The Church of England Book of Common Prayer (1818): Psalm 49 of David in metre

1 Let all the listening world attend,
and my instruction hear;
2 Let high and low, and rich and poor,
With joint consent give ear.
3 My mouth, with sacred wisdom fill’d,
shall good advice impart;
The sound result of prudent thoughts,
digested in my heart.
4 To parables of weighty sense
I will my ear incline;
Whilst to my tuneful harp I sing
dark words of deep design.
5 Why should my courage fail in times
of danger and of doubt,
When sinners, that would me supplant,
have compass’d me about?
6 Those men, that all their hope and trust
in heaps of treasure place,
And boast in triumph, when they see
their ill got wealth increase,
7 Are yet unable from the grave
their dearest friend to free;
Nor can, by force of bribes reverse
the Almighty Lord’s decree.
8 Their vain endeavors they must quit;
the price is held too high;
9 No sums can purchase such a grant,
that man should never die.
10 Not wisdom can the wise exempt,
nor fools their folly save;
But both must perish, and in death,
their wealth to others leave.
11 For though they think their stately seats
shall never ruin fall
12 Yet shall their fame be soon forgot,
how great soe’er their state;
With beasts their memory, and they
shall share a common fate
13 How great their folly is, who thus
absurd conclusions make!
And yet their children unreclaim’d
repeat the gross mistake.
14 They all, like sheep to slaughter led,
the prey of death are made;
Their beauty, while the just rejoice,
within the grave shall fade.
15 But God will yet redeem my soul;
and from the greedy grave
His greater power shall set me free
and to himself receive.
16 Then fear not thou, when worldly men,
in envy’d wealth abound;
Nor though their prosperous house increase,
with state and honor crown’d.
17 For when they’re summon’d hence by death,
they leave all this behind.
No shadow of their former pomp
within the grave they find:
18 And yet they thought their state was blest,
caught in the flatterer’s snare
Who with their vanity comply’d
and praised their worldly care.
19 In their forefather’s steps they tread
and when like them they die,
Their wretched ancestors and they
in endless darkness lie.
20 For man, how great soe’er his state,
unless he’s truly wise,
As like a sensual beast he lives,
so like a beast he dies.