1 CAN creatures to perfection find
The eternal, uncreated mind?
Or can the largest stretch of thought
Measure and search his nature out?
2 'Tis high as heaven, 'tis deep as hell;
And what can mortals know or tell?
His glory spreads beyond the sky,
And all the shining worlds on high.
3 God is a King of power unknown;
Firm are the orders of his throne;
If he resolve, who dare oppose,
Or ask him why or what he does?
4 He frowns, and darkness veils the moon;
The fainting sun grows dim at noon;
The pillars of heaven's starry roof
Tremble and start at his reproof.
5 These are a portion of his ways;
But who shall dare describe his face?
Who can endure his light, or stand
To hear the thunders of his hand?
1 GREAT God, in vain man's narrow view
Attempts to look thy nature through;
Our laboring powers with reverence own
Thy glories never can be known,
2 Not the high seraph's mighty thought,
Who countless years his God has sought,
Such wondrous height or depth can find,
Or fully trace thy boundless mind.
3 Yet, Lord, thy kindness deigns to show
Enough for mortal minds to know;
While wisdom, goodness, power divine,
Through all thy works and conduct shine.
4 O, may our souls with rapture trace
Thy works of nature and of grace;
Explore thy sacred name, and still
Press on to know and do thy will.
1 MY God, I love and I adore ;
But souls that love would know thee more:
Wilt thou forever hide, and stand
Behind the labors of thy hand?
2 Thy hand, unseen, sustains the poles
On which this huge creation rolls;
The starry arch proclaims thy power;
Thy pencil glows in every flower.
3 Across the waves, around the sky,
There's not a spot, or deep or high,
Where the Creator has not trod,
And left the footstep of a God.
4 Fain would I trace the immortal way,
That leads to courts of endless day,
Where the Creator stands confessed,
In his own fairest glories dressed.
The divine Glories above our Reason.
1 HOW wondrous great, how glorious bright, Must our Creator be,
Who dwells amidst the dazzling light
Of vast infinity!
2 Our reason stretches all its wings,
And climbs above the skies;
But still how far beneath thy feet
Our groveling reason lies!
3 Lord, here we bend our humble souls,
And awfully adore;
For the weak pinions of our mind
Can stretch a thought no more.
4 In humble notes our faith adores
The great, mysterious King;
While angels strain their nobler powers,
And sweep the immortal string.
1 CELESTIAL King, our spirits lie
Trembling beneath thy feet,
And wish, and cast a longing eye,
To reach thy lofty seat.
2 In thee what endless wonders meet!
What various glories shine!
The crossing rays too fiercely beat
Upon our fainting mind.
3 Angels are lost in sweet surprise,
If thou unveil thy grace;
And humble awe runs through the skies,
When wrath arrays thy face.
4 Created powers, how weak they be!
How short our praises fall!
So much akin to nothing we,
And thou the Eternal All.
God exalted above all Praise.
1 ETERNAL Power! whose high abode
Becomes the grandeur of a God;
Infinite length beyond the bounds,
Where stars revolve their little rounds.
2 Lord, what shall earth and ashes do?
We would adore our Maker too;
From sin and dust to thee we cry,
The Great, the Holy, and the High.
3 Earth from afar has heard thy fame,
And worms have learned to lisp thy name;
But, O, the glories of thy mind
Leave all our soaring thoughts behind.
4 God is in heaven, and men below;
Be short our tunes, our words be few;
A sacred reverence checks our songs,
And praise sits silent on our tongues.
The Attributes of God our Confidence.
1 GREAT God, thine attributes divine, Thy glorious works and ways,
The wonders of thy power and might,
The universe displays.
2 In safety may thy children rest
On thy sustaining arm,
Extended still, and strong to save
From danger and alarm.
3 0, may thy gracious presence, Lord,
Chase anxious fears away;
Amidst the ruins of the world,
Our guardian and our stay!
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