C. M.

STEELE.

158 Condescension of God.
1E who can approach thy throne?

TERNAL Power, Almighty God,

Accessless light is thine abode,
To angel eyes unknown.

2 Before the radiance of thine eye,
The heavens no longer shine;
And all the glories of the sky
Are but the shade of thine.

3 Great God, and wilt thou condescend
To cast a look below?

To this dark world thy notice bend-
These seats of sin and woe?

4 How strange, how wondrous, is thy love With trembling we adore:

Not all th' exalted minds above
Its wonders can explore.

5 While golden harps and angel tongues Resound immortal lays,

Great God, permit our humble songs
To rise and speak thy praise.

159

1

HOL

OLY and reverend is the name
Of our eternal King;

Thrice holy Lord," the angels cry;
"Thrice holy," let us sing.

2 The deepest reverence of the mind,
Pay, O my soul, to God;

Lift, with thy hands, a holy heart
To his sublime abode.

3 With sacred awe pronounce his name,
Whom words nor thoughts can reach;
A contrite heart shall please him more
Than noblest forms of speech.

4 Thou holy God, preserve my soul
From all pollution free;

The pure in heart are thy delight,
And they thy face shall see.

160

1

THE

HE truth of God shall still endure,
And firm his promise stand;
Believing souls may rest secure
In his almighty hand.

2 Should earth and hell their forces join, He would contemn their rage,

And render fruitless their design
Against his heritage.

8 The rainbow round about his throne
Proclaims his faithfulness;

He will his purposes perform,
His promises of grace.

4 The hills and mountains melt away;
But he is still the same:

Let saints to him their homage pay,
And magnify his name.

161

1

MThe of the Lord,
Y never-ceasing song shall show

And make succeeding ages know
How faithful is his word.

2 The sacred truths his lips pronounce
Shall firm as heaven endure;

And if he speak a promise once,
Th' eternal grace is sure.

3 How long the race of David held
The promised Jewish throne!
But there's a nobler promise sealed
To David's greater Son.

4 His seed forever shall possess
A throne above the skies;

The meanest subject of his grace
Shall to that glory rise.

5 Lord God of hosts, thy wondrous ways Are sung by saints above;

And saints on earth their honors raise
To thine unchanging love.

Faithfulness of God.

HE promises I sing,

DODDRIDGE.

1T which sovereign love hath spoke;

Nor will th' eternal King
His words of grace revoke:

They stand secure
And steadfast still;

Not Zion's hill

Abides so sure.

2 The mountains melt away
When once the Judge appears,
And sun and moon decay,
That measure mortal years;

But still the same,
In radiant lines

The promise shines
Through all the flame

3 Their harmony shall sound
Through my attentive ears,
When thunders cleave the ground,
And dissipate the spheres:

'Midst all the shock

Of that dread scene,

I stand serene,

Thy word my rock.

ACTS AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.

II. — WITH REFERENCE TO HIS CREATURES.

163

Ο

LORD, our God, how wondrous great
Is thine exalted name!

The glories of thy heavenly state

Let every tongue proclaim.

2 Lord, what is man, or all his race,
Who dwells so far below,

That thou shouldst visit him with grace,
And love his nature so?

-

3 That thine eternal Son should bear
To take a mortal form-

Made lower than his angels are,
To save a dying worm?

4 Let him be crowned with majesty
Who bowed his head to death,
And be his honors sounded high
By all things that have breath.

5 Jesus, our Lord, how wondrous great
Is thine exalted name!

The glories of thy heavenly state
Let all the earth proclaim.

164

S. M.

Divine Condescension.

WATTS.

LORD, our heavenly King,

Thy name is all divine;

Thy glories round the earth are spread,
And o'er the heavens they shine.

2 When to thy works on high

I raise my wondering eyes,
And see the moon, complete in light,
Adorn the evening skies, -

3 When I survey the stars,

And all their shining forms,
Lord, what is man, that worthless thing,
Akin to dust and worms?

4 Lord, what is worthless man,
That thou shouldst love him so?
Next to thine angels is he placed,
And lord of all below.

5 How rich thy bounties are,

How wondrous are thy ways,

That, from the dust, thy power should frame A monument of praise!

165

C. M. TATE & BRADY.

God's Condescension.

1 THOU, to whom all creatures bow Within this earthly frame,

Through all the world, how great art thou! How glorious is thy name!

2 When heaven, thy glorious work on high, Employs my wondering sight,

The moon, that nightly rules the sky,
With stars of feebler light,

3 Lord, what is man that thou shouldst choose To keep him in thy mind?

Or what his race that thou shouldst prove To them so wondrous kind?

4 0 Thou, to whom all creatures bow Within this earthly frame,

Through all the world, how great art thou How glorious is thy name!

166

1

Truth and Goodness of God.

AITHFUL, O Lord, thy mercies are,
A rock that cannot move;

A thousand promises declare
Thy constancy of love.

2 Thou waitest to be gracious still;
Thou dost with sinners bear,

That, saved, we may thy goodness feel,
And all thy grace declare.

3 Its streams the whole creation reach,
So plenteous is the store;

Enough for all, enough for each,
Enough forevermore.

4 Throughout the universe it reigns;
It stands forever sure;

And while thy truth, O God, remains,
Thy goodness shall endure.

167

1

TH

C. M.

God present with his People.

DRENNAN.

HE heaven of heavens cannot contain

The universal Lord;

Yet he in humble hearts will deign

To dwell and be adored.