HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, LORD GOD ALMIGHTY: HEAVEN AND EARTH ARE FULL OF THY GLORY. GLORY BE TO THEE, O LORD MOST HIGH.

GOD THE FATHER:

HIS PERFECTIONS.

7.6.

1001 Thou art the same, and Thy years shall

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have no end.-Ps. 102. 27.

GOD, the Rock of Ages,

Who evermore hast been,
What time the tempest rages,
Our dwelling-place serene:
Before Thy first creations,

O Lord, the same as now,
To endless generations
The Everlasting Thou!

2 Our years are like the shadows
On sunny hills that lie,
Or grasses in the meadows
That blossom but to die:
A sleep, a dream, a story
By strangers quickly told,
An unremaining glory

Of things that soon are old.
3 O Thou, who canst not slumber,
Whose light grows never pale,
Teach us aright to number
Our years before they fail.
On us Thy mercy lighten,
On us Thy goodness rest,
And let Thy Spirit brighten

The hearts Thyself hast blest.

4 Lord, crown our faith's endeavour
With beauty and with grace,
Till, clothed in light for ever,
We see Thee face to face:
A joy no language measures;
A fountain brimming o'er;
An endless flow of pleasures;
An ocean without shore.

1002

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E. H. BICKERSTETH. 1870.

8.8.6.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.-Ps. 90. 12.

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GOD of glory, God of grace,

From age to age our dwelling-place,
Before Thy throne we bow.

Ere the vast mountains rose of yore,
When they and earth shall be no more,
The same, O Lord, art Thou.

2 Man's generations rise and pass
Like morning flowers or summer grass,
The creatures of Thy breath:

Our life runs onward like a stream;
We come, and vanish, as a dream,
The prey of sin and death.

3 Unnumbered ills beset our path,
Our days are darkened 'neath Thy wrath,
And yet how heedless we!

O touch with grace each erring heart,
True wisdom to each soul impart,
And win us all to Thee.

4 We sink, we perish 'neath Thy frown;
O send Thy healing mercy down

To light our coming years: