202.

Common Metre. WATTS.

Delight in scripture.

HOW I love thy holy law!
'Tis daily my delight;
And thence my meditations draw
Divine advice by night.

2 How doth thy word my heart engage!
How well employ my tongue!
And, in my tiresome pilgrimage,
Yield me a heav'nly song.

3 Am I a stranger, or at home,
'Tis a divine repast;

Not honey, dropping from the comb,
So much allures the taste.

4 No treasures so enrich the mind;
Nor shall thy word be sold,
For loads of silver well refin'd,
Nor heaps of choicest gold.

5 When nature sinks, and spirits droop, Thy promises of grace

Are pillars to support my hope;
And there I write thy praise.

1

203.

Common Metre.

Reason a divine gift.

WHAT

HAT heav'nly wisdom has bestow'd,

O! let not man despise;

Reason's a gift our praise demands;

It lifts us to the skies.

2 How could we know or value truth
Without this beam of light?
Or conscience feel of right and wrong,
Or in God's praise delight?

3 For reason and for conscience too,
Accept our praise, O LORD!
May this be pure, and that be clear,
And both embrace thy word.

1

204.

Short Metre. SCOTT.

The right and duty of private judgment.

IMPO

MPOSTURE shrinks from light,
And dreads the curious eye:

But sacred truths the test invite,
They bid us search and try.

2 O may we still maintain

A meek inquiring mind;

Assur'd we shall not search in vain,
But hidden treasures find.

3

With understanding blest,
Created to be free,

Our faith on man we dare not rest,
Subject to none but thee.

4 LORD! give the light we need;
With soundest knowledge fill;
From noxious error guard our creed,
From prejudice our will.

1

F

205.

Long Metre. MERRICK.
Religion without superstition.

AR hence each superstition vain,
Wild offspring of the human brain!
The truths that fill thy hallow'd page,
My happier choice, great GOD! engage.
2 O, ever faithful to thy word,
Do thou thy vital strength afford;
Thy help impart, Eternal Sire!
Nor let my hope in shame expire.
3 Sustain'd by thy almighty aid,
What danger shall my soul invade?
Nor errors cloud, nor arts of sin
My soul from thy obedience win.

1

2

PART VIII.

Christ and Christianity.

206.

Short Metre. WATTS.

The excellency of the gospel.

BEHOLD! the morning sun

Begins his glorious way;

His beams through all the nations run,
And life and light convey.

But where the gospel comes,
It spreads diviner light,

It calls dead sinners from their tombs,

And gives the blind their sight.

3 How perfect is thy word!

4

5

And all thy judgments just:

For ever sure thy promise, LORD!
And men securely trust.

My gracious GOD! how plain
Are thy directions giv'n!

may

I never read in vain,
But find the path to heav'n!

While with my heart and tongue
I spread thy praise abroad,
Accept the worship and the song,
My Father and my GOD.

1

207.

Proper Metre. WATTS.
The same subject.

I LOVE the volumes of thy word:

What light and joy those leaves afford
To souls benighted and distrest!
Thy precepts guide my doubtful way;
Thy fear forbids my feet to stray;
Thy promise leads my heart to rest.

2 From the discov'ries of thy law,
The perfect rules of life I draw;
These are my study and delight:
Not honey so invites the taste,
Nor gold that hath the furnace past,
Appears so pleasing to the sight.

3 Thy threat'nings wake my slumb❜ring eyes,
And warn me where my danger lies;
But 'tis thy blessed gospel, LORD!
That makes my guilty conscience clean,
Converts my soul, subdues my sin,

And gives a free, but large reward.

4 Who knows the errors of his thoughts?
My God! forgive my secret faults,

And from presumptuous sins restrain;
Accept my poor attempts of praise,
That I have read thy book of grace,

And book of nature not in vain.