54

163.

God is Love.

BOWRING.

1 GOD is love: his mercy brightens
All the path in which we rove;
Bliss he wakes, and woe he lightens :
God is wisdom, God is love.

2 Chance and change are busy ever;
Man decays, and ages move;
But his mercy waneth never:
God is wisdom, God is love.

3 E'en the hour that darkest seemeth
Will his changeless goodness prove;
From the gloom his brightness streameth:
God is wisdom, God is love.

4 He with earthly cares entwineth
Hope and comfort from above;
Everywhere his glory shineth:
God is wisdom, God is love.

A spring whose blessings never fail,
A sea without a shore.

2 Sun, moon, and stars thy love declare In every golden ray:

Love draws the curtains of the night,
And love brings back the day.

3 Thy bounty every season crowns,
With all the bliss it yields;
With joyful clusters loads the vines,
With strengthening grain the fields.

4 But chiefly thy compassion, Lord,

Is in the gospel seen:
There, like a sun, thy mercy shines,
Without a cloud between.

stand,

A highway for our God:

He walks amidst the desert-land; 'Tis Eden where he trod.

1 I SING the mighty power of God, That made the mountains rise; That spread the flowing seas abroad,

And built the lofty skies.

I sing the wisdom that ordained

The sun to rule the day:

The moon shines full at his command,

And all the stars obey.

2 I sing the goodness of the Lord,

That filled the earth with food:

He formed the creatures with his word,
And then pronounced them good.
Lord, how thy wonders are displayed,
Where'er I turn my eye;
If I survey the ground I tread,
Or gaze upon the sky!

3 There's not a plant or flower below,
But makes thy glories known;
And clouds arise, and tempests blow,
By order from thy throne.
Creatures that borrow life from thee

Are subject to thy care: There's not a place where we can flee, But God is present there

Nature's Hymn.

BOWRING.

1 THE heavenly spheres to thee, O God! Attune their evening hymn:

All wise, all holy, thou art praised

In song of seraphim.

Unnumbered systems, suns, and worlds

Unite to worship thee,

While thy majestic greatness fills
Space, time, eternity.

2 Nature,

a temple worthy thee, That beams with light and love; Whose flowers so sweetly bloom below,

Whose stars rejoice above;

Whose altars are the mountain cliffs

That rise along the shore;
Whose anthems, the sublime accord
Of storm and ocean roar.

3 Her song of gratitude is sung
By spring's awakening hours;
Her summer offers at thy shrine

Its earliest, loveliest flowers;
Her autumn brings its ripened fruits,
In glorious luxury given;
While winter's silver heights reflect

Thy brightness back to heaven.