Justice, with fear, would ftrike us dead,
But Mercy rears each finner's head.
Thy Love infpir'd the breathlefs clay,
And man fuftains from day to day;
And not alone to man confin'd,
It gladdens ev'ry living kind;
Show'ring its bleffings in each clime,
Thro' all the ceafelefs rounds of time
Painting the seasons as they roll,
And scatt'ring blifs from pole to pole;
Darting the fun's prolific beams,
Filling with filver fifh the ftreams;
Giving fweet vegetation birth,
And breathing fragrance o'er the earth.
To Thee, then, let all beings bend,
And fhouts of joy the æther rend.
And chiefly let thy faints on high,
Laud the great Sovereign of the fky;
Leading on the exultant choir,
In ftrains of rapture, words of fire,
Till heav'n and earth and hell profound,
With the triumphant shouts refound.
Till all confefs thy glorious fame,
And tremblingly adore thy name;
Thus ever fhall thy reign endure,
In endless majesty fecure.
When trouble finks us to the duft,
To Thee, for aid, O Lord, we trust.
'Tis thine to heal affliction's smart,
And raise from death the languid heart.
In meagre want or poverty,
To thee we lift the fuppliant eye;
Thy bounteous hand, profusely kind,
Pours the rich banquet unconfin'd;
To man and beast thou giv'ft their food,
While all enjoy their proper good.
Righteous and holy is the Lord,
And will to all his grace afford,
To all who his great name revere,
And worship him with hearts fincere.
Such in his glorious courts fhall dwell,
And triumph over death and hell.
But those who his displeasure move,
Shall never share his heav'nly love.
Bless then, my foul, his facred name,
And let all nature join the theme;
All nature to its GOD shall cry,
Who lives thro' vaft eternity.
PSALM CXXXVII. VERSIFIED,
AW A S on the gentle brink reclin'd,
Of fair Euphrates' murm'ring wave,
When Zion's fate we call'd to mind,
Salt tears our languid cheeks did lave.
There, on the willows bending low,
Our untun'd joyless harps we hung;
For what but grief could from us flow,
When unrelenting foes among ?
Ah! how the victors mock'd our story,
Exulting o'er our helpless state;
Sing now, faid they, of Zion's glory,
And, in your mirth, forget your fate.
How fhall we joy in land prophane,
Or found Jehovah's matchless praise ?
How fing the wonders of his reign,
To those who flight celeftial lays?
Rather than I, in evil hour,
Should cease to think of Judah's wrong,
May my right arm be void of pow'r,
And dumb, for ever, be my tongue.
Let, O Lord, thy wrath in thunder,
Speak devoted Edom's ruin
Who, a-thirst for blood and plunder,
Work'd fair Judah's fad undoing.
And thou, O Babel! doom'd to flaughter,
With just return of fighs and groans !
Bleft, who each infant fon and daughter,
Shall dath for thee against the stones.
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