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8 If e'er my ways have been perverse, Or foolish in thy view,

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Recall my fteps to thy commands,
And form my life anew.

CCLXXII. Long Met.

GR

UNKNOWN.

Thanks to GOD for all Things.

REAT God, my joyful thanks to thee
Shall, like thy gifts, continual be:
In conítant stream thy bounty flows,
Nor end, nor intermiffion knows.

Thy kindness every want relieves,
Thy kindness every comfort gives ;
Nor can I ever, Lord, be poor,
Who live on thine exhauftlefs ftore.

What paffion afks, thy will denies, I may be weak, but thou art wife: Afflictions which I poorly mourn, Thou canft, and doft to bleffings turn. Deep, Lord, upon my thankful breast May all thy favours be impreft, That I may never more forget

The fum, or any fingle debt.

May I, with grateful heart, each day For daily gifts, my praises pay; Delighted may I always be,

And thanks for all things give to thee.

Proper

I

CCLXXIII. Proper Metre. BARBAULD.
Creation glorious, but GOD alone eternal.

J

EHOVAH reigns, let every nation hear, And at his footftool bow with holy fear; Let heaven's high arches echo with his name, And the wide peopled earth his praise proclaim; He reigns alone, let no inferior nature

Ufurp, or fhare the throne of the Creator.

2 He faw the ftruggling beams of infant light Shoot thro' the maffy gloom of ancient night, His fpirit hushed the elemental strife,

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And brooded o'er the kindling feeds of life; Seasons and months began their long proceffion, And measured o'er the year in bright fucceffion.

The joyful fun fprung up th' ethereal way, Strong as a giant, as a bridegroom gay; And the pale moon diffused her fhadowy light Superior o'er the dufky brow of night; Ten thousand glittering lamps the fkies adorning, Numerous as dew-drops from the womb of morning,

Earth's blooming face with flowers and fruits he dreft,

And spread a verdant mantle o'er her breast; All glorious in unfullied bloom she stood, Her Maker bleffed his work, and called it good; The morning stars with joyful acclamation Exulting fung, and hailed the new creation..

PAUSE.

Yet this fair world, the creature of a day,
Though built by God's right hand fhall pass away;
And long oblivion creep o'er mortal things,
The fate of empires, and the pride of kings;

* From the paufe may be fung as a feparate hymn, beginning thus, This beauteous world, the creature of a day,

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Eternal night shall veil their proudest story,
And drop the curtain o'er all human glory.

The fun himself with thickeft clouds oppreft
Shall in his filent dark pavilion reft,
His golden urn broken and useless lie,
Amidst the common ruins of the sky:

The stars rush headlong in the wild commotion,
And bathe their glittering foreheads in the ocean.
But fixed, O God, for ever ftands thy throne,
Jehovah reigns, an universe alone,

Th' eternal fire, that feeds each vital flame,
Collected, or diffufed, is ftill the fame;

He dwells within his own eternal effence,
And fills all space with his unbounded prefence.
8 But oh! our highest notes the theme debase,
And modeft rev'rence is the trueft praise;
Ceafe, cease your songs, the daring flight controul,
Revere him in the ftillness of the foul:

I

With filent duty meekly bend before him,
And deep within your inmoft hearts adore him.

CCLXXIV.

Common Metre. WATTS.

The Greatnefs of God.

Y foul with humbleft reverence fings
The univerfal Lord,

M

The great, the mighty King of Kings,
By highest minds adored.

2 Life, death, this world, and worlds unknown, Hang on his firm decree :

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He fits on no precarious throne,

Nor borrows leave to be.

Ten thousand

ages ere the skies Were into motion brought,

Ages

Ages and worlds as yet unborn
Stood prefent to his thought.
4 His mighty voice bid ancient night
Her endlefs realms refign;

And lo, ten thousand worlds of light
In fields of azure shine.

5 Ages have rolled, and still fhall roll,
And each his praise refound,
Whose mind pervades, conducts the whole,
And bleffing fpreads around.

CCLXXV. Common Metre.

IMITATED FROM AN UNKNOWN AUTHOR.

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E

GOD praifed in Life and Death.

NOUGH, my God, I know thee here,
To merit all my praise;

Hereafter may I know thee more,
And nobler tribute raise.

2 In every smiling hour of life

May God my thoughts employ:
Then pure and chafte is every bliss,
And facred every joy.

3 Nor fhall the keenest sense of woe
Expel thee from my breaft:
Hope unfubdued makes forrow lefs,
And foothes each pain to rest.
4 But let me not in thought alone
Express my love to thee;
May all my life in virtue spent
One pious offering be.

5 And when I pass the gloomy vale,
Where death in horror reigns;
With faith unfhaken may I bear
Whate'er thy will ordains.

6 Thus may I know and love thee here,
And thus express my praise :
Hereafter I fhall know thee more,
And nobler tribute raife.

I

CCLXXVI. Common Metre. WATTS.

A

GOD's eternal Dominion.

NCIENT of days, eternal King!
Who ne'er began to be;

From thee did all existence spring,
And all depends on thee.

2 Thy throne eternal ages ftood,
Ere nature reared her head;
And thou shalt be the living God,
Though nature all were dead.

3 Time and creation naked lie
To thine immenfe furvey,

From the first birth of earth and sky,

To the last awful day.

4 Eternity, its fource and flow, Which human grafp eludes,

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Thy comprehenfive mind fees through;
Thy fight no darkness clouds.

Swift as a tale our minutes flow,
The present and the past:
While fixed in thy immortal now,
Thou feeft our ages wafte.

6 Change

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