Benedic anima

Verse 1

My soul, give praise unto the Lord, my spirit, do the same: And all the secrets of my heart, praise ye his holy Name;

Verse 2

Praise thou the Lord, my soul, who hath to thee been very kind, And suffer not his benefits to slip out of thy mind:

Verse 3

That gave thee pardon for thy faults, and thee restor'd again From 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 could'st not flee; His mercy and compassion both he did extend to thee;

Verse 5

That fill'd with goodness thy desire, and did thy youth prolong, Like as the eagle casts her bill, again becoming young.

Verse 6

The Lord with justice doth repay all such as are opprest, So that their sufferings and wrongs Are turned to the best.

Verse 7

His ways and his commandments all to Moses he did show; His counsels and his valiant acts the Israelites did know.

Verse 8

The Lord is kind and merciful, when sinners do him grieve, The slowest to conceive a wrath, and readiest to forgive:

Verse 9

He will not always chiding be, though we be full of strife; Nor keep our faults in memory, for all our sinful life:

Verse 10

According to our sins also he doth us not regard, And after our iniquities he doth us not reward:

Verse 11

But as the space is wondrous great 'twixt earth and heav'n above; So is his goodness much more large to them that do him love.

Verse 12

He doth remove our sins from us, and our offences all, As far as is the sun-rising full distant from his fall.

Verse 13

Behold, what pity parents do unto their children bear, Like pity beareth God to such as worship him in fear.

Verse 14

The Lord that made us knows our shape, our mould and fashion just, How weak and frail our nature is, and that we are but dust:

Verse 15

And now the time of mortal men is like the with'ring hay, Or like the flow'r right fair in field, that fadeth soon away;

Verse 16

Whose gloss and beauty stormy winds do utterly deface, And make that after their assaults such blossoms have no place:

Verse 17

But yet the goodness of the Lord with his shall ever stand; Their children's children do receive his righteousness at hand:

Verse 18

I mean, who keep his covenant with all their whole desire, And not forget to do the thing, that he doth them require.

Verse 19

The heav'ns most high are made the seat and footstool of the Lord; And by his pow'r imperial he governs all the world.

Verse 20

Ye angels, that are great in pow'r, praise ye, and bless the Lord, Who to obey and do his will immediately accord:

Verse 21

Ye noble hosts and ministers cease not to praise him still, Who ready are to execute his pleasure and his will:

Verse 22

Yea, all his works in ev'ry place, praise ye his holy Name: My thankful heart, my mind and soul, praise ye also the same.