Hymns of the Church universal [selected by J. and E.A. Rylands].

First Version, continued.

God's rules are even, clear, and straight,

Rejoicing all the heart;

And God's command is pure, and light O'er eye and soul will dart.

The fear of God is undefiled,

Enduring evermore;

God's judgments are the very truth,
All good in endless store;

Than gold more precious, heaped gold,
That needs no fire's assay;
The honey and the honeycomb
Are not so sweet as they.

THE

By these Thy servant owns the light, And but to keep them all

Is great reward :-but who can tell His wanderings and his fall?

O cleanse me from my secret faults;
Mine only Lord Thou art :-
Withdraw me from the haughty ones,
That would enthral my heart.

So stainless in my Maker's sight
And whole may I appear,
From all my deep and deadly sin
For ever washed and clear.

The Book of Nature and of Scripture compared ; or, the glory and success

of the Gospel.

'HE heavens declare Thy glory, Lord,

In every star Thy wisdom shines; But when our eyes behold Thy word, We read Thy name in fairer lines.

The rolling sun, the changing light,

And nights and days Thy power con

fess;

But the blest volume Thou hast writ

Reveals Thy justice and Thy grace.

Sun, moon, and stars convey Thy praise Round the whole earth, and never stand:

So when Thy truth began its race,
It touched and glanced on every land.

Nor shall Thy spreading Gospel rest,

Till through the world Thy truth has

run;

Till Christ has all the nations blest
That see the light, or feel the sun.

Great Sun of Righteousness, arise,

Bless the dark world with heavenly light;

Thy Gospel makes the simple wise,
Thy laws are pure, Thy judgments right.
Thy noblest wonders here we view,

In souls renewed and sins forgiven : Lord, cleanse my sins, my soul renew, And make Thy word my guide to heaven.

DR. WATTS.

Third Version. S.M.

God's Word most excellent; or, sincerity and watchfulness. For the

Seventh Version. L.M. double.

This is intended as a sequel or counter-part to the well-known hymn "The spacious
firmament," and corresponds to the latter portion of the nineteenth

Psalm, as that hymn does to the former.

THE starry firmament on high,

And all the glories of the sky

Yet shine not to Thy praise, O Lord,
So brightly as Thy written word:
The hopes that holy word supplies,
Its truths divine and precepts wise—
In each a heavenly beam I see,
And every beam conducts to Thee.

When, taught by painful truth to know
That all is vanity below,

The sinner roams from comfort far,
And looks in vain for sun or star;
Soft gleaming then, those lights divine
Through all the cheerless darkness shine,
And sweetly to his ravished eye
Disclose the Dayspring from on high,

The heart in sensual fetters bound,
And barren as the wintry ground,
Confesses, Lord, Thy quickening ray ;
Thy word can charm the spell away,
With genial influence can beguile
The frozen wilderness to smile;
Bid living waters o'er it flow,
And all be Paradise below.

Almighty Lord! the sun shall fail,
The moon forget her nightly tale,
And deepest silence hush on high
The radiant chorus of the sky;
But, fixed for everlasting years,
Unmoved amid the wreck of spheres,
Thy word shall shine in cloudless day,
When heaven and earth have passed away.

SIR R. GRANT.

PSALM XX.

TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN. A PSALM OF DAVID.

HIS song was evidently composed for chanting in the tabernacle, on the eve of some warlike expedition. The Psalm is responsive: first, the full chorus of the congregation, with the Selah symphony; then a solitary voice, as of the king himself, or a Levite on his behalf; followed by the song of the warriors themselves, and closed by one verse in full chorus again. This verse, it should be added, should probably be read, not "Save, Lord; let the king hear us when we call "; but, Lord, save the king! may He hear us in the day we call."

་་

The version of Mr. Conder well expresses the spirit of the Psalm; that of Mr. Lyte applies it with much appropriateness and beauty to the Christian conflict generally.

TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN. A PSALM OF DAVID.

HE last Psalm," says Dean Perowne, "was a litany before the king went forth to battle: this is apparently a Te Deum on his return." Both were for the service of the tabernacle, and in this also the responsive construction is apparent; the first seven verses being the chorus of the congregation, the next five an address to the king, probably by the Levitical choir, and verse 13 a renewed and final chorus.

Dr. Watts has appropriately applied the Psalm to the triumph and reign of Christ; an application warranted by the words of St. Peter, who quotes from the sixth verse in his discourse on the day of Pentecost, "Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance" (Acts ii. 28). But on the whole, the version of Mr. Keble is better sustained.

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