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The Year crowned with Divine Goodness. Ps. 65.

1 ETERNAL Source of every joy,

Well may thy praise our lips employ,
While in thy temple we appear,

Whose goodness crowns the circling year.
2 The flowery spring, at thy command,
Embalms the air, and paints the land;
The summer-rays, with vigor shine,
To raise the corn and cheer the vine.
3 Thy hand in autumn richly pours
Through all our coasts redundant stores;
And winters, soften'd by thy care,

No more a face of horror wear.

4 Seasons, and months, and weeks, and days
Demand successive songs of praise:
Still be the cheerful homage paid
With opening light, and evening shade.
5 Here in thy house shall incense rise,
As circling Sabbaths bless our eyes ;
Still we will make thy mercies known
Around thy board, and round our own.
6 O may our more harmonious tongue
In worlds unknown pursue the song;
And in those brighter courts adore,
Where days and years revolve no more.

68. C. M.

HEGINBOTHAM.

Praising God in all Changes.

1 FATHER of mercies, God of love,
My Father and my God;

I'll sing the honors of thy name,
And spread thy praise abroad.

69

DEVOUT AFFECTIONS.

2 In every period of my life

Thy thoughts of love appear;
Thy mercies gild each transient scene,
And crown each lengthening year.
3 In all these mercies may my soul
A father's bounty see ;

Nor let the gifts thy grace bestows
Estrange my heart from thee.

4 Teach me in time of deep distress
To own thy hand, my God;
And in submissive silence hear
The lessons of thy rod.

5 In every changing state of life,
Each bright, each gloomy scene,
Give me a meek and humble mind,
Still equal and serene.

6 Then will I close my eyes in death,
Free from distressing fear ;
For death itself is life, my God,
If thou art with me there.

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Safety of trusting in God.

1 UNSHAKEN as the sacred hill,

And firm as mountains stand ;

Firm as a rock

the soul shall rest,

That trusts th' almighty hand.

2 Not walls nor hills could guard so well
Fair Salem's happy ground,

As those eternal arms of love,
That every saint surround.

3 Deal gently, Lord, with souls sincere,
And lead them safely on;

Oh may we reach the blest abode,
Where Christ our Lord is gone.

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70. L. M. MRS. BARBAuld.

The Righteous blessed in Death.

1 How bless'd the righteous when he dies!
When sinks a weary soul to rest,
How mildly beam the closing eyes,
How gently heaves the expiring breast!
2 So fades a summer cloud away,
So sinks the gale when storms are o'er,
So gently shuts the eye of day,
So dies a wave along the shore.

3 A holy quiet reigns around,

A calm which life nor death destroys;
Nothing disturbs that peace profound,
Which his unfettered soul enjoys.

4 Farewell, conflicting hopes and fears,
Where lights and shades alternate dwell;
How bright the unchanging morn appears!
Farewell, inconstant world, farewell!

5 Life's duty done, as sinks the clay,
Light from its load the spirit flies;

While heaven and earth combine to say,
'How bless'd the righteous when he dies!'

71.

8 & 7s M. J. NEWTON.

The City of God.

1 GLORIOUS things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God!

He whose word cannot be broken, Formed thee for his own abode. 2 On the Rock of Ages founded,

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What can shake thy sure repose
With salvation's walls surrounded,
Thou mayest smile at all thy foes.

72

PUBLIC WORSHIP.

3 See! the streams of living waters,
Springing from eternal love,
Well supply thy sons and daughters,
And all fear of want remove.

4 Who can faint while such a river

?

Ever flows their thirst to assuage Grace, which, like the Lord the Giver, Never fails from age to age.

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On opening a place of worship.

1 GREAT father of mankind,

We bless that wondrous grace,
Which could for Gentiles find
Within thy courts a place.
How kind the care

Our God displays,
For us to raise

A house of prayer!

2 Though once estranged afar,
We now approach the throne;
For Jesus brings us near,

And makes our cause his own:
Strangers no more,

To thee we come,
And find our home,
And rest secure.

3 May all the nations throng
To worship in thy house;
And thou attend their song,
And smile upon their vows;
Indulgent still,

Till earth conspire
To join the choir
On Zion's hill.

73.

L. M. → BROWNE.

For the Guidance of the Holy Spirit.

1 COME, gracious Spirit, heavenly Dove,
With light and comfort from above;
Be thou our Guardian, thou our Guide;
O'er every thought and step preside.
2 The light of truth to us display,

And make us know and choose thy way;
Plant holy fear in every heart,
That we from God may not depart.

3 Lead us to holiness, the road

That we must take to dwell with God; Lead us to Christ, the living way, Nor let us from his precepts stray. 4 Lead us to God, our final rest, In his enjoyment to be blest ; Lead us to heaven, the seat of bliss, Where pleasure in perfection is.

74. 7s M.

SPIRIT OF THE PSALMS.

Birth of Christ.

1 HAIL, all hail the joyful morn! Tell it forth from earth to heaven, That to us a child is born,

That to us a Son is given.

2 Angels bending from the sky
Chanted at the wondrous birth;
Glory be to God on high,
Peace-good will to man on earth.'

3 Join we then our feeble lays,
To the chorus of the sky;
And, in songs of grateful praise,
Glory give to God on high.

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