557, 558

3 These on my heart by night I keep; 5 The barren clods, refresh'd with rain,

How kind, how dear to me!
O may the hour that ends my sleep,
Still find my thoughts with thee.

557}

PSALM 63. 2d Part. C. М.
Bedford, Irish.

Midnight thoughts recollected.

1'TWAS in the watches

1'TWAS in th

of the night

I thought upon thy power;

I kept thy lovely face in sight
Amid the darkest hour.

2 My flesh lay resting on my bed;
My soul arose on high;
"My God, my life, my hope," I said,
"Bring thy salvation nigh.".
3 My spirit labours up thine hill,
And climbs the heavenly road:
But thy right hand upholds me still,
While I pursue my God.
4 Thy mercy stretches o'er my head
The shadow of thy wings;
My heart rejoices in thine aid;
My tongue awakes and sings.
5 But the destroyers of my peace
Shall fret and rage in vain;
The tempter shall forever cease,
And all my sins be slain.

6'Thy sword shall give my foes to death,
And send them down to dwell
In the dark caverns of the earth,
Or to the deeps of hell.

THE SEASONS OF THE YEAR.

558}

1.

PSALM 65. 3d Part. C. м.
St. David, Cambridge.

The blessings of the spring; or, God gives rain.
A psalm for the Husbandman.

G

OOD is the Lord, the heavenly King,
Who makes the earth his care;
Visits the pastures every spring,
And bids the grass appear.
2 The clouds, like rivers, rais'd on high,
Pour out, at thy command,
Their watery blessings from the sky,
To cheer the thirsty land.

3 The soften'd ridges of the field
Permit the corn to spring;
The valleys rich provision yield,
And the poor labourers sing.
4 The little hills, on every side,
Rejoice at falling showers;
The meadows, dress'd in all their pride,
Perfume the air with flowers.

Promise a joyful crop;
The parched grounds look green again,
And raise the reaper's hope.
6 The various months thy goodness crowns;
How bounteous are thy ways;
The bleating flocks spread o'er the downs,
And shepherds shout thy praise.

559

PSALM 65. 2d Part. С. М.
Peterborough, Colchester.

The providence of God in air, earth,
and sea; or, the blessing of rain.
1'TIS by thy strength the mountains
God of eternal power! [stand,
The sea grows calm at thy command,
And tempests cease to roar.
2 Thy morning light and evening shade
Successive comforts bring;
Thy plenteous fruits make harvest glad,
Thy flowers adorn the spring.
3 Seasons and times, and moons and hours,
Heaven, earth, and air are thine;
When clouds distil in fruitful showers,
The Author is divine.

4 Those wandering cisterns in the sky,
Borne by the winds around,
With watery treasures well supply
The furrows of the ground.
5 The thirsty ridges drink their fill,
And ranks of corn appear;
Thy ways abound with blessings still,
Thy goodness crowns the year.

560}

PSALM 147. 2d Part. L. M.
Portugal, Antigua.
Summer and winter.

1 LET Sion praise the mighty God,
And make his honours known abroad,
"For sweet the joy, our songs to raise,
"And glorious is the work of praise."

2Our children are secure and blest;
Our shores have peace, our cities rest;
He feeds our sons with finest wheat,
And adds his blessing to their meat,
3 The changing seasons he ordains,
The early and the latter rains;
His flakes of snow like wool he sends,
And thus the springing corn defends.
4 With hoary frost he strews the ground;
His hail descends with clattering sound.
Where is the man, so vainly bold,
That dares defy his dreadful cold.
5 He bids the southern breezes blow:
The ice dissolves, the waters flow:

But he hath nobler works and ways
To call his people to his praise.
6 To all our realm his laws are shown;
His gospel through the nation known:
He hath not thus reveal'd his word
To every land:-Praise ye the Lord.

561}

PSALM 147. С. М.
Devizes, Parma.

The seasons of the year.

The fearful hart and frighted hind Leap at the terror of the sound. 4 To Lebanon he turns his voice, And lo, the stately cedars break; The mountains tremble at the noise The valleys roar, the deserts quake 5 The Lord sits sovereign on the flood *The Thunderer reigns forever King But makes his church his blest abode, Where we his awful glories sing.

1 WITH song's and honours sounding Address the Lord on high; [loud Over the heavens he spreads his cloud,

And waters veil the sky.

2He sends his showers of blessings down
To cheer the plains below;
He makes the grass the mountains crown,
And corn in valleys grow.

3 He gives the grazing ox his meat;
He hears the ravens cry;
But man, who tastes his finest wheat,
Should raise his honours high.

4 His steady counsels change the face
Of the declining year;
He bids the sun cut short his race,
And wintry days appear.

5 His hoary frost, his fleecy snow
Descend and clothe the ground;
The liquid streams forbear to flow,
In icy fetters bound.

6 When from his dreadful stores on high,
He pours the rattling hail,
The wretch, that dares this God defy,
Shall find his courage fail.

7 He sends his word, and melts the snow,
The fields no longer mourn;
He calls the warmer gales to blow,
And bids the spring return.
8 The changing wind, the flying cloud
Obey his mighty word:
With songs and honours sounding loud,
Praise ye the sovereign Lord.

562}

1

PSALM 29. L. M.
Truro, All Saints.

Storm and thunder.

IVE to the Lord, ye sons of fame,
the Lord renown and pow-

GGive to

6 In gentler language, there the Lord
The counsels of his grace imparts;-
Amid the raging storm, his word
Speaks peace and courage to our hearts

563 HYMN 62. B. 2. C. M. bor
Swanwick, London.
God the thunderer; or, the last judg
ment and hell.*

1

ING

S
to the Lord, ye heavenly hosts,
And thou, O earth, adore:
Let death and hell, through all their
Stand trembling at his power. [coasts,
2 His sounding chariot shakes the sky
He makes the clouds his throne;
There all his stores of lightning lie,
Till vengeance darts them down.
3His nostrils breathe out fiery streams-
And from his awful tongue
A sovereign voice divides the flames,
And thunder roars along!

4 Think, O my soul, the dreadful day
When this incensed God
Shall rend the sky, and burn the sea
And fling his wrath abroad!
5 What shall the wretch, the sinner dol
He once defy'd the Lord;
But he shall dread the Thunderer now,
And sink beneath his word.
6 Tempests of angry fire shall roll,
To blast the rebel worm,
And beat upon his naked soul
In one eternal storm.

*Made in a great sudden storm of thunder, August
20, 1697.

YOUTH AND OLD AGE.

Acribe us to his name, [er: 564} PSALM 8. 1st Part. L. M.

And his eternal might adore.

Truro, Shoel.

2 The Lord proclaims his power aloud The hosanna of the children; or, in

Over the ocean and the land;

His voice divides the watery cloud, And lightnings blaze at his command. 3 He speaks, and tempest, hail and wind Lay the wide forest bare around;

1

fants praising God. LMIGHTY Ruler of the skies,

A Thigh the Rulerarth thy name is And thine eternal glories rise [spread; O'er all the heavens thy hands have made.

66, 566

To thee the voices of the young
A monument of honour raise;

And babes, with uninstructed tongue,
Declare the wonders of thy praise.

Thy power assists their tender age
To bring proud rebe's to the ground;
To still the bold blasphemer's rage,
And all their policies confound.
Children amid thy temple throng
To see their great Redeemer's face;
The Son of David is their song,
And young hosannas fill the place.
The frowning scribes and angry priests
In vain their impious cavils bring;
Revenge sits silent in their breasts,
While Jewish babes proclaim their King.

165} PSALM 34. 2d Part. L. M. bor*

Portugal, Quercy.

Religious education; or, instructions of picty.

young,

CHILDREN, in years and knowledge
Your parents' hope, your parents' joy,
Attend the counsels of my tongue;
Let pious thoughts your minds employ.
If you desire a length of days,
And peace to crown your mortal state,
Restrain your feet from impious ways,
Your lips from s'ander and deceit.
The eyes of God regard his saints,
His ears are open to their cries;
He sets his frowning face against
The sons of violence and lies.
To humble souls and broken hearts,
Zod with his grace is ever righ;
Pardon and hope his love imparts,
When men in deep contrition lie.

3 His eyes awake to guard the just,
His ears attend their cry;
When broken spirits dwell in dust,
The God of grace is nigh
4 What though the sorrows here they taste
Are sharp and tedious too,
The Lord, who saves them all at last,
Is their supporter now.

5 Evil shall smite the wicked dead,
But God secures his own,
Prevents the mischief when they slide,

Or heals the broken bone.

6 When desolation, like a flood,
O'er the proud sinner rolls,
Saints find a refuge in their God,
For he redeem'd their souls.

567}

HYMN 91. B. 1. L.M. b
Putney, Carthage.
Advice to youth; or, old age and death
in an unconverted state.

1 NOW, in the heat of youthful blood,
Remember your Creator, God:
Behold the months come hastening on,
When you shall say, "My joys are gone."
2 Behold the aged sinner goes,
Laden with guilt and heavy woes,
Down to the regions of the dead,
With endless curses on his head.
3 The dust returns to dust again;
The soul, in agonies of pain,
Ascends to God, not there to dwell,
But hears her doom, and sinks to hell.
1 Eternal King, I fear thy name;
Teach me to know how frail I am;
And when my soul must hence remove,
Give me a mansion in thy love.

568

}

wine;

HYMN 89. Β. 1. L. M. b Armley, Eaton. Youth and judgment. 1 YE sons of Adam, vain and young, Indulge your eyes, indulge your tongue, Taste the delights your souls desire, And give a loose to all your fire. 2 Pursue the pleasures you design, And cheer your hearts with songs and Enjoy the day of mirth; but know There is a day of judgment too. 3God from on high beholds your thoughts; His book records your secret faults: The works of darkness you have done Must all appear before the sun. 4 The vengeance to your follies due Should strike your hearts with terror through:

1

How will ye stand before his face, 17 Our souls would learn the heavenly art,

Or answer for his injur'd grace?
5 Almighty God, turn off their eyes
From these alluring vanities,
And let the thunder of thy word
Awake their souls to fear the Lord.

T' improve the hours we have, That we may act the wiser part, And live beyond the grave.

571}

PSALM 71. 1st Part. C. M. b
St. Anns, Plymouth.

569} Rockingham, Plymouth. HYMN 90. B. 1. C. M. b The aged saint's reflection and hofpe.

The same.

110, the young tribes of Adam rise,
And through all nature rove,

Fulfil the wishes of their eyes,
And taste the joys they love.
2 They give a loose to wild desires;
But let the sinners know
The strict account that God requires
Of all the works they do.
3 The Judge prepares his throne on high;
The frighted earth and seas

Avoid the fury of his eye,
And flee before his face.

1

MY

Y God, my everlasting hope,
I live upon thy truth;
Thine hands have held my childhood up,
And strengthen'd all my youth.
2 My flesh was fashion'd by thy power,
With all these limbs of mine;
And from my mother's painful hour,
I've been entirely thine.

3 Still hath my life new wonders seen,
Repeated every year;
Behold my days that yet remain,
I trust them to thy care.
4Cast me not off when strength declines,
When hoary hairs arise;

4 How shall I bear that dreadful day, And round me let thy glory shine,

And stand the fiery test? I give all mortal joys away, To be forever blest.

PSALM 90. 2d Part. C. M. b

570} Rockingham, Wantage.

Infirmities and mortality the effect

of sin; or, lifes

old age, and preparation for death.

11 ORD, if thine eyes survey our faults, Thy dreadful wrathexceeds our thoughts,

And justice grow severe,

And burns beyond our fear.
2 Thine anger turns our frame to dust:
By one offence to thee,
Adam, with all his sons, have lost
Their immortality.

3 Life, like a vain amusement, flies,
A fable or a song;
By swift degrees our nature dies,
Nor can our joys be long.

4 'Tis but a few whose days amount
To threescore years and ten;
And all beyond that short account
Is sorrow, toil and pain.
5 Our vitals, with laborious strife,
Bear up the crazy load,
And drag those poor remains of life
Along the tiresome road.]
6 Almighty God, reveal thy love,
And not thy wrath alone;
O let our sweet experience prove
The mercies of thy throne!

Whene'er thy servant dies.
5 Then, in the history of my age,
When men review my days,
They'll read thy love in every page,
In every line, thy praise.

572}

PSALM 71. 3d Part. C. M. b
Durham, Canterbury.

The aged Christian's prayer and song
or, old age, death, and the resurrection
GODof my The guide of all my days,

1

childhood and my youth

1 have declar'd thy heavenly truth And told thy wondrous ways. 2 Wilt thou forsake my hoary hairs, And leave my fainting heart? Who shall sustain my sinking years, If God, my strength, depart? 3 Let me thy power and truth proclaim To the surviving age, And leave a savour of thy name When I shall quit the stage. 4 The land of silence and of death Attends my next remove; O may these poor remains of breath Teach the wide world thy love.

PAUSE.

1

5 Thy righteousness is deep and high

Unsearchable thy deeds;
Thy glory spreads beyond the sk
And all my praise exceeds.

Oft have I heard thy threatenings roar, 574}

haw And oft endurd

But when thy hand hath press'd me sore,
Thy grace was my relief.

7 By long experience have I known
Thy sovereign power to save;
At thy command I venture down
Securely to the grave.

8 When I lie buried deep in dust,
My flesh shall be thy care;
These withering limbs with thee I trust,
To raise them strong and fair.