LII. Reflections on the Waste of Years. Psalm xc. 9.
FOR NEW-YEAR'S DAY.
1 REMARK, my soul, the narrow bounds
Of the revolving year!
How swift the weeks complete their rounds!
How short the months appear!
2 So fast eternity comes on,
And that important day,
When all, that mortal life has done,
God's judgment shall survey.
3 Yet like an idle tale we pass
The swift advancing year;
And study artful ways t' increase
The speed of its career.
4 Waken, O God, my trifling heart
Its great concern to see;
That I may act the christian part,
And give the year to thee.
5 So shall their course more grateful roll,
If future years arise;
Or this shall bear my smiling soul
To joy, that never dies.
LIII. Joy and Prosperity from the Presence and Blessing of God.
Psalm xc. 17.
1 SHINE on our souls, eternal God,
With rays of beauty shine:
O let thy favour crown our days,
And all their round be thine!
2 Did we not raise our hands to thee,
Our hands might toil in vain ;
Small joy success itself could give,
If thou thy love restrain.
3 With thee let every week begin,
With thee each day be spent,
For thee each fleeting hour improv'd,
Since each by thee is lent.
4 Thus cheer us through this desart road,
Till all our labours cease;
And heaven refresh our weary souls
With everlasting peace.
LIV. The Mutability of the Creation, and the Immutability of God.
Psalm cii. 25-28.
1 GREAT former of this various frame,
Our souls adore thine awful name;
And bow and tremble, while they praise
The Ancient of eternal days.
2 Thou, Lord, with unsurpris'd survey,
Saw'st nature rising yesterday;
And, as to-morrow, shall thine eye
See earth and stars in ruin lie.
3 Beyond an angel's vision bright,
Thou dwell'st in self-existent light;
Which shines with undiminish'd ray,
While suns and worlds in smoke decay.
4 Our days a transient period run,
And change with every circling sun;
And in the firmest state we boast,
A moth can crush us into dust.
5 But let the creatures fall around;
Let death consign us to the ground;
Let the last general flame arise,
And melt the arches of the skies:
6 Calm as the summer's ocean, we
Can all the wreck of nature see,
While grace secures us an abode,
Unshaken as the throne of God.
LV. The Frailty of Human-nature, and God's gracious Regard to it. Psalm ciii. 14.
1 LORD, we adore thy wonderous name,
And make that name our trust,
Which rais'd at first this curious frame,
From mean and lifeless dust.
2 By dust supported, still it stands,
Wrought up to various forms,
Prepared by thy creating hands
To nourish mortal worms.
3 Awhile these frail machines endure,
The fabric of a day;
Then know their vital powers no more,
But moulder back to clay.
4 Yet, Lord, whate'er is felt or fear'd,
This thought is our repose,
That he, by whom this frame was rear'd,
Its various weakness knows.
5 Thou view'st us with a pitying eye,
While struggling with our load;
In pains and dangers thou art nigh,
Our Father, and our God.
6 Gently supported by thy love,
We tend to realms of peace;
Where every pain shall far remove,
And every frailty cease.
LVI. God adored for his Goodness, and his wonderful Works to the Children of Men. Psalm cvii. 31.
E sons of men, with joy record
The various wonders of the Lord;
And let his power and goodness sound
Through all your tribes the earth around.
2 Let the high heavens your songs invite,
Those spacious fields of brilliant light;
Where sun, and moon, and planets roll,
And stars, that glow from pole to pole.
3 Sing earth in verdant robes array'd,
Its herbs and flowers, its fruit and shade;
Peopled with life of various forms,
Fishes and fowls, and beasts and worms.
4 View the broad sea's majestic plains,
And think how wide its Maker reigns;
That band remotest nations joins,
And on each wave his goodness shines.
5 But O! that brighter world above,
Where lives and reigus incarnate love!
God's only Son in flesh array'd,
For man a bleeding victim * made.
6 Thither, my soul, with rapture soar ;
There in the land of praise adore;
This theme demands an angel's lay †,
Demands an undeclining day.
LVII. The holy Soul returning to its Rest in a grateful Sense of divine Bounties. Psalm cxvi. 7.
1 RETURN, my soul, and seek thy rest
Upon thy heavenly Father's breast:
Indulge me, Lord, in that repose,
The soul which loves thee only knows.
2 Lodg'd in thine arms, I fear no more
The tempest's howl, the billow's roar :
Those storms must shake the Almighty's seat,
Which violate the saint's retreat.
3 Thy bounties, Lord, to me surmount
The power of language to recount;
From morning-dawn, the setting sun
Sees but my work of praise begun.
4 The mercies, all my moments bring,
Ask an eternity to sing;
What thanks those mercies can suffice,
Which through eternity shall rise?
5 Rich in ten thousand gifts possess'd,
In future hopes more richly bless'd,
I'll sit and sing, till death shall raise
A note of more proportion'd praise.
LVIII. Deliverance celebrated. Psalm cxvi. 8.
1 LOOK back, my soul, with grateful love,
On what thy God has done;
Praise him for his unnumber'd gifts,
And praise him for his Son.
2 How oft hath his indulgent hand
My flowing eye-lids dried,
And rescu'd from impending death,
When I in danger cri'd !
3 When on the bed of death I lay,
With sickness sore oppress'd,
How oft hath he assuag'd my grief,
And lull'd my eyes to rest!
4 Back from destruction's yawning pit
At his command I came ;
He fed th' expiring lamp anew,
And rais'd its feeble flame.
5 My broken spirit he hath cheer'd,
When torn with inward grief;
And, when temptations press'd me sore,
Hath brought me swift relief.
6 My soul from everlasting death
Is by his mercy brought,
To tell in Zion's sacred gates
The wonders he hath wrought.
7 Still will I walk before his face,
While he this life prolongs;
Till grace shall all its work complete,
And teach me heavenly songs.
LIX. Deliverance celebrated, and good Resolutions formed. Psalm cxvi. 8, 9.
REAT source of life, our souls confess
The various riches of thy grace;
Crown'd with thy mercy, we rejoice,
And in thy praise exalt our voice.
2 By thee heaven's shining arch was spread;
By thee were earth's foundations laid,
And all the charms of men's abode
Proclaim the wise, the gracious God.
3 Thy tender hand restores our breath,
When trembling on the verge of death;
Gently it wipes away our tears,
And lengthens life to future years.
4 These lives are sacred to the Lord;
Kindled by him, by him restor❜d;
And, while our hours renew their race,
Still would we walk before his face.
5 So when by him our souls are led
Through unknown regions of the dead,
With joy triumphant shall they move
To seats of nobler life above.
LX. Praise for Recovery from Sickness. Psalm cxviii. 18, 19.
SOVEREIGN of life, I own thy hand
In every chastening stroke;
And, while I smart beneath thy rod,
Thy presence I invoke.
2 To thee in my distress I cried,
And thou hast bow'd thine ear;
Thy powerful word my life prolong'd,
And brought salvation near.
3 Unfold, ye gates of righteousness,
That, with the pious throng,
I may record my solemn vows,
And tune my grateful song.
4 Praise to the Lord, whose gentle hand
Renews our labouring breath:
Praise to the Lord, who makes his saints
Triumphant ev'n in death.
5 My God, in thine appointed hour
Those heavenly gates display,
Where pain and sin, and fear and death
For ever flee
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