BEING, PERFECTIONS, AND PROVIDENCE OF GOD.

89.

L. M.

BROWNE.

The Only God.

1 ETERNAL God! almighty Cause

Of earth, and sea, and worlds unknown!
All things are subject to thy laws—
All things depend on thee alone.

2 Thy glorious being singly stands,
Of all within itself possessed;

Controlled by none are thy commands;
Thou from thyself alone art blest.

3 To thee alone ourselves we owe-
To thee alone our homage pay;
All other gods we disavow,

Deny their claims, renounce their sway.

4 In thee, O Lord, our hope shall rest,
Fountain of peace, and joy, and love!
Thy favor only makes us blest;
Without thee all would nothing prove.

5 Worship to thee alone belongs-
Worship to thee alone we give ;

Thine be our hearts, and thine our songs,
And to thy glory we would live.

6 Spread thy great name through heathen lands,

Their idol deities dethrone,

Subdue the world to thy commands,
And reign, as thou art, God alone.

90.

H. M.

S. BALLOU.

The Great First Cause.

1 THE first almighty Cause, Who did all things create, Gave nature all her laws,

Unchangeable as fate,

The source of life, the spring of springs-
His praise all heaven and nature sings.

2 Where'er we cast our eyes,
With raptures we behold,
Below, or in the skies,

Wonders that can't be told: In nature's book, in every line, His wisdom and perfections shine.

3 On him all worlds depend;

To him all bend the knee ;-
But none can comprehend
The boundless deity.

He fills all space, lives everywhere,
Sustains the whole, makes all his care.

91.

L. M.

God.

*WATTS.

1 GOD is a name my soul adores,

Th' Almighty, the Eternal One!

Nature and grace, with all their powers
Confess the Infinite Unknown.

2 Thy voice produced the seas and spheres,
Bade planets roll, and suns to shine;
But nothing like thyself appears

Through all these spacious works of thine.

3 Still restless nature dies and grows;
From change to change the creatures run
Thy being no succession knows,
And all thy vast designs are one.

4 Thrones and dominions round thee fall,
And worship in submissive forms;
Thy presence shakes this lower ball,—
This humble dwelling-place of worms.
5 Who can behold thy blazing light!
Who can approach consuming flame!-
Thy wisdom only knows thy might;
Thy word alone can speak thy name.

92.

L. M. 61.

*W. RAY.

Perfection of God.

1 THOU art, almighty Lord of all,
From everlasting still the same;
Before thee dazzling seraphs fall,
And veil their faces in a flame,
To see such bright perfections glow-
Such floods of glory from thee flow.
2 What mortal hand shall dare to paint
A semblance of thy glory, Lord?
The brightest rainbow-tints are faint;
The brightest stars of heaven afford
But dim effusions of those rays
Of light that round Jehovah blaze.

3 The sun himself is but a gleam,
A transient meteor, from thy throne;
And every frail and fickle beam
That ever in creation shone,
Is nothing, Lord, compared to thee
In thy own vast immensity.

4 But though thy brightness may create
All worship from the hosts above,
What most thy name must elevate
Is, that thou art a God of love;
And mercy is the central sun
Of all thy glories joined in one.

93.

L. M.

WATTS.

The Divine Being and Perfections. Ps. 36.

1 HIGH in the heavens, eternal God,
Thy goodness in full glory shines;
Thy truth shall break through every cloud,
That veils and darkens thy designs.

2 Forever firm thy justice stands,
As mountains their foundations keep;
Wise are the wonders of thy hands;
Thy judgments are a mighty deep.

3 Thy providence is kind and large:
Both men and beasts thy bounty share:
The whole creation is thy charge;
But saints are thy peculiar care.

4 My God, how excellent thy grace,
Whence all our hope and comfort springs!
The sons of Adam, in distress.
Fly to the shadow of thy wings.

5 From the provisions of thy house
We shall be fed with sweet repast ;-
There mercy like a river flows,

And brings salvation to our taste.

6 Life, like a fountain full and free,

Lord;

Springs from the presence of my
And in thy light our souls shall see
The glories promised in thy word.

94.

P. M.

ANONYMOUS.

The surpassing Glory of God.

1 SINCE o'er thy footstool here below
Such radiant gems are strown,
O what magnificence must glow,
Great God, about thy throne!
So brilliant here these drops of light-
There the full ocean rolls-how bright!

2 If night's blue curtain of the sky-
With thousand stars inwrought,
Hung like a royal canopy

With glittering diamonds fraught—
Be, Lord, thy temple's outer veil,
What splendor at the shrine must dwell!

3 The dazzling sun, at noon-day hour-
Forth from his flaming vase
Flinging o'er earth the golden shower
Till vale and mountain blaze-

But shows, O Lord, one beam of thine:
What, then, the day where thou dost shine'

4 O how shall these dim eyes endure

That noon of living rays!

Or how our spirits, so impure,