And in destruction's dungeon dark
At last shalt lay them low:
The bloody and deceitful men
Shall not live half their days;
But upon thee with confidence
I will depend always.

PSALM LVI.

THE illustration the same as the cxvi. and exviii. to which it is exactly parallel.

1

The Lord for mercy cries and prays ;
The mercy that he came to give.
According to Jehovah's ways,

The Surety dies, the sinners live:
But woe to all his enemies,

Who thought to swallow him alive!
For God shall banish them the skies,
But by his glory him revive.

THE TITLE PARAPHRASED.

I sing the mute, the mourning dove,
Who pants upon her way to fare,
But can no more her pinions move,
Entangled in a cruel snare.

SHEW

HEW mercy, Lord, to me, for man
Would swallow me outright;

He me oppresseth; while he doth

Against me daily fight.

2 They daily would me swallow up
That hate me spitefully;

For they be many that do fight
Against me, O most High.

3 When I'm afraid I'll trust in thee;
In God I'll praise his word;

4

I will not fear what flesh can do,

My trust is in the Lord.

5 Each day they wrest my words; their thoughts 'Gainst me are all for ill.

6 They meet, they lurk, they mark my steps, Waiting my soul to kill.

7 But shall they by iniquity
Escape thy judgments so?
O God, with indignation down
Do thou the people throw.

8 My wand'rings all what they have been
Thou know'st, their number took:
Into thy bottle put my tears:

Are they not in thy book?

9 My foes shall, when I cry, turn back; I know't, God is for me.

10 In God his word I'll praise, his word In God shall praised be.

11 In God I trust; I will not fear What man can do to me.

12 Thy vows upon me are, O God: I'll render praise to thee.

13 Wilt thou not, who from death me sav'd,
My feet from falls keep free,

To walk before God in the light
Of those that living be?

PSALM LVII.

SEE the last Psalm, but chiefly the xvi. xxxvi. and cviii. all precisely parallel, with others cited in the margin.

*

The fixed heart, the fixed heart

Of Jesus pants, and sounds, and brays,

Prose Psalms of the Bible.

U

1

While, trembling like the hunted hart,
To God he flies, and cries, and prays—
Till his pursuers, fierce-pursu'd,

By all their thousands round him fall;
And he his Father's face has view'd,
His fears and sorrows swallow'd all.

Then he advances songs and praise,
With all the nations in his choir;
They sing aloud immortal lays,
Inspir'd by his celestial fire.
His glory all around him sings,
Triumphing all the world abroad:
The saints, his glory, priests and kings!
Sing evermore aloud to God.

BE

E merciful to me, O God;
Thy mercy unto me

Do thou extend; because my soul
Doth put her trust in thee:
Yea, in the shadow of thy wings
My refuge I will place,
Until these sad calamities.

Do wholly overpass.

2 My cry I will cause to ascend
Unto the Lord most high;

To God, who doth all things for me
Perform most perfectly.

3 From heav'n he shall send down, and me
From his reproach defend

That would devour me: God his truth
And mercy forth shall send.

4 My soul among fierce lions is,
I firebrands live among,

Men's sons, whose teeth are spears and darts, A sharp sword is their tongue.

5 Be thou exalted very high

Above the heav'ns, O God;

Let thou thy glory be advanc'd

O'er all the earth abroad.

6 My soul's bow'd down; for they a net
Have laid, my steps to snare:
Into the pit which they have digg'd
For me, they fallen are.

7 My heart is fix'd, my heart is fix'd,
O God; I'll sing and praise.

8 My glory wake; wake psalt'ry, harp; Myself I'll early raise.

9 I'll praise thee 'mong the people, Lord; 'Mong nations sing will I: 10 For great to heav'n thy mercy is, Thy truth is to the sky.

11 O Lord, exalted be thy name
Above the heav'ns to stand :
Do thou thy glory far advance
Above both sea and land.

PSALM LVIII.

SEE Psal. XXXV. and lii, with their parallels.

The rulers of the people met,

Like wolves around a lamb combin'd,
Against the Lord of glory set,

Contrive the death they had design'd:
But ah! the blood they mean to shed,
(Which flows for our eternal weal,)
Shall be for ever on their head,
And more inflame the flames of hell.

1 DO ye, O congregation,
Dyndeed
Indeed speak righteousness?

O ye that are the sons of men,
Judge ye with uprightness?

2 Yea, ev'n within your very hearts
Ye wickedness have done;

And ye the vi'lence of your
Do weigh the earth upon..

hands

3 The wicked men estranged are,
Ev'n from the very womb;.
They, speaking lies, do stray as soon
As to the world they come.
4 Unto a serpent's poison like
Their poison doth appear;
Yea, they are like the adder deaf,
That closely stops her ear;

5 That so she may not hear the voice
Of one that charm her would,

No, not though he most cunning were,
And charm most wisely could.

6 Their teeth, O God, within their mouth Break thou in pieces small;

The great teeth break thou out, O Lord,
Of these young lions all.

7 Let them like waters melt away,
Which downward still do flow:
In pieces cut his arrows all,

When he shall bend his bow.
8 Like to a snail that melts away,
Let each of them be gone;
Like woman's birth untimely, that
They never see the sun.

9 He shall them take away before
Your pots the thorns can find,
Both living, and in fury great,
As with a stormy wind.

10 The righteous, when he vengeance sees, He shall be joyful then ;

The righteous one shall wash his feet
In blood of wicked men.

11 So men shall say, The righteous man
Reward shall never miss;