Original - Duke Divinity School

Of Sov’reign force to soften Cares;
’Tis piercing as your Thoughts and melting as your Tears …
But ah! beware of clam’rous Moan:
Let no unpleasing Murmur or harsh Groan,
Your slighted Loves declare:
Your very tend’rest moving Sighs forbear,
For even they will be too boist’rous here.
Hither let nought but sacred Silence come,
And let all saucy Praise be dumb. …
Considerations on the 88 th Psalm 205
by Mr Prior
Heavy, O Lord, on me thy Judgments lie,
And cursed I am; for God neglects my Cry.
O Lord in Darkness and Despair I groan;
And ev’ry place is Hell; for God is gone.
O! Lord, arise, and let thy Beams controul
Those horrid Clouds, that press my frighted Soul:
O rise and save me from Eternal Night,
Thou art the God of light!
Downward I hasten to my destin’d place;
There none obtain Thy aid, or sing thy Praise.
Soon I shall lie in Death’s deep Ocean drown’d:
Is mercy there? Is sweet forgiveness found?
O save me yet, whilst on the brink I stand;
Rebuke the storm, and set me safe on land.
O make my Longings and thy Mercy sure,
Thou art the God of pow’r.
Behold the wearied Prodigal is come,
To Thee his Hope, his Harbor, and his home:
Nor Father he could find, no Friend abroad,
Deprived of Joy and destitute of God!
205 Matthew Prior, “Considerations on the Eighty-Eighth Psalm,” in Dryden, ed., Miscellany, 3:112–13.
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