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against thee. Do not abhor us, for thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us. Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O Lord our God? therefore we will wait upon thec: for thou hast made all these things. O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee. O the Hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble. Thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name: leave us not..

From the same, ch. 11. 15. 17. 18. 20.

O Lord of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart; thou knowest that which came out of my lips was right before thee. Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me. Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul, remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away

thy wrath from them. The word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily. Behold they say unto me, Where is the word of the Lord? let it come now. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, but his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him. But the Lord is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their "everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten. O Lord, thou knowest remember me, and visit me; take me not away in thy long suffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone, because of thy hand for thou hast filled me with indignation. O Lord, the

Hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from thee shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.

Selected from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, ch. 5.

Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us; consider and behold our reproach. The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us that we have sinned! For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim. Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever; thy throne. from generation to generation. Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time? Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old. But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.

From the same, ch. 1.3.

Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress; my sighs are many, and my heart is faint. Abroad

the sword bereaveth; at home there is as death. They have heard that I sigh: there is none to comfort me. All mine enemies have heard of my trouble. Thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. And I said, my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord: remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled

in me.

This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach. For the Lord will not cast off for ever: but though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of

men. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most ligh, to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not. Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good? Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Let us search and try our ways, and turn again unto the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. We have transgressed, and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned. Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied. Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through. Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. Fear and a snare come upon us, desolation and destruction. Mine eye run

neth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission, till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven. Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause. They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon

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