9

3 O Thou, who canst not slumber,
Whose light grows never pale,
Teach us aright to number
Our years before they fail :
On us Thy mercy lighten,

On us Thy goodness rest,
And let Thy SPIRIT brighten

The hearts Thyself hast blessed.

4 LORD, crown our faith's endeavour
With beauty and with grace,
Till, clothed in light for ever,
We see Thee face to face:
A joy no language measures;
A fountain brimming o'er;
An endless flow of pleasures;
An ocean without shore.

*Edward Henry Bickersteth,
1825-

C.M.

ΤΙ

HROUGH endless years Thou art the

same,

O Thou eternal GOD!

Ages to come shall know Thy name,
And spread Thy praise abroad.

2 The strong foundations of the earth
Of old by Thee were laid,

By Thee the beauteous arch of heaven
With matchless skill was made.

3 Soon shall this goodly frame of things,
Formed by Thy powerful hand,
Be like a vesture laid aside,

4

And changed at Thy command.

But Thine eternal state, O LORD!

No length of time shall waste:
Thy power and wisdom, truth and grace,
From age to age shall last.

5 Thou to the children of Thy saints
Shalt endless blessings give:

They in their fathers' GOD shall trust,
And in Thy presence live.

Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady,
1652-1715

1659-1726.

Altered by Harriet Auber.

1773-1862.

C.M.

I

GE

REAT GOD, how infinite art Thou!
How frail and helpless we!

Let the whole race of creatures bow,
And pay their praise to Thee!

2 Thy throne eternal ages stood,
Ere seas or stars were made;
Thou art the ever-living GOD,
Were all the nations dead.

3 Nature and time quite naked lie,
To Thine immense survey,
From the formation of the sky
To the great burning day.

ΙΟ

4 Eternity with all its years
Stands present in Thy view;

To Thee there's nothing old appears;
Great GOD! there's nothing new.

5 Our lives through various scenes are drawn, And vexed with trifling cares,

While Thine eternal thought moves on
Thine undisturbed affairs.

6 Great GOD, how infinite art Thou!
How frail and helpless we!
Let the whole race of creatures bow,
And pay their praise to Thee.

II

*Isaac Watts,

1674-1748.

L.M.

I

ATHER and Friend! Thy light, Thy love,

FATH

Beaming through all Thy works we see, Thy glory gilds the heavens above, And all the earth is full of Thee.

2 Thy voice we hear, Thy presence feel, Whilst Thou, too pure for mortal sight, Involved in clouds, invisible,

Reignest the LORD of life and light.

3 We know not in what hallowed part

Of the wide heavens Thy throne may be; But this we know, that where Thou art Strength, wisdom, goodness, dwell with

Thee.

4 Thy children shall not faint nor fear,
Sustained by this delightful thought,
Since Thou their GOD art everywhere,
They cannot be where Thou art not.

8's

Sir John Bowring, 1792-1872.

12

I

LOF

ORD! Thou hast known my inmost mind;

Thou dost my path and bed inclose;
My waking soul on Thee reclines;
On Thee my sleeping hours repose:
Where from Thy presence shall I fly?
LORD, ever present, ever nigh!

2 If to the highest heaven I climb,
Or on the wings of morning soar,
Thy swifter light awaits me there;
Thy piercing eyes my steps explore :
I cannot from Thy presence fly,
LORD, ever present, ever nigh!

3 And if to hide the evil thought,
To secret darkness I repair,

A still small voice within me speaks,
And tells that GOD is also there:

I would not from Thy presence fly,
LORD, ever present, ever nigh!

Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady.

1652-1715

1659-1726.

Altered by Henry Venn Elliott, [1835].

13

L.M.

L

ORD, Thou hast searched and seen me through,

Thine eye commands with piercing view
My rising and my resting hours,
My heart and flesh with all their powers.
2 My thoughts, before they are my own,
Are to my GOD distinctly known;

He knows the words I mean to speak,
Ere from my opening lips they break.
3 Within Thy circling power I stand;
On every side I find Thy hand;

Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,
I am surrounded still with GOD.
4 Amazing knowledge, vast and great!
What large extent! what lofty height!
My soul, with all the powers I boast,
Is in the boundless prospect lost.

5 If, mounted on a morning ray,
I fly beyond the western sea,

Thy swifter hand would first arrive,
And there arrest Thy fugitive.

6 Or should I try to shun Thy sight,
Beneath the spreading veil of night,
One glance of Thine, one piercing ray,
Would kindle darkness into day.

7 O may these thoughts possess my breast,
Where'er I rove, where'er I rest!
Nor let my weaker passions dare
Consent to sin, for GOD is there.

*Isaac Watts,

1674-1748.