3 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.
4 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;
5 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.
Eternal Dominion of God.
1 GREAT God, how infinite art thou!
How frail and weak are we!
Let the whole race of creatures bow,
And pay their praise to thee.
2 Thy throne eternal ages stood,
Ere seas or stars were made :
Thou art the ever-living God,
Were all the nations dead.
3 Eternity, with all its years,
Stands present in thy view;
To thee there's nothing old appears;
Great God! there's nothing new.
4 Our lives through varying scenes are drawn, And vexed with trifling cares,
While thine eternal thought moves on
Thine undisturbed affairs.
5 Great God, how infinite art thou!
How frail and weak are we!
Let the whole race of creatures bow,
And pay their praise to thee.
The Eternal and Sovereign God. Ps. 93.
1 JEHOVAH reigns! he dwells in light,
Girded with majesty and might:
The world, created by his hands,
Still on its first foundation stands.
2 But ere this spacious world was made,
Or had its first foundations laid,
Thy throne eternal ages stood,
Thyself the ever-living God.
3 Like floods the angry nations rise,
And aim their rage against the skies;
Vain floods, that aim their rage so high!
At thy rebuke the billows die.
4 Forever shall thy throne endure:
Thy promise stands forever sure;
And everlasting holiness
Becomes the dwellings of thy grace.
Eternity and Sovereignty of God. Ps. 93.
1 WITH glory clad, with strength arrayed, The Lord, that o'er all nature reigns, The world's foundations strongly laid, And the vast fabric still sustains.
2 How surely stablished is thy throne!
Which shall no change or period see;
For thou, O Lord, and thou alone,
Art God from all eternity.
3 The floods, O Lord, lift up their voice,
And toss the troubled waves on high;
But God above can still their noise,
And make the angry sea comply.
4 Thy promise, Lord, is ever sure;
And they that in thy house would dwell,
That happy station to secure,
Must still in holiness excel.
God knows our Hearts and Ways. Ps. 139. 1 FATHER of spirits! Nature's God! Our inmost thoughts are known to thee; Thou, Lord, canst hear each idle word, And every private action see.
2 Could we on morning's swiftest wings
Pursue our flight through trackless air;
Or dive beneath deep ocean's springs,
Thy presence still would meet us there.
3 In vain may guilt attempt to fly,
Concealed beneath the pall of night;
One glance from thy all-piercing eye
Can kindle darkness into light.
4 Search thou our hearts, and there destroy
Each evil thought, each secret sin;
And fit us for those realms of joy,
Where nought impure shall enter in.
God Omnipresent and Omniscient. Ps. 139.
1 SEARCHER of hearts, to thee are known
The inmost secrets of my breast;
At home, abroad, in crowds, alone,
Thou mark'st my rising and my rest,
My thoughts far off, through every maze,
Source, stream and issue,—all my ways.
2 No word that from my mouth proceeds,
Evil or good, escapes thine ear;
Witness thou art to all my deeds,
Before, behind, forever near.
Such knowledge is for me too high;
I live but in my Maker's eye.
3 How from thy presence should I go,
Or whither from thy Spirit flee,
Since all above, around, below,
Exist in thine immensity?
If up to heaven I take my way,
I meet thee in eternal day;
4 If in the grave I make my bed
With worms and dust, lo, thou art there; If, on the wings of morning sped,
Beyond the ocean I repair,
I feel thine all-controlling will,
And thy right hand upholds me still.
5 How precious are thy thoughts of peace,
O God, to me! how great the sum!
New every morn, they never cease;
They were, they are, and yet shall come,
In number and in compass, more
Than ocean's sand, or ocean's shore.
6 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, my secret soul survey,
And warn thy servant to depart
From every false and evil way;
So shall thy truth my guidance be
To life and immortality.
The All-seeing God. Ps. 139.
1 THOU, Lord, by strictest search hast known My rising up and lying down;
My secret thoughts are known to thee,
Known long before conceived by me.
2 Thine eye my bed and path surveys,
My public haunts and private ways;
Thou know'st what 't is my lips would vent,
My yet unuttered words' intent
3 Surrounded by thy power I stand,
On every side I find thy hand;
O skill, for human reach too high!
Too dazzling bright for mortal eye!
4 O could I so perfidious be,
To think of once deserting thee!
Where, Lord, could I thy influence shun?
Or whither from thy presence run?
5 If I the morning's wings could gain,
And fly beyond the western main,
Thy swifter hand would first arrive,
And there arrest thy fugitive.
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