VERSE 9. Behold, O God, our shield; and look upon the face of thine Anointed.

Omnipotent, whose armor none can wield,

Zion's great buckler and defensive shield;
Thy pure untainted eyes cannot behold
Deformed mortals in their sinful mould,
Unless their names be graven op the breast
Of Zion's holy, consecrated Priest.

When they his white and glorious garment wear,
Then sin and guilt both wholly disappear:
Because o'erwhelmed in the crimson flood,

And ocean of a dying Surety's blood,

They also, vested with his radiant grace,
Reflect the lustre of his holy face.

They're not themselves now, but divinely trim,

For wholly what they are, they are in him:
And hence JEHOVAH's all-discerning eye

Cannot in them espy deformity.

Then look on him, Lord; and in him on me.

VERSE 10. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

May I possess, as thy domestic child,

The house that by JEHOVAH's name is styl'd:

For royal glories deck those courts of thine,
Which with majestic rays so brightly shine,
That, should my mind present an earth of gold,
As full of worldly joys as earth can hold,

Sweet grace so fills thy house, I'd grudge to spare
One moment here, for thousand ages there.
No earthly object shall my love confine,
That Being which possesses all, is mine;
My spirit therefore rather would embrace
The meanest office in his holy place,

And by the threshold of his house within,
Than sit in splendor on a throne of sin,

In Jesus' courts I'd choose the lowest place,

At his saints' feet, so I might see his face.

Yea, tho' my lamp of outward peace should burn
Most brightly, yet I would incessant mourn,

While in a wicked Mesech I sojourn.

VERSE 11. For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

For God the Lord, whose courts I love to haunt,

Is ev'rything that empty souls can want;

A sun for light, a shield for strength; yea, more,
On earth he gives his grace, in heav'n his glore.

This radiant sun, of life and light the source,
Scatters the shades by circumambient course:
Yea, guides bemisted souls with heartsome beams,
And gloriously irradiating gleams.

This massy shield is polish'd bright with pow'r,
For helping weaklings in a per'lous hour.
Here's all that weary travellers would have,
A sun to cherish, and a shield to save.
Grace also here is giv'n t' adorn the soul,
And yield to glory in the heav'nly pole.
All divine treasure to the saint is due ;
Nothing's deny'd, if truth itself be true.
The treasure is so vast it can't be told;
Nothing that God can give will God withhold.
To whom he doth his saving grace impart,
To them he gives himself, his hand, his heart:
Uprightness too of heart and life does fall
Unto their share, who having him, have all.
In them the grace he gives, he still regards;
Gives holiness, and then his gift rewards.
For to his own upright and divine brood
He's bound to grant ev'n all that's great and good,
By's own sure word, firm oath, and sacred blood.

VERSE 12. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

O then, JEHOVAH, God of armies strong,

To whom the pow'rs of earth and heav'n belong;
How vastly blessed is the fixed man,
Who by a firm fiducial boldness can,

Through grace and strength dispensed from above,
So sweetly scan the height of divine love
As to derive his comfort wholly thence,
And on this rock to found his confidence!

Whose faith has rear'd up for a firm abode
A stable building on a living God!

Who, spoil'd of human props both great and small,

Does choose a triune Deity for all!

What scrolls of bliss are in this All inroll'd

Is too sublime for seraphs to unfold.

List, human wisdom, in a deep amaze !
Let rapid floods of life his glory raise,
Till time be drown'd in his eternal praise.

A FOURFOLD EXERCISE FOR THE BELIEVER

IN HIS LODGING ON EARTH.

I. THE HOLY LAW;

OR, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.-EXODUS XX. 3—17.

1. No God but me thou shalt adore.
2. No image frame to bow before.
3. My holy name take not in vain.
4. My sacred Sabbath do n't profane.
5. To parents render due respect.

6. All murder shun, and malice check.
7. From filth and whoredom base abstain :
8. From theft and all unlawful gain.

9. False witness flee, and sland'ring spite:
10. Nor covet what's thy neighbor's right.

II. THE UNHOLY HEART,

THE DIRECT OPPOSITE TO GOD'S HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS LAW, (ROM. VII. 14,) OR THE KNOWLEDGE OF SIN BY THE LAW, ROM. III. 20.

1. My heart's to many gods a slave:

2. Of imagery a hideous cave:

3. A hoard of God-dishon'ring crimes:
4. A waster base of holy times: