Let Lebanon its cedars bring,
To blaze before the Sovereign King;
And all the beasts that on it feed,
As victims at his altar bleed:
4 Loud let ten thousand trumpets sound,
And call remotest nations round;
Assembled on the crowded plains,
Princes and people, kings and swains:
5 Joined with the living, let the dead
Rising, the face of earth o'erspread;
And, while his praise unites their tongues,:
Let angels echo back the songs.
6 The drop that from the bucket falls,
The dust that hangs upon the scales,
Is more, to sky, and earth, and sea,
Than all this pomp, great God! to thee.
Doddridge,
399. L. M.
• New Heavens and a new Earth.'
1 YON glorious orbs that gild the sky
Proclaim the God who reigns on high;
He pours the radiant stream they boast,
And marshals all the moving host.
2 But glittering stars shall cease to burn ;
The sun forsake his golden urn;
This earth, these heavens, be swept away,
The splendid pageant of a day.
3 Yet will the Eternal wake to birth
More radiant heavens, a fairer earth,
Whose lustre shall admit no shade,
Whose lasting bloom shall never fade.
4 When time and death shall be no more,
To those bright realms his saints shall soar,
And, welcomed by their faithful Lord,
Shall then receive their vast reward.
+ Liverpool (Paradise st.) Coll
1 YET a few years, or days, perhaps, Or moments, pass in silent lapse,
And time to me shall be no more!
No more the sun these eyes shall view,
Earth o'er these limbs her dust shall strew,
And life's delusive dream be o'er.
2 Great God! how awful is the scene!
A breath, a transient breath between:
And can I waste life's fleeting day?
To earth, alas! too firmly bound,
Trees deeply rooted in the ground,
Are shivered when they're torn away.
3 Great Cause of all, above, below!
Who knows thee must for ever know
Thou art immortal and divine:
Thine image on my soul impressed,
Of endless being is the test,
And bids eternity be mine.
HYMNS FOR PARTICULAR OCCASIONS, AND FOR PRIVATE AND DOMESTIC DEVOTION.
God the Refuge of the Afflicted.
1 AFFLICTION is a stormy deep,
Where wave resounds to wave;
Though o'er my head the billows roll,
I know the Lord can save.
2 When darkness and when sorrows rose,
And pressed on every side,
The Lord has still sustained my steps,
And still has been my guide.
3 Perhaps, before the morning dawn,
He will restore my peace;
For he who bade the tempest roar,
Can bid the tempest cease.
4 In the dark watches of the night
I'll count his mercies o'er;
I'll praise him for ten thousand past,
And humbly sue for more.
Here will I rest, here build my hopes,
Nor murmur at his rod;
He's more than all the world to me,-
My health, my life, my God!
402. C. M.
God our perpetual Benefactor.
1 ALMIGHTY Father! gracious Lord!
Kind Guardian of my days!
Thy mercies let my heart record
In songs of grateful praise.
2 In life's first dawn, my tender frame
Was thy continual care,
Before I could pronounce thy name,
Or breathe an infant's prayer.
3 When reason with my stature grew.
How feeble was her aid!
How little of my God I knew!
How oft from thee I strayed!
4 When life hung trembling on a breath.
'Twas thy unfailing love
That saved me from impending death,
And bade my fears remove.
5 How many blessings round me shone
Where'er I turned mine eye!
How many passed almost unknown
Or unregarded by!
6 Each rolling year new favours brought
From thine exhaustless store:
In vain, great God! my labouring thought Would count thy mercies o'er.
7 While thus reflection, through my days, Thy bounteous hand would trace, Superior blessings claim my praise,The blessings of thy grace.
8 Yes, I adore thee, gracious Lord!
For favours nobler still,-
The truths and precepts of thy word,
Which teach me all thy will.
Serious Reflections on our Moral Condition.
1 AND now, my soul! another
year
Of my short life is past :
I cannot long continue here,
And this may be my last.
2 Part of my doubtful life is gone,
Nor will return again ;
And swift my fleeting moments run-
The few which yet remain !
3 Awake, my soul! with all thy care
Thy true condition learn;
What are thy hopes, how sure, how fair,
And what thy great concern?
4 Now a new space of life begins;
Set out afresh for heaven:
Seek pardon for thy former sins,
Through Christ, so freely given.
5 Devoutly yield thyself to God,
And on his grace depend;
With zeal pursue the heavenly road,
Nor doubt a happy end.
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