98

Advent.

C. M.

1 Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King:
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And all creation sing.

2 Joy to the earth, the Saviour reigns!
Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, Repeat the sounding joy.

3 No more let sin and sorrow grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make his blessings flow,
Far as the curse is found.

4 He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove

The glories of his righteousness,
The wonders of his love.

99

S. M.

Christ reigning.

1

THE God Jehovah reigns;

Let all the nations fear;

Let sinners tremble at his throne,

And saints be humble there.

2

3

Jesus the Saviour reigns;

Let earth adore its Lord;

Bright cherubs his attendants stand,

Swift to fulfil his word.

In Zion is his throne;

His honours are divine;

His church shall make his wonders known, For there his glories shine.

4

How holy is his name!

How terrible his praise!

Justice and truth and judgment join
In all his works of grace.

100

FIRST VERSION.

Public worship.

1 WITH one consent let all the carth
To God their cheerful voices raise;
Glad homage pay with awful mirth,
And sing before Him songs of praise.
2 Convinc'd that He is God alone,
From whom both we and all proceed;
We, whom He chooses for his own,
The flock that He vouchsafes to feed.
3 O enter then his temple gate,

Thence to his courts devoutly press,
And still your grateful hymns repeat,
And still his Name with praises bless.

L M.

4 For He's the Lord, supremely good,
His mercy is for ever sure:

His truth, which always firmly stood,
To endless ages shall endure.

5 To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
The God whom earth and heav'n adore,
Be glory; as it was of old,

100

Is now, and shall be evermore.

SECOND VERSION.

Public worship.

L. M.

1 ALL people that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;
Him serve with fear, his praise forth tell,
Come ye before Him, and rejoice.

2 The Lord, ye know, is God indeed;
Without our aid He did us make;
We are his flock, He doth us feed,
And for his sheep He doth us take.
3 O enter then his gates with praise;
Approach with joy his courts unto;
Praise, laud, and bless, his Name always,
For it is seemly so to do.

4 For why? the Lord our God is good;
His mercy is for ever sure;

His truth at all times firmly stood,
And shall from age to age endure.

100

THIRD VERSION.

L. M.

Public worship.

1 BEFORE Jehovah's awful throne,
Ye nations bow with sacred joy;
Know that the Lord is God alone;
He can create, and He destroy.

2 His sov❜reign power, without our aid,
Made us of clay, and form'd us men:
And when, like wand'ring sheep, we stray'd,
He brought us to his fold again.

3 We'll crowd thy gates with thankful songs; High as the heav'ns our voices raise;

And earth, with her ten thousand tongues,
Shall fill thy courts with sounding praise.
4 Wide as the world is thy command;
Vast as eternity thy love;

Firm as a rock thy truth shall stand,
When rolling years shall cease to move.

103

Praise for pardoning mercy.

1 MY SOUL, inspir'd with sacred love,
God's holy Name for ever bless;
Of all his favours mindful prove,
And still thy grateful thanks express.

L. M.

2['Tis He that all thy sins forgives,
And after sickness makes thee sound;
From danger He thy life retrieves,
By Him with grace and mercy crown'd.]

3 The Lord abounds with tender love,
And unexampled acts of grace;
His waken'd wrath does slowly move,
His willing mercy flows apace.

4 God will not always harshly chide,
But with his anger quickly part;
And loves his punishments to guide
More by his love than our desert.

5 As high as heav'n its arch extends
Above this little spot of clay,

So much his boundless love transcends
The small respects that we can pay.

As far as 'tis from east to west,
So far has He our sins remov'd,
Who with a Father's tender breast
Has such as fear Him always lov'd.

7[Let ev'ry creature jointly bless

The mighty Lord: and thou, my heart, With grateful joy thy thanks express, And in this concert bear thy part.]