God gracious to his people.
1 OUR souls shall magnify the Lord,
And praise his holy name;
For He hath set our feet on high,
And put our foes to shame.
2 O Lord our God! we cried to Thee,
And Thou didst hear our cry:
Thou hast preserved our souls from hell,
And brought salvation nigh.
3 Swift, as the twinkling of an eye,
Thy wrath shall pass away;
Though darkness veil the evening sky,
Yet bright shall dawn the day.
4 When cloth'd in sackcloth soft we lie,
And great our guilt appears,
Thy mercy turns our grief to joy,
And quells our guilty fears.
5 Then join, ye saints, to praise his name,
For praise to Him belongs;
And, as his mercies endless are,
Endless should be our songs.
PSALM 33.
(c. M. CARR'S LANE.)
The righteous exhorted to rejoice in God.
1 YE righteous, in the Lord rejoice :
To Him your voices raise:
For well the righteous it becomes
To sing glad songs of praise.
2 Behold! the Lord on all his saints
Looks down with pitying eyes:
His mercy saves their souls from death,
And every want supplies.
9 Our souls on God with patience wait:
Our help and shield is He:
Thrice Holy Lord! our hearts rejoice,
Because we trust in Thee.
4 The riches of thy mercy, Lord!
Do Thou to us extend;
Since we, for all we want, or wish,
On Thee alone depend.
The Christian exhorting to trust in God.
I THROUGH all the changing scenes of life, In trouble or in joy,
Still shall the praises of my God
My heart and tongue employ.
2 Of his deliverance I will boast,
Till all that are distress'd,
From my example comfort take,
And soothe their griefs to rest.
3 Oh! magnify the Lord with me,
With me exalt his name;
When in distress to Him I call'd,
He to my succour came.
4 Come, taste and see how great his love! Experience will decide,
How bless'd are they, and they alone,
Who in his truth confide.
5 Oh! fear the Lord, all ye his saints,
And know no other fear:
Make ye his service your delight,
Your wants shall be his care.
PSALM 37.
(P. M. AMPTON.)
The prosperity of the wicked a snare.
1 THOUGH Wicked men grow rich and great,
Yet let not their successful state
Our anger or our envy raise ;
For they far hence shall quickly pass,
Cut down, like flowers, or tender
grass,
Whose blooming beauty soon decays.
2 The thoughtless sinner I have seen,
Like a young bay-tree, fresh and green,
That spreads its vig'rous branches round;
But he was gone, as quick as thought,
And, though in every place I sought,
No sign or track of him I found.
3 Observe the perfect man with care,
And mark all such as upright are;
Their roughest days in peace shall end:
While lo! the closing years of those,
Who dare God's sacred will oppose,
One common ruin shall attend.
PSALM 38.
(c. M. ST. MARY'S.)
Deprecating the wrath of God.
1 THY threatened wrath, O Lord! restrain, Though we deserve it all;
Nor on us let the dreadful storm
Of thy just vengeance fall.
2 Fix'd deep within our inmost souls
Thine arrows fast remain;
Thy heavy hand's oppressive weight
What sinner may sustain !
3 Our sins, which to a deluge swell,
Our guilty heads o'erflow;
And for our feeble strength to bear
Too vast a burden grow.
4 Jesus! our Advocate with God!
To Thee do we appeal;
Oh! hear the voice of our complaint,
And all our sickness heal.
5 Forsake us not, O Lord our God!
Nor far from us depart:
Make haste to our relief, O Thou!
Who our salvation art.
PSALM 39.
(L. M. PANCRAs.)
The shortness and vanity of life.
1 ALMIGHTY maker of my frame! Teach me the measure of my days; To know how weak and frail I am, And spend the remnant to thy praise. 2 My days are shorter than a span ; A passing shade my life appears:
Frail at the best is dying man:
A cypher sums his utmost years.
3 His schemes of worldly bliss how vain!
What fruitless cares distract his mind!
He heaps up treasure, mix'd with pain,
Then dies, and leaves his all behind.
4 Oh be a nobler portion mine,
Which moth and rust can ne'er decay.
Earth's fleeting treasures I resign,
For joys which none can take
God the supporter and deliverer of the soul in temptation. 1 WHEN sin and Satan vex my soul, And floods of grief around me roll, Thy mercies, Lord! before mine In sweet memorial still shall rise.
2 Deeps to confederate deeps aloud
Have call'd; and from the bursting cloud
The storms their licensed rage have shed,
And heap'd the billows o'er my head;
3 Yet 'midst the storm, and 'midst the wave,
Thy love some beams of comfort gave;
Thy name by day employs my tongue,
By night inspires my prayer and song.
4 Then why, my soul, with cares opprest?
And whence the woes, that spoil thy rest?
In all thy cares, in all thy woes,
On God thy steadfast hope repose.
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