this head, yet it is acknowledged by them all, that the fubject of it is treated in a poetical manner, and that therein is difcovered a great air of what is called epic poetry. That there was fuch a man as JoB, eminent for patience in adverfity, is not only evident from this book, that goes under his name, but from feveral other places of fcripture, that make honourable mention of him. And as it is probable, from feripture †, that he was of the pofterity of Nachor, Abraham's brother; fo it may be thence alfo gathered, that the place where he lived was in the eaftern parts of Arabia, and, perhaps, near the river Euphrates, probably not far from Ur; for, it is granted by writers, that the land of Uz, the country of Job, was expofed to the incurfions and depredations of the Caldeans, and that Caldea was caftward of Arabia. The time when Job lived is thought to be before Mofes, there being, in this whole book, no mention made of the law or the prophets, nor any of the wonders God wrought for Ifrael in Egypt, or their travels to the land of Canaan. It is likewife thought, that the long life of Job, which was protracted to two hundred years, agrees much with the time of the old patriarchs; and hence it is reckoned probable, that this book of Job is the oldeft book in the world. Whence alfo his eminent piety and devotion is the more remarkable, that he had no advantage from the divine revelations made to Mofes and the Jewith prophets. The light that directed him, must have been that which the old patriarchs had by oral tradition from Adam and Noah; or by what God was pleafed to communicate fometimes by dreams and vifions in thofe early ages of the world. The book of Job is doctrinal; it is a collection of divine morak: it directs us what we are to believe concerning God. It prefents us, * Ezek. xiv. 14. James v. 11. Gen. xx. 20, 21. and xxxi. 53. as |