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2 While void of thought and sense we lay,
Dust of our parent earth,

Thy breath informed the sleeping clay,
And called us into birth.

3 Thine eye beheld in perfect view,
The yet unfinished plan;

The imperfect lines thy pencil drew,
And formed the future man.

4 O may this frame, which rising grew
Beneath thy forming hands,
Be studious ever to pursue
Whate'er thy will commands!

Dodsley's Poems, alt'd.

179. L. M.

Devout Wishes for Guidance in the Christian Course. Ps. xix.

1 GOD of the morning! at whose voice
The cheerful sun makes haste to rise,
And robed in splendour, doth rejoice
To run his journey through the skies!
2 O, like the sun, may we fulfil
The appointed duties of the day;
With steady mind, and active will,
Press on and keep our heavenly way!

pure,

3 Lord thy commands are right and
Enlightening our beclouded eyes;
Thy threatenings just, thy promise sure;
Thy gospel makes the simple wise.
4 Give us thy counsel for our guide,
And then receive us to thy bliss:
May every wish and hope beside,
Be faint and cold compared with this!

Watts.

1

2

180. s. M.

Virtuous Desires. Ps. xxv. 8, 9. 12. 20.

GOD, who is just and kind,
Will those who err instruct,
And in the paths of righteousness
Their wandering steps conduct.

The humble soul he guides;
Teaches the meek his way;
Kindness and truth he shows to all
Who him in truth obey.

3 Give us the tender heart
That mingles fear with love;
And lead us through whatever path
Thy wisdom shall approve.

4 O ever keep our souls

From error, shame, and guilt!
Nor suffer the fair hope to fail,
Which on thy truth is built.

181. c. M.

Patrick.

Divine Providence, and the Folly of Self-Dependence

1 GOD reigns; events in order flow,
Man's industry to guide;
But in a different channel go,

To humble human pride.

2 The swift, not always in the race
Shall win the crowning prize;
Not always wealth and honour grace
The labours of the wise.

3 Fond mortals do themselves beguile,
When on themselves they rest;
Blind is their wisdom, vain their toil,
By thee, O Lord! unblessed.

4 'Tis ours, the furrows to prepare,
And sow the precious grain;
'Tis thine to give the sun and air,
And send the genial rain.

5 Evil and good before thee stand,
Their mission to perform :
The sun shines bright at thy command;
Thy hand directs the storm.

6 In all our ways, we humbly own
Thy providential power;
Entrusting to thy care alone
The lot of every hour.

182. C. M.

Scott, alt❜d.

The Day-spring from on High.

Ps. cxxx.

1 GREAT God! wert thou extreme to mark,

The deeds we do amiss,

Before thy presence who could stand?
Who claim thy promised bliss ?

2 But, O, all-merciful and just!
Thy love surpasseth thought;
A gracious Saviour hath appeared,
And peace and pardon brought.

3 On us the Sun of Righteousness

Its brightest beams hath poured; With grateful hearts and holy zeal Lord, be thy love adored!

And let us look with joyful hope
To that more glorious day,

Before whose brightness, sin, and death,

And grief, shall flee away.

183. L. M.

The Fear of God.

Spirit of the Psalms.

1 GREAT Author of all nature's frame!
Holy and reverend is thy name;
Against thee who shall lift his hand!
Before thy terrors who can stand!
2 But blessed are they, O gracious Lord!
Who fear thy name, and keep thy word:
Thy wisdom guides, thy power defends
Their life, till life its journey ends.
3 O that my soul with awful sense
Of thy transcendent excellence,
May close the day, the day begin,
Watchful against each darling sin!
4 Never, O never from my heart,
May this great principle depart,
But act with unabating power,
Within me to my latest hour!

184. L. M.

Scott, alt❜d.

Mutability of the Creation, and Immutability of God.
Ps. cii. 25-28.

1 GREAT Former of this various frame!
Our souls adore thine awful name,
And bow with reverence, while we praise
The Ancient of eternal days.

2 Beyond an angel's vision bright,
Thou dwell'st in uncreated light;
Which shines with undiminished ray,
While suns and systems pass away.
3 Our days a transient period run,
And change with every circling sun;
And, in the firmest state we boast,
A moth can crush us into dust.
4 But let all nature fall around;
Let death consign us to the ground;
Let the last general flame arise,
Consume the earth, dissolve the skies:
5 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.

185. c. M.

Doddridge, alt'd.

The Eternal Dominion of God.

1 GREAT God! how infinite art thou!
How weak and frail are we!
Let the whole race of creatures bow,
And homage pay to thee.

2 Thy throne eternal ages stood,
Ére earth or heaven was made
Thou art the ever-living God,
Were all the nations dead.

3 Nature and time all

open lie

To thine immense survey,

From the formation of the sky,
To the last awful day.

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