13 Before him Righteousness shall go,
His royal harbinger :

Then will he come, and not be slow,
His footsteps cannot err.

PSALM LXXXVI.

1 THY gracious ear, O Lord, incline,
O hear me, I thee pray;
For I am poor, and almost pine
With need, and sad decay.

2 Preserve my soul; for I have trod
Thy ways, and love the just;
Save thou thy servant, O my God,
Who still in thee doth trust.

Thy servant's soul; for, Lord, to thee

I lift my soul and voice.

5 For thou art good, thou, Lord, art prone

To pardon, thou to all

Art full of mercy, thou alone
To them that on thee call.

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.

13 For great thy mercy is toward me, And thou hast freed my soul, Even 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 shew,

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.

PSALM LXXXVII.

1 AMONG the holy mountains high
Is his foundation fast;
There seated in 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.

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

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

PSALM LXXXVIII.

1 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 prayer
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.

R