OXFORD SELECTION.

PSALM 1.

How blest are they who ne'er consent
By ill advice to walk;

Nor stand in sinners' ways, nor sit
Where men profanely talk:

But make the perfect law of God
Their business and delight;
Devoutly read therein by day,
And meditate by night.

Like some fair tree, which, fed by streams,
With timely fruit does bend;
They still shall flourish, and success
All their designs attend.

PSALM 3.

My God how many are my fears,
My foes do much increase;
Conspiring my eternal death,
They break my present peace.

But thou my glory, and my strength,
Shalt on the tempter tread;
Shalt silence all my threat'ning guilt,
And raise my drooping head.

Salvation to the Lord belongs,
His arm alone can save;
Blessings attend his people here,
And reach beyond the grave.

Why troubled, why cast down, my soul?
Trust God, and he'll employ
His aid for thee, and change thy sighs
To thankful hymns of joy.

PSALM 5.

LORD, hear the voice of my complaint,
Accept my fervent prayer;
To thee alone my King, my God,
Will I for help repair.

Thou in the morn my voice shalt hear;
And, with the dawning day,

To thee devoutly I'll look up,
To thee devoutly pray.

And when thy boundless grace shall me
To thy lov'd courts restore;

On thee I'll fix my longing eyes,
And humbly there adore.

There let all those, who trust in thee,
With shouts their joy proclaim;
Let them rejoice whom thou preserv'st,
And all that love thy name.