2 Let all who owe to thee their birth,
In praises every hour employ;
Jehovah reigns! be glad, O earth,
And shout, ye morning stars, for joy

106

HAI

Unsearchable.

C. M.

AIL, Father, whose creating call
Unnumber'd worlds attend;

Jehovah, comprehending all,

Whom none can comprehend.
2 In light unsearchable enthroned,
Whom angels dimly see;

The fountain of the Godhead own'd,
And foremost of the Three:
3 Supreme and all-sufficient God!
When nature shall expire,
And worlds, created by thy nod,
Shall perish by thy fire;

4 Thy Name, Jehovah, be adored
By creatures without end;

Whom none but thy essential Word
And Spirit comprehend.

107

C. M.

Dwelling in light which no man can approach unto.

ETER

TERNAL Power, Almighty God,
Who can approach thy throne?

Unfading light is thine abode,

To mortal man unknown.

2 Before the radiance of thine eye,
The heavens no longer shine;

And all the glories of the sky

Are but the shade of thine.

3 Great God, and wilt thou condescend
To cast a look below?

To this vile world thy notice bend-
These seats of sin and wo?

4 How strange, how wondrous, is thy love!
With trembling we adore:

Not all the' exalted minds above
Its wonders can explore.

5 While golden harps and angel tongues
Resound immortal lays,

Great God, permit our humble songs
To celebrate thy praise.

108

0

L. M.

Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?
GOD, thou bottomless abyss!

Thee to perfection who can know?
O height immense! what words suffice,
Thy countless attributes to show?
2 Greatness unspeakable is thine;

Greatness, whose undiminish'd ray,
When short-lived worlds are lost, shall shine,—
When earth and heaven are fled away.

3 Unchangeable, all-perfect Lord,

Essential life's unbounded sea,

What lives and moves, lives by thy word,
It lives, and moves, and is, from thee.
4 High is thy power above all height;
Whate'er thy will decrees is done;
Thy wisdom, equal to thy might,
Only to thee, O God, is known!

109

Incomprehensibly glorious.

OD is a Name my soul adores,

L. M.

GOD
The' almighty Three, the' eternal One:

Nature and grace, with all their powers,
Confess the Infinite Unknown.

2 Thy voice produced the sea and spheres;
Bade the waves roar, the planets shine:
But nothing like thyself appears

Through all these spacious works of thine.

3 Still restless nature dies and grows;
From change to change the creatures run:
Thy being no succession knows,

And all thy vast designs are one.

4 A glance of thine runs through the globe,

Rules the bright worlds, and moves their frame; Of light thou form'st thy dazzling robe; Thy ministers are living flame.

5 How shall polluted mortals dare
To sing thy glory or thy grace?
Beneath thy feet we lie afar,

And see but shadows of thy face.
6 Who can behold the blazing light?
Who can approach consuming flame?
None but thy wisdom knows thy might;
None but thy word can speak thy name.

110

C. M.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for us.

SHALL foolish, weak, short-sighted man
Beyond the angels go,-

The great Almighty God explain,
Or to perfection know?

2 His attributes divinely soar
Above the creature's sight,
And prostrate seraphim adore
The glorious Infinite.

3 The brightness of his glory leaves
Description far below;

Nor man's nor angel's heart conceives
How deep his mercies flow.

4 His grace is most unsearchable,
And dazzles all above;

They gaze, but cannot count or tell

The treasures of his love.

111

C. M.

Worthy of ceaseless praise from all his creatures.

PRAISE ye the Lord, ye' immortal choirs

That fill the worlds above;

Praise him who form'd you of his fires,
And feeds you with his love.

2 Shine to his praise, ye crystal skies,
The floor of his abode;

Or veil in shades your thousand eyes
Before your brighter God.

3 Thou restless globe of golden light,
Whose beams create our days,
Join with the silver queen of night,
To own your borrow'd rays.

4 Thunder and hail, and fire and storms,
The troops of his command,
Appear in all your dreadful forms,
And speak his awful hand.

5 Shout to the Lord, ye surging seas,
In your eternal roar;

Let wave to wave resound his praise,
And shore reply to shore.

6 Thus while the meaner creatures sing,
Ye mortals, catch the sound;

Echo the glories of your King
Through all the nations round.

112

5th P. M. 4 lines 7s. Eternal praises to the Most High. HEE to laud in songs divine Angels in thy presence join: We with them our voices raise, Echo thine eternal praise.

THE

2 Holy, holy, holy Lord,

Live, by heaven and earth adored:
Thus, with them, we ever cry,
Glory be to God most high!

JESUS CHRIST.

113

C. M.

Glad tidings of great joy.

WHILE shepherds watch'd their flocks by night,

All seated on the ground,

The angel of the Lord came down,

And glory shone around.

2 Fear not, said he, (for mighty dread
Had seized their troubled mind,)
Glad tidings of great joy I bring,
To you and all mankind.

3 To you, in David's town, this day
Is born, of David's line,

The Saviour, who is Christ the Lord;
And this shall be the sign:

4 The heavenly babe you there shall find
To human view display'd,

All meanly wrapp'd in swathing-bands,
And in a manger laid.

5 Thus spake the seraph; and forthwith
Appear'd a shining throng

Of angels, praising God on high,
Who thus address'd their song:

6 All glory be to God on high,
And to the earth be peace:

Good-will henceforth, from heaven to men,
Begin and never cease.

114

HAR

9th P. M. 87, 87.

Peace on earth-good-will to men.
ARK! what mean those holy voices,
Sweetly sounding through the skies?
Lo! the' angelic host rejoices;

Heavenly hallelujahs rise.