Or form'd the varied face of earth,
From everlasting thou art God.
3 Great Father of eternity
How short are ages in thy sight!
A thousand years, how swift they fly,
Like one short silent watch of night!
4 Uncertain life, how soon it flies!
Dream of an hour! how short our bloom!
Like spring's gay verdure now we rise,
Cut down ere night to fill the tomb.
5 Teach us to count our short'ning days,
And with true diligence apply
Our hearts to wisdom's sacred ways,
That we may learn to live and die.
HYMN 4. C. M.
THY names, how infinite they be,
Great everlasting one
Boundless thy might and majesty,
And unconfin'd thy throne!
2 Thy glories shine, of wond'rous size,
And wond'rous large thy grace;
Immortal day breaks from thine eyes,
And Gabriel veils his face.
3 Thine essence is a vast abyss, Which angels cannot sound,
An ocean of infinities,
Where all our thoughts are drown'd.
4 The myst❜ries of creation lie
Beneath enlighten'd minds; Thoughts can ascend above the sky, And fly before the winds.
The Doctrine of the Trinity, and the use
Eph. ii. 18.
FATHER of glory, to thy name
Immortal praise we give,
Who dost thy work of grace proclaim,
And bid us rebels live.
2 Immortal honor to the Son,
Who makes thine anger cease;
Our lives he ransom'd with his own,
And dy'd to make our peace.
3 To the Almighty Spirit be
Immortal glory giv❜n,
Whose influence brings us near to thee,
And trains us up for heaven.
4 Let men, with their united voice,
Adore th' eternal God;
And spread his honors and their joys,
Through nations far abroad.
5 Let faith, and love, and duty join,
One general song to raise;
Let saints in earth and heav'n combine,
In harmony and praise.'
The Eternity of God, and Man's mortality.
Psalm xc.
ORD thou hast been thy children's God,
All powerful, wise, and good, and just,
In every age their safe abode,
Their hope, their refuge, and their trust
2 Before thy word gave nature birth,
Or spread the starry heavens abroad,
Or form'd the varied face of earth,
From everlasting thou art God.
3 Great Father of eternity
How short are ages in thy sight!
A thousand years, how swift they fly,
Like one short silent watch of night!
4 Uncertain life, how soon it flies!
Dream of an hour! how short our bloom!
Like spring's gay verdure now we rise,
Cut down ere night to fill the tomb.
5 Teach us to count our short❜ning days,
And with true diligence apply
Our hearts to wisdom's sacred ways,
That we may learn to live and die.
HYMN 4. C. M.
The Infinite God.
HY names, how infinite they be,
Great everlasting one
Boundless thy might and majesty,
And unconfin'd thy throne!
2 Thy glories shine, of wond'rous size,
And wond'rous large thy grace;
Immortal day breaks from thine eyes,
And Gabriel veils his face.
3 Thine essence is a vast abyss,
Which angels cannot sound,
An ocean of infinities,
Where all our thoughts are drown'd.
4 The myst❜ries of creation lie
Beneath enlighten'd minds; Thoughts can ascend above the sky, And fly before the winds.
5 Reason may grasp the massy hills,
And stretch from pole to pole;
But half thy name our spirit fills,
And overloads the soul.
6 In vain our haughty reason swells;
For nothing's found in thee
But boundless inconceivables,
And vast eternity.
The Omnipresence and Omniscience of God.
Psalm cxxxix.
LORD, thou with an unerring beam
Surveyest all my powers;
My rising steps are watch'd by thee,
By thee my resting hours.
2 My thoughts, scarce springing into birthy
Great God, are known to thee;
Abroad, at home, still I'm inclos'd
With thine immensity.
3 To thee, the labyrinths of life
In open view appear;
Nor steals a whisper from my lips
Without thy list'ning ear.
4 Behind I glance, and thou art there;
Before me shines thy name ;
And 'tis thy strong, almighty hand
Sustains my tender frame.
5 Such knowledge mocks the vain essays
Of my astonish'd mind;
Nor can my reason's soaring eye
Its towering summit find.
God's Dominion and Decrees.
K EEP silence, all created things,
And wait your Maker's nod;
My soul stands trembling, while she sings
The honors of her God.
2 Life, death, and hell, and worlds unknown, Hang on his firm decree ;
He sits on no precarious throne,
Nor borrows leave to be.
3 Chain'd to his throne a volume lies,
With all the fates of men,
With ev'ry angel's form and size,
Drawn by th' eternal pen.
4 His providence unfolds the book,
And makes his counsels shine;
Each op'ning leaf, and ev'ry stroke,
Fulfils some deep design.
5 Here, he exalts neglected worms,
To sceptres and a crown:
And there, the following page he turns,
And treads the monarch down.
6 Not Gabriel asks the reason why,
Nor God, the reason gives;
Nor dares the fav'rite angel pry
Between the folded leaves.
7 My God, I would not long to see
My fate with curious eyes,
What gloomy lines are writ for me,
Or what bright scenes may rise.
8 In thy fair book of life and grace,
Oh, may I find my name,
Recorded in some humble place,
Beneath my Lord, the Lamb..
|