The choice and flower of the old Psalms collected by Iohn Hopkins and others and now revised and amended by William Barton ...
Barton, William, 1598?-1678., Hopkins, John, d. 1570.
Page  47

PSAL. XXXIX. 1. M. 1. part. *

I Said I will look to my waies,
for fear I should go wrong:
I will take thee, lest I offend
with rashnesse of my tongue.
2
As with a bridle I will keep
my mouth with all my might:
Not once to whisper all the while,
the wicked are in sight.
3
I held my tongue, and spake no word,
but kept me close and still:
Yea, from good talk I did refrain,
but sore against my will.
4
My heart waxt hot within my brest,
with musing, thought, and doubt:
Which did increase and stir the fire,
at last these words burst out,
5
¶Lord, number out my life and daies
which yet I have not past:
So that I may be certifi'd
how long my life shall last.
6
Lord, thou hast pointed out my life,
in length much like a span:
Mine age is nothing unto thee,
so vain is every man.
Page  487
Man, surely, walks in vainest shew,
and doth himself anoy
In getting goods, and cannot tell
who shall the same enjoy.
8
Now, Lord, sith things this wise do frame,
what help do I desire?
In truth my help doth hang on thee,
I nothing else require.

M. 1. The second part. *

9
FRom all the sinnes that I have done,
Lord, quit me out of hand:
And make me not a scorn to fools
that nothing understand.
10
I was as dumb, and to complain
no trouble might me move:
Because I knew it was thy work,
my patience for to prove.
11
¶Lord, take from me thy scourge & plague,
I can them not withstand:
I faint and pine away for fear
of thy most heavy hand.
12
When thou for sin dost man rebuke,
he waxeth pale and wan?
And like a cloth that moths have fret:
so vain a thing is man.
Page  4913
Lord, hear my suit, and give good heed,
regard my tears that fall:
I sojourn like a stranger here,
as did my fathers all.
14
O spare a little, give me space
my strength for to restore:
Before I go away from hence,
and shall be seen no more.