I said it is mine own infirmity.
1 MY overwhelming sorrows grew,
'Till I could speak no more;
Then I within myself withdrew,
And call'd thy judgments o'er.
2 I call'd back years and ancient times,
When I beheld thy face;
My spirit search'd for secret crimes
That might withhold thy grace.
3 I call'd thy mercies to my mind
Which I enjoy'd before :
And will the Lord no more be kind?
His face appear no more?
4 Will he for ever cast me off?
His promise ever fail?
Has he forgot his tender love?
Shall anger still prevail ?
5 But I forbid this hopeless thought,
This dark despairing frame,
Rememb'ring what thy hand hath wrought :
Thy hand is still the same.
6 I'll think again of all thy ways,
And talk thy wonders o'er;
Thy wonders of recov'ring grace,
When flesh could hope no more.
7 Thy way is in the sea; thy paths
In mighty waters lie;
Thy wondrous passage, where no sight
Thy footsteps can descry.
1 GREAT God, how oft did Israel prove
By turns thine anger and thy love!
There, in a glass, our hearts may see
How fickle and how false they be.
2 How soon the faithless Jews forgot
The dreadful wonders God had wrought!
Then they provoke him to his face,
Nor fear his power, nor trust his grace.
3 Oft, when they saw their brethren slain,
They mourn'd, and sought the Lord again;
Call'd him the Rock of their abode,
Their high Redeemer, and their God.
4 Their prayers and vows before him rise,
As flatt'ring words or solemn lies;
While their rebellious tempers prove
False to his cov'nant and his love.
5 Yet did his sov'reign grace forgive
Those who deserved not to live;
His anger oft away he turn'd,
Or else with gentle flame it burn'd.
PSALM LXXIX.
Jerusalem trodden down of the Gentiles.
1 BEHOLD, O Lord, the heathen hosts
Have thy possessions seized !
Thy sacred house have they defiled,
Thy holy city razed.
2 Thou ever-gracious God and kind,
Oh, cast our sins away;
Nor call our former guilt to mind,
Thy justice to display.
3 On foreign lands, that know thee not,
Thy heavy vengeance show'r;
Those sinful nations let it crush
Who will not own thy pow'r.
4 To us thy tend'rest mercies show,
Thy richest grace prepare,
Ere yet, with guilty fears laid low,
We perish in despair.
5 O save us, Lord, from guilt and shame,
Thy glory to display;
And, for the great Redeemer's name,
Wash all our sins away.
6 Let infidels, that scoffing say,
"Where is the God they boast?" In vengeance, for thy slaughter'd saints, Now see thee to their cost.
7 Lord, hear the sighing pris'ner's moan
Thy saving pow'r extend;
Preserve the captives doom'd to
From an untimely hely end.
8 So we, thy people and thy flock,
Shall ever praise thy name;
And with glad hearts, our grateful thanks,
From age to age, proclaim.
1 GREAT Shepherd of thine Israel,
Who didst between the cherubs dwell,
And led'st the tribes, thy chosen sheep,
Safe through the desert and the deep.
2 Thy Church is in the desert now-
Shine from on high, and guide us through;
Turn us to thee, thy
thy
love restore,
We shall be saved, and sigh no more.
3 Great God! whom heav'nly hosts obey,
How long shall we lament and pray,
And wait, in vain, thy kind return?
How long shall thy fierce anger burn?
4 Instead of wine and cheerful bread,
Thy saints with their own tears are fed :
Turn us to thee, thy love restore,
We shall be saved, and sigh no more.
PART II.
Applied to Christ.
1 LORD! when thy vine in Canaan grew,
Thou wast its strength and glory too;
Attack'd in vain by all its foes,
'Till the fair Branch of Promise rose.
2 Fair Branch! ordain'd of old to shoot
From David's rock, from David's root;
Himself a noble vine, and we
The lesser branches of the tree.
3 'Tis thy own Son-and he shall stand,
Girt with thy strength, at thy right hand;
Thy first-born Son, adorn'd and blest
With power and grace above the rest.
4 O, for his sake, attend our cry,
Shine on thy Churches, lest they die;
Turn us to thee, thy love restore,
We shall be saved, and sigh no more.
1 TO God, our strength, your voice aloud,
In strains of glory, raise;
High to Jehovah, Jacob's God,
Exalt the notes of praise
2 With psalms of honour and of joy,
Let all his temples ring;
Your various instruments employ,
And songs of triumph sing.
3 Now let the Gospel trumpet + blow
On each appointed feast,
And teach his waiting Church to know
The Sabbath's sacred rest.
4 This was the statute of the Lord
To Israel's favour'd race;
And still his courts preserve his Word,
And we too wait his grace.
PSALM LXXXII.
Against heathen rulers.
For thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.
1 AMONG th' assemblies of the great,
A greater Ruler takes his seat;
The God of heaven, as Judge, surveys
Those gods on earth, and all their ways.
2 Why will ye then frame wicked laws?
Or why support th' unrighteous cause ?
When will ye once defend the poor,
That sinners vex the saints no more?
3 They know not, Lord, nor will they know,
Dark are the ways in which they go;
Their name of earthly gods is vain,
For they shall fall and die like men.
+ Trumpets were used before the invention of bells, and for the same purpose.
4 Arise, O Lord, and let thy Son
Possess his universal throne,
And rule the nations with his rod;
He is our Judge, and he our God.
1 O GOD of righteousness, awake!
Thy long-protracted silence break;
Nor let thy hand supinely rest,
Regardless of thy Church oppress'd.
2 For lo! with tumult's clam'rous noise,
The foe thy weeping Church destroys;
And the vain men, who hate thy name,
Their pride with lifted head proclaim.
3 Their secret arts, with subtle care,
Against thy people they prepare;
Vain rage! thy Church shall safely stand,
Hid in the shelter of thy hand.
4 Behold, O Lord, at thy right hand,
Jesus, the mighty Saviour, stand !
Of David's race but own'd thy Son :
Thy power has raised him to the throne.
5 Now let thine arm his throne sustain,
And fix his everlasting reign;
Then in his name we'll venture nigh,
Nor dread thy wrath, nor shun thine eye.
The Pleasures of Divine Worship.
1 LORD of the worlds above,
How pleasant and how fair
The dwellings of thy love,
Thy earthly temples are !
To thine abode my heart aspires,
With warm desires, to see my God..
|