The Sacred Lessons of Nature.
1 GOD of the rolling orbs above!
Thy name is written clearly bright
In the warm day's unvarying blaze,
Or evening's golden shower of light :
For fire that fronts the sun,
every
And every spark that walks alone
Around the utmost verge of heaven,
Were kindled at thy burning throne.
2 God of the world! the hour must come,
And nature's self to dust return;
Her crumbling altars must decay;
Her incense-fires shall cease to burn:
But still her grand and lovely scenes
Have made man's warmest praises flow,
For hearts grow holier as they trace
The beauty of the world below.
Providential Bounties improved.
FATHER of lights! we sing thy name,
Who kindlest up the lamp of day;
Wide as he spreads his golden flame,
His beams thy power and love display.
2 Fountain of good! from thee proceed
The copious drops of genial rain,
Which o'er the hill, and through the mead, Revive the grass, and swell the grain.
3 Through the wide world thy bounties spread; Yet millions of thy guilty race,
Though by thy daily bounty fed,
Affront thy law, and spurn thy grace.
4 Not so may our forgetful hearts
O'erlook the tokens of thy care;
But what thy liberal hand imparts
Still own in praise, still ask in prayer.
5 So shall our suns more grateful shine,
And showers in sweeter drops shall fall,
When all our hearts and lives are thine,
And thou, O God! enjoyed in all.
God's Glories everywhere.
1 THOU art, O God, the life and light
Of all this wondrous world we see!
Its glow by day, its smile by night,
Are but reflections caught from thee;
Where'er we turn, thy glories shine,
And all things fair and bright are thine.
2 When day, with farewell beam, delays
Among the opening clouds of even,
And we can almost think we gaze,
Through opening vistas, into heaven,
Those hues that mark the sun's decline,
So soft, so radiant, Lord, are thine.
3 When night, with wings of starry gloom,
O'ershadows all the earth and skies,
Like some dark, beauteous bird, whose plume
Is sparkling with unnumbered eyes,
That sacred gloom, those fires divine,
So grand, so countless, Lord, are thine.
4 When youthful Spring around us breathes,
Thy spirit warms her fragrant sigh;
And every flower that Summer wreathes
Is born beneath thy kindling eye:
Where'er we turn, thy glories shine,
And all things fair and bright are thine.
The Blessings of Providence and Grace. Psalm 139.
1 ALMIGHTY Father, gracious Lord,
Kind guardian of my days!
Thy mercies let my heart record
In songs of grateful praise.
2 In life's first dawn, my tender frame
Was thy indulgent care,
Long ere I could pronounce thy name,
Or breathe the infant prayer.
3 Around my path what dangers rose;
What snares spread all my road!
No power could guard me from my foes,
But my preserver, God.
4 How many blessings round me shone,
Where'er I turn'd my eye!
How many passed almost unknown,
Or unregarded by!
5 Each rolling year new favors brought
From thy exhaustless store;
But, ah! in vain my laboring thought
Would count thy mercies o'er.
6 While sweet reflection through my days
Thy bounteous hand would trace,
Still dearer blessings claim my praise,
The blessings of thy grace.
God the Eternal Dwelling-place. Psalm 90.
1 THOU, Lord, through every changing scene,
Hast to thy saints a refuge been;
Through every age, Eternal God,
Their pleasing home, their safe abode.
2 In thee our fathers sought their rest,
In thee our fathers still are blest;
And while the tomb confines their dust,
In thee their souls abide and trust.
3 Lo, we are risen, a feeble race,
Awhile to fill our fathers' place;
Our helpless state with pity view,
And let us share their refuge too.
4 Through all the thorny paths we trace
In this uncertain wilderness,
When friends desert, and foes invade,
Revive our heart, and guard our head.
5 So when this pilgrimage is o'er,
And we must dwell in flesh no more,
To thee our separate souls shall come,
And find in thee a surer home.
6 To thee our infant race we leave;
Them may their fathers' God receive;
That voices yet unformed may raise
Succeeding hymns of humble praise.
Trust in God through all Changes.
1 FATHER divine! before thy view
All worlds, all creatures lie;
No distance can elude thy search,
No action 'scape thine eye.
2 From thee our vital breath we drew,
Our childhood was thy care,
And vigorous youth and feeble age
Thy kind protection share.
3 Whate'er we do, where'er we turn,
Thy ceaseless bounty flows;
Oppressed with woe, when nature faints, Thine arm is our repose.
4 To thee we look, thou Power Supreme! O still our wants supply!
Safe in thy presence may we live,
And in thy favor die.
God's Power over his Works.
1 THE Lord our God is full of might,
The winds obey his will;
He speaks, and in his heavenly height
The rolling sun stands still.
2 Rebel, ye waves! and o'er the land
With threatening aspect roar :
The Lord uplifts his awful hand,
And chains you to the shore.
|