For Jacob he this law ordained,
This league with Israel made;
With charge, to be from age to age,
From race to race, conveyed,
That generations yet to come
Should to their unborn heirs
Religiously transmit the same,
And they again to theirs.
To teach them that in God alone
Their hope securely stands;
That they should ne'er his works forget,
But keep his just commands.
4.—From Belknap's Collection.
This collection was first published by the Rev. Dr. Jeremy Belknap, at Boston, in 1795. The version of the Seventy-eighth Psalm is partly from that of Brady and Tate, and partly from Dr. Watts's, with a few slight variations. It succeeded the version of Brady and Tate about the year 1820, and is the one which is now used. The first three stanzas were written by Brady and Tate; the last three by Dr. Watts. It has of late been customary to omit the last stanza in singing and in printing.
Give ear, ye children;[62] to my law
Devout attention lend;
Let the instructions[63] of my mouth
Deep in your hearts descend.
My tongue, by inspiration taught,
Shall parables unfold;
Dark oracles, but understood,
And owned for truths of old;
Which we from sacred registers
Of ancient times have known,
And our forefathers' pious care
To us has handed down.
Let children learn[64] the mighty deeds
Which God performed of old;
Which, in our younger years we saw,
And which our fathers told.
Our lips shall tell them to our sons,
And they again to theirs;
That generations yet unborn
May teach them to their heirs.