6 High admiration let it raise, And kind affections move;
Employ our tongues in hymns of praise,
And fill our hearts with love.
HYMN LXXIV. Six Line C. M.
Universal providence of God.
1 The mighty God who rolls the spheres,
And storm, and fire, and hail prepares,
And guides this vast machine,-
His powerful hand our life sustains,
And scatters all those joys and pains,
That fill this chequer'd scene.
2 His piercing eye at once surveys,
Where thousand suns and systems blaze,
And where the sparrow falls;
While seraphs tune their harps on high,
His ear attends the softest cry,
When human mis'ry calls.
3 Eternal God! who shall not fear,
And trust, and love, with soul sincere,
Thine awful, glorious name!
While man, thy creature, swift decays,
Time has no measure for thy days;-
Thou ever art the same.
Divine Providence, and the folly of self-dependence.
1 God reigns! events in order flow,
Man's industry to guide;
But in a diffrent channel go,
To humble human pride.
2 The swift, not always in the race
Shall win the crowning prize;
Not always wealth and honour grace
The labours of the wise.
3 Fond mortals do themselves beguile,
When on themselves they rest ;
Blind is their wisdom, vain their toil,
By thee, O Lord! unbless'd.
4 'Tis ours, the furrows to prepare,
And sow the precious grain ;
'Tis thine to give the sun and air,
And send the genial rain.
5 Evil and good before thee stand,
Their mission to perform;
The sun shines bright at thy command;
Thy hand directs the storm.
6 In all our ways, we humbly own
Thy providential power;
Entrusting to thy care alone
The lot of every hour.
HYMN LXXVI. C. M.
God's foreknowledge and providence.
1 Let the whole race of creatures lie Abas'd before the Lord!
Whate'er his powerful hand has formed, He governs with a word.
2 Ten thousand ages ere the skies
Were into motion brought,
All the long years and worlds to come,
Stood present to his thought.
3 There's not a sparrow, nor a worm,
O'erlook'd in his decrees;
He raises monarchs to a throne,
Or sinks, with equal ease.
4 If light attend the course we go,
"Tis he provides the rays;
And 'tis his hand that hides the sun,
If darkness cloud our days.
5 Trusting thy wisdom, God of love!
We would not wish to know
What, in the book of thy decrees,
Awaits us here below.
6 Be this alone our fervent prayer;
Whate'er our lot shall be,
Or joys or sorrows,-may they form
Our souls for heaven and thee!
Man's dependence upon God.
1 Greatest of beings! Source of life,
Sov'reign of air, of earth, and sea,
All nature owns thy power, but man
A grateful tribute pays to thee.
2 Subject to wants, to thee he looks,
And from thy goodness seeks supplies;
And when, oppress'd with guilt, he
Thy mercy lifts him to the skies.
3 Children, whose infant minds, unform'd, Ne'er raised a tender thought to heaven; And men, whom reason lifts to God, Though oft by passion downward driven;
4 Those too, who bend with age and care, And faint and tremble near the tomb; Who, sick'ning at the present scenes, Sigh for that better world to come ;
5 All, great Creator! all are thine;
All feel thy providential care;
And through each changing scene of life,
Alike thy constant pity share.
6 And whether grief oppress the heart!
Or whether joy elate the breast;
Or life still keep its varying course;
Or death invite the heart to rest;
7 All are thy messengers, and all
Thy sacred pleasure, Lord! obey;
And all are training man to dwell
Nearer to bliss, and nearer thee.
HYMN LXXVIII. Six Line L. M.
God the author and preserver of life.
1 Almighty God! in prayer to thee
We bow the head and bend the knee,
With humble soul and heart resign'd,
To thee with trembling lips we raise
The holy sacrifice of praise,
Thou friend and father of mankind.
2. By thee inspir'd, this mortal frame
To being from oblivion came,
Thy love and goodness to survey;
To view the glitt'ring vault of night,
To hail the sweet return of light,
And all creation's blooming day.
3 In life's young morn thou did'st impart The rivers to my beating heart,
And taught the streaming pulse to flow;
Amid sensations' changeful tide,
Thou bid'st the trembling soul abide,
Alive to rapture or to woe.
4 And still unquench'd, at thy behest
The flame of being warms my breast,
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