3 With grateful hearts, with joyful tongues,
To God we raise united songs;
His power and mercy we proclaim;
This land through every age shall own,
Jehovah here has fixed his throne,
And triumph in his mighty name.
4 Long as the moon her course shall run,
Or man behold the circling sun,
O, still may God amidst us reign;
Crown our just counsels with success,
With peace and joy our borders bless,
And all our sacred rights maintain.
1 GREAT GOD, we sing that mighty hand,
By which, supported still, we stand:
The opening year thy mercy shows;
Let
mercy crown it till it close.
2 By day, by night, at home, abroad,
Still we are guarded by our God;
By his incessant bounty fed,
By his unerring counsel led.
3 With grateful hearts the past we own:
The future, all to us unknown,
We to thy guardian care commit,
And peaceful leave before thy feet.
4 In scenes exalted or depressed,
Be thou our joy, and thou our rest:
Thy goodness all our hopes shall raise,
Adored through all our changing days.
5 When death shall interrupt these songs,
And seal in silence mortal tongues,
Our Helper, God, in whom we trust,
In better worlds our souls shall boast.
Reflections for a New Year.
1 REMARK, my soul, the narrow bounds
Of the revolving year;
How swift the weeks complete their rounds
How short the months appear!
2 Yet like an idle tale we pass
The swift advancing year;
And study artful ways t' increase
The speed of its career.
3 Waken, O God, my trifling heart,
Its great concerns to see;
That I may act the Christian part,
And give the year to thee.
4 Thus shall their course more grateful roll,
If future years arise;
Or this shall bear my peaceful soul
To joy that never dies.
1 WHILE, with ceaseless course, the sun
Hasted through the former year,
Many souls their race have run,
Never more to meet us here:
Fixed in an eternal state,
They have done with all below:
We a little longer wait,
But how little none can know.
2 As the wingéd arrow flies,
Speedily the mark to find;
As the lightning from the skies
Darts and leaves no trace behind,-
Swiftly thus our fleeting days
Bear us down life's rapid stream:
Upward, Lord, our spirits raise;
All below is but a dream.
3 Thanks for mercies past receive;
Pardon of our sins renew;
Teach us, henceforth, how to live,
With eternity in view;
Bless thy word to old and young;
Fill us with a Saviour's love;
When our life's short race is run,
May we dwell with thee above.
1 My Helper, God, I bless his name;
The same his power, his grace the same;
The tokens of his friendly care
Open, and crown, and close, the year.
2 I 'midst ten thousand dangers stand,
Supported by his guardian hand,
And see, when I survey my ways,
Ten thousand monuments of praise.
3 Thus far his arm hath led me on ;
Thus far I make his mercy known;
And, while I tread this mortal land,
New mercies shall new songs demand.
New Year. Providential Goodness.
1 GOD of our lives, thy various praise
Our voices shall resound:
Thy hand directs our fleeting days,
And brings the seasons round.
2 To thee shall grateful songs arise,
Our Father and our Friend,
Whose constant mercies from the skies
In genial streams descend.
3 In every scene of life, thy care,
In every age, we see;
And constant as thy favors are,
So let our praises be.
4 Still may thy love, in every scene,
In every age, appear;
And let the same compassion deign
To bless the opening year.
5 If mercy smile, let mercy bring
Our wandering souls to God:
In our affliction we shall sing,
If thou wilt bless the rod.
"He holdeth our soul in life."
10 GOD, my helper, ever near!
Crown with thy smile the present year;
Preserve me by thy favor still,
And fit me for thy sacred will.
2 My safety, each succeeding hour,
Depends on thy supporting power:
Accept my thanks for mercies past,
And be my guard, while life shall last.
3 My moments move with wingéd haste,
Nor know I which shall be the last :
Danger and death are ever nigh,
And I this year perhaps may die.
4 Prepare me for the trying day;
Then call my willing soul away:
I'll quit the world at thy command
And trust my spirit to thy hand
New Year. Prayer for a Blessing.
1 Now, gracious Lord, thine arm reveal,
And make thy glory known;
Now let us all thy presence feel,
And soften hearts of stone.
2 From all the guilt of former sin
May mercy set us free;
And let the year we now begin,
Begin and end with thee.
3 Send down thy spirit from above,
That saints may love thee more,
And sinners now may learn to love,
Who never loved before.
4 And when before thee we appear,
In our eternal home,
May growing numbers worship here,
And praise thee in our room.
Self-Examination. New Year.
1 As o'er the past my memory strays,
Why heaves the secret sigh?
"Tis that I mourn departed days,
Still unprepared to die.
2 The world, and worldly things beloved,
My anxious thoughts employed;
And time unhallowed, unimproved,
Presents a fearful void.
|