5 Nature and time, and earth and skies,
Thy heav'nly skill proclaim:
What shall we do to make us wise,
But learn to read thy name?
6 To fear thy pow'r, to trust thy grace,
Is our divinest skill;
And he's the wisest of our race,
Who best obeys thy will.
PSALM 111. Second Part. C. M.
Perfections of God in grace.
REAT is the Lord, his works of might
Demand our noblest songs:
Let his assembled saints unite
Their harmony of tongues.
2 Great is the mercy of the Lord,
He gives his children food;
And ever mindful of his word,
He makes his promise good.
3 His Son, the great Redeemer, came
To seal his cov'nant sure:
Holy and rev'rend is his name;
His ways are just and pure.
4 They that would grow divinely wise,
Must with his fear begin;
Our fairest proof of knowledge lies
In hating ev'ry sin.
PSALM 112. C. M.
Liberality rewarded.
HAPPY is he that fears the Lord,
follows his commands;
Who lends the poor, without reward,
Or gives with lib'ral hands.
2 As pity dwells within his breast
To all the sons of need;
So God shall answer his request
With blessings on his seed.
3 No evil tidings shall surprise
His well establish'd mind:
His soul to God, his refuge, flies,
And leaves his fears behind.
4 In times of general distress
Some beams of light shall shine,
To show the world his righteousness,
And give him peace divine.
5 His works of piety and love
Remain before the Lord:
Honour on earth, and joys above,
Shall be his sure reward.
PSALM 113. L. M.
The sovereignty and goodness of God.
E servants of th' Almighty King,
In ev'ry age his praises sing:
Where'er the sun shall rise or set,
The nations shall his praise repeat.
2 Above the earth, beyond the sky,
Stands his high throne of majesty:
Nor time, nor place, his pow'r restrain,
Nor bound his universal reign.
3 Which of the sons of Adam dare,
Or angels with their God compare?
His glories how divinely bright,
Who dwells in uncreated light!
4 Behold his love! he stoops to view
What saints above, and angels do;
And condescends yet more to know
The mean affairs of men below.
5 From dust and cottages obscure,
His grace exalts the humble poor;
Gives them the honour of his sons,
And fits them for their heav'nly thrones.
6 A word of his creating voice
Can make the barren house rejoice;
Tho' Sarah's ninety years were past,
The promis'd seed is born at last.
7 With joy the mother views her son,
And tells the wonders God has done :
Faith may grow strong, when sense despairs;
Tho' nature fails, the promise bears.
PSALM 114. L. M.
Miraculous power attending Israel's journey.
1 WHEN Israel freed from Pharaoh's hand,
Left the proud tyrant and his land;
The tribes with cheerful homage own
Their King, and Judah was his throne.
2 Across the deep their journey lay;
The deep divides to make them way;
Jordan beheld their march, and fled
With backward current to his head.
3 The mountains shook, like frighted sheep;
Like lambs, the little hillocks leap;
Nor Sinai, on her base, could stand,
Conscious of sov'reign pow'r at hand.
4 What pow'r could make the deep divide?
Or Jordan, backward roll his tide?
Why did ye leap, ye little hills?
And whence the fright that Sinai feels? 5 Let ev'ry mountain, ev'ry flood, Retire and know th' approaching God; The king of Israel, see him here; Tremble thou earth, adore and fear. 6 He thunders, and all nature mourns; The rocks to standing pools he turns;
Flints spring with fountains at his word,
And fires and seas confess the Lord.
The true God,-Idolatry reproved. [OT to ourselves, who are but dust, Not to ourselves is glory due; "Tis thine, great God, the only just, The only gracious, wise, and true. 2 Shine forth in all thy dreadful name; Why should a heathen's haughty tongue Insult us; and, to raise our shame, [long?" Say, "Where's the God you've serv'd so 3. The God, we serve, maintains his throne Above the clouds, beyond the skies: Thro' all the earth his will is done, He knows our groans, he hears our cries. 4 But the vain idols, they adore,
Are senseless shapes of stone and wood;
At best a mass of glitt'ring ore,
A silver saint, or golden god.
5 With eyes and ears they carve the head;
Deaf are their ears, their eyes are blind;
To them in vain are off'rings made,
And vows are scatter'd in the wind.
6 Their feet were never made to move,
Nor hands to save when mortals pray:
Mortals, that pay them fear or love,
Seem to be blind and deaf, as they.
7 O Israel! make the Lord thy hope,
Thy help, thy refuge and thy rest;
The Lord shall build thy ruins up,
And bless the people and the priest.
8 The dead no more can speak thy praise
They dwell in silence and the grave;
But we shall live to sing thy grace,
And tell the world thy pow'r to save.
PSALM 116. First Part. C. M.
Recovery from sickness.
LOVE the Lord; he heard my cries,
And pitied ev'ry groan:
Long as I live, when troubles rise
I'll hasten to his throne.
2 I love the Lord; he bow'd his ear,
And chas'd my griefs away:
O! let my heart no more despair,
While I have breath to pray.
3 My flesh declin'd, my spirits fell,
And I drew near the dead;
While inward pangs, and fears of hell,
Perplex'd my wakeful head.
4 "My God," I cried, "thy servant save, "Thou ever good and just;
Thy pow'r can rescue from the grave,
"Thy pow'r is all my trust."
5 The Lord beheld me sore distrest,
He bade my pains remove:
Return, my soul, to God, thy rest,
For thou hast known his love.
6 My God hath sav'd my soul from death, And dried my falling tears:
Now to his praise I'll spend my breath, And my remaining years.
Recovery from danger,-Personal consecration.
WHAT shall I render to my God,
For all his kindness shown?
My feet shall visit thine abode,
My songs address thy throne.
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