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Ver. 9. Behold, O God our fhield; and look upon the face of thine anointed.

Omnipotent, whofe armour none can wield, Zion's great buckler and defenfive fhield; Thy pure untainted eyes cannot behold Deformed mortals in their finful mold, Unless their names be graved on the breaft Of Zion's holy confecrated Priest.

When they his white and glorious garment, wear,
Then fin and guilt both wholly disappear:
Because o'erwhelmed in the crimfóm flood,
And ocean of a dying Surety's blood:
They alfo, vefted with his radiant grace,
Reflect the luftre of his holy face.
They're not themselves now, but divinely trim,
For wholly what they are, they are in him:
And hence JEHOVAH's all-difcerning eye
Cannot in them efpy deformity.

Then look on him, Lord; and in him on me.

Ver. 10. For a day in thy courts is better than a thoufand: I had rather be a door-keeper in the bouje of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

May I poffefs, as thy domeftic child, The house that by JEHOVAH's name is ftyl❜d: For royal glories deck thofe courts of thine, Which with majeftic rays fo brightly fhine, That should my mind prefent an earth of gold, As full of worldly joys as earth can hold : Sweet grace fo fills thy houfe, I'd grudge to spare One moment here, for thousand ages there. No earthly object fhall my love confine, That Being which poffeffes all, is mine.

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My fpirit therefore rather would embrace
The meanest office in his holy place,
And by the threshold of his house within,
Than fit in splendour on a throne of fin.
In Jefus' courts I'd choose the lowest place,
At his faints feet, fo I might fee his face.
Yea, tho' my lamp of outward peace fhould burn
Moft brightly, yet I would inceffant mourn,
While in a wicked Mefech I fojourn.

Ver. 11. For the Lord God is a fun and shield: the
Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing
will be withhold from them that walk uprightly.
For God the Lord, whofe courts I love to haunt,
Is every thing that empty fouls can want;
A fun for light, a fhield for ftrength; yea, more,
On earth he gives his grace, in heav'n his glore.
This radiant fun, of life and light the fource,
Scatters the fhades by circumambient course;
Yea, guides bemifted fouls with heartfome beams,
And gloriously irradiating gleams.

This maffy fhield is polifh'd bright with pow'r,
For helping weaklings in a perilous hour.
Here's all that weary travellers would have,
A fun to cherish, and a fhield to fave.
Grace also here is giv'n t' adorn the foul,
And yield to glory in the heav'nly pole.
All divine treasure to the faint is due;
Nothing's deny'd, if truth itself be true.
The treasure is fo vaft it can't be told;
Nothing that God can give will God with-hold.
To whom he doth his faving grace impart,
To them he gives himself, his hand, his heart:
Uprightnefs too of heart and life does fall
Unto their share, who having him, have all

In them the grace he gives, he ftill regards;
Gives holiness, and then his gift rewards.
For to his own upright and divine brood
He's bound to grant ev'n all that's great and good,
By's own fure word, firm oath, and facred blood.

Ver. 12. O Lord of hosts, bleffed is the man that trufteth in thee..

O then, JEHOVAH, God of armies strong, To whom the pow'rs of earth and heav'n belong; How vaftly bleffed is the fixed man, Who by a firm fiducial boldness can, [bove, Through grace and strength dispensed from aSo fweetly fcan the height of divine love, As to derive his comfort wholly thence, And on this rock to found his confidence! Whofe faith has rear'd up for a firm abode A ftable building on a living God?

Who, fpoil'd of human props both great and Does choose a triune Diety for all?

[fmall, What scrolls of blifs are in this All inroll❜J, Is too fublime for feraphs to unfold. Sift, human wisdom, in a deep amaze! Let rapid floods of life his glory raife, Till time be drown'd in his eternal praise.

A fourfold Exercife for the BELIEVER in his Lodging on Earth.

1. The HOLY LAW;

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The Ten Commandments, Exod. xx. 3,-17.

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God but me thou fhalt adore.
No image frame to bow before.

3. My holy name take not in vain.
4. My facred Sabbath don't profane.
5. To parents render due refpect.
6. All murder fhun, and malice check.
7. From filth and whoredom base abstain.
8. From theft and all unlawful gain.

9. Falfe witnefs flee, and fland'ring fpite. 10. Nor covet what's thy neighbour's right.

И. The UNHOLY HEART, the direct opposite to God's holy and righteous law, Rom. vii. 14.

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The knowledge of fin by the law, Rọm. iii. 20.

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Y heart's to many god's a flave. Of Imagery an hideous cave. 3. An hoard, of God-difhon'ring crimes. 4. A wafter base of holy times,

5. A throne of pride and felf-conceit. 6. A flaughter-houfe of wrath and he. 7. A cage of birds and thoughts unclean. 8. A den of thieves and frauds unfeen. 9. An heap of calumnies unfpent. 10, A gulf of greed and difcontent.

III. The GLORIOUS GOSPEL;

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Chrift the end of the law for righteousness, Rom. x. 4.

And the abfolute need of this remedy inferred

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from the premiffes.

ENCE I conclude and clearly fee,
There's by the law no life for me;

Which damn's each foul to endless thrall,

Whole heart and life fulfils not all.

What fhall I do, unless for bail
I from the law to grace appeal?
She reigns through Jefus' righteousness,
Which giving juftice full redress,
On, grace's door, this motto grav'd,
Let fin be damn'd, and finners fav'd.
O wisdom's deep myfterious way!
Lo, at this door I'll waiting stay,
Till fin and hell both pass away.
But in this blifs to fhew my part,
Grant, through thy law grav'd in my heart,
My life may fhew thy graving art.

IV. The PRAYER of FAITH.

Which may be conceived in the following words of a certain Author.

SIM tuus in vita, tua funt mea funera, Chrifte:
Da, precor, imperii fceptra tenere tui.
Cur etenim, moriens, tot vulnera fava tulifti,
Si non fum regni portio parvo tui?
Gur rigido latuit tua vita inclufa fepulchro,
Si non eft mea mors morte fugata tua?
Ergo miki certam præftes, O Chrifte, falutem;
Meque tuo lotum fanguine, Chrifte, juvo.

Which may be thus Englished:

Jefus I'm thine in life and death,

Oh let, me conqu'ring hold thy throne,
Why fhar'd the cross thy vital breath,
If not to make me fhare thy crown?

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