4 Distant as the spreading eaft,
From the mingling fhades of weft,
So far diftant shall be plac'd
All by which man is difgrac'd,
Then fhall all thy goodnefs prove,
All fhall bless thee, fource of love!
The Tenderness and Faithfulness of Jehovah.
As a father's tenderness
Would his much-lov'd offspring blefs;
Thus, Jehovah, doth thy love
O'er thy fearers always move:
Lord! thou know'ft our feeble frame,
What we are, and whence we came.
2 Man is like the with'ring grafs,
Swift his years like flowers pafs,
Blooms at morn, and sweets exhales,
Storms arife! by night it fails;
Vain we fearch the garden o'er,
Never fhall we see it more.
3 But thy love fhall always laft,
Ne'er be to thy fearers paft;
Their defcendants fhall it claim,
Who thy covenant maintain,
Who relying on thine arm,
Gladly all thy will perform.
Calling upon the whole Creation to bless Jehovah.
I HAIL, Jehovah, God Supreme!
Thou thy fearers wilt redeem,
They, by Jefus justify'd,
Ever in thy love abide;
And their child'rens children too
Shall thro' him their Maker know.
4 In the Heav'ns Jehovah reigns,
O'er his works his Throne maintains,
Views the diftant planets roll,
Speaks, and regulates the whole.
All creation bless his name,
Your existence from him came.
3 Zephyrs, and tempefts as ye blow,
Thunders, light'nings, hail, and snow,
Dews and rains, ye hear his word,
Praife aloud creation's Lord,
With the heav'nly hoft proclaim
Ev'ry where your Maker's name.
4 Blefs him as ye do his will,
Ye who his commands fulfil,
All his works Jehovah bless,
His vaft pow'rs and love confefs,
Blefs Jehovah, O my foul,
Let his word, thy deeds controul.
The ancient Church thought that thofe who knew the works of Jehovah would praise him; and, therefore, made his works the frequent fubject of grateful remembrance, and by fo doing preferved amongst men the true knowledge of Nature. It is not much expected that the modern Church will often ufe this Pfalm. It is not true knowledge, not wisdom, not the works of Jehovah, as recorded by revelation, (which is the only true philofophy) that is to call forth their gratitude; but ignorance is to be the parent of their devotion, and the study of his works is vain philofophy, with which they have no business: this is to be left to infidels and Deifts, and the Chriftian, who fhould think that it is the furvey of Nature, compared with the writings of infpiration and the conduct of Providence, that is, to confirm his faith, will by most professors be ranked amongst
the number of unbelievers; but the day of the Lord is at hand, then fhall the works of Jehovah be more fully known, and that knowledge fhall call forth the continual gratitude and unceafing praife of all
IMY foul arife, Jehovah bless!
The wonders of his works confefs!
Creator, hail! enthron'd in state,
God over all! immensely great,
Thy hands Heav'ns canopy have spread,
Stretch'd like a tent o'er ev'ry head,
Where the primeval atoms flow'd,
Till thou hadft each its place bestow'd.
2 Thou prefs'd upon th' extremeft wind,
And atoms to their orbs confin'd,
Then bade the prison'd airs expand,
And all compress as with thine hand,
Each their appointed stations take,
And earth's unnumber'd strata's make,
An hollow globe all delug'd o'er,
Without rock, mountain, hill, or shore.
3 At thy word th' expanding air
Harden'd the faces of this fphere,
And form'd a concave hollow fhell,
On whose wide furface billows fwell:
At thy command the airs burft forth
In various rents from out the earth,
And, as her womb the waters fill,
Shape ev'ry mountain, vale, and hill.
4 As down the airs compreffing bore,
Aloud thine awful thunders roar,
With trembling hafte the waters sweep,
And lay ingulph'd within the deep;
From whence by fprings they upward tend,
Till they the mountain tops afcend,
From whence they to the vallies glide,
Or roll a stream's impetuous tide.
PART II.
The Providence of God.
BY paths unfeen the waters creep
Again into the ftorehouse deep,
Beyond their bounds they come not forth,
To roll a deluge o'er the earth;
But by thine appointment flow
In rills, and 'twixt the mountains
Roll down in torrents, or in fountains burst,
And quench each living creature's thirst.
2 The fwift, wild affes there appear,
And airy birds inhabit there;
In the green fhade their mellow fong
They pour in grateful notes along,
From the abyfs foft dews arife,
Pierce thro' the earth, and feek the skies,
In clouds they to the mountains tend,
Burft, and in genial rains descend,
3 By them made pregnant, mother Earth
Shoots all her vig'rous offspring forth,
And beafts herbaceous nurture gain,
With herbs that human life fuftain;
With fruits and flow'rs her lap abounds,
And chearful wine that care confounds,
Raifes the drooping lab'rer's foul,
And makes his tired fpirits whole.
4 Upward the flowing fap afcends,
And to the utmost branches tends
Lebannon's cedars fed by thee,
Bow grateful praise to Deity:
My God! thy tender care is bleft,
By birds who build the lonesome neft,
And ftorks who on tall firs refide, r
And stem the torrent's fierceft tide.
5 The goat the rugged mountain loves,
And o'er its precipices roves ;
To craggy rocks the jerboa takes,
And in their clefts fafe fhelter feeks:
Thy providence is ev'ry where,
And all thy works beneath thy care,
All things the place appointed fit,
The place for them, and they for it,
6 The varying moon as the appears,
To all the change of time declares;
She marks the times of joy or fear,
Of grief, of labour, hope, or care;
The folar light her setting knows,
And from earth's darken'd furface flows;
It, with all Nature, owns thee Lord,
And moves obedient to thy word.
7 By thy command night's ftagnate airs
Heavy on earth's dark furface bears,
Onward it fprings the rolling fphere,
And days fucceeding days appear:
Earth always fpringing from dark night
Into the day's bright folar light,
Doth its unceasing circle run
In yearly courfe around the fun.
The fupporting Providence of Jehovah.
Tender parent's anxious cares,
For all thy creatures, Lord, appears,
The fierce wild beafts at night come forth,
And prowl around the woodland earth;
Young lions roar aloud for prey,
And ask their food, my God, of thee;
But when the dawning light flows in,
Each feeks for reft his dark fome den.
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