290.

TATE & BRADY.

C. M.

Happiness of a Holy Life. Ps. 119.

1 How blest are they who always keep
The pure and perfect way!
Who never from the sacred paths
Of God's commandments stray.

2 Thrice blest! who to his righteous laws,
Have still obedient been;

And have with fervent, humble zeal
His favor sought to win.

3 Thou strictly hast enjoined us, Lord,
To learn thy sacred will,
And all our diligence employ
Thy statutes to fulfil.

4 0 then that thy most holy will
Might o'er my ways preside,
And I the course of all my life
By thy direction guide!

5 Then with assurance should I walk,
From all confusion free,

Convinced with joy that all my ways
With thy commands agree.

291.

L. M.

WATTS.

Pleasures of a good Conscience.

1 LORD, how secure and blest are they

Who feel the joys of pardoned sin!

Should storms of wrath shake earth and sea,
Their minds have heaven and

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peace within.

2 The day glides sweetly o'er their heads,
Made up of innocence and love;

And soft and silent as the shades,
Their nightly minutes gently move.

3 Quick as their thoughts their joys come on,
But fly not half so swift away!
Their souls are ever bright as noon,
And calm as summer evenings be.

4 How oft they look to th' heavenly hills,
Where groves of living pleasures grow!
And longing hopes and cheerful smiles
Sit undisturbed upon their brow.

292.

C. M.

TATE & BRADY.

The Good happy, the Wicked miserable. Ps. 1.
1 How blest is he, who ne'er consents
By ill advice to walk:

Nor stands in sinners' ways, nor sits
Where men profanely talk:

2 But makes the perfect law of God
His business and delight;
Devoutly reads therein by day,
And meditates by night..

3 Like some fair tree, which, fed by streams, With timely fruit does bend,

He still shall flourish, and success
All his designs attend.

4 Ungodly men, and their attempts,
No lasting root shall find;

Untimely blasted, and dispersed,
Like chaff before the wind.

5 For God approves the just man's ways;
To happiness they tend;

But sinners, and the paths they tread,
Shall both in ruin end.

293. C. M.

TATE & BRADY.

Character of a Good Man. Ps. 15.

1 LORD, who's the happy man, that may To thy blest courts repair;

Not strangerlike, to visit them,

But to inhabit there?

2 'Tis he, whose every thought and deed
By rules of virtue moves;

Whose generous tongue disdains to speak
The thing his heart disproves:

3 Who never did a slander forge,
His neighbor's fame to wound,
Nor hearken to a false report,
By malice whispered round:

4 Who vice, in all its pomp and power,
Can treat with just neglect;

And piety, though clothed in rags,
Religiously respect:

5 Who to his plighted vows and trust
Has ever firmly stood;

And though he promise to his loss,
He makes his promise good.

6 The man who by this steady course
Has happiness ensured,

When earth's foundations shake, shall stand, By Providence secured.

294.

7s. M.

MERRICK.

The Good Man blessed of God.

Ps. 15.

1 WHO shall tow'rd thy chosen seat
Turn in glad approach his feet?
Who, great God, a welcome guest,
On thy hallowed mountain rest?

2 He whose heart thy love has warmed; He whose will, to thine conformed, Bids his life unsullied run;

He whose word and thought are one.

3 He who ne'er with cruel aim
Seeks to wound an honest fame,
Nor with gloomy joy possessed
Can a brother's peace molest.

4 Who, from servile terror free,
Spurns at those who spurn at thee,
And to each who thee obeys
Love and lowliest reverence pays.

5 What he swears, with steadfast will
To his loss he shall fulfil;

Nor can bribes his sentence guide
'Gainst the guiltless to decide.

6 He who thus, with heart unstained,
Treads the path by thee ordained,
He, great God, shall own thy care,
And thy constant blessing share.

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295.

C. M.

WATTS.

Qualifications of a Christian. Ps. 15.

1 WHO shall inhabit in thy hill,

O God of holiness?

Whom will the Lord admit to dwell
So near his throne of grace?

2 The man that walks in pious ways,
And works with righteous hands,
That trusts his Maker's promises,
And follows his commands.

3 He speaks the meaning of his heart,
Nor slanders with his tongue;
Will scarce believe an ill report,
Nor do his neighbor wrong.

4 The wealthy sinner he contemns,
Loves all that fear the Lord;
And though to his own hurt he swears,
Still he performs his word.

5 His hands disdain a golden bribe,
And never gripe the poor:

This man shall dwell with God on earth,
And find his heaven secure.

296.

L. M.

MONTGOMERY.

Security and Happiness of the Righteous. Ps. 24.
1 THE earth is thine, Jehovah; thine
Its peopled realms and wealthy stores;
Built on the floods by power divine,
The waves are ramparts to the shores.

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