020) The Second Part.

The Second Part.

8,9 O! keep me in thy tend’rest care; thy shelt’ring wings stretch out, To guard me safe from savage foes, that compass me about.

10 O’ergrown with luxury, enclosed in their own fat they lie; And with a proud blaspheming mouth both God and man defy.

1l Well may they boast, for they have now my paths encompassed round; Their eyes at watch, their bodies bowed, and crouching on the ground, 12 In posture of a lion set, when greedy of his prey; Or a young lion, when he lurks within a covert way.

13 Arise, O Lord, defeat their plots, their swelling rage control; From wicked men, who are thy sword, deliver thou my soul.

14 From worldly men, thy sharpest scourge, whose portion’s here below;

Who, filled with earthly stores, desire no other bliss to know.

15 Their race is num’rous that partake their substance while they live: Their heirs survive, to whom they may the vast remainder give.

16 But I, in uprightness, thy face shall view without control;

And, waking, shall its image find reflected in my soul.

____________________