d Wonders of grace to God belong;
Repeat his mercies in your song.)
e 6 (He saw the Gentiles dead in sin,
And felt his pity work within;
d His mercies ever will endure,
When death and sin shall reign no more.)
o 7 He sent his Son with power to save,
From guilt, and darkness, and the grave;
d Wonders of grace to God belong;
Repeat his mercies in your song.
-8 Through this vain world he guides our feet, And leads us to his heavenly seat:
d His mercies ever will endure,
When this vain world shall be no more.
PSALM 138. L. M. Quercy. [*] Restoring and preserving Grace. WITH all my powers of heart and tongue, I'll praise my Maker in my song;
Angels shall hear the notes I raise,
Approve the song, and join the praise.
e 2 Angels, who make the church their care,
Shall witness my devotion there;
While holy zeal directs my eyes
To thy fair temple in the skies.
-3 I'll sing thy truth and mercy, Lord;
I'll sing the wonders of thy word;
Not all the works and names below,
So much thy power and glory show.
e 4 [To God I cry'd when troubles rose:
He heard me, and subdu'd my foes:
• He did my rising fears control,
And strength diffus'd through all my soul. g 5 The God of heaven maintains his state, Frowns on the proud, and scorns the great e But from his throne descends to see
The sons of humble poverty.]
e 6 Amidst a thousand snares I stand,
Upheld and guarded by thy hand;
-Thy words my fainting soul revive
And keep my dying faith alive
• 7 Grace will complete what grace begins,
To save from sorrow or from sins;
The work that wisdom undertakes,
Eternal mercy ne'er forsakes.
PSALM 139. L. M. 1st Part. Bath. Geneva. [*]
The All-seeing God.
ORD, thou hast search'd and seen me
through;
Thine 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.
p 3 Within thy circling power I stand;
On ev'ry side I find thy hand:
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,
I am surrounded still with God."
4 [Amazing knowledge, vast and great!
What large extent! what lofty height !
My soul, with all the powers I boast,
Is in the boundless prospect lost.
5 O may these thoughts possess my breast,
'Where'er I rove, where'er I rest!
• Nor let my weaker passions dare
'Consent to sin; for God is there!'
PAUSE THE FIRST.
6 Could I so false, so faithless prove,
To quit thy service and thy love;
Where, Lord, could I thy presence shun,
Or from thy dreadful glory run?]
-7 If up to heaven take my flight,
'Tis there thou dwell'st, enthron'd in light; a Or dive to hell, there vengeance reigns, And Satan groans beneath thy chains. -8 If, mounted on a morning ray,
I fly beyond the Western sea;
o Thy swifter hand would first arrive,
And there arrest thy fugitive.
-9 Or should I try to shun thy sight,
Beneath the spreading veil of night;
One glance of thine, one piercing ray,
Would kindle darkness into day.
e 10 O may these thoughts possess my breast,
Where'er I rove, where'er I rest;
Nor let my weaker passions dare
Consent, to sin; for God is there!
PAUSE THE SECOND.
11 [The veil of night is no disguise ;--
No screen from thy all-searching eyes:
Thy hand can seize thy foes as soon,
Through midnight shades, as blazing noon.
12 Midnight and noon in this agree,-
Great God, they're both alike to thee:
Not death can hide what God will spy;
And hell lies naked to his eye.
13 O may these thoughts possess my breast,
Where'er I rove, where'er I rest;
Nor let my weaker passions dare
Consent to sin; for God is there!]
L. M. 2nd Part. Portugal. [*] The wonderful Formation of Man. "TWAS from thy hand, my God, I came,
work of such a curious frame;
In me thy fearful wonders shine,
And each proclaims thy skill divine.
2 Thine eyes did all my limbs survey,
Which yet in dark confusion lay;
Thou saw'st the daily growth they took,
Form'd by the model of thy book.
3 [By thee my growing parts were nam'd,
And what thy sovereign counsel fram'd,
(The breathing lungs, the beating heart,)
Was copied with unerring art.]
4 At last, to shew my Maker's name,
God stamp'd his image on my frame!
And in some unknown moment join'd
The finish'd members to the mind.
5 [There the young seeds of thought began,
And all the passions of the man:
Great God, our infant nature pays
Immortal tribute to thy praise.]
6 Lord, since, in my advancing age,
I've acted on life's busy stage,
Thy thoughts of love to me surmount
The power of numbers to recount.
7 I could survey the ocean o'er,
And count each sand that makes the shore,
Before my swiftest thoughts could trace
The num'rous wonders of thy grace.
8 These on my heart are still impress'd;
With these I give my eyes to rest ;
And at my waking hour I find
God and his love possess my mind.
L. M. 3rd Part. Bath. [*] Sincerity professed, and Grace tried. 1 MY God, what inward grief I feel,
When impious men transgress thy will
I mourn to hear their lips profane
Take thy tremendous name in vain.
2 Does not my soul detest and hate
The sons of malice and deceit ?
Those that oppose thy laws and thee,
I count them enemies to me.
e 3 Lord, search my soul, try ev'ry thought:
Though my own heart accuse me not
Of walking in a false disguise,
I beg the trial of thine eyes.
4 Doth secret mischief lurk within? Do I indulge some unknown sin? -O turn my feet, whene'er I stray, And lead me in thy perfect way.]
C. M. 1st Part. Wantage. [b]
God's Omnipresence and Omniscience.
N all my vast concerns with thee,
In vain my soul would try
'To shun thy presence, Lord, or flee
The notice of thine eye.
2 Thy all-surrounding sight surveys
My rising and my rest;
My public walks, niy private ways,
And secrets of my breast.
-3 My thoughts lie open to the Lord,
Before they're form'd within;
And ere my lips pronounce the word,
He knows the sense I mean.
4 O wondrous knowledge, deep and high!
Where can a creature hide!
Within thy circling arms I lie,
Beset on ev'ry side.
o 5 So let thy grace surround me still,
And like a bulwark prove,
To guard my soul from ev'ry ill,
Secur'd by sovereign love.
a 6 Lord, where shall guilty souls retire,
Forgotten and unknown?
In hell they meet thy dreadful fire,-
In heaven thy glorious throne.
e 7 Should I suppress my vital breath,
To 'scape the wrath divine;
• Thy voice could break the bars of death, And make the grave resign.
-8 If, wing'd with beams of morning light, I fly beyond the West;
Thy hand, which must support my flight, Would soon betray my rest.
9 If o'er my sins I think to draw
The curtains of the night;
Those flaming eyes that guard thy law,
Would turn the shades to light.
g 10 The beams of noon, the midnight hour, Are both alike to thee:
e O may I ne'er provoke that Power, From which I cannot flee.
C. M. 2nd Part. Colchester. [*]. Wisdom of God in the Formation of Man. 1 WHEN I, with pleasing wonder, stand, And all my frame survey, Lord, 'tis thy work! I own thy hand Thus built my humble clay.
2 Thy hand my heart and reins possess'd, Where unborn nature grew;
Thy wisdom all my features trac❜d,
And all my members drew.
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