University of Virginia Library

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85

Psalm 103.

[Pure light of soule, thou high-bred mynd]

Pure light of soule, thou high-bred mynd,
Deriv'd from God, and God to praize assignd;
Adore thy Lord; his beauties bless;
And glorious acts in praiseful hymns express.
Bless still my soule with all thy powĕrs,
That sacred name whence bliss so richly shours.
No tract of time ô e're efface,
From thankful hart sweet vieu of bountĕous grace.
OF GRACE, which all thy sins remits;
And all thy griefs, sins pay, with cures befits:
Thy life from grave which dooth redeem;
Redeemd dooth round with deer compassions steem:
With healthiĕst food thy mouth which fils;
That egle-like youths strength through age distils.
HE supreme iudge, whence iustice springs,
To wrongd on earth from heavĕn iust iudgement brings.
He ways divine to Moses showne,
By Moses made to Isrăels ofspring knowne.
Same Israels race with ioy hath seen
Those Acts, to foes which terrour dire have been.
TH'algracious Lord with pitti is fraught;
(How slowe to wrath, how soon to merci wrought?)
Nor strive, nor chide wil alwaies hee;
Ne let his ire, though iust, unending bee.
Not like our falts, his strokes were found:
Sin wrath provok'd; grace merci made abound.
FOR look how high earth heavĕn transcends;
How far from East to West huge space extends:
So great his grace towărd servants prooves;
So far our sins deer Lord from soules remooves.
As father tendreth feeble son:
With sonli fear like kyndnes his is won.

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86

FOR well he knowĕth our brittle state:
Remembring whom of clay he did crëate.
As earth-sprung grass, as flour of field;
So flouring man; to earth whose days must yield:
When wynd sweeps o're, fair flour is gone;
The place earst brave, inglorious stands alone.
BUT ay benign, still God the same,
Towărd them persists, who fear, who love his name:
Yea rightĕous trueth, to fathers sworn,
With race observes of childrens children born:
Sole that his covĕnant they attend;
And loial harts towărd sacred mandates bend.