OD of our life! thy various praise
Let mortal voices sound:
Thy hand appoints our fleeting days,
And brings the seasons round.
2 To thee shall annual incense rise,
Our Father, and our Friend;
While annual mercies from the skies
In genial show'rs descend.
3 Oh! may thy love in ev'ry scene
Of passing life appear;
And let the same compassion deign
To bless the op'ning year.
4 If joy awaits us, may it bring
Our souls more near to God;
And if affliction, we shall sing,
For thou wilt bless the rod.
OD of that glorious gift of grace, By which thy people seek thy face! Here in thy presence we appear: Vouchsafe us faith to venture near.
2 Confiding in thy truth alone,
Here, on the steps of Jesu's throne,
We lay the treasure thou hast giv'n,
To be receiv'd, and rear'd for heav'n.
3 Lent to us for a season, we
Lend him for ever, Lord, to thee:
Assur'd, that, if to thee he live,
We gain in what we seem to give.
4 Make him and keep him thine, O Lord,
Meekly obedient to thy word;
Grant him to walk in faith and love,
Then call him to thy home above.
YOOD is the Lord, our heav'nly King,
Who makes the earth his care;
Visits the pastures ev'ry spring,
And bids the grain appear.
2 Good is the Lord: it is his love
Which makes the earth to yield :
His clouds drop fatness from above;
He ripens ev'ry field.
3 Good is the Lord: his lib'ral hand
Is daily open'd wide,
To scatter plenty through the land,
That all may be supplied.
4 Good is the Lord: he gives us bread;
He gives his people more:
By him their souls with grace are fed,
A boundless, richer store.
RACE! 'tis a joyful sound,
Harmonious to the ear;
Heav'n with the echo shall resound,
And all the earth shall hear.
2 Grace first contriv'd a way
To save rebellious man;
And all the steps his grace display
Who drew the wondrous plan.
3 Grace led my wand'ring feet
To tread the heav'nly road;
And fresh supplies each hour I meet,
While pressing on to God.
4 Grace all the work shall crown,
Through everlasting days:
It lays in heav'n the topmost stone,
And well deserves the praise.
RACIOUS Spirit, Lord divine!
Let thy light around us shine:
Unbelieving fear remove,
Fill us with thy peace and love.
2 Pardon to the contrite give,
Bid the wounded sinner live;
Lead us to the Lamb of God,
Wash us in his precious blood.
3 Earnest thou of heav'nly rest,
Comfort ev'ry troubled breast;
Life and joy to all impart,
Sanctify each lowly heart.
4 Guardian Spirit! lest we stray,
Keep us in the heav'nly way:
Bring us to thy courts above,
Realms of light, and endless love.
REAT God of Abr'ham, hear our pray'r;
Let Abr'ham's seed thy mercy share :
Oh! may they now at length return,
And look on him they pierc'd, and mourn.
2 Remember Jacob's flock of old;
Bring home the wand'rers to thy fold;
Remember, too, thy promis'd word,-
"Israel at last shall seek the Lord."
3 Lord, put thy law within their hearts,
And write it in their inward parts:
The veil of darkness rend in two,
Which hides Messiah from their view.
4 Oh! haste the day, foretold so long,
When Jew and Greek (a glorious throng)
One house shall seek, one pray'r shall pour,
And one Redeemer shall adore.
REAT God, to thee my voice I raise,
To thee my youngest hours belong;
I would begin my life with praise,
Till growing years improve the song.
2 'Tis to thy sov'reign grace I owe
That I was born on British ground,
Where streams of heav'nly mercy flow,
And words of sweet salvation sound.
3 How do I pity those that dwell,
Where ignorance and darkness reign:
They know no heav'n, they fear no hell,
That endless joy, that endless pain!
4 Thy praise shall still employ my breath,
Since thou hast mark'd my way to heav'n;
Nor will I run the road to death,
And waste the blessings thou hast giv'n.
REAT God, we sing that mighty hand,
By which, supported still, we stand:
The op'ning year thy mercy shows;
Let mercy crown it till it close.
2 By day, by night, at home, abroad,
Still we are guarded by our God;
By his incessant bounty fed,
By his unerring counsel led.
3 With grateful hearts the past we own;
The future, all to us unknown,
We to thy guardian care commit,
And peaceful leave before thy feet.
4 In scenes exalted or depress'd,
Be thou our joy, be thou our rest;
Thy goodness all our hopes shall raise,
Ador'd through all our changing days.
REAT God! what do I see and hear!
The end of things created!
Behold the Judge of man appear,
On clouds of glory seated!
The trumpet sounds, the graves restore
The dead, which they contain'd before:
Prepare, my soul, to meet him.
2 The dead in Christ shall first arise,
At the last trumpet's sounding,
Caught up to meet him in the skies,
With joy their Lord surrounding:
No gloomy fears their souls dismay;
His presence sheds eternal day
On those prepar'd to meet him.
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