¶ A songe for the delyueraunce of the people,
CAPI. XXVI.
THen shall this songe be songe in the [ A] lande of Iuda: We haue a stronge cy∣tie, the walles and the ordinaunce shall kepe vs. Open the gates, that the good peo∣ple may go in, which laboureth for ye trouth. And thou, which art the dore, & hast the mat∣ter in hande, shalt prouyde for pe••re, euen the peaxe that men hope for in the. Hope styll in the Lord, for in the Lord God is euerlasting strength. For why, it is he, that bryngeth low the hye mynded cytesyns, & casteth downe the proude cities. He casteth them to the ground, yea euen into the myre, that they may be tro∣den vnder the fete of the symple, & with the steppes of the poore. Thou (Lorde) consydrest [ B] the path of ye rightous, whether it be ryght, whether ye way of ye ryghtous be ryght. Ther¦fore (Lord) we haue a respecte vnto the way or thy iudgemētes, thy name and thy remem¦braunce reioyse the soule. My soule lusteth af¦ter the all the nyght longe, and my mynde ha¦steth frelye to the. For as soone as thy iudge∣ment is knowen to the worlde, then the in∣habitours of the earthe lerne ryghtousnesse. But the vngodly (thoughe he haue receaued grace) yet lerneth he not ryghtousnesse, but in that place where he is punyshed, he offen∣deth, and feareth not the glory of the Lorde.
Lord, they wyll not se thyne hye hand, but they shall se it, & be confounded, when thou shalt deuoure them with ye wrath of thy peo∣ple, & with the fyre of thyne enemyes. But vn¦to vs, O Lorde, prouyde for peaxe, for thou workest in vs all our workes. O Lorde oure God, though suche lordes haue dominacion [ C] vpō vs as knowe not the, yet graunt that we may hope onely in the, & kept thy name in re∣mēbraunce. The malicious Tyrauntes when they dye, are neyther in lyfe nor in the resur∣rection, for thou vysytest them & rootest them oute, & destroyest all the memoriall of them. Agayne, thou increasest the people, (O Lord) thou encreasest the people, thou shalte be praysed and magnified in all the endes of the world. The people that seke vnto the in trou¦ble, that same aduersite whiche they cōplayne of is vnto them a chastening before the. Lyke as a wyfe with chylde (when her trauayle cō¦meth vpō her) is ashamed, cryeth, & suffreth the payne. Euen so are we, O Lorde, in thy syght. We are with chylde, we trauayle, and [ D] heare, & with the sprete we bryng forth health where thorowe the earth is vndestroyed, and the inhabitours of the worlde peryshe not.
But as for thy dead men & ours, that be de∣parted, they are in lyfe & resurrection. They lye in the earthe, they wake, & haue ioye, for thy dew is a dew of lyfe and lyght. But the place of the malicious tyrauntes is fallen away. So go nowe my people into thy cham∣bre, and shut the dore to the, & suffre nowe the twyncklyng of an eye, tyll the wrath be ouer past. For behold, the Lord wyll go out of his habitaciō,* 1.1 and vyset the wyckednesse of them that dwell vpon earth. He wyll dyscouer the bloude that she hath deuoured, she shall ne∣uer hyde them, that she hath murthered.