Grateful Acknowledgement of our constant
Dependence on God.
GREAT Lord of earth, and seas, and skies!
Thy wealth the needy world supplies:
On thee alone the whole depends;
Thy care to every part extends.
To thee perpetual thanks we owe,
For all our comforts here below;
Our daily bread thy bounty gives,
And every rising want relieves.
To thee we now glad homage bring;
In grateful hymns thy praises sing;
Direct to thee our joyful eyes,
And humbly look for fresh supplies.
On thee we'll evermore depend,
The rich, the sure, the faithful Friend!
Our portion let thy wisdom choose,
Nor would our hearts that choice refuse.
And should thy measures seem severe,
Thy chastenings may we calmly bear;
Without complaint to thee submit,
The unerring Judge of what is fit.
Smile on us, Lord! we'll sing thy praise;
Correct, yet we'll adore thy ways;
We'll our own thoughts and wills resign,
And still approve each choice divine.
God our Guardian and Helper.
GREAT God! we sing that mighty hand
By which supported still we stand:
The opening year thy mercy shows;
That mercy crowns it, till it close.
By day, by night, at home, abroad,
Still we are guarded by our God:
By thine incessant bounty fed,
By thine unerring counsel led.
With grateful hearts the past we own;
The future, all to us unknown,
To thee commit in humble prayer,
And banish every anxious care.
In scenes exalted or deprest,
Thou art our joy, our hope, our rest: Unchang'd, through all our changing days, Thy love may we adoring praise.
When death shall interrupt these songs,
And seal in silence mortal tongues;
In better worlds our souls shall boast
Our Helper, God, in whom we trust.
GREAT Source of life! our souls confess
The various riches of thy grace:
Crown'd with thy mercy we rejoice,
And in thy praise exalt our voice.
By thee heaven's shining arch was spread ;
By thee were earth's foundations laid;
And all the scenes of men's abode
Proclaim the wise, the gracious God.
Thy quickening hand restores our breath, When trembling on the verge of death; Gently it wipes away our tears,
And lengthens life to future years.
Our lives are sacred to the Lord,
Kindled by him, by him restor❜d:
And while our hours renew their race,
May sin no more these hours disgrace.
So when at length by thee we're led
Through unknown regions of the dead,
With hope triumphant may we move
Towards scenes of nobler life above!
Grateful Review of God's Mercies.
LORD! since, in my advancing age,
I've acted on life's busy stage,
Thy thoughts of love to me surmount
The power of numbers to recount.
I could survey the ocean o'er,
And count the sands that make the shore,
Before my swiftest thoughts could trace
The numerous wonders of thy grace.
These on my heart are still imprest;
With these I give my eyes to rest;
And at my waking hours I find
God and his love possess my mind.
Faith and Hope in the Divine Goodness.
LORD! while my thoughts with wonder trace
Thy favours past through all my days,
My thankful heart adores thy grace;
I trust that goodness which I praise.
Still, from the same eternal spring,
Thy various, constant bounties flow;
Beneath the shelter of thy wing,
I view serene the shades of woe.
E'en death's tremendous vale appears
No more in gloomy terrors drest;
Thy voice, O God, forbids my fears,
While on thy gracious hand I rest.
Through the dark scenes of mortal care,
To humble faith's enraptur'd eye,
The distant prospect opens fair
Of radiant mansions in the sky.
God our perpetual Preserver and Benefactor.
ALMIGHTY Father! Gracious Lord!
Kind Guardian of my days!
Thy mercies let my heart record
songs of grateful praise.
In life's first dawn, my tender frame
Was thine indulgent care,
Long ere I could pronounce thy name
Or breathe the infant prayer.
When reason with my stature grew,
How weak her brightest ray!
How little of my God I knew!
How apt from thee to stray!
Around my path what dangers rose!
What snares spread all the road!
No power could guard me from my foes,
But my
Preserver-God.
When life hung trembling on a breath,
'Twas thine unceasing love
That sav'd me from impending death,
And bade my fears remove.
Lord! when this mortal frame decays,
And every weakness dies,
Complete the wonders of thy grace,
And raise me to the skies!
Praise to God through all the Changes of Life.
FATHER of mercies, God of love!
My Father and my God!
I'll sing the honours of thy name,
And spread thy praise abroad.
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In every period of my life,
Thy thoughts of love appear;
Thy mercies gild each transient scene,
And crown each circling year.
In all these mercies may my soul
A Father's bounty see;
Nor let the gifts thy grace bestows,
Estrange my heart from thee.
Teach me in times of deep distress
To own thy hand, my God!
And in submissive silence hear
The lessons of thy rod.
In every varying mortal state,
Each bright, each gloomy scene, Give me a meek and humble mind, Still equal and serene.
Then will I close mine eyes in death,
Without one anxious fear;
For death itself is life, my God!
If thou art with me there,
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