2 If, mounted on a morning ray,
I fly beyond the western sea,
Thy swifter hand would first arrive,
And there arrest thy fugitive.
3 Or should I try to shun thy sight
Beneath the spreading veil of night,
One glance of thine, one piercing ray,
Would kindle darkness into day.
4 The veil of night is no disguise,
No screen from thy all-searching eyes;
Thy hand can seize thy foes as soon
Through midnight shades as blazing noon.
5 O, may these thoughts possess my breast,
Where'er I rove, where'er I rest!
Nor let my weaker passions dare
Consent to sin, for God is there.
1 O LORD, thy all-discerning eyes
My inmost purpose see ;
My deeds, my words, my thoughts arise
Alike disclosed to thee :
My sitting down, my rising up,
Broad noon, and deepest night,
My path, my pillow, and my cup,
Are open to thy sight.
2 Before, behind, I meet thine eye,
And feel thy heavy hand;
Such knowledge is for me too high,
To reach or understand:
What of thy wonders can I know?
What of thy purpose see ?
Where from thy spirit shall I go?
Where from thy presence flee ?
3 If I ascend to heaven on high,
Or make my bed in hell;
Or take the morning's wings, and fly
O'er ocean's bounds to dwell;
Or seek, from thee, a hiding-place
Amid the gloom of night, -
Alike to thee are time and space,
The darkness and the light.
Wisdom. Prov. viii.
1 SHALL Wisdom cry aloud,
And not her speech be heard?
The voice of God's eternal word,
Deserves it no regard?
2 "I was his chief delight,
His everlasting Son,
Before the first of all his works,
Creation, was begun.
3 "Before the flying clouds,
Before the solid land,
Before the fields, before the floods,
I dwelt at his right hand.
4 "When he adorned the skies,
And built them, I was there,
To order when the sun should rise,
And marshal every star.
5 "When he poured out the sea,
And spread the flowing deep,
I gave the flood a firm decree,
In its own bounds to keep.
6 "Then come, receive my grace,
Ye children, and be wise:
Happy the man that keeps my ways;
The man that shuns them dies."
1 ETERNAL Wisdom! thee we praise;
Thee the creation sings;
With thy loud name rocks, hills, and seas,
And heaven's high palace, rings.
2 Thy hand, how wide it spread the sky!
How glorious to behold!
Tinged with a blue of heavenly dye,
And starred with sparkling gold!
3 The noisy winds stand ready there
Thy orders to obey;
With sounding wings they sweep the air,
To make thy chariot way.
4 There, like a trumpet loud and strong,
Thy thunder shakes our coast,
While the red lightnings wave along-
The banners of thine host.
5 The rolling mountains of the deep
Observe thy strong command;
Thy breath can raise the billows steep,
Or sink them to the sand.
6 Thy glories blaze all nature round,
And strike the gazing sight,
Through skies, and seas, and solid ground,
With terror and delight.
7 Infinite strength and equal skill
Shine through the worlds abroad, Our souls with vast amazement fill, And speak the builder God.
The Wisdom of God in his Works. Ps. 111.
1 SONGS of immortal praise belong
To my Almighty God;
He has my heart, and he my tongue,
To spread his name abroad.
2 How great the works his hand has wrought!
How glorious in our sight!
And men in every age have sought
His wonders with delight.
3 How most exact is nature's frame!
How wise the Eternal Mind!
His counsels never change the scheme
That his first thoughts designed.
4 Nature, and time, and earth, and skies,
Thy heavenly skill proclaim;
What shall we do to make us wise,
But learn to read thy name ?
5 To fear thy power, to trust thy grace,
Is our divinest skill;
And he's the wisest of our race
That best obeys thy will.
The Wisdom of God in the Formation of Man. Ps. 139.
1 WHEN I, with pleasing wonder, stand,
And all my frame survey,
Lord, 'tis thy work; I own thy hand
Thus built my humble clay.
2 Thy hand my heart and reins possessed,
Where unborn nature grew;
Thy wisdom all my features traced,
And all my members drew.
3 Thine eye, with nicest care, surveyed
The growth of every part,
Till the whole scheme thy thoughts had laid
Was copied by thy art.
4 Heaven, earth, and sea, and fire, and wind, Show me thy wondrous skill;
But I review myself, and find
Diviner wonders still.
5 Thy awful glories round me shine;
My flesh proclaims thy praise ;
Lord, to thy works of nature join
Thy miracles of grace.
The Greatness of God. Ps. 145.
1 MY God, my King, thy various praise
Shall fill the remnant of my days,
Thy grace employ my humble tongue,
Till death and glory raise the song.
|