2 How great the works His Hand hath wrought! How glorious in our sight!

And men in every age have sought
His wonders with delight.

3 How most exact is nature's frame!
How wise the eternal Mind!

His counsels never change the scheme
That His first thoughts designed.

4 When He redeemed the sons of men,
He fixed His covenant sure:

The orders that His lips pronounce
To endless years endure.

5 Nature and time and earth and skies
Thy heavenly skill proclaim.
What shall we do to make us wise,
But learn to read Thy Name?

6 To fear Thy power, to trust Thy grace,
Is our divinest skill;

67

And he's the wisest of our race,

Who best obeys Thy will.

PSALM 139.

Watts. 1719.

L. M.

1 LORD, Thou hast searched and seen me through;
Thine eye commands, with piercing view,
My rising and my resting hours,
My heart and flesh, with all their powers.

2 Within Thy circling power I stand,
On every side I find Thy hand:
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,
I am surrounded still with God.

3 Could I so false, so faithless prove,
To quit Thy service and Thy love,
Where, Lord, could I Thy presence shun,
Or from Thy dreadful glory run?

4 The veil of night is no disguise,
No screen from Thy all-searching eyes;
Thy hand can seize Thy foes as.soon
Through midnight shades, as blazing noon.
5 0 may these thoughts possess my breast,
Where're I rove, where're I rest!
Nor let my weaker passions dare
Consent to sin, for God is there.

68

Watts. 1719.

From Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady. 1696.

PSALM 139.

1 LORD, all I am is known to Thee!
In vain my soul would try
To shun Thy presence, or to flee
The notice of Thine eye.

2 Thine all-surrounding sight surveys
My rising and my rest,

My public walks, my private ways,
And secrets of my breast.

3 My thoughts lie open to the Lord,
Before they're formed within;
And ere my lips pronounce the word,
He knows the sense I mean.

C. M.

4 0 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,
Secured by sovereign love.

Watts. 1719. a.

69

1

2

PSALM 103.

0 BLESs the Lord, my soul!
Let all within me join,

S. M.

And aid my tongue to bless His Name,
Whose favors are divine.

O bless the Lord, my soul!
Nor let His mercies lie
Forgotten in unthankfulness,
And without praises die.

3 'Tis He forgives thy sins;
'Tis He relieves thy pain;
'Tis He that heals thy sicknesses,
And gives thee strength again.

4

He crowns thy life with Love,
When ransomed from the grave;
He that redeemed my soul from hell
Hath sovereign power to save.
5 He fills the poor with good;
He gives the sufferers rest:

6

2

The Lord hath judgments for the proud,
And justice for the opprest.

His wondrous, works and ways

He made by Moses known;

But sent the world His truth and grace
By His beloved Son.

PSALM 103.

Watts. 1719. a.

S. M

My soul, repeat His praise,
Whose mercies are so great;

Whose anger is so slow to rise,
So ready to abate.

God will not always chide;
And, when his wrath is felt,

His strokes are fewer than our crimes,

And lighter than our guilt.

70

1

High as the heavens are raised
Above the ground we tread,
So far the riches of His grace

Our highest thoughts exceed.

4 His power subdues our sins;
And His forgiving Love,

5

6

Far as the east is from the west,
Doth all our guilt remove.

Our days are as the grass,
Or like the morning flower;

If one sharp blast sweep o'er the field,
It withers in an hour.

But Thy compassions, Lord,
To endless years endure;

And children's children ever find
Thy words of promise sure.

71

PSALM 145.

Watts. 1719.

C. M.

1 SWEET is the memory of Thy grace,
My God, my heavenly King!
Let age to age Thy righteousness
In sounds of glory sing.

2 God reigns on high, but ne'er confines
His goodness to the skies;

Through the whole earth His bounty shines, And every want supplies.

3 With longing eyes, Thy creatures wait
On Thee for daily food;

Thy liberal hand provides their meat,
And fills their mouths with good.

4 How kind are Thy compassions, Lord!
How slow Thine anger moves!

But soon He sends His pardoning word,
To cheer the souls He loves.

5 Creatures, with all their endless race,
Thy power and praise proclaim;
But saints, who taste Thy richer grace,
Delight to bless Thy Name.

72

Watts. 1719.

C. M.

1 YE humble souls, approach your God
With songs of sacred praise;
For He is good, immensely good,
And kind are all His ways.

2 All nature owns His guardian care;
In Him we live and move:
But nobler benefits declare
The wonders of His Love.

3 He gave His Son, His only Son,
To ransom rebel worms.

'Tis here He makes His goodness known
In its divinest forms.

4 To this dear refuge, Lord, we come;
'Tis here our hope relies;

A safe defence, a peaceful home,
When storms of trouble rise.

5 Thine eye beholds with kind regard
The souls who trust in Thee;

Their humble hope Thou wilt reward
With bliss divinely free.

6 Great God, to Thy almighty Love
What honors shall we raise?
Not all the raptured songs above
Can render equal praise.

73

Anne Steele. 1760.

1 THY ceaseless, unexhausted Love,

Unmerited and free,

Delights our evil to remove,

And help our misery.

C. M.