6 At once let nature's ample round
To God the vast thanksgiving raise:
His high perfection knows no bound
But fills immensity of space.
31. C. M.
Praise, the peculiar Duty of Man.
1 LORD of the world's majestic frame!
Stupendous are thy ways;
Thy various works declare thy name,
And all resound thy praise.
2 Those mighty orbs proclaim thy power,
Whose motions speak thy skill;
And on the wings of every hour,
We read thy glory still.
3 And while these radiant globes of light, That shine from pole to pole,
In silent harmony unite
To praise thee as they roll.
4 Oh! shall not we of human race,
The glorious concert join?
Shall not the children of thy grace
Attempt the theme divine?
5 Not all the feeble notes of time
Can show forth God's high praise;
Nor all the noblest strains sublime
That earth or heaven can raise.
6 Yet this shall be our best employ,
Through life's uncertain days:
Till in the realms of boundless joy,
We join in loftier praise.
1 My soul, praise the Lord,
Speak good of his name!
His mercies record,
His bounties proclaim :
To God, their creator,
Let all creatures raise
The song of thanksgiving,
The chorus of praise !
2 Though, hid from man's sight, God sits on his throne,
Yet here by his works
Their author is known:
The world shines a mirror
Its maker to show,
And heaven views its image
Reflected below.
3 Those agents of power,
Fire, water, earth, sky,
Attest the dread might
Of God the most high:
Who rides on the whirlwind,
While clouds veil his form;
Who smiles in the sunbeam,
Or frowns in the storm.
4 By knowledge supreme,
By wisdom divine,
God governs this earth
With gracious design;
O'er beast, bird, and insect,
His providence reigns,
Whose will first created,
Whose love still sustains.
5 And man, his last work,
With reason endued,
Who, falling through sin,
By grace is renewed;
To God, his creator,
Let man ever raise
The song of thanksgiving,
The chorus of praise!
33. L. M.
Praise from the Works of God.
1 GREATEST of beings! source of life,
Sovereign of air, and earth, and sea!
All nature feels thy power, and all
A silent homage pays to thee.
2 Waked by thy hand, the morning sun
Pours forth to thee its earlier rays,
And spreads thy glories as it climbs;
While raptured worlds look up and praise.
3 The moon to the deep shades of night;
Speaks the mild lustre of thy name;
While all the stars that cheer the scene
Thee, the great Lord of light proclaim.
4 And groves, and vales, and rocks and hills, And every flower, and every tree,
Ten thousand creatures warm with life,
Have each a grateful song for thee.
5 But man was formed to rise to heaven:
And blest with reason's clearer light,
He views his Maker through his works,
And glows with rapture at the sight.
6 Nor can the thousand songs that rise,
Whether from air, or earth, or sea,
So well repeat Jehovah's praise,
Or raise such sacred harmony.
God adored for his Goodness. Ps. cvii. 31.
1 WITH grateful joy, O man! record
The various wonders of the LORD;
And let his power and goodness sound,
Through all your tribes, the earth around.
2 Lo! the high heavens your songs invite,
Those spacious fields of brilliant light :
Where sun, and moon, and planets roll,
And stars, that glow from pole to pole.
3 Sing earth, in verdant robes arrayed,
Its herbs and flowers, its fruits and shade,
Peopled with life its regions wide,
Life, from its plenteous stores supplied.
4 View the broad sea's majestic plain,
And sing its Maker's boundless reign :
That band remotest nations joins,
And on each wave his goodness shines.
5 But O! that brighter world above,
Where lives and reigns eternal love!
Thither, my soul! with rapture soar,
There in the land of praise adore.
35. 67. C. M.
Hymn of universal Praise. Ps. cxlviii.
1 WITH grateful heart and cheerful tongue
To God we raise the sacred song,
And praise the almighty name!
Lo! heaven, and earth, and seas, and skies,
In one harmonious concert rise,
To swell the inspiring theme!
2 Ye angels, catch the joyful sound,
And as ye wait his throne around,
His wondrous goodness sing!
Let the full choir of saints above
Join the glad strain of grateful love,
And strike th' according string!
3 Thou heaven of heavens, his vast abode,
Ye clouds proclaim your maker, God!
Ye thunders, speak his power!
Lo! on the lightning's gleamy wing
In triumph rides the eternal King;
The astonished worlds adore.
4 Ye deeps, whose roaring billows rise
To join the thunders of the skies,
roll;
Praise him who bids you
His praise in softer notes declare,
Each whispering breeze of yielding air,
And breathe it to the soul.
5 Wake, all ye soaring throng and sing! Ye cheerful warblers of the spring, Melodious anthems raise !
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