5 Often I feel my sinful heart
Prone from my Jesus to depart;
But though I have Him oft forgot,
His loving-kindness changes not.

6 Soon shall I pass the gloomy vale,
Soon all my mortal powers must fail;
Oh may my last expiring breath
His loving-kindness sing in death!

7 Then let me mount and soar away
To the bright world of endless day;
And sing with rapture and surprise,
His loving-kindness in the skies.

197

Samuel Medley, 1787.

Wisdom and Love.

1 OD is love, His mercy brightens

8.7.

GoAll the path in which we rove:
Bliss He wakes, and woe He lightens;
God is wisdom, God is love.

2 Chance and change are busy ever,
Man decays, and ages move;
But His mercy waneth never;
God is wisdom, God is love.

3 E'en the hour that darkest seemet
Will His changeless goodness prove;
From the mist His brightness streameth,
God is wisdom, God is love.

4 He with earthly cares entwineth
Hope and comfort from above;
Everywhere His glory shineth;
God is wisdom, God is love.

198

1

MY

John Bowring, 1825.

C. M.

~All-sufficient in Grace.

Y God!-how cheerful is the sound!
How pleasant to repeat!

Well may that heart with pleasure bound,
Where God hath fix'd His seat.

2 What want shall not our God supply
From His redundant stores?

What streams of mercy from on high
An arm almighty pours!

3 From Christ the ever-living spring,
These ample blessings flow:
Prepare, my lips, His name to sing,
Whose heart has loved us so.

4 Now to our Father and our God
Be endless glory given,

Through all the realms of man's abode,
And through the highest heaven.

199

1

YE

Philip Doddridge, 1755.

Goodness of God.

C. M.

E 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 diviner 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 soul that trusts in Thee;
Their humble hope Thou wilt reward
With bliss divinely free.

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

200

Anne Steele, 1760.

Goodness and Kindness.

L.M.

1 LIVE thanks to God, He reigns above;

GIVE thanks to thoughts, His name is

His mercy ages past have known, [love; And ages long to come shall own.

2 Let the redeemed of the Lord
The wonders of His grace record;
How great His works! how kind His
ways!

Let every tongue pronounce His praise.

201

1

THY

Isaac Watts, 1719.

The Mercy of God.

11s.

HY mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,

The joy of my heart, and the boast of my

tongue;

(last, Thy free grace alone, from the first to the Hath won my affections, and bound my soul fast.

2 Without Thy sweet mercy, I could not live here, [spair; Sin soon would reduce me to utter deBut through Thy free goodness my spirits

revive,

[alive. And He that first made me still keeps me

3 Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart, [depart; Which wonders to feel its own hardness Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground, [found. And weep to the praise of the mercy I've

4 The door of Thy mercy stands open all day, [the way; To the poor and the needy, who knock by No sinner shall ever be empty sent back, Who comes seeking mercyfor Jesus's sake.

5 Thy mercy in Jesus exempts me from hell; Its glories I'll sing, and its wonders I'll tell; [the tree, Twas Jesus, my friend, when He hung on That open'd the channel of mercy for me.

6 Great Father of mercies! Thy goodness I own,

(Son; And the covenant love of Thy crucified All praise to the Spirit, whose whisper

[ness mine!

divine Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteous

John Stocker, 1776, a.

202

A Pardoning God.

112th.

1 GREAT God of wonders! all Thy ways Are matchless, God-like, and divine; But the fair glories of Thy grace

More God-like and unrivall'd shine:
Who is a pardoning God like Thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?
2 Crimes of such horror to forgive,

Such guilty, daring worms to spare;
This is Thy grand prerogative,

And none shall in the honour share:
Who is a pardoning God like Thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?
3 In wonder lost, with trembling joy
We take the pardon of our God;
Pardon for crimes of deepest dye';
A pardon bought with Jesus' blood:
Who is a pardoning God like Thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?

4 Oh may this strange, this matchless grace, This God-like miracle of love,

Fill the wide earth with grateful praise,
And all th' angelic choirs above:
Who is a pardoning God like Thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?

President Davies, 1769.

ACTS OF GOD.

CREATION AND PROVIDENCE

203 He is worthy to be praised.

1 CONGS of praise the angels sang,

SONGS of hallelujahs rang,

When Jehovah's work begun,
When He spake, and it was done

7s.

2 Songs of praise awoke the morn, When the Prince of Peace was born: Songs of praise arose when He Captive led captivity.

3 Heaven and earth must pass away;
Songs of praise shall crown that day:
God will make new heavens and earth;
Songs of praise shall hail their birth.
4 And shall man alone be dumb
Till that glorious kingdom come?
No; the church delights to raise
Psalms and hymns, and songs of praise.

5 Saints below, with heart and voice,
Still in songs of praise rejoice;
Learning here, by faith and love,
Songs of praise to sing above.

6 Borne upon their latest breath,
Songs of praise shall conquer death;
Then, amidst eternal joy,

Songs of praise their powers employ.

204

James Montgomery, 1819

"Thou hast created all things." 8.7.

1 PRAISE to Thee, Thou great Creator!

be Thine from every tongue; Join, my soul, with every creature, Join the universal song.

2 Father! Source of all compassion!
Pure, unbounded grace is Thine:
Hail the God of our salvation!
Praise Him for His love divine.

3 For ten thousand blessings given,
For the hope of future joy,

[heaven, Sound His praise through earth and Sound Jehovah's praise on high.

4 Joyfully on earth adore Him,

Till in heaven our song we raise; There, enraptured fall before Him, Lost in wonder, love, and praise. John Fawcett, 1782, a.

205

"He that built all things
is God."

SING the almighty power of God

That spread the flowing seas abroad,
And built the lofty skies.