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PSALM XC.

O THOU, the Father of us all,
Our refuge from th' original;
That wert our God before
The airy mountains had their birth,
Or fabric of the peopled earth;
And art for evermore.

But frail man daily dying, must
At thy command return to dust;
Or should he ages last,

Ten thousand years are in thy sight
But like a quadrant of the night,
Or as a day that's past.

We, by thy torrent swept from hence,
An empty dream which mocks the sense,
And from the fancy flies;

Such as the beauty of the rose,
Which in the dewy morning blows,
Then hangs the head and dies.

Through daily anguish we expire;
Thy anger a consuming fire,

To our offences due.

Our sins (although by night concealed
By shame and fear,) are all revealed,
And naked to thy view.

Thus in thy wrath our years we spend, And like a sad discourse they end,

Nor but to seventy last;

Or if to eighty they arrive,

We then with age and sickness strive,
Cut off with winged haste.

Who knows the terror of thy wrath,
Or to thy dreadful anger hath

Proportioned his due fear?

Teach us to number our frail days,
That we our hearts to Thee may raise,
And wisely sin forbear.

Lord, oh! how long! at length relent!
And of our miseries repent;

Thy early mercy show,

That we may unknown comforts taste;
For those long days in sorrow past
As long of joy bestow.

The works of thy accustomed grace
Show to thy servants; on their race
Thy cheerful beams reflect-
Oh! let on us thy beauty shine!
Bless our attempts with aid divine,
And by thy hand direct.

THE SONG OF MOSES.

EXODUS XV.

THE praise of our triumphant King,

And of his victory, we sing,

Who in the seas, with horrid force,
O'erthrew the rider and his horse.
My strength, my God, my argument,
My fathers' God, hath safety sent;
To Him will I a mansion raise;
There celebrate his glorious praise.
His sword hath won eternal fame,

And great Jehovah is his name.

Lo, Pharaoh's chariots, his proud host,

Are in the swallowing billows lost.

God in the fathomless profound

Hath all his choice commanders drowned:

Down sunk they, like a falling stone,

By raging whirlwinds overthrown.

Thy powerful hand these wonders wrought;
Our foes by Thee to ruin brought:

Thou, all that durst against Thee fight,
Hast crushed by thy prevailing might.
Thy wrath thy foes to cinders turns,
As fire the sun-dried stubble burns.
Blown by thy nostrils' breath, the flood
In heaps like solid mountains stood:
The sea's divided heart congealed,
Her sandy bottoms first revealed.
Pursue! o'ertake! the Egyptians cried,
Let us their wealthy spoil divide ;
Our sword these fugitives destroy,

And with their slaughter feast our joy.

Thou blewest; those hills their billows spread!

In mighty seas they sunk like lead.

What God is like our God! so high!

So excellent in sanctity!

Whose glorious praise such terror breeds!
So wonderful in all thy deeds!

Thy hand outstretched, the closing womb
Of waves gave all his host one tomb!
But us, who have thy mercy tried,
To our redemption Thou wilt guide-
Guide by thy power, till we possess
The mansion of thy holiness.
Our foes shall this with terror hear;
Sad Palestine grow pale with fear;
Those who the Edomites command,
And Moab's chiefs, shall trembling stand;
The hearts of Canaan melt away,
Like snow before the sun's bright ray.

Horror shall seize on all; not one
But stand like statues cut in stone,

Until thy people pass; e'en those

Whom thou hast ransomed from their foes.
Thou shalt conduct and plant them where
Thy fruitful hills their shoulders rear:

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By thy election dignified,

Where Thou for ever shalt abide.

Thy reign, eternal King, shall last,

When heaven and earth in vapours waste;
While Pharaoh's chariots and his horse
Twixt walls of seas their ways enforce,
Thy hand reduced the obedient waves,
Which closed them in their rolling graves;
But Israel through the bottom sand,
Securely passed as on dry land.

HANNAH'S THANKSGIVING.

1 SAMUEL II.

GOD hath raised my head on high:
O my heart, enlarge my joy!
God hath now my tongue untied,

To retort their scorn and pride.

In thy grace I will rejoice;

Praise Thee while I have a voice.

Who so holy as our Lord!

Who but He to be adored!

Who such wonders can effect!

Who so strongly can protect!
Be no longer arrogant,
Nor in folly proudly vaunt:
God our secret thoughts displays;
All our works his balance weighs.
Giants' bows his forces break;
He with strength invests the weak.
Who were full, now serve for bread;

Those who served, enfranchised.
Barren wombs with children flow;
Fruitful mothers childless grow.
God, frail man of life deprives ;

Those who sleep in death, revives:

Leads us to our silent tombs,

Brings us from those horrid rooms:
Riches sends; sends poverty:

Casteth down and lifts on high.
He, from the despised dust,
From the dunghill, takes the just;
To the height of honour brings;
Plants them on the throne of kings.-
God, earth's mighty pillars made;
He the world upon them laid.
He, his servants' feet will guide:
Wicked souls, who swell with pride,
Will in endless darkness chain,
Since all human strength is vain.

He shall grind his enemies;

Blast with lightning from the skies:
Judge the habitable earth,

All of high and humble birth:

Shall with strength his King renown,
And his Christ with glory crown.

THE LAMENTATION OF DAVID OVER SAUL AND JONATHAN.

2 SAMUEL I.

THY beauty, Israel, is fled,

Sunk to the dead;

How are the valiant fallen! the slain
Thy mountains stain.

Oh! let it not in Gath be known,
Nor in the streets of Ashkelon!

Lest that sad story should excite
Their dire delight!

Lest in the torrent of our woe,
Their pleasure flow:

Lest their triumphant daughters ring

Their cymbals, and their Pæans sing.

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