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Ver. To thee, Lord, in the shade of night,
My foul's defire was drawn ;
Yea, with my fpirit's inward might
I'll feek thee in the dawn;

For when thy judgments juft appear
On earth severe and flern,

The world's indwellers wife will fear,
And righteoufnefs will learn.

10 But to the wicked mercy be,
As well as judgment shown;

Yet righteoufnefs nor learn will he,
Nor dafh his idols down:

Ev'n in the land where truth's declar'd,
And justice hath abode,
He'll be unjuft; nor will regard
The majesty of God.

II Lord, when thy lifted hand's in fight,
Yet fee they won't at all;

They fhut their eyes from cleareft light:
But fee at length they fhall:

And blufh, that they, from blind envy,
Did treat thy folk with spite:
The fiery wrath, thy foes defy,
Shall foon devour them quite.

SECT. III. Gop's Favour to bis People.

12 Theu, Lord, wilt peace for us ordain :
For, far above our thought,

Thou all our works of grace and gain,
Haft in and for us wrought.

13 Strange lords instead of thee, O Lord,
Have o'er us domineer'd:

But we'll through grace thy name record
As only to be fear'd.

14 Dead and deceas'd, thefe tyrants fhall
Nor live nor rife to bite;

Thy vifit, killing them, made all

Their mem'ry perish quite.
+ Oo

Ver. Thy nation once thou did!t increafe;
Then Lord they multiply'd:

15

(In this, was shown thy faithfulness)
And thou art glorify'd.

Yet juftly now we captives are
For fin, which thee offends;
Thou haft remov'd the nation far,
To earth's remoteft ends.

16 In trouble, Lord, thy folk diftrefs'd
To vifit thee took care;

And when thy chaft'ning hand them prefs'd
Pour'd out a fervent pray'r.

[The floods, in which vain hopes were drown'd,
Set praying fhips a-float;
Nor were they melted till they found
The furnace burning hot.]

17 As women, pregnant and in pain,
When time of birth draws nigh,

Cry out in pangs; fuch, Lord, have been
Our cafe before thine eye.

18 We lab'ring did of child-birth find
The pain, but not the joy;

We brought forth, as it were, but wind;
No profit, but annoy.

For by us no deliv'rance rofe,

Within the land at all;

Nor was the world of foreign foes

Before us made to fall.

19 But, lo! thy dead fhall live and spring,
With my dead body well

They fhall arife: awake, and fing,
Ye in the duft that dwell.

Spring-dews the bury'd herbs renew;

Thine just refembles thofe ;

Earth fhall caft out the dead, and thou

Caft down gigantic foes.

SECT. IV. An Exhortation to rely on GoD.
20 Come, children, to your Father's arms,
While ftormy tempefts chafe;

Take fhelter here from threat'ning harms,
In chambers of my grace,

Ver. Your clofet-doors, by faith and pray'r,
Be fhut about you faft:
Hide for a little moment there,

Till wrath be overpast.

21 For, lo! the Lord, the Judge of faints,
Comes from his place betimes,
To punish th' earth's inhabitants
For all their bloody crimes.

3

The earth fhall all her crying bloods,
And fecret fins disclose;
Nor cover more her flain with clods,
But all to light expofe.

SONG IX.

A Song of God's Care over bis Vineyard.
Ifa. xxvii. 2,-6.

SING ye to God, the vineyard fair,
Of choiceft rudy-wine,

Which I the Lord do keep with care,
And cultivate as mine.

I'll every moment water it,

To make it fresh and gay;
And none to hurt it will permit,
But keep it night and day.

4 Nor fury is in me 'gainst it;

5

9

Who then, with lifted horns,
'Gainft me in battle-rank would fet
An hoft of briars and thorns?
Soon would I, like a flaming fire,
Go thro' and burn them quite;
[But vengeance is not my defire,
For mercy's my delight].

Let then the finner's holding be
My arm of pow'r for all,

That thus he may make peace with me,

And make the peace he fhall.

For God will cause the progeny
Of Jacob to take root;

And blooming Ifra'l fhall fupply

The barren world with fruit.

SONG X.

The Song of HEZEKIAH, when his Life was length-
ened, after a Meffage of Death.
Ifa. xxviii. 10,-30.

Ver. HEAV'N's fentence to cut off my days,

10

Thus made me vent my fears;

To death's black gates I'll go, alas!
'Reft of my running years.

II No more I'll fee the Lord, said I,
Here in this lower court;
No mortal more on earth efpy,
In friendship there refort.

12 Soon like a fhepherd's tent aloof
Gone is this age of mine;

Quite like a weaver's thrumb cut off
My life I muft refign.

He'll me with pining ficknefs waste,
Ere nature's courfe be done :
From day to night purfu'd with hafle;
Lord, thou wilt end me foon.

13 Till morn I thought that lion-like,
He all my bones would break:
Ere night that going on to ftrike
An end of me he'd make.

14 As cran or fwallow chatt'ring rove,
In fright, fo did I moan;
And as a tim'rous lonely dove,
So did I mourn and groan.
With looking up mine eyes diftrefs'd
Did fail, nor help could fee:
Then faid I, Lord, I am opprefs'd;
O undertake for me!

15 What fhall I fay? for kindly now
The Lord to me hath spoke;
And done as he had promis'd too,
Death's fentence to revoke.

I'll therefore foftly walk the whole
Of my remaining years,

In bitter mournfulness of foul,
For all my finful fears.

Ver. Lord, by thefe quick'ning words of thine 16 Men's fouls and bodies live:

In thefe doth ftand this life of mine,

So didft thou me revive.

17 Peace fled; and lo! great bitterness
I had in place of it;

But thou, my foul, didft love and blefs
From black corruption's pit:

Yea, thou haft prov'd that I am lov'd
From death's abyss and wreck ;
For all my fins thou haft remov'd,
And caft behind thy back.

18 Mute graves can ne'er thy praise emit; Death cannot fing thy fame;

No pris'ner in the filent pit

Can magnify thy name:

No bury'd duft can speak thy praise,
Nor fleeping afhes fhow

Thy truth, to ground their hope, and raise

Thy honour here below.

19 The living he, the living fhall
Thy praifes found remain,

As I this day; fo do fhall all

Who do not live in vain.

Fathers fhall to their fons make known

Thy faithfulness of grace,
And to convey thy wonders down
Through ev'ry rising race.

20 To fave my life the Lord was bent:
We'll therefore fing his praife;
And in his houfe my fongs accent
That fhall outlive our days.

SONG XI.

Flesh fading, the Word of the Lord abiding.
Ifa. xl. 6, 7, 8. 1 Pet. i. 24, 25.

RY, faid the voice, All flesh is grafs,

CRY

That fprings, and fades as foon;

Like morning flow'rs, in faireft drefs,
That wither quite at noon.

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