6 Fix'd on this ground will I remain, Though my heart fail, and flesh decay; This anchor shall my soul sustain, Though earth's foundations melt away : Mercy's full power I then shall prove, Loved with an everlasting love.
GREAT God, to me the sight afford,
To him of old allowed:
And let my faith behold its Lord,
Descending in a cloud.
2 In that revealing Spirit come down,
Thy attributes proclaim;
And to my inmost soul make known
The glories of thy name.
3 The Lord, the mighty God, thou art;
But let me rather prove
That name inspoken to my heart,
That favourite name of love.
4 Merciful God, thyself proclaim,
In this polluted breast:
Mercy is thy distinguished name,
Which suits a sinner best.
5 Our misery doth for pity call;
Our sins implore thy grace:
And thou art merciful to all
Our lost apostate race.
WHAT mean these jealousies and fears,
As if the Lord were loath to save:
Or loved to see us drenched in tears,
And sink with sorrow to the grave?
2 Does he want slaves to grace his throne?
Or rules he with an iron rod?
Loves he the deep despairing groan?
Is he a tyrant, or a God?
3 Not all the sins which we have wrought,
So much his tender mercies grieve,
As this unkind, injurious thought,
That he's unwilling to forgive.
4 What though our crimes are black as night,
Or glowing like the crimson morn!
Immanuel's blood will make them white
As snow through the pure ether borne.
5 Lord, 'tis amazing grace, we own,
And well may rebel worms surprise:
But was not thy beloved Son
A most amazing sacrifice?
6 “I've found a ransom,” saith the Lord;
"No humble penitent shall die."
Lord, we would now believe thy word,
And thy unbounded mercy try.
BEGIN, my tongue, some heavenly theme,
And speak some boundless thing;
The mighty works, or mightier name
Of our eternal King.
2 Tell of his wondrous faithfulness,
And sound his praise abroad:
Sing the sweet promise of his grace,
And the performing God.
3 Proclaim salvation from the Lord,
For wretched dying men:
His hand hath writ the sacred word,
With an immortal pen.
4 Engraved, as in eternal brass,
The mighty promise shines:
Nor can the powers of darkness rase
Those everlasting lines.
5 He said, "Let the wide heaven be spread,"
And heaven was stretched abroad:
"Abraham, I'll be thy God;" he said,
And he was Abraham's God.
6 O might I hear thy heavenly tongue
But whisper, "Thou art mine!"
Those gentle words should raise my song
To notes almost divine.
7 How would my leaping heart rejoice,
And think my heaven secure :
I'd trust the all-creating voice,
And faith desires no more.
To GOD, the universal King,
Let all mankind their tribute bring:
All that have breath, your voices raise,
In songs of never-ceasing praise.
2 The spacious earth on which we tread,
The ethereal heavens stretch'd o'er our head,
A large and solemn temple frame,
To celebrate their Builder's fame.
3 Here the bright sun, that rules the day,
As through the sky he makes his way,
To all the world proclaims abroad,
The boundless goodness of our God.
4 When from his courts the sun retires,
And with the day his voice expires;
The moon and stars adopt the song,
And through the night his praise prolong.
5 The list'ning earth with rapture hears
The harmonious music of the spheres;
And all her tribes the notes repeat,
That God is wise, and good, and great.
6 But man, endowed with greater powers,
His God in nobler strains adores:
His is the gift to know the song,
As well as sing with tuneful tongue.
GOD of my life, whose gracious power, Through varied deaths my soul has led, Or turn'd aside the fatal hour,
Or lifted up my sinking head:
2 In all my ways thy hand I own,
Thy ruling providence I see :
Assist me still my course to run,
And still direct my paths to thee.
3 Oft has the sea confess'd thy power,
And given me back at thy command:
It could not, Lord, my life devour,
Safe in the hollow of thy hand.
4 Oft from the margin of the grave,
Thou, Lord, hast lifted up my head;
Sudden I found thee near to save;
The fever own'd thy touch, and fled.
5 Whither, O whither should I fly,
But to my loving Saviour's breast?
Secure within thy arms to lie,
And safe beneath thy wings to rest.
6 I have no skill the snare to shun;
But thou, O Christ, my wisdom art:
I ever into ruin run,
But thou art greater than my heart.
7 Foolish, and impotent, and blind, Lead me a way I have not known; Bring me where I my heaven may find, The heaven of loving thee alone.
8 Enlarge my heart to make thee room; Enter, and in me ever stay:
The crooked then shall straight become; The darkness shall be lost in day.
WHEN all thy mercies, O my God!
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view, I'm lost
In wonder, love, and praise.
2 Thy providence my life sustain'd,
And all my wants redress'd,
When in the silent womb I lay,
Or hung upon the breast.
3 To all my weak complaints and cries
Thy mercy lent an ear;
Ere yet my feeble thoughts had learnt
To form themselves in prayer.
4 Unnumber'd comforts on my soul,
Thy tender care bestow'd,
Before my infant heart conceived
From whence those comforts flow'd.
5 When in the slippery paths of youth,
With heedless steps I ran,
Thy arm unseen convey'd me safe,
Ånd brought me up to man.
6 Through hidden dangers, toils, and deaths, It gently clear'd my way;
And through the pleasing snares of vice,
More to be fear'd than they.
7 When worn with sickness, oft hast thou
With health renew'd my face;
And when in sins and sorrows sunk,
Revived my soul with grace.
8 Ten thousand thousand precious gifts
My daily thanks employ;
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