The Bounties of Providence.
ATHER of all! whose powerful voice
Calls forth this universal frame
Whose mercies over all rejoice;
Through endless ages still the same.
2 Thou, by the word, upholdest all;
Thy bounteous love to all is shew'd;
Thou hear'st thine ev'ry creature's call,
And fillest every mouth with good.
3 In heaven thou reign'st enthron'd in light,
Nature's expanse beneath thee spread;
Earth, air, and sea before thy sight,
And hell's deep gloom, are open laid.
4 Wisdom, and might, and love are thine;
Prostrate before thy face we fall,
Confess thine attributes divine,
And hail thee sov'reign Lord of all.
5 Thee, sov'reign Lord, let all confess,
That move on earth, or sea, or sky;
Revere thy power, thy goodness bless,
And bow before thy piercing eye.
6 All ye who owe to him your breath,
In praise your every hour employ;
Jehovah reigns, be glad, O earth!
And shout, ye morning stars, for joy!
HYMN 436. P. M.
The Opening of the Seven Seals. Rev. v. 5, 6, 7.
HRIST'S birth, and circumcision too,
His fasting and temptation shew,
His agony and bloody sweat,
His wounded heart and torments great,
His blood, his death, and all shall prove
The fulness of the Godhead-love.
2 'Tis he who groans, and cries aloud,
And weeps and sighs, and hangs in blood;
"Tis as his soul was put to pain,
And as he was most sharply slain,
That he is worthy to unseal
The book of God, and all reveal.
3 Under this form we hear him preach,
And, by his wounds, his brethren teach,
That God is Love, to favour'd man,
And was, ere worlds or time began;
His being, name, and nature, Love:
This calls us up to worlds above.
4 Our nature's curse, our sin and pride,
Are all destroy'd, and all beside
That renders it unmeet for God;
The Lamb hath purg'd us by his blood :
Our happiness he always wills,
And in us all his joy fulfils.
HYMN 437. P. M.
After Preaching.
TO Jesus, lifted up on high,
As doves unto their windows fly,
We speed for life and peace:
His blood, how pow'rfully it draws!
Now it hath quite remov'd the cause
Of sorrow and distress.
2 As members to their head must join,
And branches grow in their own vine,
So are we in the Lamb:
Our's all his beauty, life and fruit,
On him we grow, our Head and Root,
And hail the sacred name.
HARK! what distant music melts upon the ear!
So sweet the tones, the symphonies so clear !
Some seraph sure has touch'd his golden lyre,
And praise resounds through all the heavenly choir.
Ye mortals, catch the soul-commanding sound:
Learn the bless'd theme, and chant the chorus round.
2 O could our strains the rapt'rous notes combine,
Then should our grateful anthems pour along
The smoothing, swelling harmonies of song;
And every breast would glow with Love Divine!
3 Most gracious God, thy humble suppliants hear!
Accept the tributary lays we bring:
Thy power we own: thy majesty revere ;
Thy goodness celebrate; thy glories sing.
And oh may all in one grand concert raise
To Thee, hosannas of unceasing praise.
Enymphs of Solyma! begin the song:
To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong.
The mossy fountains and the sylvan shades,
The dreams of Pindus and th' Aonian maids
Delight no more. O Thou my voice inspire,
Who touch'd Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire!
Rapt into future times the bard begun :
A Virgin shall conceive, a Virgin bear a Son!
From Jesse's root behold a Branch arise,
Whose sacred flower with fragrance fills the skies:
Th' ethereal Spirit o'er its leaves shall move,
And on its top descend the mystic Dove.
Ye heavens, from high the dewy nectar pour,
And in soft silence shed the kindly shower.
The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid,
From storms a sbelter, and from heat a shade;
All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail,
Returning justice lift aloft her scale:
Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend,
And white-rob'd innocence from heaven descend.
Swift fly the years, and rise the expected morn!
Oh spring to light, auspicious Babe, be born!
See nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring,
With all the incense of the breathing spring;
See lofty Lebanon his head advance,
See nodding forests on the mountains dance,
See spicy clouds from lowly Sharon rise,
And Carmel's flow'ry top perfume the skies!
Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers;
Prepare the way! a God, a God appears!
A God, a God! the vocal hills reply,
The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity.
Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies;
Sink down, ye mountains, and, ye vallies, rise!
With heads declin'd, ye cedars, homage pay!
Be smooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods, give way!
The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold:
Hear him, ye deaf! and all ye blind, behold!
No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear !
From ev'ry face he wipes off ev'ry tear.
In adamantine chains shall death be bound,
And hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound.
No more shall nation against nation rise,
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes.
Rise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rise!
Exalt thy towery head, and lift thine eyes!
See heaven its sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day.
No more the rising sun shall gild the morn,
Nor ev'ning Cynthia fill her silver horn ;
But lost, dissolv'd in thy superior rays,
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze
O'erflow thy courts: the light himself shall shine
Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine!
The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay,
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away;
But fix'd his word, his saving power remains :
Thy realin forever lasts, thine own Messiah reigns! POPE.
HYMN 440. P. M.
The Dying Christian.
VITAL spark of heavenly flame,
Quit, O quit, this mortal frame!
Trembling, hoping, ling'ring, flying,
O the pain, the bliss of dying!
Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life!
2 Hark! they whisper! Angels say,
Sister spirit, come away.
What is this absorbs me quite,
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,
Drowns my spirits, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be death?
3 The world recedes--it disappears!-
Heaven opens to mine eyes! mine ears
With sounds seraphic ring;
Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
O grave! where is thy victory?
O death! where is thy sting?
HYMN 441. P. M.
A Marriage Hymn.
ELESTIAL Father! Sire of man,
From whom our circling race began,
Form'd by thy plastic hand:
Low at thy feet we prostrate bow,
Receive and bless the ardent vow,
Made by thy high command.
2 Give each soft spirit, friend to love,
In walks of paradise who rove,
To bless the happy pair,
Propitious let them hither fly,
From bowers of bliss in yonder sky,
And banish pale-ey'd care.
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