Firm are the words His prophets give,
Sweet words on which His children live;
Each of them is the voice of God,
Who spoke, and spread the skies abroad.
Each of them powerful as that sound
Which bade the new-made world go
round;
And stronger than the solid poles
On which the wheel of nature rolls.
Whence then should doubts and fears arise?
Why trickling sorrows drown our eyes?
Slowly, alas! our mind receives
The comfort that our Maker gives.
O for a strong, a lasting faith,
To credit what the Almighty saith!
To embrace the message of His Son,
And call the joys of heaven our own!
Then should the earth's old pillars shake,
And all the wheels of nature break,
Our steady souls should fear no more
Than solid rocks when billows roar.
Our everlasting hopes arise
Above the ruinable skies,
Where the eternal Builder reigns,
And His own courts His power sustains.
HOLY AND REVEREND IS HIS NAME.
[REAT is the Lord! His works of might Demand our noblest songs:
Let His assembled saints unite
Their harmony of tongues.
Great is the mercy of the Lord!
He gives His children food;
And, ever mindful of His word,
He makes His promise good.
His Son, the great Redeemer, came
To seal His covenant sure;
Holy and reverend is His name,
His ways are just and pure.
They that would grow divinely wise
Must with His fear begin;
Our fairest proof of knowledge lies
In hating every sin.
THE SECURITY OF THE REDEEMED.
ARISE, my soul, my joyful powers,
And triumph in my God;
Awake, my voice, and loud proclaim
His glorious grace abroad.
He raised me from the deeps of sin,
The gates of gaping hell,
And fixed my standing more secure
Than 'twas before I fell.
The arms of everlasting love
Beneath my soul He placed;
And on the Rock of Ages set
My slippery footsteps fast.
The city of my blessed abode
Is walled around with grace,
Salvation for a bulwark stands
To shield the sacred place.
Satan may vent his sharpest spite,
And all his legions roar;
Almighty mercy guards my life,
And bounds his raging power.
Arise, my soul; awake, my voice,
And tunes of pleasure sing;
Loud hallelujahs shall address
My Saviour and my King.
SAFETY IN GOD ALONE.
MY spirit looks to God alone;
My rock and refuge is His throne;
In all my fears, in all my straits,
My soul on His salvation waits.
Trust Him, ye saints, in all your ways,
Pour out your hearts before His face:
When helpers fail, and foes invade,
God is our all-sufficient aid.
Once has His awful voice declared,
Once and again my ears have heard,
66 All power is His eternal due;
He must be feared and trusted too."
For sovereign power reigns not alone,
Grace is a partner of the throne:
Thy grace and justice, mighty Lord,
Shall well divide our last reward.
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
ORD, we adore Thy vast designs,
The obscure abyss of Providence,
Too deep to sound with mortal lines,
Too dark to view with feeble sense.
Now Thou arrayest Thine awful face
In angry frowns, without a smile;
We, through the cloud, believe Thy grace,
Secure of Thy compassion still.
Through seas and storms of deep distress
We sail by faith, and not by sight;
Faith guides us in the wilderness,
Through all the briers and the night.
Dear Father, if Thy lifted rod
Resolve to scourge us here below,
Still we must lean upon our God,
Thine arm shall bear us safely through.
GOD SEEN IN CREATION AND REVELATION.
LORD, our Lord, how wondrous great
Is Thine exalted name!
The glories of Thy heavenly state
Let men and babes proclaim.
When I behold Thy works on high,
The moon that rules the night,
And stars that well adorn the sky,
Those moving worlds of light;
Lord, what is man, or all his race,
Who dwells so far below,
That Thou shouldst visit him with grace,
And love his nature so?
That Thine eternal Son should bear
To take a mortal form;
Made lower than His angels are,
To save a dying worm.
Let Him be crowned with majesty
Who bowed His head to death;
And be His honours sounded high,
By all things that have breath.
Jesus, our Lord, how wondrous great
Is Thine exalted name!
The glories of Thy heavenly state
Let the whole earth proclaim.
His mercy endureth for ever.
IVE to our God immortal praise;
G Mercy and truth are all His ways;
Wonders of grace to God belong,
Repeat His mercies in your song.
Give to the Lord of lords renown,
The King of kings with glory crown:
His mercies ever shall endure
When lords and kings are known no more.
He built the earth, He spread the sky,
And fixed the starry lights on high.
Wonders of grace to God belong,
Repeat His mercies in your song.
He fills the sun with morning light;
He bids the moon direct the night :
His mercies ever shall endure
When suns and moons shall shine no more.
The Jews He freed from Pharaoh's hand,
And brought them to the promised land :
Wonders of grace to God belong,
Repeat His mercies in your song.
He saw the Gentiles dead in sin,
And felt His pity work within:
His mercies ever shall endure
When death and sin shall reign no more.
He sent His Son with power to save
From guilt, and darkness, and the grave:
Wonders of grace to God belong,
Repeat His mercies in your song.
Through this vain world He guides our feet
And leads us to His heavenly seat:
His mercies ever shall endure
When this vain world shall be no more.
246 Psalm cl. 6.—Let every thing that hath breath praise
OUD hallelujahs to the Lord,
From distant worlds where creatures dwell;
Let heaven begin the solemn word,
And sound it dreadful down to hell.
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