The whole creation is thy charge, But saints are thy peculiar care. 4 My God! how excellent thy grace, Whence all our hope and comfort springs ! The sons of Adam in distress

Fly to the shadow of thy wings.

5 Life, like a fountain, rich and free,
Springs from the presence of my Lord;
And in thy light our souls shall see
The glories promised in thy word.

165.

L. M. 6 L.

God good and omniscient.

MONTGOMERY.

1 HOW precious are thy thoughts of peace,
O God! to me, how great the sum!
New every morn, they never cease;

They were, they are, and yet shall come,
In number and in compass more

Than ocean's sand, or ocean's shore.

2 Search me, O God! and know my heart;
Try me, my secret soul survey;

And warn thy servant to depart
From every false and evil way:
So shall thy truth my guidance be,
In life and immortality.

The Ways of God inscrutable.

1 THY way, O God! is in the sea; Thy paths I cannot trace,

Nor comprehend the mystery

Of thine unbounded grace.

2 Here the dark veils of flesh and sense
My captive soul surround;
Mysterious deeps of providence
My inward thoughts confound.

FAWCETT

3 As, through a glass, I dimly see
The wonders of thy love,
How little do I know of thee,
Or of the joys above!

4 Though but in part I know thy will,
I bless thee for the sight:

When will thy love the whole reveal
In glory's clearer light ?

5 In rapture shall I then survey
Thy providence and grace;
And spend an everlasting day
In wonder, love, and praise.

1 GOD is love; his mercy brightens
All the path in which we rove;
Bliss he wakes and woe he lightens ;
God is wisdom, God is love.

2 Chance and change are busy ever;
Man decays, and ages move;
But his mercy waneth never;
God is wisdom, God is love.

3 E'en the hour that darkest seemeth

BOWRING

Will his changeless goodness prove ;
From the gloom his brightness streameth;
God is wisdom, God is love.

4 He with earthly cares entwineth
Hope and comfort from above:
Everywhere his glory shineth;
God is wisdom, God is love.

168.

C. M.

Goodness of God.

GIBBONS

1 THY goodness, Lord, our souls confess; Thy goodness we adore ;

A spring whose blessings never fail ;
A sea without a shore.

2 Sun, moon, and stars thy love declare
In every golden ray ;

Love draws the curtains of the night,
And love brings back the day.
3 Thy bounty every season crowns
With all the bliss it yields,

With joyful clusters loads the vines,
With strengthening grain the fields.
4 But chiefly thy compassion, Lord,
Is in the gospel seen ;

There, like a sun, thy mercy shines,
Without a cloud between.

5 There pardon, peace, and holy joy,
Through Jesus' name, are given ;
He on the cross was lifted high,
That we might reign in heaven.

Praising God for Mercies.

1 O, BLESS the Lord, my soul!
Let all within me join,

And aid my tongue to bless his name,
Whose favors are divine.

2 O, bless the Lord, my soul,
Nor let his mercies lie
Forgotten in unthankfulness,
And without praises die.

3 'T is he forgives thy sins,
'T is he relieves thy pain,
'T is he that heals thy sicknesses,
And makes thee young again.

4 He crowns thy life with love,
When ransomed from the grave:

WATTS.

He that redeemed my soul from death
Hath sovereign power to save.

5 He fills the poor with good;
He gives the sufferers rest:

The Lord hath judgments for the proud,
And justice for th' oppressed.

6 His wondrous works and ways
He made by Moses known;
But sent the world his truth and
By his beloved Son.

170.

H. M.

God's wondrous Love.

1 O, FOR a shout of joy

Loud as the theme we sing!

To this divine employ

grace

Your hearts and voices bring ;

J. YOUNG.

Sound, sound, through all the earth abroad,
The love, th' eternal love, of God.

2 Unnumbered myriads stand,
Of seraphs bright and fair,

Or bow at his right hand,

And pay their homage there;
But strive in vain, with loudest chord,
To sound the wondrous love of God.

3 Though earth and hell assail,
And doubts and fears arise,
The weakest shall prevail,

And grasp the heavenly prize,

And through an endless age record,
The love, th' unchanging love, of God.

171.

C. M.

BURDER.

God is Love.

1 COME, ye that know and fear the Lord,
And lift your souls above;

Let every heart and voice accord,
To sing, that God is love.

2 Behold, his loving-kindness waits.
For those who from him rove,
And calls of mercy reach their hearts,
To teach them God is love.

3 O, may we all, while here below,
This best of blessings prove:

Till warmer hearts, in brighter worlds,
Shall shout that God is love.

God's Care a Remedy for ours.

1 HOW gentle God's commands!

How kind his precepts are!

DODDRIDGE

Come, cast your burdens on the Lord,
And trust his constant care.

2 His bounty will provide,

His saints securely dwell;

That hand which bears creation up
Shall guard his children well.

3 Why should this anxious load

Press down your weary mind:
O, seek your Heavenly Father's throne,
And peace and comfort find.

4 His goodness stands approved,
Unchanged from day to day;
I'll drop my burden at his feet,
And bear a song away.

The Earth full of the Goodness of God.
1 GOD, in the high and holy place,
Looks down upon the spheres ;
Yet, in his providence and grace,
To every eye appears.

MONTGOMERY