And ere my lips pronounce the word,
He knows the sense I mean.

4 O wondrous knowledge, deep and high!
Where can a creature hide ?.
Within thy circling arms I lie,
Beset on every side.

5 So let thy grace surround me still,
And like a bulwark prove,
To guard my soul from every ill,
Secur'd by sovereign love.

PSALM CXXXIX.

WATTS.

Sec. Part.

C. M.

b

The all-seeing Eye of God.

1 LORD, where shall guilty souls retire,
Forgotten and unknown?

In hell they meet thy dreadful ire;
In heaven thy glorious throne.,

2 Should I suppress my vital breath,
T' escape the wrath divine;

Thy voice would break the bars of death,
And make the grave resign.

3 If, wing'd with beams of morning light, I fly beyond the west,

Thy hand, which must support my flight,
Would soon betray my rest.

4 If o'er my sins I think to draw
The curtains of the night,

Those flaming eyes which guard thy law.
Would turn the shades to light.

5 The beams of noon, the midnight hour,
Are both alike to thee;

O may I ne'er distrust that power
From which I cannot flee.

PSALM CXXXIX. 3d Part. C. M.

God the Author of our Being.

1 GOD of my life, whose bounteous care,
First gave me power to move;
How shall my grateful heart declare
The wonders of thy love?

2 Thee will I honour, for I stand
The product of thy skill;

The wonders of thy forming hand
My admiration fill.

3 Whilst void of thought and sense, I lay,
Dust of my parent earth;

Thy breath inform'd the sleeping clay
And call'd me into birth.

4 From thee, before my breath begun,
My limbs their fashion took;
And in continuance, every one
Was written in thy book

5 Thine eye beheld in perfect view,
The yet unfinish'd plan ;
Th' imperfect lines thy pencil drew,
And form'd the future man.

6 O may this animated frame,
This work of matchless skill,
Be all devoted to thy name,
And love to do thy will!

B. Williams's Collection, varied.

PSALM CXXXIX. 4th Part. C. M.

Praise for temporal and spiritual Mercies. 1 ALMIGHTY Father, gracious Lord, Kind Guardian of my days;

My heart thy mercies would record,
In grateful songs of praise.

2 In life's first dawn, my tender frame Was thy indulgent care;

Before I could pronounce thy name,
Or breathe my infant prayer.

3 When reason with my stature grew,
How faint her brightest ray!
How little of my God I knew!
How apt from thee to stray!

4 When life hung trembling on a breath, 'Twas thine almighty love

That sav'd me from impending death,
And bade my fears remove.

5 How many blessings round me shone, Where'er I turn'd my eye!

How many past, almost unknown,
Or unregarded, by !

6 Each rolling year new favours brought From thy exhaustless store;

But ah! in vain my labouring thought
Would count thy mercies o'er.

7 Lord, when this mortal frame decays, And every weakness dies ;

Complete the wonders of thy grace.
And raise me to the skies.

8 Then shall my joyful powers unite,
In more exalted lays ;

And join the happy sons of light,
In everlasting praise.

MRS. STEELE.

PSALM CXXXIX. 5th P. Long Metre. * or b
The Formation of Body and Soul.

1 THOU God, by whose command I live,
The tribute of my praise receive;
To thee, O Lord, my life I owe,
And all my joys from thee do flow.
2 Not many suns have form'd the year,
And roll'd their courses round the sphere,
Since thou my shapeless dust survey'd,
In undistinguish'd matter laid.

3 Thy plastick hand my clay refin'd,
Its particles in order join'd;

And, to complete the wondrous whole,
Did stamp thine image on my soul.
4 A soul susceptible of joy,

Which length of time cannot destroy;
Though nature claims my vital breath,
It bids defiance still to death.

5 To realms of bliss that soul will soar,
When earth and skies shall be no more;
And there, in more exalted lays,

Shall sing my great Creator's praise.

Mrs Carter, varied.

PSALM CXXXIX. 5th Part. C. M.

To the Searcher of Hearts.

# or b

1 LORD, should I count thy mercies o'er, How vast the numbers rise !

Beyond the sands that spread the shore,
Or stars that gild the skies.

2 Whene'er I close my eyes to sleep,

These thoughts shall sooth my rest;
And when I wake, they still shall keep
Their place within my breast.

3 Before thine all pervading eyes
I would my soul display;
I scorn to use the least disguise,
But ask thy strict survey.

4 Does my fond heart some favourite sin
Within itself conceal!

O may a beam of light divine
The hidden guilt reveal!

5 If in the paths of dark deceit
My soul hath gone astray;

O turn and guide my wandering feet
In thy celestial way!

PSALM CXL.

Partly from DODDRIDGE.

Long Metre.

Deliverance from Enemies.

1 GREAT God, our haughty foes repel; Their rage by power superior quell; Save us from their vindictive tongue, And guard us from the hand of wrong. 2 The tongue, by wisdom unsubdued, From bliss its owner shall exclude; Destruction follows fast behind

The feet to wickedness inclin'd.

3 Our heart has known thee, Lord, prepar'd The helpless and the poor to guard ;