4 Ye nations, bend, in reverence bend,
Ye monarchs, wait his nod,
And bid the song ascend
To celebrate our God!
The Heavens declare the Glory of God. Ps. 19. 1 THE spacious firmament on high, With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great original proclaim.
The unwearied sun, from day to day,
Doth his Creator's power display;
And publishes to every land
The work of an Almighty hand.
2 Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the listening earth
Repeats the story of her birth:
Whilst all the stars which round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.
3 What though, in solemn silence, all
Move round this dark terrestrial ball;
What though no real voice nor sound
Amidst their radiant orbs be found;
In reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice;
Forever singing, as they shine-
"The hand that made us is divine."
Power and Majesty of God. Ps. 89.
1 WITH reverence let the saints appear,
And bow before the Lord;
His high commands with reverence hear,
And tremble at his word.
2 How terrible thy glories be!
How bright thine armies shine!
Where is the power that vies with thee?
Or truth compared with thine?
3 The northern pole and southern rest
On thy supporting hand;
Darkness and day from east to west
Move round at thy command.
4 Thy words the raging winds control,
And rule the boisterous deep;
Thou mak'st the sleeping billows roll,
The rolling billows sleep.
5 Justice and judgment are thy throne,
Yet wondrous is thy grace;
While truth and mercy, joined in one,
Invite us near thy face.
98. L. M. WATTS.
God Incomprehensible and Sovereign. 1 CAN creatures to perfection find The eternal, uncreated Mind?
Or can the largest stretch of thought
Measure and search his nature out?
2 'Tis high as heaven, 't is deep as hell,
And what can mortals know or tell?
His glory spreads beyond the sky,
And all the shining worlds on high.
3 God is a King, of power unknown;
Firm are the orders of his throne:
If he resolve, who dare oppose,
Or ask him why, or what he does?
4 He wounds the heart, and he makes whole
And calms the tempest of the soul:
When he shuts up in long despair,
Who can remove the heavy bar?
5 He frowns, and darkness veils the moon,
The fainting sun grows dim at noon;
The pillars of heaven's starry roof
Tremble and start at his reproof.
6 These are a portion of his ways:
But who shall dare describe his face?
Who can endure his light, or stand
To hear the thunders of his hand?
1 ETERNAL and immortal King!
Thy peerless splendors none can bear;
But darkness veils seraphic eyes,
When God with all his glory's there.
2 Yet faith can pierce the awful gloom,
The great Invisible can see ;
And with its tremblings mingle joy,
In fixed regard, great GoD! to thee.
3 Then every tempting form of sin,
Shamed in thy presence, disappears;
And all the glowing raptured soul
The likeness it contemplates, wears.
4 O ever conscious to my heart!
Witness to its supreme desire :
Behold, it presseth on to thee,
For it hath caught the heavenly fire.
5 This one petition would it urge-
To bear thee ever in its sight;
In life, in death, in worlds unknown,
Its only portion and delight!
God Eternal and Unchangeable.
1 ALL-powerful, self-existent God,
Who all creation dost sustain !
Thou wast, and art, and art to come,
And everlasting is thy reign!
2 Fixed and eternal as thy days,
Each glorious attribute divine,
Through ages infinite, shall still
With undiminished lustre shine.
3 Fountain of being! Source of good!
Immutable thou dost remain !
Nor can the shadow of a change
Obscure the glories of thy reign.
4 Earth may with all her powers dissolve, If such the great Creator's will;
But thou forever art the same;
I AM is thy memorial still.
1 ERE mountains reared their forms sublime,
Or the fair earth in order stood,
Before the birth of ancient time,
From everlasting thou art God.
2 A thousand ages in their flight
With thee are as a fleeting day;
Past, present, future, to thy sight
At once their various scenes display.
3 But our brief life's a shadowy dream,
A passing thought, that soon is o'er,
That fades with morning's earliest beam,
And fills the musing mind no more.
4 To us, O Lord, the wisdom give
So every precious hour to spend,
That we at length with thee may live,
Where life and bliss shall never end.
Immutability of God. Ps. 102.
1 GREAT Former of this various frame!
Our souls adore thine awful name;
And bow, and tremble, while we praise
The Ancient of eternal days.
2 Beyond an angel's vision bright,
Thou dwell'st in self-existent light;
Which shines with undiminished ray,
While suns and worlds in smoke decay.
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