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Verfes And, Lord, let this be granted me,
That, to thy lasting praise,

Thy fervant David's houfe may be
Before thee fix'd always.

27 25 For thou, my God, didit this impart,
That built my houfe fhall be;

Thy fervant hence found in his heart
To pray this pray'r to thee.

28 26 And now, O Lord, thou art that God,
And true thy words will prove,

Thou haft me promis'd all this load
Of goodnefs, in thy love.

29 27 O then, Lord, to thy fervant's house,
The promis'd blifs convey,
That it may ftand, for holy ufe,
Before thy face for ay.

10

For fince thy word is past, O Lord,
That bleft my houfe fhall be,

With bleffings fhall my houfe be flor'd,
And bleft eternally.

SONG XIII

DAVID'S Thanksgiving and Prayer, when he and the Princes offered willingly for building of the Temple. 1 Chron. xxix. 10,-19.

E thou for ever blefs'd, O Lord,

Our father Ifra'l's God;

For ever be thy name ador'd,

And celebrate abroad.

II O Lord, the greatnefs and the might,

And victory is thine;

Glory belongs to thee of right,

With majefty divine;

For all's thine own, both great and fmall,
That heav'n and earth contain:

The kingdom's thine, thou doft 'bove all
As head exalted reign.

12 Both wealth and honour come of thee?

O'er all thou haft command,

As fov'reign Lord; ability
And might is in thy hand.
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Ver. Yea, thine it is to make them great
And high, that once were low;
And strength on all in weakest state
Benignly to beftow.

13 Now, therefore, O our gracious God,
We thank thee, and proclaim,
With grateful lips, the praife abroad
Of thy most glorious name.

14 But, who am I! and what are these
My folk, that ev'n to us

Strength fhould-be giv'n, with willingness,
To bring fuch off'rings thus?
For all things come of thee, O Lord;
We give thee but thine own;
And what thy bounty did afford
Reftore to thy renown.

14 We but fojourn like ftrangers here,
A's all our fathers did;

Our days a paffing fhade appear,
- None do on earth abide.

16 Of thine own hand, O Lord, it came,
That we prepar'd this ftore,

To build a houfe for thy great name;
For all was thine before.

17 My God, I'm alfo fure of this,
Thou try'ft the heart and reins;
And that thy heart in uprightness
A pleasure entertains.

Now, as for me, with heart upright,
Glad with thefe gifts I came;

And here I fee a joyful fight,

The folk have done the fame.

18 Our fathers God, this frame of heart
Keep thou continually,
Within thy people's inward part,
And fix their heart to thee.

19 Give Sol'mon too a heart fincere,
To ferve thee evermore;

And to erect the palace fair
For which I heap'd fuch ftore.

Ver.

3

SONG XIV.

DAVID'S laft Words, viewed in a twofold Lights 2 Sam. xxiii. 3,-7.

SECT. I.

Viewed as a Direction to Kings and Rulers

THE mighty God of heav'n hath fpoke,
Let kings on earth attend;

To them and me doth Ifra'l's Rock
The following meffage fend;

Let mortals over mortals reign,
In juft and pious mode,
With fcepters righteous toward men,
Religious toward God.

4 Then beauteous, like the morning ray,
Shall be the ruling train;

And fweet, like fragrant flow'ry May,
Refresh'd with fun and rain.

5 Though not my houfe nor throne be fo
Grown up with God, I grant,

Yet he hath made with me, I know,
A gracious covenant :
'Tis everlafting, fure, entire,

Well order'd ev'ry way;

'Tis my whole blifs, my whole defire,
Though he the growth delay.

6,7 But rebel fons of Belial must
The fceptre's value know,

As both a fhield to fence the just,
And fword to lafh the foe.

To juftice, hurtful thorns he doom'd,
Not touch'd with naked hand,

But quite with fire and fword confum'd,
In places where they fland.

Ffa

SECT. II.

The fame Words viewed, according to fome interpreters, and the Dutch Tranflation, as a Prophecy of CHRIST, the King of Zion: Whence they may be paraphrafed in the following manner.

Ver. A GLORIOUS Ruler over men,

3

Shall in due time appear;
Juft, ruling ftill without a ftain,
And in JEHOVAH's fear.

4 Bright, like the rifing fun, fhall he
In light unclouded shine;

Spread, like the verdant fpring, shall be
His influence divine.

5 Although my houfe be not with God.
So, as it ought indeed;

Yet ftands his cov'nant, wide and broad,
With me and with my feed:

To which it fall for ever fure,
And all in order ftay,

Till he in whom my lines fecure,
Set up his throne for ay.
He's my falvation, my defire,
My all that God can bring;
Though, till the time defign'd expire,
He makes him not to fpring.

6, 7 But, when he mounts, in royal ftate,
His throne of righteoufnefs,

(Though ftill he'll keep the mercy-feat,
And thence his fubjects bliss,)

Yet fhall his fword of juftice chafe

The rebel crew to hell,

And walle his murd'rers in the place,

Ev'n Salem, where they dwell.

PART II.

JOB's HYMNS; or, SONGS on feveral Select Places in the Book of JOB.

P R E F A C E.

THE Occafion of compofing thefe Songs, upon this Book, was, that after a report made in an open Synod, that most of the Scripture Songs were already attempted in common metre, and ready to be tranfcribed, a queftion was put, Whether the book of JCB was confidered in that category? And though a doubt was raised by the Author, if it was to be reckoned among the number of the Scripture Songs, yet the question fet him afterwards a mufing upon the fubject of this book.

It is much doubted, among the learned, whether this book of Job is written originally in metre, yea, or not; but though they are of different judgments on this head, yet it is acknowledged by them all, that the fubject of it is treated in a poetical manner, and that therein is difcovered a great air of what is called epic poetry.

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That there was fuch a man as JoB, eminent for patience in adverfity, is not only evident from this book, that goes under his name, but from feveral other places of fcripture, that make honourable mention of him. And as it is probable, from feripture †, that he was of the pofterity of Nachor, Abraham's brother; fo it may be thence alfo gathered, that the place where he lived was in the eaftern parts of Arabia, and, perhaps, near the river Euphrates, probably not far from Ur; for, it is granted by writers, that the land of Uz, the country of Job, was expofed to the incurfions and depredations of the Caldeans, and that Caldea was caftward of Arabia.

The time when Job lived is thought to be before Mofes, there being, in this whole book, no mention made of the law or the prophets, nor any of the wonders God wrought for Ifrael in Egypt, or their travels to the land of Canaan. It is likewife thought, that the long life of Job, which was protracted to two hundred years, agrees much with the time of the old patriarchs; and hence it is reckoned probable, that this book of Job is the oldeft book in the world. Whence alfo his eminent piety and devotion is the more remarkable, that he had no advantage from the divine revelations made to Mofes and the Jewith prophets. The light that directed him, must have been that which the old patriarchs had by oral tradition from Adam and Noah; or by what God was pleafed to communicate fometimes by dreams and vifions in thofe early ages of the world.

The book of Job is doctrinal; it is a collection of divine morak: it directs us what we are to believe concerning God. It prefents us,

* Ezek. xiv. 14. James v. 11.

Gen. xx. 20, 21. and xxxi. 53.

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