THE

PSALMS OF DAVID,

IMITATED IN

THE LANGUAGE

OF

THE NEW TESTAMENT.

PSALM 1. Common Metre.

The way and end of the Righteous and the Wicked.

1 BLEST is the man who shuns the place

Where sinners love to meet;

Who fears to tread their wicked ways,
And hates the scoffer's seat.

2 But in the statutes of the Lord
Has plac'd his chief delight;
By day he reads or hears the word,
And meditates by night.

3 [He, like a plant of generous kind,
By living waters set,

Safe from the storms and blasting wind,
Enjoys a peaceful state.]

B

4 Green as the leaf, and ever fair,
Shall his profession shine;
While fruits of holiness appear
Like clusters on the vine.

5 Not so the impious and unjust;
What vain designs they form!
Their hopes are blown away like dust,
Or chaff before the storm.

6 Sinners in judgment shall not stand
Amongst the sons of grace,
When Christ, the Judge, at his right hand
Appoints his saints a place.

7 His eye beholds the path they tread;
His heart approves it well;
But crooked ways of sinners lead
Down to the gates of hell.

1

PSALM 1. Short Metre.

The Saint happy, the Sinner miserable.

THE

man is ever blest

Who shuns the sinners' ways,

Among their counsels never stands,

Nor takes the scorner's place;

2

But makes the law of God

His study and delight,

Amidst the labours of the day,

And watches of the night.

1

3

He like a tree shall thrive,

With waters near the root;

Fresh as the leaf his name shall live;

His works are heavenly fruit.

4

Not so the ungodly race,

5

They no such blessings find:

Their hopes shall flee, like empty chaff

Before the driving wind.

How will they bear to stand

Before the judgment-seat,

Where all the saints at Christ's right hand

In full assembly meet?

6 He knows, and he approves

The way

the righteous go;

But sinners and their works shall meet

A dreadful overthrow.

PSALM 1. Long Metre.

The Difference between the Righteous and the Wicked.

1 HAPPY the man whose cautious feet
Shun the broad way that sinners go,
Who hates the place where atheists meet,
And fears to talk as scoffers do.

2 He loves t'employ the morning light
Amongst the statutes of the Lord;
And spends the wakeful hours of night
With pleasure pondering o'er his word.

3 He, like a plant by gentle streams, Shall flourish in immortal green:

And heaven will shine with kindest beams On every work his hands begin.

4 But sinners find their counsels cross'd;
As chaff before the tempest flies,

So shall their hopes be blown and lost,
When the last trumpet shakes the skies.

5 In vain the rebel seeks to stand
In judgment with the pious race;
The dreadful Judge with stern command
Divides him to a diff'rent place.

6 Strait is the way my saints have trod,
I blest the path and drew it plain;

'But you would chuse the crooked road; And down it leads to endless pain.'

PSALM 2. Short Metre.

Translated according to the Divine Pattern....

.Acts iv. 24, &c.

Christ Dying, Rising, Interceding, and Reigning.

1 [MAKER and sovereign Lord

Of heaven, and earth, and seas,
Thy providence confirms thy word,
And answers thy decrees.

2

The things so long foretold

By David are fulfill'd,

When Jews and Gentiles join'd to slay

Jesus, thine Holy Child.]

3 Why did the Gentiles rage,
And Jews with one accord

Bend all their counsels to destroy
The anointed of the Lord?

4 Rulers and kings agree
To form a vain design;

Against the Lord their powers unite,
Against his Christ they join.

5 The Lord derides their rage,
And will support his throne;

He that hath rais'd him from the dead, Hath own'd him for his Son.

PAUSE.

6 Now he's ascended high,
And asks to rule the earth;
The merit of his blood he pleads,
And pleads his heavenly birth.

7 He asks, and God bestows
A large inheritance;

Far as the world's remotest ends
His kingdom shall advance.

8 The nations that rebel
Must feel his iron rod;

He'll vindicate those honours well
Which he receiv'd from God.

9 [Be wise, ye rulers, now,

And worship at his throne;

With trembling joy, ye people, bow
To God's exalted Son.