FIRST VERSION. V. 1, 2, 3, 5, 17.
A song of deliverance from great distress.
1 I WAITED patient for the Lord,—
He bowed to hear my cry;
He saw me resting on his word,
And brought salvation nigh.
2 He raised me from a horrid pit,
Where mourning long I lay,
And from my bonds released my feet,
Deep bonds of miry clay.
3 Firm on a rock he made me stand,
And taught my cheerful tongue
To praise the wonders of his hand,
thankful song.
4 I'll spread his works of grace abroad;
The saints with joy shall hear,
And sinners learn to make my God
Their only hope and fear.
5 How many are thy thoughts of love!
Thy mercies, Lord, how great!
We have not words, nor hours enough,
Their number to repeat.
6 When I'm afflicted, poor and low,
And light and peace depart,
My God beholds my heavy wo,
And bears me on his heart.
SECOND VERSION. V. 6-9.
The incarnation and sacrifice of Christ.
1 THUS saith the Lord,-"Your work is vain,
Give your burnt offerings o'er;
In dying goats and bullocks slain,
My soul delights no more.'
2 Then spake the Saviour,-Lo, I'm here,
My God, to do thy will;
Whate'er thy sacred books declare,
Thy servant shall fulfill.'
3 Behold, the blest Redeemer comes,
Th' eternal Son appears!
And at th' appointed time assumes
The body God prepares.
4 Much he revealed his Father's grace,
And much his truth he showed,
And preached the way of righteousness,
Where great assemblies stood.
5 His Father's honor touched his heart,
He pitied sinners' cries,
And, to fulfill a Saviour's part,
Was made a sacrifice.
6 No blood of beasts, on altars shed,
Could wash the conscience clean;
But the rich sacrifice he paid,
Atones for all our sin.
Blessedness of the merciful.
1 BLEST is the man whose liberal heart
Feels for the suffering poor;
Who freely gives, for their relief,
His counsel and his store.
2 To him the Lord in troublous times
Will sure deliverance send ;
His life prolong on earth, and bless,
And from his foes defend.
3 When, on the bed of languishing,
His mortal hour is come,
The Lord will soothe his dying pains,
And take the sufferer home.
4 The Lord of heaven loves liberal souls,--
Their hearts are like his own:
Heaven is the home of those who breathe
The mercy of his throne.
SECOND VERSION. V. 1-3.
1 BLEST is the man whose soul can move
And melt with pity to the poor;
Whose heart, by sympathizing love,
Feels what his fellow saints endure:
2 Who still contrives for their relief
More good than his own hands can do:
He in the time of general grief,
Shall find the Lord has pity too.
3 His soul shall live secure on earth,
With secret blessings on his head,
When drought, and pestilence, and dearth,
Around him multiply their dead.
4 Or if he languish on his couch,
God will pronounce his sins forgiven;
Will save him with a healing touch,
Or take his willing soul to heaven.
FIRST VERSION. V. 1-5.
Longing for God in absence from public worship. 1 WITH earnest longings of the mind, My God, to thee I look;
So pants the hunted hart to find
And taste the cooling brook.
2 When shall I see thy courts of grace,
And meet my God again?
So long an absence from thy face
My heart endures with pain.
3 Temptations vex my weary soul,
And tears are my repast;
The foe insults without control,-
'And where's your God at last!'
4 'Tis with a mournful pleasure now
I think on ancient days;
Then to thy house did numbers go,
And all our work was praise.
5 But why, my soul, sunk down so far
Beneath this heavy load?
Why do my thoughts indulge despair,
And sin against my God?
6 Hope in the Lord, whose mighty hand
Can all thy woes remove:
For 1 shall yet before him stand,
And sing restoring love.
SECOND VERSION. V. 1, 2, 4, 11.
1 AS pants the hart for cooling streams,
When heated in the chase,
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!
3 I sigh, as oft my musing thoughts
Those happy days present,
When I, with crowds of pious friends,
Thy temple did frequent.
4 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.
THIRD VERSION. V. 6-11.
Melancholy reproved; or, hope in affliction.
1 MY spirit sinks within me, Lord,
But I will call thy name to mind;
And times of past distress record,
When I have found my God was kind.
2 Huge troubles, with tumultuous noise,
Swell like a sea, and round me spread;
Thy water-spouts drown all my joys,
And rising waves roll o'er my head.
3 Yet will the Lord command his love,
When I address his throne by day;
Nor in the night his grace remove,-
The night shall hear me sing and pray.
4 I'll cast myself before his feet,
And say, 'My God, my heavenly Rock,
Why doth thy love so long forget
The soul, that groans beneath thy stroke!'
5 I'll chide my heart that sinks so low;
Why should my soul indulge her grief?
Hope in the Lord, and praise him too;
He is my rest, my sure relief.
6 Thy light and truth shall guide me still,—
Thy word shall my best thoughts employ,
And lead me to thy heavenly hill,
My God, my most exceeding joy.
FOURTH VERSION. V. 6-9, 11.
1 HEARKEN, Lord, to my complaints,
For my soul within me faints;
Thee, far off, I call to mind,
In the land I left behind,
Where the streams of Jordan flow,
Where the heights of Hermon glow.
2 Tempest-tost, my failing bark
Founders on the ocean dark;
Deep to deep around me calls,
With the rush of waterfalls,
While I plunge to lower caves,
Overwhelmed by all thy waves.
3 Once the morning's earliest light
Brought thy mercy to my sight,
And my wakeful song was heard
Later than the evening bird:
Hast thou all my prayers forgot?
Dost thou scorn, or hear them not ?
4 Why, my soul, art thou perplexed ?
Why with faithless troubles vexed?
Hope in God, whose saving name
Thou shalt joyfully proclaim,
When his countenance shall shine
Through the clouds that darken thine.
FIFTH VERSION. V. 6-8.
1 0 MY God, by thee forsaken,
Prostrate in the dust I lie ;
Faith by gloomy terrors shaken,
All my hopes within me die :
Yet, my soul, in thee confiding,
Meditates thy mercy still;
Though, on earth's dark coasts abiding,
Distant far from Zion's hill.
2 Deep to deep responsive calling,
Thunders roar, the torrents roll ;
Bursting clouds around me falling,
Wave on wave o'erwhelms my soul:
Yet the Lord, his grace commanding,
Will with mercies crown my days:
He my guardian, near me standing,
Cheers my nights with prayer and praise.
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