2 In vain we trace creation o'er,
In search of sacred rest ;
The whole creation is too poor
To make us fully blest.
3 In vain would this low world employ
Each flatt'ring specious wile;
For what can yield a real joy
But our Creator's smile?
4 Let earth with all her charms depart,
Unworthy of the mind;
In God alone our restless heart
An equal bliss can find.
5 Great Source of all felicity,
To thee our wishes tend!
Do not these wishes rise from thee,
And in thy favour end?
6 Thy favour, Lord, is all we want,
Here would our spirit rest;
O seal the rich, the boundless grant,
And make us fully blest!
PSALM IV. ver. 8. Long Metre.
An Evening Song.
1 THUS far the Lord has led me on,
Thus far his pow'r prolongs my days,
And ev'ry ev'ning shall make known
Some fresh memorial of his grace.
2 Much of my time has run to waste,
And I, perhaps, am near my home;
But he forgives my follies past,
And gives me strength for days to come.
3 I lay my body down to sleep, Peace is the pillow for my head;
His ever watchful eye shall keep
Its constant guard around my bed.
4 Faith in his name forbids my fear:
O may thy presence ne'er depart!
And in the morning let me hear
The love and kindness of thy heart.
5 Thus when the night of death shall come,
My flesh shall rest beneath the ground;
And wait thy voice to break the tomb,
With glad salvation in the sound.
PSALM V. Common Metre.
For the Lord's Day Morning.
1 LORD, in the morning thou shalt hear
My voice ascending high;
To thee will I address my pray r,
To thee direct mine eye.
2 Thou art a God before whose sight
The wicked shall not stand;
Sinners shall ne'er be thy delight,
Nor dwell at thy right hand.
3 But to thy house will I resort,
To taste thy mercies there;
I will frequent thine holy court,
And worship in thy fear.
4 O may thy Spirit guide my feet
In ways of truth and grace!
Make ev'ry path of duty straight
And plain before my face.
5 The men who love and fear thy name,
Shall see their hopes fulfill'd;
The mighty God will compass them
With favour, as a shield.
WATTS.
PSALM VI. Common Metre.
Prayer in Sickness.
1 IN_anger, Lord, rebuke me not,
But spare a wretch forlorn;
Correct me not in thy fierce wrath,
Too heavy to be borne.
2 Sorrow and pain consume the day,
I waste the night with cries,
Counting the minutes as they pass,
Till the slow morning rise.
3 My tortur'd flesh distracts my mind,
And fills my soul with grief;
How long, O Lord, wilt thou delay
To grant me thy relief?
PSALM VII. Common Metre.
Confidence in God.
1 My trust is in my heav'nly Friend,
My hope in thee, my God;
Rise, and my helpless life defend
From those who seek my blood.
4 The gloomy shades of death cannot
Thy glorious acts proclaim;
No pris'ner of the silent grave
Can magnify thy name.
5 He hears when dust and ashes pray,
He pities all my groans;
He saves me for his mercy's sake,
And heals my broken bones.
6 The virtue of his sov'reign word
Restores my fainting breath;
To him will I devote that life
Which he has sav'd from death.
TATE and WATTS united and varied.
#or b
2 If malice lurk'd within my heart,
Before thy piercing eyes,
I should not dare appeal to thee,
Nor ask my God to rise.
3 Impartial Judge of all the world,
I trust my cause to thee;
According to my righteousness
So let thy sentence be,
4 Let wicked arts of wicked men
Be wholly overthrown ;
But guard the just, O God, to whom
The hearts of both are known.
5 Then will I all the righteous ways
Of Providence proclaim;
I'll sing the praise of God most high,
And celebrate his name.
TATE and WATTS, united.
PSALM VIII. Common Metre.
* or b
Divine Condescension.
1 O THOU, to whom all creatures bow,
Within this earthly frame !
Through all the world, how great art thou, How glorious is thy name!
2 When heaven, thy glorious work on high, Employs my wond'ring sight;
The moon that nightly rules the sky,
With stars of feebler light;
8 Lord, what is man! that thou shouldst choose To keep him in thy mind!
Or what his race, that thou shouldst prove To them so wondrous kind!
4 Him next in power thou didst create To thy celestial train;
Ordain'd with dignity and state
O'er all thy works to reign.
5 They jointly own his powerful sway,
The beasts that prey or graze ;
The bird that wings its airy way,
The fish that cuts the seas.
6 O thou, to whom all creatures bow,
Within this earthly frame,
Through all the world, how great art thou!
How glorious is thy name!
TATE.
PSALM VIII. Long Métre.
b
Adam and Christ, or the old and new Creation.
1 LORD, what was man when made at first,
Adam, the offspring of the dust,
That thou shouldst set him and his race,
But just below an angel's place?
2 That thou shouldst raise his nature so,
And make him Lord of all below;
Make every beast and bird submit,
And lay the fishes at his feet!
3 But what sublimer glories wait
To crown the second Adam's state!
What honours shall thy Son adorn,
Who condescended to be born!
4 See him below his angels made!
See him in dust among the dead!
To save the world from death and sin :
But he shall reign with power divine.
5 The world to come, redeem'd from all
The mis'ries that attend the fall,
New made and glorious, shall submit
At our exalted Saviour's feet.
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