The blessings of the spring.

A psalm for the husbandman.

GOOD is the Lord, the heavenly King,

Who makes the earth his care;
Visits the pastures every spring,
And bids the grass appear.

The clouds, like rivers raised on high,
Pour out at thy command
Their wat❜ry blessings from the sky,
To cheer the thirsty land.

The barren clods, refresh'd with rain,
Promise a joyful crop;

The parching grounds fook green again,
And raise the reaper's hope.

The various months thy goodness crowns;
How bounteous are thy ways!
The bleating flocks spread o'er the downs,
And shepherds shout thy praise.

PSALM 66. C. M.

Governing power and goodness.

SING, all ye nations, to the Lord,
Sing with a joyful noise;

With melody of sound record

His honour, and your joys.

Say to the power that shakes the sky,
How terrible art thou!
"Sinners before thy presence fly,
"Or at thy feet they bow."

He rules by his resistless might:
Will rebel mortals dare
Provoke th' Eternal to the fight,
And tempt that dreadful war?

O bless our God, and never cease;
Ye saints, fulfil his praise;

He keeps our life, maintains our peace,
And guides our doubtful ways.

Through wat'ry deeps, and fiery ways,
We march at thy command;
Led to possess the promised place
By thine unerring hand.

PSALM 67. C. M.

The nation's prosperity, and the church's increase.

SHINE, mighty God, on Britain shine, beams of heavenly grace;

Reveal thy power through all our coasts,
And shew thy smiling face.
Amidst our isle, exalted high,
Do thou our glory stand,
And, like a wall of guardian fire,
Surround the favoured land.

When shall thy name, from shore to shore,
Sound all the earth abroad;
And distant nations know and love
Their Saviour and their God?

Sing to the Lord, ye distant lands,
Sing loud with solemn voice;
While British tongues exalt his praise,
And British hearts rejoice.

God the Redeemer scatters round
His choicest favours here,

While the creation's utmost bound
Shall see, adore, and fear.

PSALM LXVIII. Part 2. Ver. 17, 18. L. M. Christ's ascension, and the gift of the Spirit.

LORD, when thou didst ascend on high, Ten thousand angels fill'd the sky; Those heavenly guards around thee wait, Like chariots that attend thy state. 2 Not Sinai's mountain could appear More glorious when the Lord was there; While he pronounced his dreadful law, And struck the chosen tribes with awe. 3 How bright the triumph none can tell, When the rebellious powers of hell, That thousand souls had captive made, Were all in chains like captives led. 4 Raised by his Father to the throne, He sent the promised Spirit down With gifts and grace for rebel men, That God might dwell on earth again.

PSALM 68. Part 3. Ver. 19-22. L. M. Praise for temporal blessings.

WE bless the Lord, the just, the good,

Who fills our hearts with joy and food,
Who pours his blessings from the skies,
And loads our days with rich supplies.
2 He sends the sun his circuit round,
To cheer the fruits, to warm the ground;
He bids the clouds with plenteous rain
Refresh the thirsty earth again.

3 "Tis to his care we owe our breath,
And all our near escapes from death;
Safety and health to God belong;
He heals the weak, and guards the strong.

4 He makes the saint and sinner prove
The common blessings of his love;
But the wide difference that remains
Is endless joy or endless pains.

1

PSALM 69. C. M.

Christ's obedience and death.

FI bless my Saviour's name;

ATHER, I sing thy wondrous grace,

He bought salvation for the poor,
And bore the sinner's shame.

His deep distress has raised us high,
His duty and his zeal

Fulfill'd the law which mortals broke,
And finish'd all thy will.

This shall his humble followers see,
And set their hearts at rest;

They by his death draw near to thee,
And live for ever bless'd.

Let heaven and all that dwell on high
To God their voices raise,

While lands and seas assist the sky,
And join t' advance the praise.
Zion is thine, most holy God,
Thy Son shall bless her gates;
And glory purchased by his blood
For thy own Israel waits.

PSALM 69. L. M.

Christ's passion, and sinners' salvation.
EEP in our hearts let us record

The deeper sorrows of our Lord;

Behold the rising billows roll,
To overwhelm his holy soul.

2 In long complaints he spends his breath, While hosts of hell, and powers of death, And all the sons of malice, join

To execute their cursed design.

3 Yet, gracious God, thy power and love
Has made the curse a blessing prove;
Those dreadful sufferings of thy Son
Atoned for sins which we had done.
4 The pangs of our expiring Lord,
The honours of thy law restored;
His sorrows made thy justice known,
And paid for follies not his own.
5 O, for his sake our guilt forgive,
And let the mourning sinner live;
The Lord will hear us in his name,
Nor shall our hope be turn'd to shame.
PSALM 71. Part 1. Ver. 5-9. C. M.
The aged saint's reflection and hope.

MY God, my everlasting hope,
I live upon thy truth;

Thine hands have held my childhood up,
And strengthen'd all my youth.
Still has my life new wonders seen
Repeated every year;

Behold my days that yet remain,

I trust them to thy care.

Cast me not off when strength declines,
When hoary hairs arise;
And round me let thy glory shine,
Whene'er thy servant dies.

Then in the history of my age,
When men review my days,

They'll read thy love in every page,
In every line thy praise.