midnight
When the soul is hovering in the last moments of its separation , when it is just entering on another state of existence , to converse with scenes , and objects , and companions , that are altogether new -- what can support her under such tremblings of thought , such fear , such anxiety , such apprehensions , but the casting of all her cares upon Him who first gave her being , who has conducted her through one stage of it , and will be always with her , to guide and comfort her in her progress through eternity ? David has very beautifully represented this steady reliance on God Almighty in his twenty-third Psalm , which is a kind of pastoral hymn , and filled with those allusions which are usual in that kind of writing . As the poetry is very exquisite , I shall present my reader with the following translation of it : The Lord my pasture shall prepare , And feed me with a shepherd 's care ; His presence shall my wants supply , And guard me with a watchful eye ; My noonday walks He shall attend , And all my midnight hours defend . When in the sultry glebe I faint , Or on the thirsty mountain pant ; To fertile vales and dewy meads My weary , wand ` ring steps He leads ; Where peaceful rivers , soft and slow , Amid the verdant landscape flow . Though in the paths of death I tread , With gloomy horrors overspread , My steadfast heart shall fear no ill , For thou , O Lord , art with me still ; Thy friendly crook shall give me aid , And guide me through the dreadful shade . Though in a bare and rugged way , Through devious , lonely wilds I stray , Thy bounty shall my pains beguile : The barren wilderness shall smile With sudden greens and herbage crowned , And streams shall murmur all around .