The copious springs their steps beguile,
And bid the cheerless desart smile.
5 From stage to stage advancing still,
Behold them reach fair Sion's hill,
And prostrate at her hallow'd shrine
Adore the Majesty divine,
Where thy refulgent glory spreads
It's purest splendours o'er their heads.
For the King; and public Ordinances.-Before
THOU, whom heaven's high hosts revere,
God of our fathers, bow thine ear;
Look down, our only hope! look down,
Behold us, but without a frown;
And let thy beams, in mercy shed,
Stream copious on th' anointed head.
2 One day if in thy courts I dwell,
That day a thousand shall excel;
Far happier lot on Thee to wait,
And guard th' approaches of thy gate,
Than with the impious sons of pride
In rich pavilions to abide.
3 Thou, Lord, art Israel's sun and shield;
Thy love shall grace and glory yield,
Nor e'er permit the lowly train
Thy gifts to ask, and ask in vain ;
Blest, who in confidence of prayer
To Thee, great God, resign their care.
ARISE, great God, and let thy grace
It's beams effuse on Jacob's race:
Restore the long-lost scatter'd band,
And call them to their native land.
2 Their misery let thy mercy heal,
Their trespass hide, their pardon seal;
Check in mid course thy dreadful ire,
And bid it's kindled flames expire!
3 O grant them still thy love to share;
Incline thine ear, accept our prayer;
Cleanse them from unbelief and sin,
And gather too the Gentiles in.
4 How long shall Jacob's offspring prove
The sad suspension of thy love?
Say, shall thy wrath perpetual burn?
And wilt Thou ne'er, appeas'd, return?
5 Thy quickening Spirit now impart,
And wake to joy each grateful heart,
While Israel's rescued tribes in Thee
Their bliss and full salvation see!
6 No longer, heavenly Sire, delay
Thy wonted mercy now display,
And let thy all-disposing will
Thy people's stedfast hope fulfil.
THEE, Lord, their dwelling, Thee, alone
From earliest age thy people own;
Thee, Lord, with fullest confidence
They boast their refuge and defence.
2 Ere yet the mountains rose to birth,
Ere yet their form the heavens and earth
Assum'd, Thou cloth'd in light divine
Hast shone, and shalt for ever shine.
3 Thou to the sons of human kind
In short extension hast assign'd
Their term, and bid them, at it's end,
Low to their native dust descend.
4 To Thee as yesterday appears
The prospect of a thousand years;
And ages, roll'd successive on,
Quick as the circling watch are gone.
5 As plants that drink the nightly shower
Refresh'd by slumbers balmy power
At morn they flourish: evening nigh,
Cropt like the plant, they fade and die.
6 Teach us, kind Lord, O teach us Thou
To count life's moments as they flow,
And while it's end our thoughts survey,
By wisdom's line to guide our way.
God justified in the Prosperity of the Wicked.
1 WITH what delight, great God, I trace Each act of thy stupendous grace!
Great are the works thy hand has wrought
And deep beyond all search thy thought.
2 Thy acts the minds of brutish mould
With unregarding eye behold,
And, strangers to thy wise design,
In erring censure madly join :-
3 Nor know, that, when the impious band,
Fresh as the flower, conspicuous stand,
Mature for death their heads they rear,
And swift destruction waits them near.
4 But Thou above the starry plain
In endless majesty shalt reign;
And downward from th' ethereal height
O'er subject worlds extend thy might.
HYMN XL.
God reigns. Ps. xciii.
1 HE Lord th' eternal sceptre rears,
And nature's power observant hears
Whate'er his will enjoins :
His head with purest splendours crown'd,
With majesty he vests him round,
And girds with strength his loins,
2 Encircled by th' ethereal space,
And fix'd by him on firmest base,
The earth's vast orb appears;
From earliest age, great God, thy throne
Aloft in heaven prepar'd has shone ;
Nor numbers time thy years.
3 A scene of horror strikes my eyes;
The floods, my God, the floods arise,
And lift their voice on high;
What power shall curb the headlong tide?
What bid the swelling waves subside,
And clear the stormy sky?
4 Thee o'er all height exalted, Thee
The deeps revere; at thy decree
The waves their rage resign:
Fix'd are the laws by Thee ordain'd;
And truth and sanctity unstain'd
Adorn thy awful shrine.
At the Commencement of Worship. Ps. xcv. 1--7.
COME, and to th' eternal King
New songs
of triumph let us sing;
With holy transport him alone
The strength of our salvation own :-
2 Extended wide beyond all bound,
Beyond all height, his power is found,
Nor lord, with him, nor gods beside
The honours of his throne divide.
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