5 Lord, we expect to suffer here,
Nor would we dare repine;
But give us still to find thee near,
And own us still for thine.

6 Let us enjoy and highly prize
The tokens of thy love,

Till thou shalt bid our spirits rise
To worship thee above.

L. M.

572.

BULFINCH.

The Voice of God in the Heart.

1 HATH not thy heart within thee burned,
At evening's calm and holy hour,
As if its inmost depths discerned
The presence of a loftier power?

2 Hast thou not heard 'mid forest glades,
While ancient rivers murmured by,
A voice from forth the eternal shades,
That spake a present Deity?

3 And as, upon the sacred page,

Thine eye

in

rapt attention turned O'er records of a holier age,

Hath not thy heart within thee burned?

4 It was the voice of God that spake In silence to thy silent heart;

And bade each worthier thought awake,
And every dream of earth depart.

5 Voice of our God, O yet be near!
In low, sweet accents whisper peace;
Direct us on our pathway here,

Then bid in heaven our wanderings cease.

L. M.

573.

EXETER COL.

Prayer for Steadfastness and Watchfulness.

1 GREAT God, my Father and my Friend,
On whom I cast my constant care,
On whom for all things I depend,
To thee I raise my humble prayer.

2 Endue me with a holy fear;
The frailty of my heart reveal;
Sin and its snares are always near;
Thee may I always nearer feel.

3 O that to thee my constant mind
May with a steady flame aspire,
Pride in its earliest motions find,
And check the rise of wrong desire!

4 O that my watchful soul may fly
The first-perceived approach of sin,
Look up to thee when danger 's nigh,
And feel thy fear control within!

Search, gracious God, my inmost heart;
From guilt and error set me free;
Thy light, and truth, and peace impart,
And guide me safe to heaven and thee.

S. M.

574.

STERNHOLD.

Penitential. Psalm 25.

I LIFT my heart to thee,

My God and Guide most just; Now suffer me to take no shame, For in thee do I trust.

2 Remember not the faults
And frailty of my youth;
Remember not how ignorant
I have been of thy truth.

3 Nor after my deserts
Let me thy mercy find;
But of thine own benignity,
Lord, have me in thy mind.

4 His mercy is full sweet,
His truth a perfect guide;
Therefore the Lord will sinners teach,
And such as go aside.

C. M.

575.

DODDRIDGE.

Trust in the Presence and Help of God.

1 AND art thou with us, gracious Lord,
To dissipate our fear?

Dost thou proclaim thyself our God,
Our God for ever near?

2 Doth thy right hand, which formed the ear
And bears up all the skies,
Stretch from on high its friendly aid,
When dangers round us rise?

3 On this support our souls shall lean,
And banish every care;

The gloomy vale of death will smile,
If God be with us there.

4 While we his gracious succor prove, Midst all our various ways,

The darkest shades through which we pass, Shall echo with his praise.

L. M.

576.

COWPER.

Temptation.

1 THE billows swell, the winds are high,
Clouds overcast my wintry sky;
Out of the depths to thee I call;

My fears are great, my strength is small.

2 O Lord, the pilot's part perform,

And guard and guide me through the storm; Defend me from each threatening ill; Control the waves; say, "Peace! be still!"

3 Amidst the roaring of the sea,

My soul still hangs her hope on thee;
Thy constant love, thy faithful care,
Is all that saves me from despair.

4 Though tempest-tost and half a wreck,
My Saviour through the floods I seek;
Let neither winds nor stormy main
Force back my shattered bark again.

78. M.

577.

Trust in the All-seeing God.

GASKELL.

1 MIGHTY God! the first, the last!
What are ages, in thy sight,
But as yesterday when past,
Or a watch within the night?

2 All that being ever knew,
Far, far back, ere time had birth,
Stands as clear within thy view
As the present things of earth.

3 All that being e'er shall know,
On, still on, through farthest years,
All eternity can show,

Bright before thee now appears.

4 In thine all-embracing sight,
Every change its purpose meets,
Every cloud floats into light,
Every woe its glory greets.

5

Whatsoe'er our lot

may be,
Calmly in this thought we 'll rest, –
Could we see as thou dost see,
We should choose it as the best.

MERRICK.

"He knoweth what ye have need of."

1 AUTHOR of good, we rest on thee;
Thine ever-watchful eye
Alone our real wants can see,
Thy hand alone supply.

In thine all-gracious providence
Our cheerful hopes confide;
O let thy power be our defence,
Thy love our footsteps guide!

3 And since, by passion's force subdued,-
Too oft, with stubborn will,
We blindly shun the latent good,
And grasp the specious ill,-

4 Not what we wish, but what we want, Let mercy still supply:

The good unasked, O Father, grant;
The ill, though asked, deny.

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