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18. The First Six Verses of the Ninetieth Psalm versified

 O THOU, the first, the greatest friend
 Of all the human race!
Whose strong right hand has ever been
 Their stay and dwelling place!


Before the mountains heav’d their heads
 Beneath Thy forming hand,
Before this ponderous globe itself
 Arose at Thy command;


That Pow’r which rais’d and still upholds
 This universal frame,
From countless, unbeginning time
 Was ever still the same.


Those mighty periods of years
 Which seem to us so vast,
Appear no more before Thy sight
 Than yesterday that’s past.


Thou giv’st the word: Thy creature, man,
 Is to existence brought;
Again Thou say’st, “Ye sons of men,
 Return ye into nought!”


Thou layest them, with all their cares,
 In everlasting sleep;
As with a flood Thou tak’st them off
 With overwhelming sweep.


They flourish like the morning flow’r,
 In beauty’s pride array’d;
But long ere night cut down it lies
 All wither’d and decay’d.






Book: Reflection on the Important Things