Souls loved so well,
Come near! Come near!
O hear and tell!
O tell and hear!
5 In linked praise and prayer
Your heaven on earth begin;
Together glimpses fair
Of hastening glory win;
From strength to strength
Together go!
In heaven at length
Together glow!
6 With all the heirs of grace
There speak the saving Name;
With all the ransomed race
Give glory to the Lamb!
Your King of Light
Together see,
In all His might
And majesty!
TERNAL Power, whose high abode
Infinite lengths beyond the bounds
Where stars revolve their little rounds!
2 Thee, while the first archangel sings, He hides his face beneath his wings; And ranks of shining thrones around Fall worshipping, and spread the ground.
3 Lord, what shall earth and ashes do?
We would adore our Maker too;
From sin and dust to Thee we cry,
The Great, the Holy, and the High.
4 Earth from afar has heard Thy fame,
And we have learnt to lisp Thy Name;
But, O, the glories of Thy mind,
Leave all our soaring thoughts behind.
5 God is in heaven, and men below;
Be short our tunes, our words be few;
A sacred reverence checks our songs,
And praise sits silent on our tongues.
YREAT Former of this various frame,
And bow and tremble while they praise
The Ancient of eternal days.
2 Before Thine infinite survey,
Creation rose as yesterday;
And, as to-morrow, shall Thine eye
See earth and stars in ruin lie.
3 Beyond the highest angel's sight,
Thou dwellest in eternal light,
Which shines with undiminished ray,
While suns and systems waste away.
4 Our days a transient period run,
And change with every circling sun;
And while to lengthened years we trust,
Before the moth we sink to dust.
5 But let the creatures fall around;
Let death consign us to the ground;
Let the last general flame arise,
And melt the arches of the skies ;-
6 Calm as the summer's ocean, we
Can all the wreck of nature see;
While grace secures us an abode
Unshaken as the throne of God.
UR God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home :
2 Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure ;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.
3 Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
4 A thousand ages in Thy sight,
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
5 Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
6 Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard, while troubles last,
And our eternal home.
THROUGH endless years Thou art the
O Thou eternal God!
Ages to come shall know Thy Name,
And spread Thy praise abroad.
2 The strong foundations of the earth
Of old by Thee were laid,
By Thee the beauteous arch of heaven
With matchless skill was made.
3 Soon shall this goodly frame of things,
Formed by Thy powerful hand,
Be like a vesture laid aside,
And changed at Thy command.
4 But Thy eternal state, O Lord!
No length of time shall waste;
Thy power and goodness, truth and grace,
From age to age shall last.
5 Thou to the children of Thy saints
Shalt endless blessings give;
They in their fathers' God shall trust,
And in Thy presence live.
OMNIPRESENCE AND OMNISCIENCE.
BEYOND, beyond that boundless sea,
Above that dome of sky,
Farther than thought itself can flee,
Thy dwelling is on high;
Yet dear the awful thought to me,
That Thou, my God, art nigh:
2 Art nigh, and yet my labouring mind
Feels after Thee in vain,
Thee in these works of power to find,
Or to Thy seat attain;
Thy messenger, the stormy wind;
Thy path, the trackless main.
3 These speak of Thee with loud acclaim;
They thunder forth Thy praise,
The glorious honour of Thy Name,
The wonders of Thy ways;
But Thou art not in tempest-flame,
Nor in day's glorious blaze.
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