Joy in the providence of God.
GREAT God, beneath whose piercing eye The earth's extended kingdoms lie, Whose favouring smile upholds them all, Whose anger smites them, and they fall;
We bow before thy heavenly throne;
Thy power we see, thy goodness own;
Yet, cherish'd by thy milder voice,
Our bosoms tremble and rejoice.
Thy kindness to our fathers shown
Their children's children long shall own;
To thee with grateful hearts shall raise
The tribute of exulting praise.
Safe under thine unerring aid
Secure the paths of life we tread;
And freely as the vital air
Thy first and noblest bounties share.
O God, our guardian and our friend!
O still thy sheltering arm extend;
Preserved by thee for ages past,
For ages let thy kindness last.
God's providence the support of the righteous.
LET coward guilt with pallid fear
To sheltering caverns fly,
And justly dread the vengeful fate
That thunders through the sky.
Protected by that hand whose law
The threatening storms obey,
Intrepid virtue smiles secure
As in the blaze of day.
In the thick cloud's tremendous gloom,
The lightning's lurid glare,
It views the same all-gracious power
That breathes the vernal air.
Through nature's ever-varying scene,
By different ways pursued,
The one eternal end of Heaven
381. L. M. H. TAYLOR.
God our protector and friend.
GREAT source of light! whose mighty hand The æthereal arch of heaven could bend; Firm, midst contending storms we stand, Thy word our rock, thine arm our friend.
There's nought in heaven, or earth, or hell, But prostrate sinks before thy might; These atom worlds instinctive tell
Thy counsels wise, thy judgements right.
Weak erring man, dost thou complain?
Is thine eternal Sire forgot?
Dar'st thou the voice of Heaven arraign,
And doubt the hand which spread thy lot?
When hopeless grief and anxious fears.
Bow down the soul with deepest gloom;
When through the veil of distant years
Scarce gleams a ray to cheer the tomb,
To thee the suppliant eye we'll raise;
Thy balm shall pour its healing stream;
O'er sorrow's night and doubt's dark maze
Thy love shall shed its brightest beam.
Still may the heart's pure incense rise
To thine eternal throne on high:
Thy hand presents the peerless prize
Which crowns an immortality.
MRS. BARBAULD.
God seen in all, and all in God.
I READ thy name, O God, emblazon'd high
In golden letters on the illumined sky;
In every leaf that trembles to the breeze
I hear thy voice, my God, among the trees.
With thee in shady solitudes I walk,
With thee in busy crowded cities talk ;
In every creature own thy forming power;
In each event thy providence adore.
At thy felt presence worldly passions cease, And my hush'd spirit finds a holy peace; While each tumultuous thought within medies, And earth's gay pageants vanish from my eyes.
Thus do I rest, unmoved by all alarms,
Secure within the temple of thine arms;
Prepared to kiss the sceptre or the rod,.
While God is seen in all, and all in God.
My God, thy boundless love I praise;
How bright on high its glories blaze;
How sweetly bloom below!
It streams from thine eternal throne;
Through heaven its joys for ever run,
And o'er the earth they flow.
"Tis love that gilds the vernal ray,
Adorns the flowery robe of May,
Perfumes the breathing gale:
"Tis love that loads the plenteous plain
With blushing fruits and golden grain,
And smiles o'er every vale.
But in thy gospel see it shine
With grace and glories more divine,
Proclaiming sins forgiven:
There faith, bright cherub, points the way
To realms of everlasting day,
And opens all her heaven.
GOD is love his mercy brightens
All the path in which we rove;
Bliss he wakes, and woe he lightens :
God is wisdom, God is love.
Chance and change are busy ever;
Man decays and ages move;
But his mercy waneth never:
God is wisdom, God is love.
E'en the hour that darkest seemeth,
Will his changeless goodness prove;
From the mist his brightness streameth:
God is wisdom, God is love.
He with earthly cares entwineth
Hope and comfort from above;
Every where his glory shineth:
God is wisdom, God is love.
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