The Lord shall thy best hopes fulfill, For months and years to come; The Lord, who dwells on Zion's hill, Shall send the blessings home.

This is the man whose happy eyes
Shall see his house increase;
Shall see the sinking church arise,
Then leave the world in peace.

ISAAC WATTS (1674-1748).

PSALM CXXIX.

Up from my youth, may Israel say,
Have I been nursed in tears;
My griefs were constant as the day,
And tedious as the years.

Up from my youth I bore the rage
Of all the sons of strife;
Oft they assailed my riper age,
But not destroyed my life.

Their cruel plow hath torn my flesh,
With furrows long and deep;
Hourly they vex my wounds afresh;
Nor let my sorrows sleep.

The Lord grew angry on his throne,
And with impartial eye,

Measured the mischiefs they had done,
And let his arrows fly.

How was their insolence surprised
To hear his thunders roll!
And all the foes of Zion seized
With horror to the soul.

Thus shall the men, who hate the saints.
Be blasted from the sky;
Their glory fades, their courage faints,
And all their projects die.

What though they flourish tall and fair,
They have no root beneath;
Their growth shall perish in despair,
And lie despised in death.

So corn that on the house-tops stands,
No hope of harvest gives;
The reaper ne'er shall fill his hands,
Nor binder fold the sheaves.

It springs and withers on the place: No traveller bestows

A word of blessing on the grass, Nor minds it as he goes.

ISAAC WATTS (1674-1748).

PSALM CXXX.

DE PROFUNDIS.

OUT of the depths of woe
To Thee, o Lord! I cry,
Darkness surrounds me, but I know
That Thou art ever nigh.

Then hearken to my voice,

Give ear to my complaint; Thou bid'st the mourning soul rejoice, Thou comfortest the faint.

I cast my hope on Thee;

Thou can'st, Thou wilt, forgive; Wert Thou to mark iniquity,

Who in Thy sight could live?

Humbly on Thee I wait,

Confessing all my sin:

Lord! I am knocking at Thy gate;
Open, and take me in!

Like those, whose longing eyes
Watch, till the morning star

(Though late, and seen through tempests) rise,

Heaven's portals to unbar,

Like those I watch and pray,

And, though it tarry long,

Catch the first glimpse of welcome day, Then burst into a song.

Glory to God above!

The waters soon will cease:
For, lo! the swift returning dove
Brings home the sign of peace.

Though storms His face obscure,
And dangers threaten loud,
Jehovah's covenant is sure,
His bow is in the cloud!

JAMES MONTGOMERY (1771-1854).

PSALM CXXX. PARAPHRASE.

FROM depth of sin, and from a deep despair,

From depth of death, from depth of

heart's sorrów,

From this deep cave of darkness deep

repair,

Thee have I called, O Lord! to be my borrów.

Thou in my voice, O Lord; perceive and hear

My heart, my hope, my plaint, my overthrow,

My will to rise; and let, by grant, ap

pear

That to my voice Thine ears do well

entend.

No place so far that to Thee is not

near,

No depth so deep that Thou ne mayst extend

Thine ear thereto. Hear, then, my woful plaint,

For, Lord, if Thou do observe what

men offend,

And put Thy native mercy in restraint, If just exaction demand recompence, Who may endure, O Lord! who shall not faint

At such accompt? dread, and not rev

erence

Should so reign large: but Thou seek'st rather love;

For in Thy hand is Mercy's residence, By hope whereof Thou dost our heartès

move.

I in the Lord have set my confidence; My soul such trust doth evermore

approve.

Thy Holy Word of eterne excellence, Thy mercy's promise that is alway just,

Have been my stay, my pillar, and pre

tence.

My soul in God hath more desirous trust

Than hath the watchman looking for the day,

By the relief to quench of sleep the thrust.

Let Israel trust unto the Lord alway; For grace and favour are His property:

Plenteous ransom shall come with Him,

I say,

And shall redeem all our iniquity. SIR THOMAS WYATT (1503-1542).

PSALM CXXXI.

O THOU Eternal God, my Heart, It is not haughty grown;

Nor are these Eyes of mine with proud Elation lifted up.

Nor have I exercis'd myself

In matters very great;

Nor in such matters as would be
Too wondrous high for me.

What? Han't I set and silencèd

My Soul just as a child

From 'ts Mother wean'd? My soul in me
Is as a weaned Child.

Let Israel now with hope confide
In the Eternal god;

Yea let him do it from this time
To all Eternity.

COTTON MATHER (1663-1728).

PSALM CXXXII.

No sleep nor slumber to his eyes
Good David would afford,
Till he had found below the skies,
A dwelling for the Lord.
The Lord in Zion placed his name,
His ark was settled there:
To Zion the whole nation came
To worship thrice a year.

But we have no such lengths to go,
Nor wander far abroad;
Where'er thy saints assemble now,
There is a house for God.

Arise, O King of grace, arise,

And enter to thy rest;
Lo! thy church waits with longing eyes,
Thus to be owned and blessed.

Enter, with all thy glorious train,
Thy Spirit and thy word;
All that the ark did once contain,
Could no such grace afford.
Here, mighty God, accept our vows;
Here let thy praise be spread:
Bless the provisions of thy house,
And fill thy poor with bread.'
Here let the Son of David reign,
Let God's anointed shine;
Justice and truth his court maintain,
With love and power divine.

Here let him hold a lasting throne;
And, as his kingdom grows,

Let him survey the joy-conferring union Of brothers who are bound in fond communion,

And not by force of blood alone, But by their mutual sympathies are known,

And every heart and every mind relies Upon fraternal, kindred ties.

O blest abode, where love is ever vernal, Where tranquil peace and concord are eternal,

Where none usurp the highest claim,, But each with pride asserts the other's fame!

Oh, what are all earth's joys, compared to thee,

Fraternal unanimity?

E'en as the ointment, whose sweet odors blended,

From Aaron's head upon his beard descended,

Which hung awhile in fragrance there, Bedewing every individual hair,

And falling thence, with rich perfume ran o'er

The holy garb the prophet wore:

So doth the unity that lives with brothers

Share its best blessings and its joys with others,

And makes them seem as if one frame Contained their minds, and they were

E'en as the dew, that, at the break of morning,

All nature with its beauty is adorning. And flows from Hermon calm and still, And bathes the tender grass on Zion's hill,

And to the young and withering herb resigns

The drops for which it pines:

So are fraternal peace and concord

ever

The cherishers, without whose guidance

never

Would sainted quiet seek the breast,The life, the soul of unmolested rest,The antidote to sorrow and distress, And prop of human happiness.

Ah! happy they whom genial concord blesses!

Pleasure for them reserves her fond

caresses,

And joys to mark the fabric rare,

On virtue founded, stand unshaken there;

Whence vanish all the passions that destroy

Tranquility and inward joy.

Who practise good are in themselves rewarded,

For their own deeds lie in their hearts recorded;

And thus fraternal love, when bound By virtue, is with its own blisses crowned,

And tastes, in sweetness that itself bestows,

What use, what power, from concord flows.

God in his boundless mercy joys to meet it;

His promises of future blessings greet it,

And fixed prosperity, which brings
Long life and ease beneath its shadow-

PSALM CXXXIV.

BEHOLD now, praise the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord;

Ye that by night stand in the house of the Lord, even in the courts of the house of our God.

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and praise the Lord most high, The Lord that gave the blessing out of Sion; that made heaven, earth and sky.

ISAAC P. NOYES. (Version of Edward VI [1537-1553]).

PSALM CXXXV.

HALLELUJAH!

Praise, ye servants of Jehovah,

Praise him and his goodness laud! Daily count his blessings over,

In the temples of our God; Hallelujahs to our King, Pleasant is it thus to sing.

Jacob's his peculiar treasure,
Israèl he calls his own;

Nothing can his greatness measure,

O'er all gods he plants his throne: Heaven and earth, and skies and seas, Wait his mandates and decrees.

Vapors, lightnings, winds and thunders,
Go and come at his behest,
Who to Egypt showed his wonders,

Smote her first-born, man and beast: Pharaoh saw, and all his hosts, Dreadful tokens on their coasts.

Who destroyed great kings and nations,
Sihon of the Amorites;
Og, a prince renowned as Bashan's,

With the heathen Canaanites:
When their land by full bequest,
He in Israel did invest.

Lord, thy name endures all ages,

Thy memorial never ends; God his people kindly judges,

God compassionates his friends;
Nations bow to gods of gold,
Idols which their fingers mold.

Mouths have they that make no speeches,
Ears that hear no suppliant's call;
Eyes, no vision ever reaches,
Neither do they breathe at all:

Oh, let us his praises tell,

Who doth the wrathful tyrants quell:
For his, &c.

Who with his miracles doth make
Amazèd Heaven and earth to shake:
For his, &c.

Who by his wisdom did create

The painted heavens so full of state.
For his, &c.

Who did the solid earth ordain
To rise above the watery plain.
For his, &c.

Who, by his all commanding might,
Did fill the new-made world with light:
For his, &c.

And caused the golden-tressèd sun
All the day long his course to run:
For his, &c.

The horned moon to shine by night,
Amongst her spangled sisters bright:
For his, &c.

He, with his thunder-clasping hand,
Smote the first-born of Egypt land:
For his, &c.

And in despite of Pharaoh fell,
He brought from thence his Israèl:
For his, &c.