2 Observe the perfect man with care, And mark all such as upright are,

Their roughest days in peace shall end: While on the latter end of those Who dare God's sacred will oppose, A common ruin shall attend.

3 God to the just will aid afford:
Their only safe-guard is the LORD;
Their strength in time of need is He
Because they still on Him depend,
The LORD will timely succour send,
And from the wicked set them free.

PSALM 39. (C, M.)

The shortness of human life.

1 LORD! let me know my term of days,
How soon my life will end;
The numerous train of ills disclose,
Which this frail state attend.

2 Man like a shadow vainly walks,
With fruitless cares oppress'd;
He heaps up wealth, but cannot tell
By whom 'twill be possess❜d.

3 Why then should I on worthless toys
With anxious care attend?

On Thee alone my stedfast hope
Shall ever, LORD, depend

4 LORD! hear my cry; accept my tears,
And listen to my prayer;
Who sojourn like a stranger here,
As all my fathers were.

5 O spare me yet a little time,
My wasted strength restore
Before I vanish quite from hence,
And shall be seen no more.

The inefficacy of the legal sacrifices, and the perfection f
Christ's offering of Himself. HEB. x. 5—10.

1 THOU, gracious LORD, hast not desir'd
Off'rings and sacrifice alone;
Nor blood of guiltless beasts requir'd
For man's transgressions to atone.

2 Thy blessed Son came to fulfil
What Thy own oracles impart ;
He gave Himself to do Thy will,
Thy law was written in His heart.

3 Now those that humbly seek Thy face,
Through Him to joyful hope are rais'd;
And all who prize redeeming grace,

Shall ever sing "The LORD be prais'd!"

Who can Thy mercies, LORD, recount, What wonders Thou for us hast wrought? The treasures of Thy love surmount

The power of numbers, speech, and thought.

The blessedness of the man that considereth the poor. 1 HAPPY the man, whose tender care Relieves the poor distress'd:

When He's by trouble compass'd round,
The LORD shall give him rest.
2 If he in languishing estate
Oppress'd with sickness lie;
The LORD will easy make his bed,
And inward strength supply.

3 The LORD his life, with blessings crown'd,
In safety shall prolong;
And disappoint the will of those
Who seek to do him wrong.

4 Let therefore Israel's LORD and GOD
From age to age be bless'd;
And all the people's glad applause
With loud Amens express'd.

David, driven from Jerusalem by Absalom's rebellion, laments his absence from the house of God. This Psalm is applicable to the Christian pilgrim; while, exiled from the Jerusa lem above, he suffereth affliction and tribulation in this vale of tears.

1 As

s pants the hart for cooling streams,
When heated in the chace,

So longs my soul,. O God, for Thee,
And Thy refreshing grace.

2 For Thee, my God, the living God,
My thirsty soul doth pine;

O when shall I behold Thy face,
Thou Majesty divine!

9 Why restless, why cast down, my soul?
Hope still, and thou shalt sing
The praise of Him who is thy God,
Thy health's eternal spring.

PSALM 43. (L. M.)

The same subject continued.

1 LET me with light and truth be bless'd, Be these my guides and lead the way; Till on Thy holy hill I rest,

And in Thy sacred temple pray.

2 Then will I there fresh anthems raise
To God, who is my life, my joy;
And well-tun'd harps, with songs of praise
Shall all my grateful hours employ.

3 Why then cast down, my soul, and why
So much oppress'd with anxious care?
On God, thy God, for aid rely,
Who will thy ruin'd state repair.

PSALM 44. (C. M.)

The church, recounting the mercies of God declared to his servants of old time, expresseth her confidence in his mercy. 1 O LORD! Our fathers oft have told

In our attentive ears,

Thy wonders in their days perform'd,
And elder times than theirs.

2 As Thee, their God, our fathers own'd,
Thou art our sov'reign King;

O therefore, as Thou didst to them,
To us deliv'rance bring.

3 To Thee the triumph we ascribe,
From whom the conquest came;
In GOD we will rejoice all day,
And ever bless His name.

The church in time of trouble declares her trust and confidence in God, and exults in the power and might of her victorious Lord.

1 GOD is our refuge in distress,

A present help when dangers press;

In Him undaunted we'll confide: Though earth were from her centre toss'd, And mountains in the ocean lost,

Torn piece-meal by the roaring tide.

2 A gentler stream with gladness still
The city of our LORD shall fill,

The royal seat of God most high :
God dwells in Sion, whose fair tow'rs
Shall mock th' assaults of earthly pow'rs,
While His almighty aid is nigh.

3 Submit to God's almighty sway,
For Him the heathen shall obey,

And earth her sov'reign LORD confess:
The God of Hosts conducts our arms,
Our tow'r of refuge in alarms,

As to our fathers in distress.