The First Psalm

1 How blest is he, who ne'er consents
by ill advice to walk,
Nor stands in sinners ways, nor fits
where men profanely talk;

2 But makes the perfect law of God
his bus'ness and delight;
Devoutly reads therein by day,
and meditates by night.

3 Like some fair tree, which, fed by streams,
with timely fruit does bend,
He still shall flourish, and success
all his designs attend.

4 Ungodly men, and their attempts,
no lasting root shall find;
Untimely blasted, and dispers'd,
like chaff before the wind.

5 Their guilt shall strike the wicked dumb
before the Judge's face:
No formal hypocrite shall then
among the saints have place.

6 For God approves the just man's ways;
to happiness they tend:
But sinners, and the paths they tread,
shall both in ruin end.

Source: The Whole Book of Psalms: in metre; with hymns suited to the feasts and fasts of the church, and other occasions of public worship #I