University of Virginia Library

PSALM LXII.

My Soul in God its rest has found;
When various griefs beset me round,
His Love shall sure deliv'rance yield;
By Him through life I walk upheld,
And safe from lapse my course maintain,
Or, falling, instant rise again.
How long, Artificers of ill,
Shall schemes of death employ your skill?
Behold the mischiefs Ye intend
Retorted on your heads descend:
Your semblance see yon loosen'd Wall,
Yon Bulwark, nodding to its fall.
Vain are the wiles for Him prepar'd,
Whom Heav'n's high Lord vouchsafes to guard,
And, crown'd with honours from above,
Proclaims the object of his Love.
See, vers'd in fraud, the impious Throng
With blessings charge their guileful tongue,
While deep within the heart's disguise
The secret curse invelop'd lies.
But Thou, my Soul, on God reclin'd,
In Him thy wish'd for rest shalt find;
His Love shall sure deliv'rance yield;
By Him through life I walk upheld,
Superior brave the hostile Train,
And safe from lapse my course maintain.
Thee, Lord, my Glory, Thee alone
My Rock, my Health, my Strength, I own:
Ye Tribes, in God your help behold,
To Him, with me, your hearts unfold;
Each want confess, each grief reveal;
For who, O who like Him can heal?
O Vanity, thy name is Man:
Intent the human mind to scan,
Come, try, if aught of weight there seem;
Suspend the balance, fix the beam:
In vain.—With equal ease were weigh'd
The flitting air, or empty shade.
Trust not in Wrong and Fraud; no more
On Hope's light wing presumptuous soar;
Let gather'd wealth before thee lie
Beheld with unretorted eye,
Nor let the glitt'ring heap impart
One wish to thy deluded heart.
Once from his throne th' Almighty spake,
And forth again the accents brake:
“I claim the universal sway,
“I mark if Man my will obey,
“And, where my Fear the mind impells,
“(For Pow'r in Me with Mercy dwells,)
“Each act observe with kind regard,
“And pleas'd confer the just reward.”