1

WEET is the memory of Thy
grace,

My God, my heavenly King;
Let age to age Thy righteousness
In sounds of glory sing.

2 God reigns on high; but not confines His goodness to the skies;

Through the whole earth His bounty shines,

And every want supplies.

3 With longing eyes Thy creatures On Thee for daily food; [wait Thy liberal hand provides their meat, And fills their mouths with good.

4 How kind are Thy compassions, Lord!

How slow Thine anger moves! But soon He sends His pardoning word

To cheer the souls He loves.

5 Creatures, with all their endless race, Thy power and praise proclaim; But saints, that taste Thy richer grace,

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Delight to bless Thy name.

ISAAC WATTS. 1719.

C.M.

Thy goodness we adore;

A spring whose blessings never fail,
A sea without a shore!

2 Sun, moon, and stars, Thy love attest

In every golden ray;

Love draws the curtain of the night, And love brings back the day.

3 Thy bounty every season crowns, With all the bliss it yields; With joyful clusters loads the vines, With strengthening grain

fields.

the

4

PSA. cxlvi. 2.

I'LL praise my Maker with my

breath,

And when my voice is lost in death, Praise shall employ my nobler [past,

powers:

My days of praise shall ne'er be While life, and thought, and being

last,

Or immortality endures.

Happy the man whose hopes rely On Israel's God; He made the sky, [train: And earth, and seas, with all their His truth for ever stands secure ; He saves the opprest, He feeds the poor; [vain. And none shall find His promise

The Lord gives eyesight to the

blind;

The Lord supports the sinking mind; [peace He sends the labouring conscience He helps the stranger in distress, The widow and the fatherless, And grants the prisoner sweet release.

He loves His saints; He knows them well;

But turns the wicked down to hell: Thy God, O Zion! ever reigns: Let every tongue, let every age: In this exalted work engage; Praise Him in everlasting strains.

grimage,

Hast all our fathers led:

2 Our fervent prayers we now present

Before Thy throne of grace ;

God of our fathers! be the God

Of their succeeding race.

And scan His work in vain ; God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain.

WILLIAM COWPER.

C.M.

1774.

Our wandering footsteps guide;
Give us each day our daily bread,
And raiment fit provide.

4 O spread Thy covering wings around,
Till all our wanderings cease;
And at our Father's loved abode
Our souls arrive in peace.

5 Now, with the humble voice of prayer, Thy mercy we implore;

Then, with the grateful voice of praise,

Thy goodness we'll adore.

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PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 1737.

C.M.

1

thee.-DEUT. iv. 31.

ATHER of mercies! God of love!

My Father and my God!
I'll sing the honours of Thy name,
And spread Thy praise abroad.

2 My soul, in pleasing wonder lost,
Thy various love surveys;
Where shall my grateful lips begin,
Or where conclude, Thy praise?

3 In every period of my life

Thy kindest thoughts appear; Thy mercies gild each transient

scene,

And crown each circling year.

and in the storm.-NAHUM. i. 3.

GOD moves in a mysterious way,

His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

2 Deep in unfathomable mines

Of never-failing skill,

He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.

3 Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

4 Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence,
He hides a smiling face.

A Father's bounty see;
Nor let the gifts, Thy grace bestows,
Estrange my heart from Thee.

5 Teach me, in times of deep distress,
To own Thy hand, my God!
And in submissive silence learn
The lessons of Thy rod.

6 In every varying mortal state,

7

Each bright, each dreary scene, Give me a meek and humble mind, Still equal and serene.

1

2

4

5

HOW

various and how new Are Thy compassions, Lord! Each morning shall Thy mercies show,

Each night Thy truth record.

Thy goodness, like the sun,
Dawned on our early days,
Ere infant reason had begun
To form our lips to praise.

Each object we beheld
Gave pleasure to our eyes;
And nature all our senses held
In bands of sweet surprise.

But pleasures more refined
Awaited that blest day,

When light arose upon our mind,
And chased our sins away.

How new Thy mercies, then!
How sovereign and how free!

Our souls, that had been dead in sin,
Were made alive to Thee.

2 Proclaim aloud the Father's grace, And sing the Saviour's love :

Soon shall you join the glorious theme,

In loftier strains above.

3 God, the eternal, mighty God,

To dearer names descends;
Calls you His treasure and His joy,
His children and His friends.

4 My Father God!-and may these lips Pronounce a name so dear?

Not thus could heaven's sweet harmony

Delight my listening car.

5 Thanks to my God for every gift His bounteous hands bestow; And thanks eternal for that love Whence all these comforts flow. 6 For ever let my grateful heart His bounteous grace adore; Which gives ten thousand blessings

goodness for the poor.-PSA. Ixviii. 10.

To realms of light and bliss.

1 TO

God, most awful and most high,

Who formed the earth, the sea,
the sky;

To Him on whom all worlds depend,
Our humbled hearts in sighs we send.

2 Will He who hears the ravens' cry
Reject our prayers and bid us die?
Will He refuse His help to yield,
Who clothes the lilies of the field?
3 Father of grace, whom we adore,
Bless Thy large family, the poor:
The poor on Thee alone depend;
Continue Thou the poor man's friend.

4 Content to live by toil and pain,
May we eternal riches gain;
Meanwhile, by Thy free goodness fed,
Give us this day our daily bread.

JAMES MONTGOMERY. 1819.

God's watchful eye surveys,

O! who so wise to choose our lot,

And regulate our ways?

C.M.

Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness.--PSA. lxv. 11.

GOD

OD of our life! Thy various praise

Let mortal voices sound;

Thy hand removes our fleeting days, And brings the seasons round.

Unmeasurably kind,

To His unerring, gracious will,
Be every wish resigned.

3 Good when He gives, supremely good, Nor less when He denies;

E'en crosses, from His sovereign hand,

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Are blessings in disguise.

JAMES HERVEY. 1745.

L.M.

Our Father and our Friend; While annual mercies from the skies In genial streams descend.

3 In every scene of life, Thy care, In every age, we see:

4

Ghand,

By which supported still we stand;
The opening year Thy mercy shows;
That mercy crowns it till its close.

2 By day, by night, at home, abroad,
Still are we guarded by our God;
By His incessant bounty fed,
By His unerring counsel led.

3 With grateful hearts the past we own;
The future, all to us unknown,
We to Thy guardian care commit,
And peaceful leave before Thy feet.

4 In scenes exalted or deprest,

Be Thou our joy, and Thou our rest:
Thy goodness all our hopes shall
raise,
[days.
Adored through all our changing

5 When death shall interrupt these

6

And constant as Thy favours are,
So let our praises be.

Still may Thy love in every scene,
In every age, appear;

And let the same compassion deign
To bless the opening year.
O keep this foolish heart of mine
From anxious passions free;
Each comfort teach me to resign,
And trust my all to Thee!
If mercy smile, let mercy bring

My wandering soul to God;
And in affliction I will sing,
If Thou wilt bless the rod.

UR helper, God! we bless His name,

Whose love for ever is the same; The tokens of whose gracious care Open, and crown, and close the year. Amidst ten thousand snares we stand, Supported by His guardian hand; And see, when we review our ways, Ten thousand monuments of praise. 3 Thus far His arm hath led us on; Thus far we make His mercy known; And, while we tread this desert land, New mercies shall new songs demand.