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 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,
Surcharged 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 discharged 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 makest me odious,
1 Heb. A man without manly strength.
2 The Hebrew bears both.
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 entreat,
My hands to thee I spread.
10 Wilt thou do wonders on the dead?
Shall the deceased arise
And praise thee from their loathsome bed
With pale and hollow eyes?
II Shall they thy loving-kindness tell
On whom the grave hath hold?
Or they who in perdition dwell
Thy faithfulness unfold?
12 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 prayer 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 bruised, and shake
With terror sent from thee;
Bruised and afflicted, and so low
As ready to expire,
While I thy terrors undergo,
Astonish'd with thine ire?
16 Thy fierce wrath over me doth flow;
Thy threatenings cut me through:
17 All day they round about me go;
Like waves they me pursue.
18 Lover and friend thou hast removed,
And sever'd from me far:
They fly me now whom I have loved,
And as in darkness are.
BLEST is the man who hath not walk'd astray
In counsel of the wicked, and i' the way
Of sinners hath not stood, and in the seat
Of scorners hath not sat; but in the great
Jehovah's Law is ever his delight,
And in his Law he studies day and night.
He shall be as a tree which planted grows
By watery streams, and in his season knows
To yield his fruit; and his leaf shall not fall,
And what he takes in hand shall prosper all.
Not so the wicked; but, as chaff which fann'd
The wind drives, so the wicked shall not stand
In judgment, or abide their trial then,
Nor sinners in the assembly of just men.
For the Lord knows the upright way of the just,
And the way of bad men to ruin must.
Done August 8, 1653.- Terzetti.
WHY do the Gentiles tumult, and the nations
Muse a vain thing, the kings of the earth upstand
With power, and princes in their congregations
Lay deep their plots together through each land
Against the Lord and his Messiah dear?
'Let us break off,' say they, 'by strength of hand,
Their bonds, and cast from us, no more to wear,
Their twisted cords.' He who in heaven doth dwell
Shall laugh; the Lord shall scoff them, then severe
Speak to them in his wrath, and in his fell
And fierce ire trouble them. 'But I,' saith he,
'Anointed have my King (though ye rebel)
On Sion my holy hill.' A firm decree
I will declare: the Lord to me hath said,
'Thou art my Son; I have begotten thee
This day; ask of me, and the grant is made:
As thy possession I on thee bestow
The Heathen, and, as thy conquest to be sway'd,
Earth's utmost bounds: them shalt thou bring full low
With iron sceptre bruised, and them disperse
Like to a potter's vessel shiver'd so.'
And now be wise at length, ye kings averse;
Be taught, ye judges of the earth; with fear
Jehovah serve, and let your joy converse
With trembling; kiss the Son, lest he appear
In anger, and ye perish in the way,
If once his wrath take fire, like fuel sere.
Happy all those who have in him their stay.
August 9, 1653.
When he fled from Absalom.
LORD, how many are my foes!
How many those
That in arms against me rise!
Many are they
That of my life distrustfully thus say,
'No help for him in God there lies.'
But thou, Lord, art my shield, my glory;
Thee, through my story,
The exalter of my head I count:
Unto Jehovah; he full soon replied,
And heard me from his holy mount.
I lay and slept; I waked again:
Was the Lord. Of many millions
The populous rout
I fear not, though, encamping round about,
They pitch against me their pavilions.
Rise, Lord; save me, my God! for thou
Hast smote ere now
On the cheek-bone all my foes,
Of men abhorr'd
Hast broke the teeth. This help was from the Lord; Thy blessing on thy people flows.
ANSWER me when I call,
God of my righteousness;
In straits and in distress
Thou didst me disenthrall
And set at large: now spare,
Now pity me, and hear my earnest prayer.
Great ones, how long will ye
My glory have in scorn?
How long be thus forborne
Still to love vanity?
To love, to seek, to prize
Things false and vain, and nothing else but lies?
Yet know the Lord hath chose,
Chose to himself apart,
The good and meek of heart
(For whom to choose he knows);
Jehovah from on high
Will hear my voice what time to him I cry.
Be awed, and do not sin;
Speak to your hearts alone
Upon your beds, each one,
And be at peace within.
Offer the offerings just
Of righteousness, and in Jehovah trust.
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