6 While with my heart and tongue
I spread thy praise abroad,
Accept the worship and the song,
My Saviour and my God!
1 IN sleep's serene oblivion laid,
I safely passed the silent night:
Again I see the breaking shade,
I drink again the morning light.
2 New-born, I bless the waking hour;
Once more, with awe, rejoice to be;
My conscious soul resumes her power,
And springs, my guardian God, to thee.
3 O guide me through the various maze
My doubtful feet are doomed to tread;
And spread thy shield's protecting blaze
Where dangers press around my head!
4 A deeper shade shall soon impend,
A deeper sleep my eyes oppress;
Yet then thy strength shall still defend,
Thy goodness still delight to bless.
5 That deeper shade shall break away,
That deeper sleep shall leave my eyes:
Thy light shall give eternal day ;
Thy love, the rapture of the skies.
Morning. ... Prayer for Guidance.
1 God of the morning, at whose voice
The cheerful sun makes haste to rise,
And like a giant doth rejoice
To run his journey through the skies;
2 O, like the sun may I fulfil
The appointed duties of the day;
With ready mind and active will
March on, and keep my heavenly way.
3 Lord, thy commands are clean and pure,
Enlightening our beclouded eyes;
Thy threatenings just, thy promise sure;
Thy Gospel makes the simple wise.
4 Give me thy counsel for my guide,
And then receive me to thy bliss ;
All my desires and hopes beside
Are faint and cold, compared with this.
1 Now the shades of night are gone;
Now the morning light is come;
Lord, may we be thine to-day,
Drive the shades of sin away!
2 Fill our souls with heavenly light,
Banish doubt, and clear our sight;
In thy service, Lord, to-day,
May we stand, and watch and pray.
3 Keep our haughty passions bound;
Save us from our foes around;
Going out and coming in,
Keep us safe from every sin.
4 When our work of life is past,
O receive us then at last;
Night and sin will be no more,
When we reach the heavenly shore.
Morning. . . . God's Care.
1 WHAT secret hand, at morning light,
Softly unseals mine eye,
Draws back the curtain of the night,
And opens earth and sky?
2 'Tis thine, my God, the same that kept
My resting hours from harm;
No ill came nigh me, for I slept
Beneath the Almighty's arm.
3 T is thine-my daily bread that brings,
Like manna scattered round,
And clothes me, as the lily springs
In beauty from the ground.
4 In death's dark valley though I stray,
"T would there my steps attend,
Guide with the staff my lonely way,
And with the rod defend.
5 May that sure hand uphold me still
Through life's uncertain race,
To bring me to thy holy hill,
And to thy dwelling-place.
Morning or Evening.
1 As every day thy mercy spares
Will bring its trials or its cares,
O Father! till my life shall end,
Be thou my counsellor and friend ;
Teach me thy statutes all divine,
And let thy will be always mine.
2 When each day's scenes and labors close,
And wearied nature seeks repose,
With pardoning mercy richly blest,
Guard me, my Father, while I rest:
And as each morning sun shall rise,
O lead me onward to the skies!
3 And at my life's last setting sun,
My conflicts o'er, my labors done,
Father, thy heavenly radiance shed,
To cheer and bless my dying bed;
And from death's gloom my spirit raise,
To see thy face, and sing thy praise.
Morning or Evening. . . . All from God.
1 FATHER! thy paternal care
Has my guardian been, my guide!
Every hallowed wish and prayer
Has thy hand of love supplied;
Thine is every thought of bliss,
Left by hours and days gone by;
Every hope thy offspring is,
Beaming from futurity.
2 Every sun of splendid ray;
Every moon that shines serene;
Every morn that welcomes day;
Every evening's twilight scene;
Every hour which wisdom brings ;
Every incense at thy shrine;
These,
and all life's holiest things,
3 And for all my hymns shall rise
Daily to thy gracious throne:
Thither let my asking eyes
Turn unwearied, righteous One!
Through life's strange vicissitude
There reposing all my care,
Trusting still, through ill and good,
Fixed and cheered and counselled there.
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