MY soul, give laud unto the Lord,
my spirit shall do the same:
And all the secrets of my heart,
praise ye his holy Name.
[verse 2] Give thanks to God for all his gifts,
shew not thy self unkinde:
And suffer not his benefits
to slip out of thy minde.
[verse 3] That gave thee pardon for thy faults,
and thee restor'd again,
For all thy weak and frail disease,
and heal'd thee of thy pain.
[verse 4] That did redeem thy life from death,
from which thou couldst not flee:
His mercy and compassion both
he did extend to thee.
[verse 5] That fill'd with goodness thy desire,
and did prolong thy youth:
Like as the eagle casts her bill,
whereby her age renew'th.
[verse 6] The Lord with justice doth repay
all such as be opprest:
So that their sufferings and their wrongs
are turned to the best.
[verse 7] His ways and his commandements
to Moses he did show:
His counsels and his valiant acts
the Israelites did know.
[verse 8] The Lord is kinde and merciful
when sinners do him grieve:
The slowest to conceive a wrath,
and readiest to forgive.
[verse 9] He chides not us continually,
though we be full of strife:
Nor keeps our faults in memory,
For all our sinful life:
[verse 10] Nor yet according to our sins
the Lord doth us regard:
Nor after our iniquities
he doth us not reward.
[verse 11] But as the space is wondrous great
'twixt earth and heaven above:
So is his goodness much more large
to them that do him love.
[verse 12] God doth remove our sins from us,
and our offences all,
As far as is the sun-rising
full distant from his fall.