PSALM XXIV.-J. Bowdler, Jun.
JEHOVAH's throne is fix'd above, And bright through all the courts of love
His cherub choirs appear:
Ah! how shall man ascend so high,
A feeble race condemn'd to die, The heirs of guilt and fear!
Shall towering strength, or eagle flight, Essay to win the sacred height
By saint and seraph trod?
That living light, that holiest air, The guileless heart alone shall share, The pure behold their GOD.
Yet think not that with fruitless pain, One tear shall drop, one sigh in vain Repentant swell thy breast;
See, see the great REDEEMER come To bear his exiled children home, Triumphant to their rest.
Even now, from earth's remotest end, Ten thousand thousand voices blend To bless the SAVIOUR'S power: Within Thy temple, LORD, we stand, With willing heart, a pilgrim band, And wait the promis'd hour.
Then high your golden portals raise, Ye everlasting gates of praise, Ye heavens the triumph share; MESSIAH comes, with all His train, He comes to claim His purchas'd reign, And rest for ever there!
SING, ye sons of might, O sing Praise to heaven's eternal King; Pow'r and strength to Him assign, And before His hallow'd shrine Yield the homage that His name From a creature's lips may claim. Hark! His voice in thunder breaks Hush'd to silence, while He speaks, Ocean's waves from pole to pole Hear the awful accents roll: See, as louder yet they rise, Echoing through the vaulted skies, Loftiest cedars lie o'erthrown,
Cedars of steep Lebanon.
Now the bursting clouds give way, And the vivid lightnings play,
And the wilds, by man untrod,
Hear, dismay'd, th' approaching GOD. Prostrate on the sacred floor,
Israel's sons His name adore,
While His acts to every tongue Yield its argument of song. He the swelling surge commands; Fix'd His throne for ever stands; He "His people shall encrease,
"Arm with strength, and bless with peace."
PSALM XXXIV.-New Version.
THRO' all the changing scenes of life,
In trouble and in joy,
The praises of my GoD shall still My heart and tongue employ.
Of His deliv'rance. I will boast, Till all that are distrest, From my example, comfort take, And charm their griefs to rest.
O magnify the LORD with me; With me exalt His name: When in distress to Him I call'd, He to my rescue came.
Oh, make but trial of His love, Experience will decide
How bless'd they are, and only they,
Who in His truth confide.
Fear Him, ye saints, and ye will then Have nothing else to fear; Make you His service your delight,
Your wants shall be His care.
Deliv'rance to His saints he gives, When His relief they crave: He's nigh to heal the broken heart, And contrite spirit save.
For GoD preserves the souls of those Who on His truth depend;
To them and their posterity
His blessings shall descend.
WHERE, LORD, shall I my refuge see? On whom repose my hope but Thee? O purge my guilt, nor let my foe Exulting mock my heighten'd woe. Convinc'd that Thy paternal hand Inflicts but what my sins demand, I speechless sate: nor plaintive word, Nor murmur, from my lips was heard. But O, in Thy appointed hour Withdraw Thy rod; lest Nature's pow'r, While griefs on griefs my heart assail, Unequal to the conflict, fail.
O, how Thy chastisements impair The human form, however fair! How frail the strongest frame we see, If Thou the sinner's fate decree ! As when the fretting moths consume The labour of the curious loom,
The texture fails, the dyes decay, And all its lustre fades away:
Such, man, thy state; then, humbled, own That vanity and thou are one.
To Thee, great GOD, my knees I bend; To Thee my ceaseless prayers ascend; O let my sorrows reach thine ears, And mark my sighs, my groans, my tears. GOD of my fathers! here, as they, I walk the pilgrim of a day;
A transient guest, Thy works admire, And instant to my home retire. O spare me, LORD, awhile, O spare, And Nature's ruin'd strength repair, E'er life's short circuit wander'd o'er, I perish, and am seen no more.
PSALM XLII.-J. Bowdler, Jun.
As panting in the sultry beam The hart desires the cooling stream, So to Thy presence, Lord, I flee, So longs my soul, O GOD! for Thee; Athirst to taste Thy living grace, And see Thy glory face to face.
But rising griefs distress my soul, And tears on tears successive roll:
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