Of my incessant pray'rs afford
Thy hearing graciously.

7 I in the day of my distress

Will call on thee for aid;

For thou wilt grant me free access,

And answer what I pray'd.

8 Like thee among the Gods is none, O Lord, nor any works

Of all that other Gods have done

Like to thy glorious works.

9 The nations all whom thou hast made Shall come, and all shall frame

To bow them low before thee, Lord,

And glorify thy name.

10 For great thou art, and wonders great
By thy strong hand are done,

Thou in thy everlasting seat
Remainest God alone.

11 Teach me, O Lord, thy way most right,

I in thy truth will bide,

To fear thy name my heart unite,

So shall it never slide.

12 Thee will I praise, O Lord my God,
Thee honour and adore

With my whole heart, and blaze abroad
Thy name for evermore.

10 incessant] P. Lost, xi. 307.

And if by prayer

20

25

30

35

40

Incessant I could hope to change the will, &c. Todd.

13 For great thy mercy is toward me,

And thou hast freed

my

soul,

Ev'n from the lowest hell set free,
From deepest darkness foul.
14 O God, the proud against me rise,
And violent men are met

To seek my life, and in their eyes

No fear of thee have set.

15 But thou, Lord, art the God most mild, Readiest thy grace to show,

Slow to be angry, and art styl'd

Most merciful, most true.

16 O turn to me thy face at length, And me have mercy on,

Unto thy servant give thy strength,

And save thy handmaid's son. 17 Some sign of good to me afford,

And let my foes then see,

And be asham'd, because thou, Lord,
Dost help and comfort me.

45

50

55

60

PSALM LXXXVII.

1 AMONG the holy mountains high
Is his foundation fast,

There seated is his sanctuary,
His temple there is plac'd.

2 Sion's fair gates the Lord loves more
Than all the dwellings fair

Of Jacob's land, though there be store,

And all within his care.

3 City of God, most glorious things Of thee abroad are spoke;

4 I mention Egypt, where proud kings Did our forefathers yoke.

I mention Babel to my friends,

Philistia full of scorn,

And Tyre with Ethiop's utmost ends,

Lo this man there was born:

5 But twice that praise shall in our ear, Be said of Sion last,

This and this man was born in her,

High God shall fix her fast.

6 The Lord shall write it in a scroll That ne'er shall be out-worn, When he the nations doth inroll,

That this man there was born.

10

15

20

7 Both they who sing, and they who dance, 25 With sacred songs are there,

In thee fresh brooks, and soft streams glance,
And all my fountains clear,

PSALM LXXXVIII.

I LORD God, that dost me save and keep,
All day to thee I cry;

And all night long before thee weep,
Before thee prostrate lie.

2 Into thy presence let my pray'r With sighs devout ascend,

And to my cries, that ceaseless are,

Thine ear with favour bend.

3 For cloy'd with woes and trouble store
Surcharg❜d my soul doth lie,

My life at death's uncheerful door
Unto the grave draws nigh.

4 Reckon❜d I am with them that pass
Down to the dismal pit,

I am a man, but weak alas,

And for that name unfit.

5 From life discharg❜d and parted quite Among the dead to sleep,

And like the slain in bloody fight

That in the grave lie deep.

Whom thou rememberest no more,

Dost never more regard,

Them from thy hand deliver'd o'er
Death's hideous house hath barr'd.

6 Thou in the lowest pit profound

Hast set me all forlorn,

Where thickest darkness hovers round,

In horrid deeps to mourn.

7 Thy wrath, from which no shelter saves,
Full sore doth press on me;

Thou break'st upon me all thy waves,
And all thy waves break me.

8 Thou dost my friends from me estrange,
And mak'st me odious,

5

10

15

20

25

30

Me to them odious, for they change.

And I here pent up thus.
9 Through sorrow and affliction great,
Mine eye grows dim and dead,
Lord, all the day I thee intreat,
My hands to thee I spread.

10 Wilt thou do wonders on the dead?
Shall the deceas'd arise,

And praise thee from their loathsome bed
With pale and hollow eyes?

11 Shall they thy loving kindness tell
On whom the grave hath hold?
Or they who in perdition dwell,
Thy faithfulness unfold?

2 In darkness can thy mighty hand
Or wondrous acts be known?
Thy justice in the gloomy land

Of dark oblivion ?

13 But I to thee, O Lord, do cry,

Ere yet my life be spent,

And up to thee my pray'r doth hie,
Each morn, and thee prevent.

14 Why wilt thou, Lord, my soul forsake,
And hide thy face from me,

15 That am already bruis'd, and shake With terror sent from thee?

Bruis'd and afflicted, and so low

As ready to expire,

While I thy terrors undergo

Astonish'd with thine ire.