Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
5 His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
6 Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain ;
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.
1 My God, in whom are all the springs
Of boundless love and grace unknown,
Hide me beneath thy spreading wings,
Till every cloud be overblown.
2 Up to the heavens I send my cry;
The Lord will my desires perform ;
He sends his angels from the sky,
And saves me from the threatening storm. 3 My heart is fixed; my song shall raise Immortal honours to his name: Awake, my tongue, to sound his praiseMy tongue, the glory of my frame.
4 High o'er the earth his mercy reigns,
And reaches to the utmost sky;
His truth to endless years remains,
When lower worlds dissolve and die.
5 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.
HYMN 33. L. M. [#]
Thanksgiving and Praise.
1 Now to our God let praises rise
From all that dwell below the skies;
Throughout the earth his love proclaim,
With joys eternal in his name.
2 We are the people of his care,
His sheep, who feed in pastures fair;
The objects of his tender love,
Supplied with blessings from above.
3 Then to his earthly temple come,
And raise the anthem and the song;
Let gratitude the lay inspire,
The bosom glow with sacred fire :— 4 For God in endless goodness reigns, And mercy, truth and love maintains; Nor time, nor years, nor measured space, Confines the blessings of his grace.
Universal Praise.
1 YE tribes of Adam, join
With heaven, and earth, and seas,
And offer notes divine
To your Creator's praise ;
Ye holy throng
Of angels bright,
In worlds of light
Begin the song.
2 Ye kings and judges, fear
The Lord, the sovereign King;
And, while you rule us here,
His heavenly honours sing;
Nor let the dream
Of power and state
Make you forget
His power supreme.
3 Virgins and youth, engage
To sound his praise divine,
While infancy and age
Their feebler voices join:
Wide as he reigns
His name be sung
By every tongue
In endless strains.
4 Let all the nations fear
The God that reigns above;
He brings his people near,
And makes them taste his love :
While earth and sky
Attempt his praise,
His saints shall raise
His honours high.
HYMN 35. L. M. [#]
The Creator's Praise.
1 FROM all that dwell below the skies
Let the Creator's praise arise;
Let the Redeemer's name be sung
Through every land, by every tongue.
2 Eternal are thy mercies, Lord;
Eternal truth attends thy word :
Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore,
Till suns shall rise to set no more.
1 YE sons of men, with joy, record
The various wonders of the Lord;
And let his power and goodness sound
Through all your tribes, the earth around.
2 Lo, the high heavens your songs invite,
Those spacious fields of brilliant light,
Where sun, and moon and planets roll,
And stars, that glow from pole to pole.
3 Sing, earth, in verdant robes arrayed,
Its herbs and flowers, its fruits and shade;
Peopled with life of various forms,
Of fish, and fowl, and beasts, and worms.
4 View the broad sea's majestic plains,
And think how wide its Maker reigns;
That band remotest nations joins,
And on each wave his goodness shines.
5 But, O, that brighter world above, Where lives and reigns a Saviour's love! God's only Son in flesh arrayed,
For man a bleeding victim made.
6 Thither, my soul, with rapture, soar;
There, in the land of praise, adore :
The theme demands an angel's lay,
Demands an everlasting day.
HYMN 37. P. M. [#]
Thanksgiving and Praise.
1 My soul, praise the Lord,
Speak well of his name,
His mercies record,
His bounties proclaim.
To God, their Creator,
Let all creatures raise
The song of thanksgiving
The chorus of praise.
2 Though, hid from man's sight,
God sits on his throne,
Yet here, by his works,
Their Author is known:
The world shines a mirror
Its Maker to show,
And heaven is seen in
Its image below.
3 And man, his last work,
With reason endued,
Who, falling through sin,
By grace is renewed,
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