3 Because, with well-placed confidence,
Thou mak'st the Lord thy sure defence,
Thy refuge, even God most high;
Therefore no ill on thee shall come,
Nor to thy heaven-protected home
Shall overwhelming plagues draw nigh.
"O God, thou art my God; early will I
GOD, my gracious God, to thee
My morning prayers shall offer'd be,
For thee my thirsty soul doth pant;
My fainting flesh implores thy grace,
As in a dry and barren place,
Where I refreshing waters want.
2 to my longing eyes once more
That view of glorious power restore,
Which thy majestic house displays:
Because to me thy wondrous love
Than life itself does dearer prove,
My lips shall always speak thy praise.
3 My life, while I that life enjoy,
In blessing God I will employ,
With lifted hands adore his name:
As with its choicest food supplied,
My soul shall be full satisfied,
While I with joy his praise proclaim.
4 When down I lie, sweet sleep to find,
Thou, Lord, art present to my mind,
And when I wake in dead of night,
Because thou still dost succour bring,
Beneath the shadow of thy wing
I rest with safety and delight.
"Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine
uprising."
[P to the hills I lift mine eyes,
The eternal hills beyond the skies;
Thence all her help my soul derives,
There my almighty refuge lives.
2 He lives-the everlasting God,
That built the world, that spread the flood;
The heavens with all their hosts he made,
And the dark regions of the dead.
3 He guides our feet, he guards our way;
His morning smiles bless all the day:
He spreads the evening veil, and keeps
The silent hours while Israel sleeps.
4 Israel, a name divinely blest,
May rise secure, securely rest;
Thy holy Guardian's wakeful eyes
Admit no slumber nor surprise.
Except the Lord build the house, their labour
is but lost that build it."
E build with fruitless cost, unless
The Lord the pile sustain;
Unless the Lord the city keep,
The watchman wakes in vain.
2 In vain we rise before the day,
And late to rest repair,
Allow no respite to our toil,
And eat the bread of care.
3 Supplies of life, with ease to them,
He on his saints bestows;
He crowns their labours with success,
Their nights with safe repose.
Our eyes wait upon the Lord our God."
HEN I can trust my all with God,
In trial's fearful hour,
Bow, all resign'd, beneath his rod,
And bless his chastening power,
A joy springs up amid distress,
A fountain in the wilderness.
2 O blessèd be the hand that gave,
Still blessed when it takes;
Blessèd be he who smites to save,
Who heals the heart he breaks:
Perfect and true are all his ways,
Whom heaven adores and death obeys.
324 "This God is our God for ever and ever."”
[Y God, how endless is thy love!
Thy gifts are every evening new,
And morning mercies from above
Gently distil, like early dew.
2 Thou spread'st the curtain of the night,
Great Guardian of my sleeping hours;
Thy sovereign word restores the light,
And quickens all my drowsy powers.
3 I yield my powers to thy command,
To thee I consecrate my days;
Perpetual blessings from thy hand.
Demand perpetual songs of praise.
"I have set God always before me."
SAVIOUR, when night involves the skies,
My soul, adoring, turns to thee;
Thee, self-abased in mortal guise,
And wrapt in shades of death for me.
2 On thee my waking raptures dwell,
When crimson gleams the east adorn,
Thee, victor of the grave and hell,
Thee, source of life's eternal morn.
3 When noon her throne in light arrays,
To thee my soul triumphant springs;
Thee, throned in glory's endless blaze,
Thee, Lord of lords and King of kings.
4 O'er earth, when shades of evening steal,
To death and thee my thoughts I give;
To death, whose power I soon must feel,
To thee, with whom I trust to live.
"O Lord, thou art our God."
OD of our fathers, by whose hand
Thy people still are blest,
Be with us through our pilgrimage;
Conduct us to our rest.
2 Through each perplexing path of life
Our wandering footsteps guide;
Give us each day our daily bread,
And raiment fit provide.
3 O spread thy sheltering wings around,
Till all our wanderings cease,
And at our Father's loved abode
Our souls arrive in peace.
4 Such blessings from thy gracious hand
Our humble prayers implore;
And thou, the Lord, shalt be our God,
And portion evermore.
"Boast not thyself of to-morrow."
TO-MORROW, Lord, is thine,
Lodged in thy sovereign hand;
And if its sun arise and shine,
It shines by thy command.
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