646

C. M.

Thanksgiving for Victory.

WATTS.

1 ZION, rejoice, and, Judah, sing;
The Lord assumes his throne;
Now let our country own her King,
And make his glories known.

2 The great, the wicked, and the proud,
From their high seats are hurled;
Jehovah rides upon a cloud,

And thunders through the world.

3 He reigns upon the eternal hills,
Distributes mortal crowns;

Empires are fixed beneath his smiles,
And totter at his frowns.

4 Navies that rule the ocean wide
Are vanquished by his breath,

And legions, armed with power and pride,
Descend to watery death.

5 Let tyrants make no more pretence
To vex our happy land;
Jehovah's name is our defence,
Our buckler is his hand.

647

L. M.

MRS. STEELE.

Praise for national Peace.

1 GREAT Ruler of the earth and skies,
A word of thy almighty breath

Can sink the world or bid it rise;
Thy smile is life, thy frown is death.

2 When angry nations rush to arms,
And rage, and noise, and tumult, reign,
And war resounds its dire alarms,

And slaughter spreads the hostile plain, 3 Thy sovereign eye looks calmly down,

And marks their course, and bounds their power; Thy word the angry nations own,

And noise and war are heard no more.

4 Then Peace returns with balmy wing;
Sweet Peace! with her what blessings fled!
Glad Plenty laughs, the valleys sing,
Reviving Commerce lifts her head.

5 To thee we pay our grateful songs,
Thy kind protection still implore;
O, may our hearts, and lives, and tongues,
Confess thy goodness, and adore.

1 ETERNAL Sovereign of the sky,

And Lord of all below,

We mortals to thy majesty

Our first obedience owe.

WATTS.

2 Our souls adore thy throne supreme,
And bless thy providence

For magistrates of meaner name,
Our glory and defence.

3 Kingdoms on firm foundations stand,
While virtue finds reward,

And sinners perish from the land
By justice and the sword.

4 Let Cæsar's due be ever paid

To Cæsar and his throne;
But consciences and souls were made
To be the Lord's alone.

649

L. M.

For New Year's Day.

DODDRIDGE.

1 MY Helper, God, I bless his name;

The same his power, his grace the same;
The tokens of his friendly care

Open, and crown, and close, the year.
2 I 'midst ten thousand dangers stand,
Supported by his guardian hand,
And see, when I survey my ways,
Ten thousand monuments of praise.
3 Thus far his arm hath led me on;
Thus far I make his mercy known;
And, while I tread this desert land,
New mercies shall new songs demand.

650

C. M.

For a new Year.

DODDRIDGE.

1 REMARK, my soul, the narrow bounds Of the revolving year ;

How swift the weeks complete their rounds! How short the months appear!

2 So fast eternity comes on,

And that important day,

When all that mortal life has done
God's judgment shall survey.

3 Yet like an idle tale we pass
The swift-advancing year,
And study artful ways to increase
The speed of its career.

4 Waken, O God, my trifling heart,
Its great concern to see;
That I may act the Christian part,
And give the year to thee.

5 So shall their course more grateful roll,
If future years arise;

Or this shall bear my smiling soul
To joy that never dies.

651

L. M.

DODDRIDGE.

For a new Year.

1 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.

2 By day, by night, at home, abroad,
Still are we guarded by our God,
By his incessant bounty fed,
By his unerring counsel led.

3 With grateful hearts the past we own;
The future, all to us unknown,
We to thy guardian care commit,
And peaceful leave before thy feet.

4 In scenes exalted or depressed,

Thou art our joy, and thou our rest;
Thy goodness all our hopes shall raise,
Adored through all our changing days.

5 When death shall interrupt these songs,
And seal in silence mortal tongues,
Our Helper, God, in whom we trust,
In better worlds our souls shall boast.

652

P. M.

For a new Year.

WESLEY'S COL.

1 COME, let us anew our journey pursue, Roll round with the year,

And never stand still till the Master appear.

2 His adorable will let us gladly fulfil, And our talents improve,

By the patience of hope, and the labor of love.

3 Our life is a dream; our time, as a stream, Glides swiftly away,

And the fugitive moment refuses to stay.

4 The arrow is flown; the moment is gone; The millennial year

Rushes on to our view, and eternity's here.

5 0 that each, in the day of his coming, may say, "I have fought my way through;

I have finished the work thou didst give me to

do."

60 that each from his Lord may receive the glad

word,

"Well and faithfully done!

Enter into my joy, and sit down on my throne."

507