3 Ere men adored, or angels knew,
Or praised thy wondrous name,
Thy bliss, O sacred Spring of life
And glory were the same.
4 And when the pillars of the world
With sudden ruin break,
And all this vast and goodly frame
Sinks in the mighty wreck:
5 For ever permanent and fix'd,
From dissolution free,
Unchanged in everlasting years,
Shall thy existence be.
6 Great God! while nature speaks thy praise, With all her numerous tongues,
Thy saints shall tune diviner lays,
And love inspire their songs.
LORD, thou hast been thy children's God,
All-powerful, wise, and good, and just;
In every age their safe abode,
Their hope, their refuge, and their trust.
2 Before thy word gave nature birth,
Or spread the starry heavens abroad,
Or form'd the varied face of earth,
From everlasting thou art God.
3 Great Father of eternity,
How short are ages in thy sight!
A thousand years, how swift they fly,
Like one short silent watch of night.
4 Uncertain life, how soon it flies!
Dream of an hour, how short our bloom!
Like spring's gay verdure now we rise,
Cut down ere night to fill the tomb.
5 Teach us to count our shortening days,
And with true diligence apply
Our hearts to wisdom's sacred ways,
That we may learn to live and die.
6 O may our sacred pleasures rise
In sweet proportion to our pains;
Till e'en the sad remembrance dies,
Nor one uneasy thought remains.
7 Thy glorious image, fair imprest,
Let all our hearts and lives declare:
Beneath thy kind protection blest,
May all our labours own thy care!
GOD is a spirit none can see;
He ever was, and e'er shall be;
Present where'er his creatures dwell,
Thro' earth and sea, thro' heaven and hell.
2 His eye, with infinite survey,
Views all their realms in full display;
What has been, is, or shall be done,
Or here, or there, it shall be known.
3 The bounty of his gracious hands
Wide as the world he made, extends;
And though himself completely blest,
With pity looks on the distress'd.
4 All that is glorious, good, and great,
Does in the Lord Jehovah meet;
Then to his name be glory given,
By all on earth, and all in heaven.
10.
WITH deepest reverence, at thy throne,
Jehovah, peerless and unknown,
Our feeble spirits strive in vain,
A glimpse of the great God to gain.
2 Who, by the closest search can find
Thy mighty, uncreated mind?
Nor men nor angels can explore
Thy heights of love, thy depths of power. 3 We know thee not: but this we know, Thou reign'st above, thou reign'st below; And though thy essence is unknown, To all the world thy power is shown. 4 That power we trace on every side; O may thy wisdom be our guide! And while we live, and when we die, May thy almighty love be nigh!
LORD, thou hast search'd and seen me through; Thy eye commands with piercing view
My rising and my resting hours,
My heart and flesh with all their powers.
2 My thoughts, before they are my own,
Are to my God distinctly known;
He knows the words I mean to speak
Ere from my opening lips they break.
3 Could we so false and faithless prove,
To quit thy service and thy love;
Where, Lord, could we thy presence shun,
Or from thy dreadful glory run?
4 Within thy circling power we stand;
On every side we find thy hand:
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,
We are surrounded still with God.
5 Amazing knowledge, vast and great!
What large extent! what lofty height!
Our souls, with all the powers we boast,
Are in the boundless prospect lost.
6 Oh may these thoughts possess our breast,
Where'er we rove, where'er we rest!
Nor let our weaker passions dare
Consent to sin, for God is there.
In all our vast concerns with Thee,
In vain our souls would try
To shun thy presence, Lord, or flee
The notice of thy eye.
2 Thy all-surrounding sight surveys
Our rising and our rest,
Our public walks, our private ways,
The secrets of our breast.
3 Our thoughts lie open to thee, Lord,
Before they're form'd within;
And ere our lips pronounce the word,
Thou know'st the sense we mean.
4 O wondrous knowledge, deep and high! Where can a creature hide?
Within thy circling arms we lie,
Beset on every side.
5 So let thy grace surround us still,
And like a bulwark prove,
To guard our souls from every ill,
And fill us with thy love.
AMONG the deepest shades of night,
Can there be One who sees my way?
Yes;-God is like a shining light,
That turns the darkness into day.
2 When every eye around me sleeps,
May I not sin without control?
No;-for a constant watch he keeps
On every thought of every soul.
3 If I could find some cave unknown,
Where human foot had never trod,
Yet there I could not be alone;
every side there would be God.
4 He smiles in heaven, he frowns in hell;
He fills the air, the earth, the sea:-
I must within his presence dwell;
I cannot from his anger flee.
5 Yet I may flee-He shows me where;
Tells me to Jesus Christ to fly:
And while he sees me weeping there,
There's only mercy in his eye.
GIVE to the Lord, ye sons of fame,
Give to the Lord renown and power;
Ascribe due honours to his name,
And his eternal might adore.
2 The Lord proclaims his power aloud,
O'er the vast ocean and the land:
His voice divides the watery cloud,
And lightnings blaze at his command.
3 He speaks, and howling tempests rise,
And lay the forests bare around;
The fiercest beasts, with piteous cries,
Confess the terror of the sound.
4 His thunders rend the vaulted skies,
And palaces and temples shake;
The mountains tremble at the noise,
The valleys roar, the deserts quake.
5 The Lord sits sovereign o'er the flood;
The Thunderer reigns for ever King;
But makes his church his blest abode,
Where we his awful glories sing.
6 Be thou exalted, O my God!
Above the heavens where angels dwell;
Thy power on earth be known abroad,
And land to land thy wonders tell.
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