O may I ne'er distrust that power
From which I cannot flee.

WATTS.

Plalm CXXXIX. 3d Part C. M. [orb]

Go

God the Author of our Being.

OD of my life, whose bounteous care
First gave me power to move;
How fhall my grateful heart declare

The wonders of thy love?

2 Thee will I honour, for I stand
The product of thy fkill;

The wonders of thy forming hand
My admiration fill.

3 Whilft void of thought and fenfe, I lay,
Duft of my parent earth;

Thy breath inform'd the fleeping clay,
And call'd me into birth.

4 From thee, before my breath begun,
My limbs their fashion took;
And in continuance, every one
Was written in thy book.

5 Thine eye beheld in perfect view,
The yet unfinish'd plan;

Th' imperfect lines thy pencil drew,
And form'd the future man.
60 may this animated frame,
This work of matchlefs fkill,
Be all devoted to thy name,
And love to

AMS's Collection, varied.

U.

B. W

S

Pfalm CXXXIX. 4th Part. C. M.

Praife for temporal and Spiritual Mercies.
LMIGHTY Father, gracious Lord,
King guardian of my days;
My heart thy mercies would record,
In grateful fongs of praife.

2 In life's first dawn, my tender frame,
Was thy indulgent care;
Before I could pronounce thy name,
Or breathe my infant prayer.

3 When reafon with my ftature grew,
How faint her brighteft ray!
How little of my God I knew!
How apt from thee to ftray !

4

When life hung trembling on a breath,
'I'was thine almighty love

That fav'd me from impending death,
And bade my fears remove.

5 How many bleffings round me fhone,
Where'er I turn'd my eye !

How many paft almost unknown,
Or unregarded, by !

6 Each rolling year new favours brought From thy exhaustless store ;

But ah! in vain my lab'ring thought
Would count thy mercies o'er.

7 Lord, when this mortal frame decays,
And every weakness dies;

Complete the wonders of thy grace.
And raife me to the skies.

Then fhall my joyful powers unite,

In more exalted lays,

And join the happy fons of light,

In everlasting praife.

Mrs. STEELE.

Pfalm CXXXIX. 5thPart. L.M.[ or b]

The Formation of Body and Soul..

HOU God, by whose command I live,
The tribute of my praife receive?
To thee, O Lord, my life I owe,
And all my joys from thee do flow.
2 Not many funs have form'd the year,
And roll'd their courses round the fphere,
Since thou my fhapeless duft furvey'd,
In undiftinguish'd matter laid.

5

Thy plastic hand my clay refin'd,
Its particles in order join'd;

And, to complete the wond'rous whole,
Did ftamp thine image on my foul.
A foul fufceptible of joy,

Which length of time cannot destroy;
Though nature claims my vital breath,
It bids defiance ftill to death.

To realms of blifs that foul will foar,
When earth and fkies fhall be no more;
And there in more exalted lays

Shall fing my great Creator's praife.

Mrs. CARTER, varied.

Pfalm CXXXIX. 6th Part. C.M. [X or b]

To the Searcher of Hearts.

LORD, fhould I count thy mercies o'er,

How the numbers rife!

Beyond the fands that spread the fhere,
Or ftars that gild the skies.

2 Whene'er I close my eyes to fleep,

Thefe thoughts fhall foothe my reft;
And when I wake they still fhall keep
Their place within my breaft.
3 Before thine all pervading eyes
I would my foul difplay;
I fcorn to use the leaft difguife,
But ask thy ftrict furvey.

4

5

Does my fond heart fome fav'rite fin
Within itself conceal!

O may a beam of light divine
The hidden guilt reveal.

If in the paths of dark deceit
My foul hath gone aftray,

O turn and guide my wand'ring feet
In thy celeftial way.

Plalim CXL.

Partly from DoDDRIDG

Deliverance from Enemies.

REAT God, our haughty foes repel;

G Their rage by power fuperior quell;

Save us from their vindictive tongue, And guard us from the hand of wrong. 2 The tongue, by wisdom unfubdu'd, From blifs its owner shall exclude; Deftruction follows faft behind

The feet to wickednefs inclin'd.

3 Our heart has known thee, Lord, prepar'd The helpless and the poor to guard;

To fave them from oppreffion's jaws,
And vindicate the injur'd caufe.
4 The foul, fubjected to thy fear,
With gratitude thy voice fhall hear ;
Shall bow their wills to thy command,
And in thy fight accepted itand.

Plaim CXLI. Long Metre.

Watchfulness and brotherly Reproof.

MERRICK.

[b or X]

LORD, when I call, make hafte to hear,'

And to my voice incline thine ear;
So fhall my prayer like incenfe rife,
My lifted hands like facrifice.

2 O fet upon my lips a guard,
And let my tongue be doubly barr'd;
Let not my
heart to vice incline,
Nor let my hand in mischief join.
3 If e'er from wisdom's path I ftray,
And walk in fin's delufive way,
Let virtue's friends, feverely kind,
Reprove the errors of my mind.

A Their faithful words like ointment fhed,
Sha never bruife, but heal my head;
And when I find them prefs'd with grief,
I'll pray to Heav'n for their relief.

WATTS, MERRICK and DENHAM.

Pfalm CXLII. Long Metre.

Ο

Deliverance from Trouble and Sorrow.

To thee, great God, I will disclose,

In fad recital, all my woes;

Because thine eyes, with fteady view,
Through forrow's gloom my fleps pursue.

[b]