Psalm 12

O Lord put to thy helping hand,
For now the godly cease:
The faithfull people of the land
Exceedingly decrease.
Men generally
Speak vanitie
Unto their friends apart:
Their conference slips
From flattering lips,
And from a double heart.
The lips that utter flatterings
The Lord will cut away:
And tongues that speak presumptuous things;
For thus they boast and say;
We shall not fail
But to prevail
With tongue and lips most free,
They are in our
Peculiar power,
For who are Lords but wee?
Now for th' oppression of the poor,
And sighs of needy souls,
I'l rise, saith God, and him secure
From scornfull foes controuls.
And we are sure
Gods words are pure,
As silver from the mines,
In furnace tri'd,
And purifi'd
No less then seven times.
Thy people Lord shall be assur'd,
Preferved by thy grace;
They shall for ever be secur'd
From this ungodly race.
But all the while
The base and vile
Are set in place of pow'r:
On all sides then
Do wicked men
Seek whom they may devour.