918

L. M.

My heart is fixed; O God, my heart is fixed.
Y heart is fix'd on thee, my God;

MY

I rest my hope on thee alone; I'll spread thy sacred truths abroad,To all mankind thy love make known. 2 Awake, my tongue; awake, my lyre; With morning's earliest dawn arise; To songs of joy my soul inspire,

And swell your music to the skies. 3 With those who in thy grace abound, To thee I'll raise my thankful voice; Till every land, the earth around,

Shall hear, and in thy Name rejoice. 4 Eternal God, celestial King, Exalted be thy glorious Name;

Let hosts in heaven thy praises sing, And saints on earth thy love proclaim.

919

THE

Ceaseless praise.

HE glorious armies of the sky
To thee, almighty King,

Triumphant anthems consecrate,
And hallelujahs sing.

C. M.

2 But still their most exalted flights
Fall vastly short of thee;

How distant then must human praise
From thy perfections be.

3 Yet how, my God, shall I refrain,
When, to my ravish'd sense,
Each creature everywhere around
Displays thy excellence?

4 Thy num'rous works exalt thee, Lord, Nor will I silent be;

O rather let me cease to breathe,

Than cease from praising thee.

920

25th P. M. 77, 87, 77, 87.

Joining the angelic hosts in praises.

JESUS, take all the glory:

Thy meritorious passion

The pardon bought, thy mercy brought
To us the great salvation.
Thee gladly we acknowledge

Our only Lord and Saviour,
Thy name confess, thy goodness bless,
And triumph in thy favour.
2 With angels and archangels,
We prostrate fall before thee;
Again we raise our souls in praise,
And thankfully adore thee.
Honour, and power, and blessing,
To thee be ever given,

By all who know thy love below,
And all the hosts of heaven.

921

YES

Perpetual praise.

C. M.

ES, I will bless thee, O my God,
Through all my fleeting days;

And to eternity prolong

Thy vast, thy boundless praise.

2 Nor shall my tongue alone proclaim
The honours of my God;

My life, with all its active powers,
Shall spread thy praise abroad.

3 Nor will I cease thy praise to sing,
When death shall close mine eyes;
My thoughts shall then to nobler heights,
And sweeter raptures rise.

4 Then shall my lips, in endless praise,
Their grateful tribute pay;

The theme demands an angel's tongue,
And an eternal day.

922

16th P. M. 11 12, 11 12.

The foretaste of endless bliss.

M What a blessing, to know that my Jesus is

Y God, I am thine; what a comfort divine,

mine!

In the heavenly Lamb, thrice happy I am;
And my heart doth rejoice at the sound of his name.
2 True pleasures abound in the rapturous sound,
And whoever hath found it, hath paradise found;
My Redeemer to know, to feel his blood flow,
This is life everlasting 'tis heaven below.
3 Yet onward I haste to the heavenly feast;
That indeed is the fulness, but this is the taste;
And this I shall prove, till with joy I remove
To the heaven of heavens in Jesus's love.

923

2d P. M. 6 lines 8s.

Everlasting praises.

I'd winen myy voice is lost in death,

'LL praise my Maker while I've breath,

Praise shall employ my nobler powers; My days of praise shall ne'er be past, While life, and thought, and being last, Or immortality endures.

2 Happy the man whose hopes rely On Israel's God; he made the sky,

And earth, and seas, with all their train; His truth forever stands secure;

He saves the' oppress'd, he feeds the poor,
And none shall find his promise vain.
3 The Lord pours eyesight on the blind;
The Lord supports the fainting mind;

He sends the lab'ring conscience peace;
He helps the stranger in distress,
The widow and the fatherless,

And grants the pris'ner sweet release.

4 I'll praise him while he lends me breath, And when my voice is lost in death,

Praise shall employ my nobler powers; My days of praise shall ne'er be past, While life, and thought, and being last, Or immortality endures.

924

God's praises crown eternity.

OD of my life, through all my days

GOD

L. M.

My grateful powers shall sound thy praise;
My song shall wake with opening light,
And cheer the dark and silent night.

2 When anxious cares would break my rest,
And griefs would tear my throbbing breast,
Thy tuneful praises, raised on high,
Shall check the murmur and the sigh.

3 When death o'er nature shall prevail,
And all the powers of language fail,
Joy through my swimming eyes shall break,
And mean the thanks I cannot speak.

4 But 0, when that last conflict's o'er,
And I am chain'd to earth no more,
With what glad accents shall I rise
To join the music of the skies!

5 Soon shall I learn the' exalted strains
Which echo through the heavenly plains;
And emulate, with joy unknown,
The glowing seraphs round the throne.

6 The cheerful tribute will I give,
Long as a deathless soul shall live:
A work so sweet, a theme so high,
Demands and crowns eternity.

REJOICING:

IN

PROSPECT OF HEAVEN.

925

4th P. M. 886, 886.

COME

Bliss-inspiring hope.

OME on, my partners in distress,
My comrades through the wilderness,
Who still your bodies feel:

Awhile forget your griefs and fears,
And look beyond this vale of tears,
To that celestial hill.

2 Beyond the bounds of time and space, Look forward to that heavenly place, The saints' secure abode;

On faith's strong eagle pinions rise,
And force your passage to the skies,
And scale the mount of God.

3 Who suffer with our Master here,
We shall before his face appear,
And by his side sit down;
To patient faith the prize is sure;
And all that to the end endure
The cross, shall wear the crown.
4 Thrice blessed, bliss-inspiring hope!
It lifts the fainting spirits up;
It brings to life the dead:

Our conflicts here shall soon be past,
And you and I ascend at last,
Triumphant with our Head.

.

5 That great mysterious Deity, We soon with open face shall see ; The beatific sight

Shall fill the heavenly courts with praise, And wide diffuse the golden blaze

Of everlasting light.