1

From sin and dust to thee we cry,

The Great, the Holy, and the High! * Earth from afar has heard thy fame,

And worms have learnt to lisp thy name; But, O! the glories of thy mind

Leave all our soaring thoughts behind. 5 God is in heaven, but man below;

Be short our tunes; our words be few:
A sacred reverence checks our songs,
And praise sits silent on our tongues.

L. M. 14. The Spirituality of God, John Iv. 24. THOU art, O God! a spirit pure,

Invisible to mortal eyes; Th’immortal, and the eternal King,

The great, the good, the only wise.
2 Whilst nature changes, and her works

Corrupt, decay, dissolve, and die,
Thy essence pure no change shall see,

Secure of immortality.
3 Thou great Invisible! what hand

Can draw thy image spotless fair!
To what in heaven, to what on earth,

Can men th’immortal King compare! 4 Let stupid heathens frame their gods

Of gold, and silver, wood and stone;
Ours is the God that made the heavens;

Jehovah he, and God alone.
5 My soul, thy purest homage pay,

In truth and spirit him adore;
More shall this please than sacrifice,
Than outward forms delight him niore.

C. M. 15.

The Infinite. 1 SOME seraph lend your heavenly tongue, Or harp of golden string,

Tbat I may raise a lofty song,

To our Eternal King. 2 Thy names how infinite they be!

Great EVERLASTING One! Boundless thy might and majesty,

And unconfin’d thy throne. 3 Thy glories shine of wondrous size,

And wondrous large thy grace; Immortal day breaks from thine eyes

And Gabriel veils his face. 4 Thine essence is a vast abyss,

Which angels cannot sound; An oceán of infinities

Where all our thoughts are drown'd 5 The myst’rics of creation lie

Beneath enlighten'd minds; Thoughts can ascend above the sky

And fly before the winds; 6 Reason may grasp the massy hills,

And stretch from pole to pole; But half thy name our spirit fills,

And overloads our soul. 7 In vain our haughty reason swells,

For nothing's found in Thee, But boundless inconceivables, And vast eternity!

L. M. 16.

God supreme and self-sufficient. 1 WHAT is our God, or what his name,

Nor men can learn, nor angels teach; He dwells conceal'd in radiant flame,

Where neither eyes nor thoughts can reaca. 2 The spacious worlds of heavenly light,

Compar'd with him, how short they fall!
They are too dark, too bright;
Nothing are they, and God is all.

8 He spoke the wondrous word, and lo!

Creation rose at his command;
Whirlwinds and seas their limits know,

Bouod in the hollow of his hando 4 There rests the earth, there roll the spheres,

There nature leans, and feels her prop;
But his own self-sufficience bears

The weight of his own glories up.
5 The tide of creatures ebbs and flows,

Measuring their changes by the moon:
No ebb his sea of glory knows;

His age is one eternal noon.
6 Then fly, my song, an endless round,

The lofty tune let Gabriel raise;
All nature dwell upon the sound,
But we can ne'er fulfil the praise.

L. M. 17.

The Incomprehensibrity of Goa. 1 G LOD is a name my soul adores

Th’ Almighty Three, the Eternal One! Nature and grace, with all their powers,

Confess the Infinite unknown. 2 From thy great self thy being springs;

'Thou art thy own original, Made up of uncreated things,

And self-sufficience bears them all.
3 Thy voice produced the seas and spheres,

Bids the waves roar and planets shine;
But nothing like thyself appears

Through all these spacious works of thine. . 4 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.
S Huw shall affrighted mortals dare

To sing thy glory or thy grace?

Beneath thy feet we lie so far,

And see but shadows of thy face!
6 Who can behold the glorious liglit?

Who can approach consuming fame!
None but thy wisdom knows thy might,
None but thy word can speak thy name.

(306.) L. M. 18.

Unity of God. 1 ETERNAL God, almighty cause

Of earth, and seas and worlds unknown All things are subject to thy laws;

All things depend on thee alone. 2 Thy glorious being singly stands,

Of all within itself possest;
By none control'd in thy commands,

And in thyself completely blest. 3 To thee alone ourselves we owe;

Let heav'n and earth due homage pay: All other gods we disavow,

Deny their claims, renounce their sway 4 In thee, O Lord, our hope shall rest,

Fountain of peace and joy and love!
Thy favour only makes us blest;

Without thee all would nothing prove. 5 Worship to thee alone belongs:

Worship to thee alone we give;
Thine be our hearts and thine our songs,

And to thy glory we would live. 6 Spread thy great name through heathen lands,

Their idol-cleities dethrone; Subdue the world to thy commands,

And reign as thou art, God alone. 19.

(29) L. M.

God incomprehensible.
1
G

REA I God, in vain man's narrow vicw
Attempts to look thy nature thruigh.

Our lab'ring pow'rs with rev'rence own,

'Thy glories never can be known 2 Not the high seraph's mighty thought,

Who countless year's his God has sought,
Such wondrous height or depth can find,

Or fully trace thy boundless reind. 3 Yet, Lord, thy kindness deigns to show

Enough for mortal men to know; While wisdom, goodness, pow'r diving

Thro' all thy works and conduct shine. 4 0! may, our souls with rapture trace

Thy works of nature and of grace,
Explore thy sacred truth, and still

Press on to know and do thy will! 20.

(32.) C. M.
God eternal and unchangeable.
GR
REAT God, how infinite art tho..!

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,

Ére 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.
Eternity, with all its years,

Stands present to thy view.
To thee there's nothing old appears;

Great God! there's nothing new. 6 Our lives thro' various scenes are drawn,

And vex'd with trifling cares;
While thine eternal thought moves ou
Thine undisturb'd affairs.