ADORATION, PRAISE, AND THANKS
Praising God through the Whole of our Existence.
1 GOD of my life, through all its days
My grateful powers shall sound thy praise;
The song shall wake with opening light,
And warble to the silent night.
2 When anxious cares would break my rest,
And griefs would tear my throbbing breast,
Thy tuneful praises, raised on high,
Shall check the murmur and the sigh.
3 When death o'er nature shall prevail,
And all my powers of language fail,
Joy through my swimming eyes shall break,
And mean the thanks I cannot speak.
4 But O, when that last conflict's o'er,
And I am chained to flesh no more,
With what glad accents shall I rise,
To join the music of the skies!
Praising God in all Changes.
1 THROUGH all the changing scenes of life, In trouble and in joy,
The praises of my God shall still
My heart and tongue employ.
2 The hosts of God encamp around
The dwellings of the just;
Deliverance he affords to all
Who on his succor trust.
3 O, make but trial of his love, -
Experience will decide
How blest they are, and only they,
Who in his truth confide.
4 Fear him, ye saints, and you will then
Have nothing else to fear;
Make you his service your delight,-
He'll make your wants his care.
Goodness and Truth of God.
1 I'LL praise my Maker with my breath;
And when my voice is lost in death,
Praise shall employ my nobler powers:
My days of praise shall ne'er be past,
While life, and thought, and being last,
Or immortality endures.
2 Happy the man whose hopes rely
On Israel's God: he made the sky,
And earth, and seas, with all their train; His truth forever stands secure;
He saves the oppressed, he feeds the poor; And none shall find his promise vain.
3 The Lord hath eyes to give the blind;
The Lord supports the sinking mind;
He sends the laboring conscience peace;
He helps the stranger in distress,
The widow and the fatherless,
And grants the prisoner sweet release.
4 I'll praise him while he lends me breath;
And when my voice is lost in death,
Praise shall employ my nobler powers:
My days of praise shall ne'er be past,
While life, and thought, and being last,
Or immortality endures.
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 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.
4 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!
1 HOLY, holy, holy Lord,
Be thy glorious name adored;
Lord, thy mercies never fail ;
Hail, celestial goodness, hail!
2 Though unworthy, Lord, thine ear,
Deign our humble songs to hear;
Purer praise we hope to bring,
When around thy throne we sing.
3 There no tongue shall silent be;
All shall join in harmony;
That through heaven's capacious round
Praise to thee may ever sound.
4 Lord, thy mercies never fail ;
Hail, celestial goodness, hail!
Holy, holy, holy Lord,
Be thy glorious name adored.
Praise of God peculiarly due from Man.
1 THERE Seems a voice in every gale,
A tongue in every opening flower,
Which tells, O Lord, the wondrous tale
Of thy indulgence, love, and power.
2 The birds that rise on soaring wing
Appear to hymn their Maker's praise,
And all the mingling sounds of spring
To thee a general pæan raise.
3 And shall my voice, great God, alone
Be mute, 'midst nature's loud acclaim?
No let my heart with answering tone
Breathe forth in praise thy holy name.
4 And nature's debt is small to mine:
Thou bad'st her being bounded be,
But matchless proof of love divine-
Thou gav'st immortal life to me.
1 GREAT God, the heavens' well-ordered frame
Declares the glory of thy name;
There thy rich works of wonder shine:
A thousand starry beauties there,
A thousand radiant marks appear,
Of boundless skill and power divine.
2 From night to day, from day to night,
The dawning and the dying light
Lectures of heavenly wisdom read;
With silent eloquence, they raise.
Our thoughts to our Creator's praise,
And neither sound nor language need.
3 Yet thy divine instructions run
Far as the journeys of the sun;
Thy light and truth are known abroad;
We see thy smile in Nature's face,
And in the pages of thy grace
We read the glories of our God.
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