CHAPTER CIX.

THE MAJESTY AND PROVIDENCE OF GOD DEVOUTLY
CELEBRATED.

BLESS

THOU art, oh God, the life and light
Of all this wondrous world we see ;
Its glow by day, its smile by night,
Are all reflections caught from Thee.
Where'er we turn, Thy glories shine,

And all things fair and bright are Thine.
When night, with wings of starry gloom,
O'ershadows all the earth and skies,
Like some dark, beauteous bird, whose plume
Is sparkling with unnumbered eyes ;-
That sacred gloom, those fires divine,

So grand, so countless, Lord! are Thine.

DLESS the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou are clothed with honour and majesty: who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind: who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth. He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches. He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and

oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart. The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted; where the birds make their nests as for the stork, the fir trees are her house. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies. He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens. Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening.

The corn springs up, a wealth untold,
A sight to gladden young and old,

Who now their voices lift

To Him who gives such plenteous store,
And makes the cup of life run o'er
With many a noble gift.

Thy mighty working, mighty God,
Wakes all my powers; I look abroad
And can no longer rest:

I too must sing when all things sing,
And from my heart the praises ring
The Highest loveth best.

O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created and thou renewest the face of the earth.

Behold! and look away your low despair -
See the light tenants of the barren air:

To them, nor stores, nor granaries belong,

Nought but the woodland and the pleasing song;
Yet your kind heavenly Father bends His eye

On the least wing that flits along the sky;

To Him they sing, when spring renews the plain,
To Him they cry, in winter's pinching reign;
Nor is their music, nor their plaint in vain ;
He hears the gay and the distressful call,
And with unsparing bounty fills them all.

The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works. He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord. Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye the Lord.

O Lord, when on Thy various works we look,
How richly furnished is the earth we tread!
Where, in the fair contents of Nature's book,
We may the wonders of Thy wisdom read:
Nor earth alone, but lo! the sea so wide,

Where, great and small, a world of creatures glide.

PERIOD V.

THE REIGNS OF SAUL, DAVID, AND SOLOMON.

B.C. 1095-975

CHAPTER CX.

THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL ASK SAMUEL TO APPOINT THEM A

AN

KING.

Look, as I blow this feather from my face,
And as the air blows it to me again,
Obeying with my wind when I do blow,
And yielding to another when it blows,
Commanded always by the greater gust;

Such is the lightness of your common men.

ND it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his

sons judges over Israel. And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us and Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit, yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.

Against our peace we arm our will;
Amid our plenty something still
For houses, horses, pictures, planting,
To thee, to me, to him is wanting:
That cruel something unpossest
Corrodes and leavens all the rest;
That something if we could obtain,
Would soon create a future pain.

And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maid-servants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.

But, bitterest of the ills beneath

Whose load man totters down to death,

Is that which plucks the regal crown
Of freedom from his forehead down,

And snatches from his powerless hand
The sceptred sign of self-command,
Effacing with the chain and rod

The image and the seal of God.

And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.