Hymns and spiritual songs. 1st Worcester ed

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LXVI.

COMMON METRE.

A Profpect of Heaven makes Death eafy.

THE

HERE is a land of pure delight,
Where faints immortal reign,
Infinite day excludes the night,
And pleasures banish pain.
There everlasting spring abides,
And never-with'ring flow'rs:
Death, like a narrow fea, divides

This heav'nly land from ours.
[Sweet fields beyond the fwelling flood
Stand drefs'd in living green;
So to the Jervs old Canaan ftood,
While Fardan rall'd between.

4 But tim'rous mortals start and shrink,
To cross this narrow fea,
And linger, fhiv'ring on the brink,
And fear to launch away.]

Oh! could we make our doubts remove
Thofe gloomy doubts that rise,

And fee the Canaan that we love,
With unbeclouded eyes !

6 Could we but climb where Mofes ftood,
And view the landskip o'er, [flood,
Not Jordan's ftream, nor death's cold
Should fright us from the shore.

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COMMON METRE.

The humble Worship of Heaven. ATHER, I long, I faint to fee The place of thine abode;

I'd leave the earthly courts, and flee
Up to thy feat, my God!

2 Here I behold thy diftant face,
And 'tis a pleafing fight;
But, to abide in thine embrace,
Is infinite delight.

3 I'd part with all the joys of sense,
To gaze upon thy throne;
Pleafure fprings fresh for ever thence,
Unfpeakable, unknown.

4 [There all the heav'nly hofts are seen,"
In fhining ranks they move,
And drink immortal vigour in.
With wonder, and with love.

EGIN, my tongue, fome heav'nly
theme,

And fpeak fome boundless thing,
The mighty works or mightier name
Of our eternal King.

2 Tell of his wond'rous faithfulness,
And found his pow'r abroad,
Sing the sweet promise of his grace,
And the performing God.

3 Proclaim falvation from the Lord
For wretched dying men;

His hand has writ the facred word
With an immortal pen.

4 Engrav'd, as in eternal brass,

The mighty promise fhines
Nor can the pow'rs of darkness raze
Those everlasting lines.]

[He that can dah whole worlds to death,
And make them when he please,
He speaks, and that almighty breath
Fulfils his great decrees.

6 His very word of grace is ftrong

As that which built the skies; The voice that rolls the ftars along Speaks all the promises.

7 He faid, Let the wide heav'n be spread, And heav'n was ftretch'd abroad; Abrah'm, I'll be thy God, he faid,

And he was Abrah'm's God.

8 Oh, might I hear thine heav'nly tongue
But whisper, Thou art mine!
Those gentle words fhould raise my song
To notes almost divine.

9 How would my leaping heart rejoice,
And think my heav'n fecure!

I trust the All-creating voice,
And faith defires no more.]

And one foft word of thy command
Can fink them filent in the fand.

2 If but a Mofes wave thy rod,

The fea divides, and owns its God;
The stormy floods their Maker knew,
And let his chofen armies through.

The fcaly fhoals amidst the fea
To thee, their Lord, a tribute pay;
The meaneft fish that fwims the flood,
Leaps up, and means a praise to God.
4 The larger monfters of the deep
On thy commands attendance keep;
By thy permiffion, fport and play,
And cleave along their foaming way.
5 If God his voice of tempeft rears,
Leviathan lies ftill, and fears;
Anon he lifts his noftrils high,
And spouts the ocean to the sky.

6 How is thy glorious pow'r ador'd
Amidft these wat'ry nations, Lord!
Yet the bold men that trace the feas,
Bold men refuse their Maker's praife.
7 [What scenes of miracles they see,
And never tune a fong to thee!
While on the flood they fafely ride,
They curfe the hand that smooths the tide.
8 Anon they plunge in wat'ry graves,
And fome drink death among the waves:
Yet the furviving crew blafpheme,
Nor own the God that refcu'd them.]
9 Oh, for fome fignal of thine hand!
Shake all the feas, Lord, shake the land
Great Judge! defcend, left men deny
That there's a God that rules the sky.

From the 70th to the 108th hymn, I hope the reader will forgive the neglect of rhyme in the first and the third lines of the Stanza.

'Twas his right hand that shap'd our clay, And wrought this human frame; But from his own immediate breath Our nobler fpirits came.

We bring our mortal pow'rs to God,
And worship with our tongues;
We claim fome kindred with the skies,
And join th' angelick fongs.

Yet grov'ling beafts of ev'ry shape,
And fowls of ev'ry wing,

And rocks, and trees, and fires, and feas,
Their various tribute bring.

5 Ye planets, to his honour shine,
And wheels of nature roll,

Praise him in your unweary'd course Around the steady pole.

2, I

het

CHRIST.

Oh, what immortal joys I felt,
And raptures all divine,
When Jefus told me I was his,
And my beloved mine!

In vain the tempter frights my foul,
And breaks my peace in vain;

One glimpfe, dear Saviour, of thy face
Revives my joys again.

Repentance from a Senfe of divine Goodness: Or, A Complaint of Ingratitude.

'S this the kind return,

And thefe the thanks we owe,

LESS'D morning, whofe young Thus to abuse eternal love,

BLE dawning rays

Beheld our rifing God;

That faw him triumph o'er the dust,
And leave his last abode.

2 In the cold prifon of a tomb
The dear Redeemer lay,
'Till the revolving skies had brought
The third, th' appointed day.

Hell and the grave unite their force
To hold our God in vain
The fleeping conqueror arofe,

And burst their feeble chain.

4 To thy great name, almighty Lord,
Thefe facred hours we pay,
And loud Hofannas shall proclaim
The triumph of the day.

5 [Salvation and immortal praise
To our victorious King;

Whence all our bleffings flow!

2 To what a ftubborn frame
Has fin reduc'd our mind!
What ftrange rebellious wretches we,
And God as ftrangely kind!

3 [On us he bids the fun
Shed his reviving rays;
For us the fkies their circles run,
To lengthen out our days.

4 The brutes obey their God,

And bow their necks to men ;
But we more base, more brutish things,
Reject his eafy reign.]

5 Turn, turn us, mighty God,
And mould our fouls afresh;

Break, fov'reign grace, these hearts of stone,
And give us hearts of flesh.

6 Let old ingratitude

Provoke our weeping eyes,

Let heav'n and earth, and rocks and feas And hourly, as new mercies fall,

With glad Hofannas ring.]

Let hourly thanks arise.

3 There, where my blessed Jesus reigns,
In heav'n's unmeasur'd space,
I'll spend a long eternity

In pleasure and in praise.

Millions of years my wond'ring eyes
Shall o'er thy beauties rove,
And endless ages I'll adore
The glories of thy love.

5 [Sweet Jefus, every fmile of thine
Shall fresh endearments bring,
And thousand taftes of new delight
From all thy graces spring.
Hafte, my beloved, fetch my foul
Up to thy blefs'd abode ;
Fly, for my fpirit longs to fee
My Saviour, and my God.]

LXXVI. COMMON METRE.
The Refurrection and Afcenfion of CHRIST.

OSANNA to the Prince of light, That cloth'd himself in clay; Enter'd the iron gates of death,

And tore the bars away.

2 Death is no more the king of dread,
Since our Immanuel rose;
He took the tyrant's fting away,
And spoil'd our hellish foes.

3 See how the conqu'ror mounts aloft,
And to his Father flies,

With fears of honour in his flesh,

And triumph in his eyes.

4 There our exalted Saviour reigns,
And scatters bleffings down;
Our Jefus fills the middle feat
Of the celeftial throne.

5 [Raife your devotion, mortal tongues,
To reach his blefs'd abode,
Sweet be the accents of your fongs
To our incarnate God.

STAND

TAND up, my foul, shake off thy fears,

And gird the gospel armour on ; March to the gates of endless joy, Where thy great Captain Saviour's gone. 2 Hell and thy fins refift thy course, But hell and fin are vanquish'd foes; Thy Jefus nail'd them to the cross, And fung the triumph when he rofe.] 3 [What tho' the prince of darkness rage And wafte the fury of his fpite ? Eternal chains confine him down To fiery deeps, and endless night. 4 What though thine inward lufts rebel! 'Tis but a struggling gasp for life; The weapons of victorious grace Shall flay thy fins, and end the strife.] 5 Then let my foul march boldly on, Prefs forward to the heav'nly gate, There peace and joy eternal reign, And glitt'ring robes for conqu'rors wai 6 There fhall I wear a ftarry crown, And triumph in almighty grace, While all the armies of the skies

Join in my glorious Leader's praise.
LXXVIII. COMMON METRE.
Redemption by CHRIST.

HEN the firft parents of our race
Rebell'd and loft their God,

And the infection of their fin

Had tainted all our blood;

2 Infinite pity touch'd the heart
Of the eternal Son,

Defcending from the heav'nly court,
He left his Father's throne.

3 Afide the Prince of Glory threw
His moft divine array,
And wrap'd his Godhead in a veil
Of our inferiour clay.

4 His living pow'r, and dying love,
Redeem'd unhappy men ;

And rais'd the ruins of our race
To life and God again,

To thee, dear Lord, our flesh and soul
We joyfully refign;
Bleft Jefus take us for thy own,
For we are doubly thine.
Thine honour fhall for ever be
The business of our days,
For ever fhali our thankful tongues
Speak thy deserved praise.

LXXIX.

PLU

COMMON METRE. Praife to the Redeemer.

LUNG'D in a gulf of dark despair We wretched finners lay, Without one cheerful beam of hope, Or fpark of glimm'ring day. 2 With pitying eyes the Prince of Beheld our helpless grief; He saw, and (O amazing love !) He ran to our relief.

grace

3 Down from the fhining feats above With joyful hafte he fled,

Enter'd the grave in mortal flesh And dwelt among the dead.

2 Let proud imperious kings Bow low before his throne ! Crouch to his feet, ye haughty things, Or he shall tread you down.

3 Above the skies he reigns, And with amazing blows He deals infufferable pains

On his rebellious foes.
4 Yet everlasting God,
We love to speak thy praise;
Thy fceptre's equal to thy rod,
The fceptre of thy grace.

5 The arms of mighty love
Defend our Zion well,
And heav'nly mercy walls us round
From Babylon and hell.

6 Salvation to the King

That fits enthron'd above: Thus we adore the God of might, And bless the God of love.

LXXXI.

COMMON METRE. Our Sin the Caufe of CHRIST'S Death. ND now the scales have left mine eyes,

He spoil'd the pow'rs of darkness thus, A Now I begin to fee

And brake our iron chains; Jefus has freed our captive fouls, From everlasting pains.

[In vain the baffled prince of hell His curfed projects tries ;

We that were doom'd his endless flaves, Are rais'd above the skies.]

Oh, for this love let rocks and hills

Their lafting filence break,
And all harmonious human tongues
The Saviour's praises speak.

Oh the curs'd deeds my fins have done!
What murd’rous things they be !

2 Were these the traitors, dearest Lord,
That thy fair body tore?
Monsters, that ftain'd thofe heav'nly
With floods of purple gore?

[limbs

3 Was it for crimes that I had done,
My deareft Lord was flain,
When justice seiz'd God's only Son,
And put his foul to pain?
Forgive my guilt, O Prince of Peace,
I'll wound my God no more:
Hence from my heart, ye fins, be gone,
For Jefus I adore.

7 [Yes, we will praise thee, dearest Lord,4

Our fouls are all on flame;

Hofanna round the spacious earth

To thine adored name.

8 Angels, affift our mighty joys,

Strike all your harps of gold;
But when you raise your highest notes,
His love can ne'er be told.]

Furnish me, Lord, with heav'nly arms
From grace's magazine,

And I'll proclaim eternal war

With ev'ry darling fin.

LXXXII. COMMON METRE.

Redemption and Protection from Spiritual

Enemies.

RISE, my foul, my joyful pow'rs,
And triumph in my God;

Awake my voice, and loud proclaim
His glorious grace abroad.

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