2 So may our eyes with holy zeal
Prevent the dawning day;
And turn the sacred pages* o'er,
And praise thy name and pray.

3 'Midst hourly cares, may love present
Its incense to thy throne;

And, while the world our hands employs,
Our hearts be thine alone!

4 As sanctifi'd to noblest ends

Be each refreshment sought;
And by each various providence

Some wise instruction brought!
5 When to laborious duties call'd,
Or by temptations try'd,
We'll seek the shelter of thy wings,
And in thy strength confide.

6 As different scenes of life arise,
Our grateful hearts would be
With thee, amidst the social band;
In solitude, with thee.

7 At night we lean our weary heads
On thy paternal breast;
And, safely folded in thine armis,
Resign our powers to rest.

8 In solid pure delights, like these,
Let all my days be past;
Nor shall I then impatient wish,

Nor shall I fear the last.

LXXX. The obstinate Sinner alarmed. Proverbs xxix. 1.

1 NOW let the sons of Belial + hear

The thunders of the Lord;

Unfold their long rebellious ear,
And tremble at his word.

2 Now let the iron sinew bow,
And take his easy yoke;

Lest sudden vengeance lay it low
By one resistless stroke.

3 Though yet the great physician wait,
And healing balm be found,

One hour may seal their endless fate,
And fix a deadly wound.

The holy scriptures.

VOL. III.

+ Disobedient rebellious persons. 30

4 Swift may thy mercy, Lord, arise,
Ere justice stop their breath;
And lighten those deluded eyes,
That sleep the sleep of death!

LXXXI. God's reasonable Expectations from las Vineyard.
Isaiah v. 1-7.

1 THE vineyard of the Lord, how fair!
Planted by his peculiar care,

Behold its branches spread, and fill
The borders of his sacred hill.

2 His eye hath mark'd the chosen ground;
His mighty hand hath fenc'd it round;
His servants by his order wait,

To watch and aid its tender state

3 But when the vintage he demands
For all the labour of their hands,
What clusters doth his vine produce?
The grapes are wild, and sour the juice.
4 Well might he tear its fence away,
And leave it to the beasts of prey,
Might give it to the wild again,
And charge his clouds to cease to rain.
5 But spare our land, our churches spare,
Thy vengeance long provok'd forbear;
Let the true vine its influence give,
And bid our withering branches live!

LXXXII. Isaiah's Obedience to the heavenly Vision. Isaiah vi. 8.

1 OUR God ascends his lofty throne,
Array'd in majesty unknown;

His lustre all the temple fills,

*

And spreads o'er all th' ethereal hills.

2 The holy, holy, holy Lord,

By all the Seraphim ador'd,

And, while they stand beneath his seat,
They veil their faces, and their feet.

3 And can a sinful worm endure
The presence of a God so pure?
Or these polluted lips proclaim
The honours of so grand a name?
4 O for thine altar's glowing coal
To touch my lips, to fire my soul,
To purge the sordid dross away,
And into crystal turn my clay!

* Heavenly.

5 Then, if a messenger thou ask,
A labourer for the hardest task,

Through all my weakness and my fear,
Love shall reply, "Thy servant's here."
6 Nor should my willing soul complain,
Though all its efforts seem'd in vain;
It ample recompence shall be,

But to have wrought, my God, for thee.

LXXXIII. The Stupidity of Israel, und of Britain lamented. Isaiah vi. 9-12.

FOR A FAST-DAY.

1 LORD, when thine Israel we survey,
We in their crimes discern our own;
And, if thou turn our prayer away,
Our misery must, like theirs, be known.
2 To us thy prophets have been sent
With words of terror and of love;
But not the vengeance, nor the grace
Ten thousand stubborn hearts will move.

3 Our eyes are blind, and deaf our ears;
Our hearts are harden'd into stone;
As we would bar thy mercy out,
And leave a way for wrath alone.

4 Justly our God might give us up
To plague and famine and the sword;
Till towns and cities rich and fair
Lay desolate without a Lord.

5 O'er bleeding wounds of slaughter'd friends
Rivers of helpless grief might flow,
Till the fierce conquerors' haughty rage
Dragg'd us to chains and slaughter too.

6 But spare a nation long thy own,

grace;

And shew new miracles of
'Tis thine to heal the deaf and blind,
And wake the dead to life and praise.

LXXXIV. Confederate Nations defied by those who sanctify God. Isaiah viii. 9-14.

FOR A FAST-DAY.

1 REAT God of hosts, attend our prayer,
And make the British Isles thy care:

To thee we raise our suppliant cries,
When angry nations round us rise,

4

5

New strength diffus'd through all my soul

Attests its vital power.

My mind in perfect peace

Thy guardian care shall keep :
I'll yield to gentle slumbers now,
For thou canst never sleep.

Happy the souls alone

On thee securely stay'd!

Nor shall they be in life alarm'd,

Nor be in death dismay'd.

LXXXVIII. Israel's Obstinacy under God's lifted Hand. Isaiah xxvi. 11.

1 LORD, when thy hand is lifted up,
The wicked will not see;

But they shall see with glowing shame,
Though they obdurate be.

2 How few the weighty stroke regard,
And seek their Maker's face!
In vain may providence correct,
If not enforc'd by grace.

3 Exert thy mighty influence, Lord,
And melt the stony breast;
Then shall thy justice be ador'd,
Thy mercy stand confess'd.

4 The scorner then shall mourn in dust,
And put his sins away,

1

2

3

4.

No more resist his Maker's hands,

But lift his own to pray.

LXXXIX. God quickening the Dead. Isaiah xxvi. 19.

THE ever-living God

Th' expiring church shall raise;

Our hearts his promises receive,

And wake a shout of praise.

Death shall not always reign,

Where grace hath fix'd its throne;
His soft compassion views the dust,
He once hath call'd his own.

"Yes," saith the God of truth,
"My dead shall live again;

"The foe shall see their leader's breath

"Reanimate the slain.

"The dew of heaven shall fall

"In rich abundance round,

Sustains his people's weighty cares,
Through every changing age the same.

5 My little all I there suspend,

Where the whole weight of heaven is hung;
Secure I rest on such a friend,

And into rapture wake my tongue.

LXXXVI. The rich Provision and happy Effects of the Gospel.
Isaiah xxv. 6-9.

1 BEHOLD our God, he owns his name;
Jehovah all our songs proclaim
With shouts of wonder and of joy :
Long have we waited for his grace,
No longer now his love delays

For Zion his own arm t' employ.

2 We charge our souls the joy to feel;
We charge our tongues his praise to tell :
Th' Almighty Saviour! This is he!
He pours his streams of grace abroad,
Till all the earth confess the God,
And lands remote his glory see.

3 Dainties how rich his stores afford !
How pure the wine, that crowns his board,
While welcome nations flock around!
He takes the veil of grief away;
Through thickest shades he darts the day,
And not one weeping eye is found.

4 All-conquering death, no longer boast
O'er millions humbled in the dust;
Our God with scorn thy triumph sees:
Soon as he aims one shaft at thee,
Swallow'd and lost in victory,

Thine empire and thy name shall cease.

LXXXVII. The peaceful State of the Soul, that trusteth in God. Isaiah xxvi. 3.