7 Since time's too short, all gracious God,
To utter half thy praise,
Loud to the honour of thy name
Eternal hymns we'll raise.
XXXV. Relishing the divine Goodness. Psalm xxxiv. 8, 9.
1 TRIUMPHANT, Lord, thy goodness reigns
Through all the wide celestial plains;
And its full streams redundant flow
Down to the abodes of men below.
2 Through nature's works its glories shine;
The cares of providence are thine:
And grace erects our ruined frame
A fairer temple to thy name.
30 give to every human heart
To taste, and feel how good thou art:
With grateful love, and reverend fear,
To know, how blest thy children are.
4 Let nature burst into a song ;
Ye echoing hills, the notes prolong:
Earth, seas, and stars your anthems raise,
All vocal with your Maker's praise.
5 Ye saints, with joy the theme pursue,
Its sweetest notes belong to you;
Chose by this condescending King
For ever round his throne to sing.
XXXVI. God saying to the Soul, that he is its Salvation.
Psalm xxxv. 3.
1 SALVATION! O melodious sound
To wretched dying men!
Salvation, that from God proceeds,
And leads to God again!
2 Rescued from hell's eternal gloom,
From fiends +, and fires, and chains:
Raised to a paradise of bliss,
Where love and glory reigns!
3 But O! may a degenerate soul,
Sinful and weak as mine,
Presume to raise a trembling eye
To blessings so divine?
4 The lustre of so bright a bliss
My feeble heart o'erbears;
Sounding, as if endowed with speech.
And unbelief almost perverts
The promise into tears.
5 My Saviour-God, no voice but thine
These dying hopes can raise :
Speak thy salvation to my soul,
And turn its tears to praise.
6 My Saviour-God, this broken voice
Transported shall proclaim,
And call on all th' angelic harps
To sound so sweet a name.
XXXVII. God's Complacency in the Prosperity of his Servants.
Psalm xxxv. 27.
1 THE Lord with pleasure views his saints,
And calls them all his own;
And low he bows to their complaints,
And pities every groan.
2 In all the joys they here possess,
He takes a tender part;
And, when they rise to heavenly bliss,
Complacence fills his heart.
3 My God, are all my pleasures thine?
My comforts thy delight?
O be thy happiness divine
Most precious in my sight!
4 They most in all thy bliss shall share,
Whose hearts can love thee most;
O could I vie in ardor here
With all th' angelic host.
XXXVIII. The Days of the Upright known to God, and their everlasting Inheritance. Psalm xxxvii. 18.
1 To thee, my God, my days are known;
My soul enjoys the thought;
My actions all before thy face,
Nor are my faults forgot.
2 Each secret breath devotion vents,
Is vocal to thine ear;
And all my walks of daily life
Before thine eye appear.
3 The vacant hour, the active scene,
Thy mercy shall approve;
And every pang of sympathy,
And every care of love.
4 Each golden hour of beaming light
Is guided by thy rays;
And dark affliction's midnight gloom
A present God surveys.
Full in thy view through life I pass,
And in thy view I die;
And, when each mortal bond is broke,
Shall find my God is nigh.
6 Stripp'd of its little earthly all,
My soul in smiles shall go;
And in an heavenly heritage
Its father's bounty know.
XXXIX. Our Desire and Groaning before God, when proceeding from the greatest Distress. Psalm xxxviii. 9, 10.
1 MY soul, the awful hour will come,
Apace it passeth on,
To bear this body to the tomb,
And thee to scenes unknown.
2 My heart, long labouring with its woes,
Shall pant and sink away;
And you, my eye-lids, soon shall close
On the last glimmering ray.
3 Whence in that hour shall I receive
A cordial for my pain,
When, if earth's monarchs were my friends,
Those friends would weep in vain?
4 Great King of nature, and of grace,
To thee my spirit flies,
And opens all its deep distress
Before thy pitying eyes.
5 All its desires to thee are known,
And every secret fear,
The meaning of each broken groan
Well-noticed by thine ear.
6 O fix me by that mighty power,
Which to such love belongs,
Where darkness veils the eyes no more,
And groans are chang'd to songs.
XL. God magnified by those that love his Salvation. Psalm xl. 16.
GOD of salvation, we adore
Thy saving love, thy saving power;
And to our utmost stretch of thought
Hail the redemption thou hast wrought.
2 We love the stroke, that breaks our chain,
The sword, by which our sins are slain :
And, while abas'd in dust we bow,
We sing the grace, that lays us low.
3 Perish each thought of human pride,
Let God alone be magnifi'd:
His glory let the heavens resound,
Shouted from earth's remotest bound.
4 Saints, who his full salvation know,
Saints, who but taste it here below,
Join every angel's voice to raise
Continued, never-ending praise.
XLI. The Triumph of Christ in the Cause of Truth, Meekness, and
Righteousness. Psalm xlv. 3, 4.
1 LOUD to the prince of heaven
Your cheerful voices raise;
To him your vows be given,
And fill his courts with praise :
With conscious worth
All clad in arms,
All bright in charms,
He sallies forth.
2 Gird on thy conquering sword,
Ascend thy shining car,
And march, Almighty Lord,
To wage thy holy war:
Before his wheels,
In glad surprise,
Ye vallies rise,
And sink, ye hills.
3 Fair truth, and smiling love,
And injur'd righteousness
In thy retinue move,
And seek from thee redress:
Thou in their cause
Shalt prosperous ride,
And far and wide
Dispense thy laws.
4 Before thine awful face
Millions of foes shall fall,
The captives of thy grace,
That grace, which conquers all:
The world shall know,
Great King of kings,
What wonderous things
Thine arm can do.
5 Here to my willing soul
Bend thy triumphant way;
Here every foe controul,
And all thy power display:
My heart, thy throne,
Blest Jesus, see,
Bows low to thee,
To thee alone.
XLII. Quietness under Affliction, a proper Acknowledgment of God.
1 PEACE, 'tis the Lord Jehovah's hand,
That blasts our joys in death;
Changes the visage once so dear,
And gathers back our breath.
2 'Tis he, the potentate supreme
Of all the worlds above,
Whose steady counsels wisely rule,
Nor from their purpose move.
3 'Tis he, whose justice might demand
Our souls a sacrifice;
Yet scatters with unwearied hand
A thousand rich supplies.
4 Our covenant-God and Father he
In Christ our bleeding Lord;
Whose grace can heal the bursting heart
With one reviving word.
5 Fair garlands of immortal bliss
He weaves for every brow;
And shall tumultuous passions rise,
If he correct us now?
6 Silent I own Jehovah's name;
I kiss thy scourging hand;
And yield my comforts, and
To thy supreme command.
XLIII. The Year crowned with the divine Goodness. Psalm ixv. 11.
FOR NEW-YEAR'S DAY.
1 ETERNAL source of every joy!
Well may thy praise our lips employ,
While in thy temple we appear,
Whose goodness crowns the circling year.
2 While as the wheels of nature roll,
Thy hand supports the steady pole;
The sun is taught by thee to rise,
And darkness, when to veil the skies.
|