Forever singing, as they shine,
"The hand that made us is divine."
HYMN 7. L. M. [#]
Sovereign Creator.
1 BEFORE Jehovah's royal throne,
Ye nations, bow with sacred joy;
Know that the Lord is God alone;
He can create, and he destroy.
2 His sovereign power; without our aid,
Made us of clay, and formed us men;
And when, like wandering sheep, we strayed,
He brought us to his fold again.
3 We'll crowd his gates with thankful songs,
High as the heavens our voices raise,
And earth, with her ten thousand tongues,
Shall fill his courts with sounding praise.
4 Wide as the world is his command, Vast as eternity his love;
Firm as a rock his truth must stand, When rolling years shall cease to move.
1 GREAT GOD, how infinite art thou!
How weak and frail are we!
Let the whole race of creatures bow,
And homage pay to thee.
2 Thy throne eternal ages stood,
Ere earth or heaven was made;
Thou art the ever-living God,
Were all the nations dead.
3 Eternity, with all its years,
Stands present in thy view;
To thee there's nothing old appears,
Great God, there's nothing new.
4 Our lives through varying scenes are drawn, And vexed with trifling cares,
While thine eternal thought moves on
Thine undisturbed affairs.
HYMN 9. C. P. M. [#]
1 My God, thy boundless love I praise
How bright on high its glories blaze!
How sweetly bloom below!
It streams from thine eternal throne;
Through heaven its joys forever run,
And all the earth o'erflow.
2 'Tis love that paints the purple morn,
And bids the clouds, in air upborne,
Their genial drops distil;
In every vernal beam it glows,
And breathes in every gale that blows,
And glides in every rill,
3 It robes in cheerful green the ground,
And pours its flowery beauties round,
Whose sweets perfume the gale;
Its bounties richly spread the plain,
The blushing fruít, the golden grain,
And smile on every vale.
4 But in thy word I see it shine
With grace and glories more divine,
Proclaiming sins forgiven;
There Faith, bright cherub, points the way
To realms of everlasting day,
And opens all her heaven.
HYMN 10. L. M. [#]
Majesty of God.
1 To God all nature owes its birth;
He formed this ponderous globe of earth;
He raised the glorious arch on high,
And measured out the azure sky.
2 He sits enthroned amidst the spheres,
And glory, like a garment, wears;
While boundless wisdom, power and grace
Command our awe, invite our praise.
3 'Tis he who bids the tempests rise,
And rolls the thunder through the skies;
His voice the elements obey;
Wide o'er the earth extends his sway.
4 In every work and way divine,
Omnipotence and wisdom shine;
And goodness fixes still the end,
To which they all, unvarying, tend.
6 His power we trace on every side;
O, may his wisdom be our guide;
And while we live, and when we die,
May his almighty love be nigh.
HYMN 11. L. M. [#]
Omniscience and Omnipresence.
I FATHER of all, omniscient Mind,
Thy wisdom who can comprehend?
Its highest point what eye can find,
Or to its lowest depths descend?
2 If up to heaven's ethereal height,
Thy prospect to elude, I rise,
In splendor, there, supremely bright,
Thy presence shall my sight surprise.
3 Thee, mighty God, my wondering soul,
Thee, all her conscious powers adore,
Whose being circumscribes the whole,
Whose eyes the universe explore.
4 Thine essence fills this breathing frame;
It glows in every vital part,
Lights up our souls with livelier flame, And feeds with life each beating heart. 5 To thee, from whom our being came, Whose smile is all the heaven we know, Inspired with this exalted theme,
To thee our grateful strains shall flow.
Greatness and Glory of God.
1 How great is our Creator, God,
In wisdom, majesty, and might,
When he displays his power abroad,
And brings his wonders forth to light.
2 Behold, what cloudy columns rise, Terrific as the shades of night! What peals of thunder rend the skies! The lightning, how sublimely bright! 3 How dreadful is the threatening hail! Approaching tempests, O how grand! What terror doth the mind assail,
When deep convulsions shake the land!
4 The seas with hollow murmurs groan,
The bowels of the mountains flame;
The elements, affrighted, own
The awful greatness of thy name.
5 Almighty God, thy chariot wheels
In solemn pomp and grandeur roll;
Thy presence trembling nature feels,
And humble reverence fills the soul.
1 CELESTIAL Worlds, your Maker's name
Resound through every shining coast:
Our God the noblest praise will claim,
Where he unfolds his glories most.
2 Stupendous globe of flaming day,
Praise him in thy sublime career;
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