COMMON METRE.

PSALM I.

Pleafures and advantages of religious worship.

1 HAPPY who in thy houfe refide, Where thee they ever praise;

Happy who in thy care abide,

And in their hearts thy ways.

2 Lord, one day in thy courts to be,
Is better and more bleft

Than in the joys of vanity
A thousand days poffeft.

3 I, in the temple of my God

Would rather keep the door,
Than dwell in high and rich abode
With fin for evermore.

4 For God, the Lord, our fun and shield,
Gives grace and glory too;

From them no good fhall he with-hold,
Whose ways are just and true.

5 Lord God of hosts, who reign'st on high,
That man is truly bleft,

Who

Who on thee only doth rely,

And in thee only rest.

PSALM II.

M.

Divine condefcenfion and goodness to man in his dominion over the inferior creatures.

I WHEN to the heavens, thy glorious work,
I raise my wondering eyes,

And there behold the moon and ftars
That beautify the skies;

2 Lord, what is man, that he should have
In thy kind thoughts a place?
Amidft thy boundless universe,
Lord, what is all his race?

3 Below the angels he is plac'd,
Yet wears a glorious crown:
Thy works on earth all stoop to him,
And him their mafter own.

4 The beafts that on the pastures feed,
Or in the defarts lie;

The fish that move within the feas;
Or fowls beneath the sky;

5 His fubjects are: yet let not man
Difown God's government;

Whofe

Whose power is over all, whofe name

Alone is excellent.

PSALM III.

The acceptable worshipper.

1 LORD, let me know what happy man,
The object of thy love,

In hope may worship thee below,
And dwell with thee above.

2 'Tis he, whose life is free from blame,
Whose works are kind and juft;
Whofe upright heart and faithful word
All may fecurely trust.

3 His neighbour's name he never wounds
With a detracting tongue :
Nor e'er delights in his disgrace,
Much less would do him wrong.

4 On wicked men, however great,
He looks with pity down;

And honours all that fear the Lord,
Tho' helpless and unknown.

5 He never changes from his oath,

When to his hurt he fwears;

P.

But

But his ftrict virtue far before

His interest he prefers.

6 He hates exaction, and disdains

Reward against the just :

This man fhall ne'er be mov'd in God
He may fecurely truft.

PSALM IV.

Contentment and hope.

1 GOD is my portion, all my good
From his rich mercy flows;
And his kind providence fecures
The bleffings he bestows.

2 I envy not the great man's state,
Nor pine at all his ftore;

Much am I pleas'd with what I have,
With what I hope for, more.

3 I'll blefs the Lord, even when he makes.
Troubles mine exercise;
For ferious, folitary thoughts
Inftruct and make me wife.

4 When God is prefent to my mind,

My fears are over-blown ;

P.

When

When he ftands by me with his aid
No power fhall caft me down.

5 Sure I fhall find the path of life,
And in thy presence taste
Pleasures to full perfection grown,
And joys that ever laft.

P.

PSALM V.

Recommendations to God's favor.

1 COME ye who are difpos'd to learn,
With fix'd attention hear;

Know what, and know how good it is
The living God to fear.

2 What man would have his years prolong'd,
And happy days would fee?
With-hold thy tongue from all deceit,
Thy hand from injury;

3 From all unrighteous ways depart,
From doing good ne'er cease,

Seek all men's quiet, and pursue

The things that make for peace.

4 God loves the righteous, and on them He cafts a gracious eye;