6 His laws are just and pure,
His truth without deceit;
His promises for ever sure,
And his rewards are great.
While with the heart and tongue,
We spread thy praise abroad,
Accept the worship and the song,
Our Father and our God!
The Divine Perfections celebrated. Ps. lvii.
1 BE THOU exalted, O our God!
Above the heavens where angels dwell;
Thy power on earth be known abroad,
And land to land thy wonders tell.
2 The earth, the stars, and worlds unknown,
Were formed by thy almighty word:
All things exist through thee alone;
All nature owns thee for its Lord.
3 In thee, O God! are all the springs
Of boundless love, and grace unknown:
All the rich gifts which nature brings,
Are blessings flowing from thy throne.
4 High.o'er the earth thy mercy reigns,
And reaches to the utmost sky:
Thy truth to endless years remains,
Though lower worlds dissolve and die.
5 Be thou exalted, O our God!
Above the heavens where angels dwell;
Thy power on earth be known abroad,
And land to land thy wonders tell.
Freedom from Error, Guilt, and Folly implored. Ps. xix.
1 BLESSED Instructer! from thy ways
Who can tell how oft he strays?
Save from error's growth the mind,
Leave not, Lord! one root behind.
2 Purge us from the guilt that lies
Wrapt within our heart's disguise;
Let us thence, by thee renewed,
Each presumptuous sin exclude.
3 Let our tongues, from error free,
Speak the words approved by thee:
To thine all-observing eyes,
Let our thoughts accepted rise.
4 While we thus thy name adore,
And thy healing grace implore,
Blessed Redeemer! bow thine ear;
God, our strength! propitious hear.
The Goodness of God acknowledged in Temporal and Spiritual Blessings. Ps. ciii.
1 BLESS, O my soul! the living God;
Call home thy thoughts that roam abroad;
Let all the powers within me join
In work and worship so divine.
2 Bless, O my soul! the God of grace;
His favours claim thy highest praise:
Let not the wonders he has wrought,
Be lost in silence and forgot.
3 The vices of the mind he heals,
And sooths the pains 'which nature feels;
Redeems our souls from sin, and saves
Our wasting lives from threatening graves.
4 Our youth decayed, his power repairs;
His mercy crowns our growing years;
And, while he present good supplies,
Bids endless bliss in prospect rise.
5 His power he showed by Moses' hands,
And gave to Israel his commands;
But made his truth and mercy known
To all the nations, by his Son.
6 Let the whole earth his power confess;
Let the whole earth his goodness bless:
The Gentile with the Jew shall join
In work and worship so divine.
All Nature invoked to Praise the Creator.
1 CELESTIAL Worlds! your Maker's name
Resound through every shining coast:
Our God a nobler praise will claim,,
Where he unfolds his glories most.
2 Stupendous globe of flaming day!
Praise him in thy sublime career;
He struck from night thy peerless ray,
Gave thee thy path, and guides thee there.
3 Ye starry lamps, to whom 'tis given
Night's sable horrors to illume!
Praise him who hung you high in heaven,
With vivid fires to gild the gloom.
4 Lightnings, that round the Eternal play!
Thunders, that from his arm are hurled!
The grandeur of your God convey,
Blazing, or bursting on the world."
5 From clime to clime, from shore to shore,
Be the almighty God adored:
He made the nations by his power,
And rules them with his sovereign word.
Solemn call to Praise. Ps. xcv.
1 COME, Sound his praise abroad,
And hymns of glory sing!
Jehovah is the sovereign God,
The universal King.
He formed the deeps unknown;
He
gave the seas their bound; The watery worlds are all his own, And all the solid ground.
Come, worship at his throne; Come, bow before the Lord: We are his work, and his alone; He formed us by his word.
To-day attend his voice,
No more provoke his rod;
Come, make his heavenly paths your choice, And own your gracious God.
5 Thus you the joys will share,
Which from devotion rise;
And every day your souls prepare
For bliss, that never dies.
The Pleasures of Religion.
COME, ye who love the Lord! And let your joys be known: Join in a song with sweet accord, And thus surround his throne.
The sorrows of the mind
Be banished from this place!
Religion never was designed
To make your pleasures less.
3 God, your eternal Friend,
No present good denies;
And when the scenes of time shall end,
Will call you to the skies.
There shall you see his face,
And never, never sin;
There, from the rivers of his grace,
Drink endless pleasures in.
The sons of God have found
Glory begun below:
Celestial fruits, on earthly ground,
From faith and hope may grow.
Then let our sorrows cease,
And every tear be dry;
We're travelling through the paths of peace To fairer worlds on high.
|