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Speak to your hearts alone,
Upon your beds, each one,
And be at peace within:
Offer the offerings just

Of righteousness, and in Jehovah trust.
Many there be that say,

Who yet will show us good?
Talking like this world's brood;
But, Lord, thus let me pray;
On us lift up the light,

Lift up the favour of thy countenance bright. Into my heart more joy

And gladness thou hast put,

Than when a year of glut
Their stores doth over-cloy,

And from their plenteous grounds

With vast increase their corn and wine abounds.

In peace at once will I

Both lay me down and sleep;

For thou alone dost keep

Me safe where'er I lie;

As in a rocky cell

Thou, Lord! alone, in safety makest me dwell.

PSALM V. Aug. 12, 1653.

JEHOVAH! to my words give ear,

My meditation weigh;

The voice of my complaining hear,
My King and God; for unto thee I pray.
Jehovah! thou my early voice

Shalt in the morning hear;

I' the morning I to thee with choice

Will rank my prayers, and watch till thou appear. For thou art not a God that takes

In wickedness delight;

Evil with thee no biding makes;

Fools or madmen stand not within thy sight. All workers of iniquity

Thou hat'st; and them unblessed
Thou wilt destroy that speak a lie;
The bloody and guileful man God doth detest.
But I will, in thy mercies dear,

Thy numerous mercies, go
Into thy house; I, in thy fear,
Will toward thy holy temple worship low.
Lord! lead me in thy righteousness,
Lead me, because of those
That do observe if I transgress;

Set thy ways right before, where my step goes.
For in his faltering mouth unstable,

No word is firm or sooth,

Their inside, troubles miserable;

Then all, who trust in thee, shall bring

Their joy; while thou from blame

Defend'st them, they shall ever sing And shall triumph in thee, who love thy name: For thou, Jehovah! wilt be found

To bless the just man still;

As with a shield, thou wilt surround Him with thy lasting favour and good will.

PSALM VI. Aug. 13, 1653.

LORD, in thine anger do not reprehend me,
Nor in thy hot displeasure me correct;
Pity me, Lord, for I am much deject,
And very weak and faint; heal and amend me:
For all my bones, that ev'n with anguish ake,
Are troubled, yea my soul is troubled sore,
And thou, O Lord! how long? Turn, Lord

restore

My soul; O save me for thy goodness' sake!
For in death no remembrance is of thee;

Who in the grave can celebrate thy praise?
Wearied I am with sighing out my days;
Nightly my couch I make a kind of sea;
My bed I water with my tears; mine eye
Through grief consumes, is waxen old and dark
I' the midst of all mine enemies that mark.
Depart, all ye that work iniquity,

Depart from me; for the voice of my weeping The Lord hath heard; the Lord hath heard my prayer;

My supplication with acceptance fair The Lord will own, and have me in his keeping. Mine enemies shall all be blank, and dashed With much confusion; then, grown red with shame,

They shall return in haste the way they came, And in a moment shall be quite abash'd.

PSALM VII. Aug. 14, 1653.

Upon the words of Cush, the Benjamite, against
him.
LORD, my God, to thee I fly;
Save me and secure me under
Thy protection, while I cry;
Lest, as the lion, (and no wonder,)
He haste to tear my soul asunder,
Tearing, and no rescue nigh.

Lord, my God, if I have thought
Or done this; if wickedness
Be in my hands; if I have wrought
Ill to him that meant me peace;

An open grave their throat, their tongue they Or to him have rendered less,

smooth.

God! find them guilty, let them fall

By their own counsels quelled;

Push them in their rebellions all

Still on; for against thee they have rebelled.

And not freed my foe for nought;

Let the enemy pursue my soul
And overtake it; let him tread
My life down to the earth, and roll

In the dust my glory dead,

In the dust; and, there outspread, Lodge it with dishonour foul.

Rise, Jehovah! in thine ire,
Rouse thyself amidst the rage
Of my foes, that urge like fire;

And wake for me, their fury assuage;
Judgment here thou didst engage
And command, which I desire.

So the assemblies of each nation
Will surround thee, seeking right;
Thence to thy glorious habitation
Return on high, and in their sight.
Jehovah judgeth most upright
All people from the world's foundation.
Judge me, Lord; be judge in this
According to my righteousness,
And the innocence which is
Upon me: cause at length to cease
Of evil men the wickedness,
And their power that do amiss.

But the just establish fast,

Since thou art the just God that tries
Hearts and reins. On God is cast
My defence, and in him lies.
In him who, both just and wise,
Saves the upright of heart at last.

God is a just judge and severe,
And God is every day offended;
If the unjust will not forbear,

His sword he whets, his bow hath bended
Already, and for him intended

The tools of death that wait him near.

(His arrows purposely made he
For them that persecute:) Behold
He travails big with vanity;
Trouble he hath conceived of old,
As in a womb; and from that mould
Hath at length brought forth a lie.

He digged a pit, and delved it deep,
And fell into the pit he made;
His mischief, that due course doth keep.
Turns on his head; and his ill trade
Of violence will, undelayed,
Fall on his crown with ruin steep.

Then will I Jehovah's praise
According to his justice raise,
And sing the Name and Deity
Of Jehovah the Most High!

PSALM VIII. Aug. 14, 1653. O JEHOVAH, Our Lord, how wondrous great And glorious is thy Name through all the earth!

So as above the heavens thy praise to set
Out of the tender mouths of latest birth.

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou
Hast founded strength, because of all thy foes,
To stint the enemy, and slack th' avenger's brow,
That bends his rage thy Providence t' oppose.

When I behold thy heavens, thy fingers' art,
The moon, and stars, which thou so bright hast

set

In the pure firmament: then saith my heart,
O, what is man that thou rememberest yet,
And think'st upon him; or of man begot,

That him thou visit'st, and of him art found! Scarce to be less than gods, thou mad'st his lot, With honour and with state thou hast him

crowned.

O'er the works of thy hand thou mad'st him Lord,
Thou hast put all under his lordly feet;
All flocks, and herds, by thy commanding word,
All beasts that in the field or forest meet;

Fowl of the heavens, and fish that through the wet
Sea-paths in shoals do slide, and know no dearth:
O Jehovah, our Lord, how wondrous great
And glorious is thy name through all the earth!

April, 1648. J. M.

Nine of the Psalms done into metre, wherein all, but what is in a different character, are the very words of the text translated from the original.

PSALM LXXX.

1 THOU, Shepherd, that dost Israel keep, Give ear in time of need;

Who leadest like a flock of sheep

Thy loved Joseph's seed;

That sitt'st between the Cherubs bright,
Between their wings outspread;
Shine forth, and from thy cloud give light,
And on our foes thy dread.

2 In Ephraim's view and Benjamin's,
And in Manasse's sight,

Awake thy strength, come, and be seen
To save us by thy might.

3 Turn us again; thy grace divine
To us, O God, vouchsafe;
Cause thou thy face on us to shine,
And then we shall be safe.

4 Lord God of Hosts! how long wilt thou,
How long wilt thou declare

Thy smoking wrath, and angry brow
Against thy people's prayer!

5 Thou feed'st them with the bread of tears;
Their bread with tears they eat;
And mak'st them largely drink the tears
Wherewith their cheeks are wet.

6 A strife thou mak'st us and a prey

To every neighbour foe;
Among themselves they laugh, they play,
And flouts at us they throw.

7 Return us, and thy grace divine,
O God of Hosts! vouchsafe;
Cause thou thy face on us to shine,
And then we shall be safe.

8 A vine from Egypt thou hast brought,
Thy free love made it thine,

And drov'st out nations, proud and haught,
To plant this lovely vine.

9 Thou didst prepare for it a place,
And root it deep and fast,
That it began to grow apace,

And filled the land at last.

10 With her green shade that covered all,
The hills were over-spread;
Her boughs as high as cedars tall

Advanced their lofty head.

11 Her branches on the western side
Down to the sea she sent,
And upward to that river wide
Her other branches went.

12 Why hast thou laid her hedges low,

And broken down her fence,
That all may pluck her, as they go,
With rudest violence?

13 The tusked boar out of the wood
Up turns it by the roots;

Wild beasts there browse, and make their food
Her grapes and tender shoots.

14 Return now, God of Hosts! look down

From Heaven, thy seat divine;
Behold us, but without a frown,
And visit this thy vine.

15 Visit this vine, which thy right hand
Hath set, and planted long,
And the young branch, that for thyself
Thou hast made firm and strong.
16 But now it is consumed with fire,
And cut with axes down;
They perish at thy dreadful ire,
At thy rebuke and frown.

17 Upon the man of thy right hand

Let thy good hand be laid;
Upon the son of man, whom thou
Strong for thyself hast made.

18 So shall we not go back from thee To ways of sin and shame; Quicken us thou; then gladly we Shall call upon thy Name.

19 Return us, and thy grace divine, Lord God of Hosts! vouchsafe; Cause thou thy face on us to shine, And then we shall be safe.

PSALM LXXXI.

1 To God our strength sing loud, and clear, Sing loud to God our King;

To Jacob's God, that all may hear,
Loud acclamations ring.

2 Prepare a hymn, prepare a song,
The timbrel hither bring;
The cheerful psaltery bring along,
And harp with pleasant string.

3 Blow, as is wont, in the new moon,
With trumpets' lofty sound,
The appointed time, the day whereon
Our solemn feast comes round.

4 This was a statute given of old,
For Israel to observe;

A law of Jacob's God, to hold,
From whence they might not swerve.

5 This is a testimony ordained
In Joseph, not to change;
When as he passed through Egypt land;
The tongue I heard was strange.

6 From burden, and from slavish toil,
I set his shoulder free:

His hands from pots, and miry soil,
Delivered were by me.

7 When trouble did thee sore assail,
On me then didst thou call;
And I to free thee did not fail,
And let thee out of thrall.

I answered thee in thunder deep,
With clouds encompassed round;

I tried thee at the water steep,
Of Meriba renown'd.

8 Hear, O my people, hearken well; I testify to thee,

Thou ancient stock of Israel,

If you wilt list to me:

9 Throughout the land of thy abode
No alien god shall be,
Nor shalt thou to a foreign god
In honour bend thy knee.

10 I am the Lord thy God, which brought Thee out of Egypt land;

Ask large enough, and I, besought,
Will grant thy full demand.

11 And yet my people would not hear,
Nor hearken to my voice;

And Israel, whom I loved so dear,
Misliked me for his choice.

12 Then did I leave them to their will,
And to their wandering mind;
Their own conceits they followed still,
Their own devices blind.

13 O, that my people would be wise,
To serve me all their days!
And O, that Israel would advise

To walk my righteous ways!

14 Then would I soon bring down their foes, That now so proudly rise;

And turn my hand against all those,

That are their enemies.

15 Who hate the Lord should then be fain To bow to him and bend;

But they, his people, should remain,
Their time should have no end.

16 And he would feed them from the shock With flower of finest wheat,

And satisfy them from the rock
With honey for their meat.

PSALM LXXXII.

1 GOD in great assembly stands

Of kings and lordly states; Among the gods, on both his hands, He judges and debates.

2 How long will ye pervert the right

With judgment false and wrong, Favouring the wicked by your might, Who thence grow bold and strong?

3 Regard the weak and fatherless,

Despatch the poor man's cause; And raise the man in deep distress By just and equal laws.

4 Defend the poor and desolate, And rescue from the hands Of wicked men the low estate Of him that help demands.

5 They know not, nor will understand,
In darkness they walk on;
The earth's foundations all are moved,
And out of order gone.

6 I said that ye were gods; yea, all The sons of God Most High;

7 But ye shall die like men, and fall As other princes die.

8 Rise, God; judge thou the earth in might, This wicked earth redress;

For thou art he who shall by right
The nations all possess.

PSALM LXXXIII.

1 BE not thou silent now at length,
O God! hold not thy peace;
Sit thou not still; O God of strength,
Why cry, and do not cease.

2 For lo, thy furious foes now swell,
And storm outrageously;

And they that hate thee, proud and fell,
Exalt their heads full high.

3 Against thy people they contrive
Their plots and counsels deep;
Them to ensnare they chiefly strive
Whom thou dost hide and keep.

4 Come, let us cut them off, say they,
Till they no nation be;
That Israel's name for ever may
Be lost in memory.

5 For they consult with all their might,
And all, as one in mind,
Themselves against thee they unite,
And in firm union bind.

6 The tents of Edom, and the brood Of scornful Ishmael,

Moab, with them of Hagar's blood,
That in the desert dwell;

7 Gebal and Ammon there conspire, And hateful Amalec,

The Philistines, and they of Tyre,
Whose bounds the sea doth check;

8 With them great Ashur also bands, And doth confirm the knot:

All these have lent their armed hands
To aid the sons of Lot.

9 Do to them as to Midian bold, That wasted all the coast; To Sisera; and, as is told, Thou didst to Jabin's host,

10 When, at the brook of Kishon old, They were repulsed and slain, At Endor quite cut off, and rolled As dung upon the plain.

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