VERSE 9. Behold, O God, our shield; and look upon the face of thine Anointed. Omnipotent, whose armor none can wield, Zion's great buckler and defensive shield; When they his white and glorious garment wear, And ocean of a dying Surety's blood, They also, vested with his radiant grace, They're not themselves now, but divinely trim, For wholly what they are, they are in him: Cannot in them espy deformity. Then look on him, Lord; and in him on me. VERSE 10. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. May I possess, as thy domestic child, The house that by JEHOVAH's name is styl'd: For royal glories deck those courts of thine, Sweet grace so fills thy house, I'd grudge to spare And by the threshold of his house within, In Jesus' courts I'd choose the lowest place, At his saints' feet, so I might see his face. Yea, tho' my lamp of outward peace should burn While in a wicked Mesech I sojourn. VERSE 11. For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. For God the Lord, whose courts I love to haunt, Is ev'rything that empty souls can want; A sun for light, a shield for strength; yea, more, This radiant sun, of life and light the source, This massy shield is polish'd bright with pow'r, VERSE 12. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. O then, JEHOVAH, God of armies strong, To whom the pow'rs of earth and heav'n belong; Through grace and strength dispensed from above, Whose faith has rear'd up for a firm abode Who, spoil'd of human props both great and small, Does choose a triune Deity for all! What scrolls of bliss are in this All inroll'd Is too sublime for seraphs to unfold. List, human wisdom, in a deep amaze ! A FOURFOLD EXERCISE FOR THE BELIEVER IN HIS LODGING ON EARTH. I. THE HOLY LAW; OR, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.-EXODUS XX. 3—17. 1. No God but me thou shalt adore. 6. All murder shun, and malice check. 9. False witness flee, and sland'ring spite: II. THE UNHOLY HEART, THE DIRECT OPPOSITE TO GOD'S HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS LAW, (ROM. VII. 14,) OR THE KNOWLEDGE OF SIN BY THE LAW, ROM. III. 20. 1. My heart's to many gods a slave: 2. Of imagery a hideous cave: 3. A hoard of God-dishon'ring crimes: |