For the Beginning or End of the Year.
1 My helper, God! I bless his name ;
The same his power, his grace the same:
The tokens of his friendly care

Open, and crown, and close the year.
2 I midst ten thousand dangers stand,
Supported by his guardian hand;
And see, when I survey my ways,
Ten thousand monuments of praise.
3 Thus far his arm hath led me on ;
Thus far I make his mercy known;
And, while I tread this desert land,
New blessings shall new songs demand.

The Messiah's Coming and Kingdom. Ps. 98.
1 Joy to the world! the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King:
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing.

2 Joy to the earth! the Saviour reigns!
Let men their songs employ ;

While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy.

3 No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make his blessings flow
As far as sin is found.

4 He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove

The glories of his righteousness,
And wonders of his love.

1 GUIDE me, O thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim thro' this barren land;
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
Hold me with thy powerful hand :
Bread of heaven,

Feed me till I want no more.

2 Open, Lord, the chrystal fountain,
Whence the healing streams do flow;
Let the fiery, cloudy pillar,

Lead me all my journey through :
Strong deliv'rer!

Be thou still my strength and shield.
3 When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious fears subside;
Death of death, and hell's destruction,
Land me safe on Canaan's side:

The heavenly Canaan.

1 THERE is a land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign ;
Eternal day excludes the night,
And pleasures banish pain.

2 There everlasting spring abides,
And never-fading flowers;
Death, like a narrow sea, divides
This heavenly land from ours.

3 Sweet fields, beyond the swelling flood,
Stand dressed in living green:

So to the Jews fair Canaan stood,
While Jordan rolled between.

4 But timorous mortals start and shrink,
To cross this narrow sea;

And linger, trembling, on the brink,
And fear to launch away.

5 Oh, could we make our doubts remove,
Those gloomy doubts that rise,
And see the Canaan that we love
With unbeclouded eyes;

6 Could we but climb where Moses stood,
And view the landscape o'er,

Not Jordan's stream nor death's cold flood, Should fright us from the shore.

88. L. M. WATTS.

Christ's Kingdom among the Gentiles. Ps. 72. 1 JESUS shall reign where'er the sun Does his successive journies run

His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, Till moons shall wax and wane no more. 2 For him shall endless prayer be made, And praises throng to crown his head; His name, like sweet perfume, shall rise With every morning sacrifice.

3 People and realms of every tongue
Dwell on his love with sweetest song;
And infant voices shall proclaim
Their early blessings on his name.

4 Blessings abound where'er he reigns;
The prisoner leaps to loose his chains,
The weary find eternal rest,

And all the sons of want are blest.

5 Let every creature rise and bring
Peculiar honors to our King;
Angels descend with songs again,
And earth repeat the long amen.

INCARNATION OF CHRIST.

89, 90

89. L. M.

WATTS.

Blessedness of fearing and obeying God.

1 THRICE happy man! who fears the Lord,
Loves his commands—and trusts his word:
Honor and peace his days attend,
And blessings on his seed descend.
2 Compassion dwells upon his mind,
To works of mercy still inclined;
He lends the poor some present aid,
Or gives them not to be repaid.

3 His soul, well fixed upon the Lord,
Draws heavenly courage from his word;
Amid the darkness light shall rise,

To cheer his heart, and bless his eyes.
4 He hath dispersed his alms abroad,
His works are still before his God;
His name on earth shall long remain,
Nor shall his hope of heaven be vain.

90. C. M WATTS.

Christ's First and Second Coming.
1 Sing to the Lord, ye distant lands,
Ye tribes of ev'ry tongue;
His new discover'd grace demands
A new and nobler song.

2 Say to the nations, Jesus reigns,
God's own Almighty Son;

His power the sinking world sustains,
And grace surrounds his throne.

3 Let heaven proclaim the joyful day,
Joy through the earth be seen;
Let cities shine in bright array,
And fields in cheerful green.

4 Let an unusual joy surprise

The islands of the sea;

Ye mountains, sink, ye vallies, rise;
Prepare the Lord his way.

5 Behold, he comes, he comes to bless
The nations as their God;

To show the world his righteousness,
And send his truth abroad.

6 But when his voice shall raise the dead,
And bid the world draw near;
How will the guilty nations dread,
To see their Judge appear!

Frailty and Shortness of Life. Ps. 90.
1 LORD, what a feeble piece,
Is this our mortal frame!
Our life, how poor a trifle 't is,
That scarce deserves the name !

2 Alas! 't was brittle clay

That built our body first!
And every month and every day
"T is mouldering back to dust.

3 Our moments fly apace,

Nor will our minutes stay;
Just like a flood, our hasty days
Are sweeping us away.

4 Well, if our days must fly,

We'll keep their end in sight; We'll spend them all in wisdom's way, And let them speed their flight.

5 They'll waft us sooner o'er

This life's tempestuous sea:

Soon we shall reach the peaceful shore
Of blest eternity.