HYMN 30 L. M.
The Majesty of God.
1. YE weak inhabitants of clay,
Ye trifling insects of a day,
Low in your native dust bow down
Before th' Eternal's awful throne.
2. Let Lebanon her cedars bring,
To blaze before the sov'reign king;
And all the beasts that on it feed,
As victims at its altar bleed.
3. Loud let ten thousand trumpets sound,
And call remotest nations round,
Assembled on the crowded plains,
Princes and people, kings and swains.
4. Join'd with the living, let the dead,
Rising, the face of earth o'erspread;
And, while his praise unites their tongues,
Let angels echo back the songs.
5. The drop that from the bucket falls,
The dust that hangs upon the scales,
Is more to sky and earth, and sea,
Than all the pomp, great God! to thee.
HYMN 31. L. M.
sons of men in sacred lays, Attempt the great Creator's praise: But who an equal song can frame? What verse can reach the lofty theme? 2. He sits enthron'd amidst the spheres, And glory like a garment wears; While boundless wisdom, pow'r and grace, Command our awe, transcend our praise. 3. Before his throne a shining band Of cherubs and of seraphs stand; Ethereal spirits, who in flight Outstrip the rapid speed of light. 4. To God all nature owes its birth, He form'd this pond'rous globe of earth. He rais'd the glorious arch on high, And measur'd out the azure sky.
5. In all our Maker's grand designs, Omnipotence with wisdom shines.
His works through all this wondrous frame, Bear the great impress of his name. 6. Rais'd on devotion's lofty wing, Let us his high perfections sing: O let his praise employ our tongue, Whilst list'ning worlds applaud the song! HYMN 32. c. M.
God eternal and unchangeable.
GREAT God, how infinite art thou!
How frail and weak are we!
Let the whole race of creatures bow,
And pay their praise to thee.
2. Thy throne eternal ages stood,
Ere earth or heav'n was made;
Thou art the ever-living God,
Were all the nations dead.
3. Nature and time all open lie
To thine immense survey,
From the formation of the sky,
To the last awful day.
4. Eternity with all its years,
Stands present to thy view.
To thee there's nothing old appears;
Great God! there's nothing new.
5. Our lives thro' various scenes are drawn,
And vex'd with trifling cares;
While thine eternal thought moves on
Thine undisturb'd affairs.
6. Great God, how infinite art thou!
How frail and weak are we!
Let the whole race of creatures bow,
And pay their praise to thee.
HYMN 33. L. M.
ALL-POW'RFUL, self-existent God,
Who all creation dost sustain !
Thou wast, and art, and art to come;
And everlasting is thy reign.
2. Fix'd and eternal as thy days,
Each glorious attribute divine,
Thro' ages infinite, shall still
With undiminish'd lustre shine.
3. Fountain of being, source of good!
Immutable dost thou remain ;
Nor can the shadow of a change
Obscure the glories of thy reign.
4. Nature her order shall reverse,
Revolving seasons cease their round; Nor spring appear with blooming pride, Nor autumn be with plenty crown'd: 5. Yon shining orbs forget their course; The sun his destin'd path forsake; And burning desolation mark
Amid the world his wand'ring track: 6. Earth may with all her pow'rs dissolve, If such the great Creator's will: But thou for ever art the same, "I am" is thy memorial still.
HYMN 34. L. M.
God almighty.
GIVE to the Lord, ve sons of fame,
Give to the Lord renown and pow'r;
Ascribe due honours to his name,
And his eternal might adore.
2. The Lord proclaims his pow'r aloud,
O'er the vast ocean and the land;
His voice divides the wat'ry cloud,
And lightnings blaze at his command.
3. He speaks, and howling tempests rise,
And lay the forest bare around;
The fiercest beasts, with piteous cries,
Confess the terror of the sound.
4. His thunders rend the vaulted skies,
And palaces and temples shake.
The mountains tremble at the noise,
The valleys roar, the deserts quake.
5. The Lord sits sov'reign o'er the flood;
The Thund'rer reigns for ever King ;
But makes his church his blest abode,
Where we his awful glories sing.
6. We see no terrors in his name,
But in our God, a Father find.
The voice, that shakes all nature's frame,
Speaks comfort to the pious mind.
HYMN 35. c. M.
A LMIGHTY God, thy pow'rful word
From nothing all things brought;
Earth, seas, and skies, by thee their Lord,
With skill divine were wrought.
2. Thy pleasure heav'nly hosts fulfil;
For thee each planet rolls;
Earth, sun, and stars perform thy will;
Thy nod the world controls.
3. Thou over all art Lord supreme;
All else from thee derive.
No being can dispute thy claim,
Or independent live.
4. To thee, our Lord, we therefore bow;
To thee, our all resign.
Entire to thee ourselves we vow,
For we are wholly thine.
HYMN 36. c. M.
1. "TWAS God who hurl'd the rolling spheres,
And stretch'd the boundless skies;
Who form'd the plan of endless years,
And bade the ages rise.
2. From everlasting is his might,
Immense and unconfin'd:
He pierces through the realms of light,
And rides upon the wind.
3. He darts along the burning skies;
Loud thunders round him roar;
All heav'n attends him, as he flies;
And hell proclaims his pow'r.
4. He scatters nations with his breath;
The scatter'd nations fly;
Blue pestilence and wasting death
Confess the Godhead nigh.
5. Ye worlds, with ev'ry living thing,
Fulfil his high command;
Mortals, pay homage to your King,
And own his ruling hand.
HYMN 37. L. M.
God omnipresent and omniscient.
1. LORD, thou hast search'd and seen me through ; Thine eye commands, with piercing view,
My rising and my resting hours,
My heart and flesh, with all their pow'rs.
2. 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?
3. If, mounted on a morning ray,
I fly beyond the western sea;
Thy swifter hand would first arrive,
And there arrest thy fugitive.
4. Or should I try to shun thy sight
Beneath the spreading veil of night;
One glance of thine, one piercing ray
Would kindle darkness into day.
5. 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.
6. O may these thoughts possess my breast,
Where'er I rove, where'er I rest!
Nor let my weaker passions dare
Consent to sin, for God is there.
HYMN 38. c. M.
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. Thy all-surrounding sight surveys
My rising and my rest,
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