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9 Thou God, our shield, look on the face

Of thy anointed dear.

10 For one day in thy courts to be
Is better, and more blest,
Than in the joys of vanity
A thousand days at best.
I in the temple of my God
Had rather keep a door,

Than dwell in tents, and rich abode,
With sin for evermore.

II For God the Lord, both sun and

shield,

Gives grace and glory bright;
No good from them shall be withheld
Whose ways are just and right.

12 Lord God of Hosts that reign'st on high,

That man is truly blest,

Who only on thee doth rely,
And in thee only rest.

JOHN MILTON (1608-1674).

PSALM LXXXV.

I THY land to favor graciously
Thou hast not, Lord, been slack;
Thou hast from hard captivity
Returned Jacob back.

2 The iniquity thou didst forgive

That wrought thy people woe; And all their sin, that did thee grieve, Hast hid where none shall know. 3 Thine anger all thou hadst removed, And calmly didst return From thy fierce wrath which we had proved

Far worse than fire to burn.

4 God of our saving health and peace,
Turn us, and us restore;
Thine indignation cause to cease
Toward us, and chide no more.

5 Wilt thou be angry without end, For ever angry thus?

Wilt thou thy frowning ire extend
From age to age on us?

6 Wilt thou not turn, and hear our

voice,

And us again revive;

That so thy people may rejoice
By thee preserved alive?

7 Cause us to see thy goodness Lord, To us thy mercy shew;

Thy saving health to us afford,
And life in us renew.

8 And now what God the Lord will speak,

I will go straight and hear;
For to his people he speaks peace,
And to his saints full dear,

To his dear saints he will speak

peace,

But let them never more
Return to folly, but surcease
To trespass as before.

9 Surely to such as do him fear
Salvation is at hand;

And glory shall ere long appear
To dwell within our land.

10 Mercy and Truth that long were missed

Now joyfully are met;

Sweet Peace and Righteousness have kissed,

And hand in hand are set.

II Truth from the earth, like to a

flower,

Shall bud and blossom then;
And Justice from her heavenly bower
Look down on mortal men.

12 The Lord will also then bestow
Whatever thing is good;

Our land shall forth in plenty throw
Her fruits to be our food.

13 Before him Righteousness shall go, His royal harbinger:

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

JOHN MILTON (1608-1674).

PSALM LXXXVI.

I 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 Go,
Who still in thee doth trust.

3 Pity me, Lord, for daily thee I call; 4. Oh, make rejoice

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.

6 Unto my supplication, Lord,

Give ear, and to the cry
Of my incessant prayers afford

Thy hearing graciously.

7I in the day of my distress

Will call on thee for aid;
For thou wilt grant me free access,
And answer what I prayed.

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.

II 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 graces to show,
Slow to be angry, and art styled
Most merciful, most true.

16 Oh, 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 ashamed; because thou, Lord,
Dost help and comfort me.

JOHN MILTON (1608-1674).

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4 Reckoned 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 delivered o'er,
Death's hideous house hath barred.
6 Thou in the lowest pit profound
Hast set me all forlorn,
Where thickest darkness
round,

In horrid deeps to mourn.

hovers

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 estrange,

me

And mak'st me odious,
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,
Astonished 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 severed from me far:

They fly me now whom I have loved,
And as in darkness are.

JOHN MILTON (1608-1674).

PSALM LXXXIX.

THE praises of thy wonder, Lord, The heavens shall express:

And in the congregation

Of saints thy faithfulness.

For who in heaven with the Lord May once himself compare? Who is like God among the sons Of those that mighty are?

Great fear in meeting of thy saints
Is due unto the Lord;
And he of all about him should
With rev'rence be adored.

O thou that art the Lord of hosts,
What Lord in mightiness

Is like to thee, who compass'd round
Art with thy faithfulness?

Ev'n in the raging of the sea

Thou over it dost reign;

And when the waves thereof do swell, Thou stillest them again.

PSALMODY OF THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND (1895).

THE FIRST SIX VERSES OF THE NINETIETH PSALM.

O THOU, the first, the greatest Friend, Of all the human race!

Whose strong right hand has ever been Their stay and dwelling-place!

Before the mountains heaved their heads

Beneath Thy forming hand,

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