With cheerful haste, obey thy word,

And guard thy children to their home.]

HYMN 19. C. M. Plymouth. Reading. [b*] Our frail Bodies, and God our Preserver.

1LET others boast how strong they be,

Nor death, nor danger fear;

• But we'll confess, O Lord, to thee, What feeble things we are.

o 2 Fresh as the grass our bodies stand, And flourish bright and gay;

e A blasting wind sweeps o'er the land, And fades the grass away.

e 3 Our life contains a thousand springs,
And dies, if one be gone;

Strange! that a harp of thousand strings
Should keep in tune so long.

-4 But 'tis our God supports our frame,—
The God who built us first;

• Salvation to th' Almighty Name,

That reared us from the dust.

d 5 [He spoke; and straight our hearts, and brains, In all their motions rose;

Let blood, said he, flow round the veins;
And round the veins it flows.

6 While we have breath to use our tongues,
Our Maker we'll adore;

His spirit moves our heaving lungs,

Or they would breathe no more.]

HYMN 20. C. M. Wantage. Bangor. [b]

WHY

Backslidings and Returns.

is my heart so far from thee,
My God, my chief delight?

Why are my thoughts no more, by day,
With thee, no more by night?

2 [Why should my foolish passions rove?
Where can such sweetness be,

As I have tasted in thy love,

As I have found in thee?]

-3 When my forgetful soul renews
The savour of thy grace,

My heart presumes I cannot lose
The relish all my days.

e 4 But ere one fleeting hour is past,
The flattering world employs
Some sensual bait to seize my taste,
And to pollute my joys.

-5 Trifles of nature, or of art,
With fair deceitful charms,
Intrude into my thoughtless heart,
And thrust me from thy arms.
e 6 Then I repent, and vex my soul,
That I should leave thee so;

Where will these wild affections roll,
That let a Saviour go?

7 [Sin's promised joys are turned to pain,
And I am drowned in grief;

-But my dear Lord returns again,
He flies to my relief:

o 8 Seizing my soul with sweet surprise,
He draws with loving bands,

e Divine compassion in his eyes,
And pardon in his hands.]

p 9 Wretch that I am, to wander thus,
In chase of false delight!
—Let me be fastened to thy cross,

Rather than lose thy sight.

10 [Make haste, my days, to reach the goal, And bring my heart to rest

On the dear centre of my soul,

My God, my Saviour's breast.]

HYMN 21. L. M. Dresden. [*]
A Song of Praise to God the Redeemer.
ET the old heathens tune their song

1 Lof great Diana and of Jove;

But the sweet theme that moves my tongue, ls my Redeemer and his love.

e 2 Behold a God descends and dies,
To save my soul from gaping hell:
How the black gulf where Satan lies,
Yawned to receive me when I fell!

e 3 How justice frowned, and vengeance stood,
To drive me down to endless pain!
But the great Son proposed his blood,
And heavenly wrath grew mild again.

o 4 Infinite Lover, gracious Lord,

To thee be endless honours given;
g Thy wondrous name shall be adored,
Round the wide earth and wider heaven.]

HYMN 22. L. M. Psalm 97. [*]
With God is terrible Majesty.

1 [ERRIBLE God, who reign'st on high,
How awful is thy thundering hand!

Thy fiery bolts, how fierce they fly!
Nor can all earth or hell withstand.
2 This the old rebel angels knew,
And Satan fell beneath thy frown:
Thine arrows struck the traitor through,
And weighty vengeance sunk him down.
3 This Sodom felt, and feels it still,
And roars beneath th' eternal load:
With endless burnings who can dwell,
Or bear the fury of a God?

4 Tremble, ye sinners, and submit;
Throw down your arms before his throne:
Bend your heads low beneath his feet,
Or his strong hand shall crush you down.
5 And ye, blest saints, who love him too,
With reverence bow before his Name;
Thus all the heavenly servants do:
God is a bright and burning flame.]

HYMN 23. L. M. Nantwich. Green's. [*]
The Sight of God and Christ in Heaven.

1

D stoop down, and take us on thy wings,

ESCEND from heaven, immortal Dove,

o And mount, and bear us far above

The reach of these inferior things;
• 2 Beyond, beyond this lower sky,
Up where eternal ages roll,-.
Where solid pleasures never die,
And fruits immortal feast the soul.
e 3 0 for a sight, a pleasant sight—
Of our Almighty Father's throne!
There sits our Saviour, crowned with light,
Clothed in a body like our own.

g 4 Adoring saints around him stand,
And thrones and powers before him fal!;

The God shines gracious through the man,
And sheds sweet glories on them all
o 5 0, what amazing joys they feel,
While to their golden harps they sing!
And sit on every heavenly hill,

And spread the triumphs of their King!
e 6 When shall the day, dear Lord, appear,
That I shall mount to dwell above;
And stand and bow amongst them there,
And view thy face, and sing thy love?

HYMN 24. L. M. Psalm 97th. Blendon. [*] The Evil of Sin :-Fall of Angels and Men.

1

WHEN

THEN the great Builder arched the skies,
And formed all nature with a word,

The joyful cherubs tuned his praise,
And every bending throne adored.

2 High in the midst of all the throng,
Satan, a tall archangel, sat;
Among the morning stars he sung,
Till sin destroyed his heavenly state.

3 'Twas sin that hurled him from his throne;
Grovelling in fire the rebel lies:

d How art thou sunk in darkness down,
Son of the morning, from the skies!

4 And thus our two first parents stood,
Till sin defiled the happy place;
They lost their garden and their God,
And ruined all their unborn race.

5 [So sprung the plague from Adam's bower,
And spread destruction all abroad;

Sin, the cursed name-that, in one hour,
Spoiled six days' labour of a God.]

p 6 Tremble, my soul, and mourn for grief,
That such a foe should seize thy breast!
-Fly to thy Lord for quick relief;

Oh! may he slay this treacherous guest.

o 7 Then, to thy throne, victorious King, Then, to thy throne our shouts shall rise, o Thine everlasting arm we sing,

For sin, the monster, bleeds and dies.

HYMN 25. C. M. Reading. Plymouth. [b]

Complaining of Spiritual Sloth.

1 MY drowsy powers, why sleep ye so?
Awake, my sluggish soul!

Nothing has half thy work to do,
Yet nothing's half so dull.

2 The little ants, for one poor grain,
Labour, and tug, and strive;

e Yet we, who have a heaven to obtain,
How negligent we live!

-3 We, for whose sake all nature stands,
And stars their courses move,-
We, for whose guard the angel bands
Come flying from above ;-

4 We, for whom God the Son came down,
And laboured for our good:-

e How careless to secure that crown He purchased with his blood!

e 5 Lord, shall we lie so sluggish still,
And never act our parts?

-Come, Holy Dove, from th' heavenly hill,
And sit and warm our hearts.

o 6 Then shall our active spirits move,
Upward our souls shall rise:

With hands of faith, and wings of love,
We'll fly and take the prize.

HYMN 26. L. M.

God Invisible.

Wells. [*]

1 TORD, we are blind, poor mortals blind; We can't behold thy bright abode :

O! 'tis beyond a creature mind,

To glance a thought half way to God.
2 Infinite leagues beyond the sky,
The great Eternal reigns alone;
Where neither wings nor souls can fly,
Nor angels climb the topless throne.
3 The Lord of glory builds his seat
Of gems insufferably bright;
And lays, beneath his sacred feet,
Substantial beams of gloomy night.
4 Yet, glorious Lord, thy gracious eyes
Look through and cheer us from above:
Beyond our praise thy grandeur flies,
Yet we adore, and yet we love.]