And bid the choral song ascend
To celebrate our God.
Purposes of God developed by his Providence.
1 GOD moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform ;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
2 Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take:
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
With blessings on your head.
3 Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
4 His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
5 Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain ;
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.
1 ERE mountains reared their forms sublime,
Or heaven and earth in order stood,
Before the birth of ancient time,
From everlasting thou art God.
2 A thousand ages, in their flight,
With thee are as a fleeting day;
Past, present, future, to thy sight
At once their various scenes display.
3 But our brief life 's a shadowy dream,
A passing thought, that soon is o'er,
That fades with morning's earliest beam,
And fills the musing mind no more.
4 To us, O Lord, the wisdom give
Each passing moment so to spend,
That we at length with thee may live,
Where life and bliss shall never end.
Foreknowledge and Providence of God.
1 LET the whole race of creatures lie
A based before the Lord!
Whate'er his powerful hand has formed,
He governs with a word.
2 Ten thousand ages ere the skies
Were into motion brought,
All the long years and worlds to come
Stood present to his thought.
3 There's not a sparrow, nor a worm,
O'erlooked in his decrees:
He raises monarchs to a throne,
Or sinks, with equal ease.
4 If light attend the course we go,
'Tis he provides the rays;
And 't is his hand that hides the sun,
If darkness cloud our days.
5 Trusting thy wisdom, God of love!
We would not wish to know
What, in the book of thy decrees,
Awaits us here below.
6 Be this alone our fervent prayer;
Whate'er our lot shall be,
Or joys, or sorrows, may they form
Our souls for heaven and thee!
1 IN all my vast concerns with thee,
In vain my soul would try
To shun thy presence, Lord, or flee
The notice of thine eye.
2 Thine all-surrounding sight surveys
My rising and my rest;
My public walks, my private ways,
And secrets of my breast.
3 My thoughts lie open to the Lord,
Before they 're formed within;
And, ere my lips pronounce the word,
He knows the sense I mean.
4 O, wondrous knowledge, deep and high!
Where can a creature hide?
Within thy circling arms I lie,
Beset on every side.
5 So let thy grace surround me still,
And like a bulwark prove,
To guard my soul from every ill,
Secured by sovereign love.
Perfections and Providence of God.
1 HIGH in the heavens, Eternal God!
Thy goodness in full glory shines;
Thy truth shall break through every cloud
That veils and darkens thy designs.
2 For ever firm thy justice stands,
As mountains their foundations keep;
Wise are the wonders of thy hands;
Thy judgments are a mighty deep.
3 Thy providence is kind and large;
Both man and beast thy bounty share;
The whole creation is thy charge, But saints are thy peculiar care. 4 My God! how excellent thy grace, Whence all our hope and comfort springs ! The sons of Adam in distress
Fly to the shadow of thy wings.
5 Life, like a fountain, rich and free,
Springs from the presence of my Lord;
And in thy light our souls shall see
The glories promised in thy word.
New every morn, they never cease;
They were, they are, and yet shall come,
In number and in compass more
Than ocean's sand, or ocean's shore.
2 Search me, O God! and know my heart;
Try me, my secret soul survey;
And warn thy servant to depart
From every false and evil way :
So shall thy truth my guidance be,
In life and immortality.
The Ways of God inscrutable.
1 THY way, O God! is in the sea; Thy paths I cannot trace,
Nor comprehend the mystery
Of thine unbounded grace.
2 Here the dark veils of flesh and sense
My captive soul surround;
Mysterious deeps of providence
My inward thoughts confound.
3 As, through a glass, I dimly see
The wonders of thy love,
How little do I know of thee,
Or of the joys above!
4 Though but in part I know thy will,
I bless thee for the sight:
When will thy love the whole reveal
In glory's clearer light?
5 In rapture shall I then survey
Thy providence and grace;
And spend an everlasting day
In wonder, love, and praise.
1 GOD is love; his mercy brightens
All the path in which we rove;
Bliss he wakes and woe he lightens ;
God is wisdom, God is love.
2 Chance and change are busy ever;
Man decays, and ages move;
But his mercy waneth never;
God is wisdom, God is love.
3 E'en the hour that darkest seemeth
Will his changeless goodness prove;
From the gloom his brightness streameth;
God is wisdom, God is love.
4 He with earthly cares entwineth
Hope and comfort from above:
Everywhere his glory shineth;
God is wisdom, God is love.
1 THY goodness, Lord, our souls confess;
Thy goodness we adore ;-
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