6 Spread thy great name through heathen lands,
Their idol deities dethrone,
Subdue the world to thy commands,
And reign, as thou art, God alone.
The Great First Cause.
1 THE first almighty Cause,
Who did all things create,
Gave nature all her laws,
Unchangeable as fate,
The source of life, the spring of springs-
His praise all heaven and nature sings.
2 Where'er we cast our eyes,
With raptures we behold,
Below, or in the skies,
Wonders that can't be told:
In nature's book, in every line,
His wisdom and perfections shine.
3 On him all worlds depend;
To him all bend the knee;-
But none can comprehend
The boundless deity.
He fills all space, lives everywhere,
Sustains the whole, makes all his care.
1 God is a name my soul adores,
Th' Almighty, the Eternal One !
Nature and grace, with all their powers
Confess the Infinite Unknown.
2 Thy voice produced the seas and spheres,
Bade planets roll, and suns to shine;
But nothing like thyself appears
Through all these spacious works of thine.
3 Still restless nature dies and grows;
From change to change the creatures run
Thy being no succession knows,
And all thy vast designs are one.
4 Thrones and dominions round thee fall,
And worship in submissive forms;
Thy presence shakes this lower ball,-
This humble dwelling-place of worms.
5 Who can behold thy blazing light!
Who can approach consuming flame!
Thy wisdom only knows thy might;
Thy word alone can speak thy name.
1 THOU art, almighty Lord of all,
From everlasting still the same;
Before thee dazzling seraphs fall,
And veil their faces in a flame,
To see such bright perfections glow-
Such floods of glory from thee flow.
2 What mortal hand shall dare to paint
A semblance of thy glory, Lord ?
The brightest rainbow-tints are faint;
The brightest stars of heaven afford
But dim effusions of those rays
Of light that round Jehovah blaze.
3 The sun himself is but a gleam,
A transient meteor, from thy throne;
And every frail and fickle beam
That ever in creation shone,
Is nothing, Lord, compared to thee
In thy own vast immensity.
4 But though thy brightness may create
All worship from the hosts above,
What most thy name must elevate
Is, that thou art a God of love;
And mercy is the central sun
Of all thy glories joined in one.
The Divine Being and Perfections. Ps. 36.
1 HIGH in the heavens, eternal God,
Thy goodness in full glory shines;
Thy truth shall break through every cloud,
That veils and darkens thy designs.
2 Forever firm thy justice stands,
As mountains their foundations keep;
Wise are the wonders of thy hands;
Thy judgments are a mighty deep.
3 Thy providence is kind and large :
Both men and beasts thy bounty share:
The whole creation is thy charge;
But saints are thy peculiar care.
4 My God, how excellent thy grace,
Whence all our hope and comfort springs!
The sons of Adam, in distress,
Fly to the shadow of thy wings.
5 From the provisions of thy house
We shall be fed with sweet repast ;-
There mercy like a river flows,
And brings salvation to our taste.
6 Life, like a fountain full and free,
Springs from the presence of my Lord;
And in thy light our souls shall see
The glories promised in thy word.
The surpassing Glory of God.
1 SINCE o'er thy footstool here below
Such radiant gems are strown,
O what magnificence must glow,
Great God, about thy throne!
So brilliant here these drops of light-
There the full ocean rolls-how bright!
2 If night's blue curtain of the sky-
With thousand stars inwrought,
Hung like a royal canopy
With glittering diamonds fraught-
Be, Lord, thy temple's outer veil,
What splendor at the shrine must dwell!
3 The dazzling sun, at noon-day hour
Forth from his flaming vase
Flinging o'er earth the golden shower
Till vale and mountain blaze-
But shows, O Lord, one beam of thine:
What, then, the day where thou dost shine'
4 O how shall these dim eyes endure
That noon of living rays!
Or how our spirits, so impure,
Upon thy glory gaze!Anoint, O Lord, anoint our sight, And fit us for that world of light.
The Unity of God.
1 THE God who reigns alone
O'er earth and sea and sky,
Let man with praises own,
And sound his honors high.
2 Him all in heaven above,
Him all on earth below,
Th' exhaustless source of love,
The great Creator, know.
3 He formed the living flame,
He gave the reasoning mind:
Then only He may claim
The worship of mankind.
4 So taught his only Son,
Blest messenger of grace!-
Th' Eternal is but one:
No second holds his place.
1 GREAT God! in vain man's narrow view Attempts to look thy nature through; Our laboring powers with reverence own Thy glories never can be known.
|