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 favor 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 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?

11 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.

A PARAPHRASE ON PSALM CXIV.

[This and the following Psalm were done by the Author at fifteen years old.]

WHEN the blest seed of Terah's faithful son,
After long toil, their liberty had won,

And past from Pharian fields to Canaan land,
Led by the strength of the Almighty's hand,

Jehovah's wonders were in Israel shown,
His praise and glory were in Israel known.
That saw the troubled sea, and shivering fled,
And sought to hide his froth-becurled head
Low in the earth; Jordan's clear streams recoil,
As a faint host that hath received the foil.

The high, huge-bellied mountains skipp'd like rams
Amongst their ewes, the little hills like lambs.

Why fled the ocean? And why skipp'd the mountains!
Why turnéd Jordan toward his crystal fountains?
Shake, Earth, and at the presence be aghast

Of him that ever was, and aye shall last,
That glassy floods from rugged rocks can crush,
And make soft rills from fiery flint-stones gush.

PSALM CXXXVI.

LET us with a gladsome mind
Praise the Lord, for he is kind;,
For his mercies aye endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.

Let us blaze his name abroad,

For of gods he is the God;

For his, &c.

Oh, let us his praises tell,

Who doth the wrathful tyrants quell.

For his, &c.

Who with his miracles doth make
Amazéd Heaven and earth to shake.
For his, &c.

Who by his wisdom did create

The painted Heavens so full of state.

For his, &c.

Who did the solid earth ordain
To rise above the watery plain.
For his, &c.

Who by his all-commanding might
Did fill the new-made world with light.
For his, &c.

And caused the golden-tresséd sun,
All the day long his course to run.
For his, &c.

The hornéd moon to shine by night,
Amongst her spangled sisters bright.
For his, &c.

He with his thunder-clasping hand
Smote the first-born of Egypt land.
For his, &c.

And in despite of Pharaoh fell,
He brought from thence his Israel.
For his, &c.

The ruddy waves he cleft in twain
Of the Erythræan main.

For his, &c.

The floods stood still like walls of glass, While the Hebrew bands did pass.

For his, &c.

And to his servant Israel

He gave their land therein to dwell.

For his, &c.

He hath with a piteous eye
Beheld us in our misery.
For his, &c.

And freed us from the slavery
Of the invading enemy.
For his, &c.

All living creatures he doth feed,
And with full hand supplies their need.
For his, &c.

Let us therefore warble forth
His mighty majesty and worth.
For his, &c.

That his mansion hath on high
Above the reach of mortal eye.
For his mercies aye endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.