5 The barren clods, refresh'd with rain, Promise a joyful crop;

The parched grounds look green again, And raise the reaper's hope. 6 The various months thy goodness crowns; How bounteous are thy ways; The bleating flocks spread o'er the downs, And shepherds shout thy praise.

But he hath nobler works and ways
To call his people to his praise.
6 To all our realm his laws are shown;
His gospel through the nation known:
He hath not thus reveal'd his word
To every land:-Praise ye the Lord.

561

PSALM 147. C. M.
Devizes, Parma.

The fearful hart and frighted hind
Leap at the terror of the sound.
4 To Lebanon he turns his voice,
And lo, the stately cedars break;
The mountains tremble at the noise.
The valleys roar, the deserts quake
5 The Lord sits sovereign on the flood
The Thunderer reigns forever King
But makes his church his blest abode,
Where we his awful glories sing.
In gentler language, there the Lord
The counsels of his grace imparts;-
Amid the raging storm, his word
Speaks peace and courage to our hearts

The seasons of the year.
1 WITH songs and honours sounding 6
Address the Lord on high; [loud
Over the heavens he spreads his cloud,
And waters veil the sky.
2He sends his showers of blessings down
To cheer the plains below;
He makes the grass the mountains crown,
And corn in valleys grow.
3 He gives the grazing ox his meat;
He hears the ravens cry;
But man, who tastes his finest wheat,
Should raise his honours high.
4 His steady counsels change the face
Of the declining year;

He bids the sun cut short his race,
And wintry days appear.
5 His hoary frost, his fleecy snow
Descend and clothe the ground;
The liquid streams forbear to flow,
In icy fetters bound.

6 When from his dreadful stores on high,
He pours the rattling hail,
The wretch, that dares this God defy,
Shall find his courage fail.
He sends his word, and melts the snow,
The fields no longer mourn;
He calls the warmer gales to blow,
And bids the spring return.
8 The changing wind, the flying cloud
Obey his mighty word:
With songs and honours sounding loud,
Praise ye the sovereign Lord.

563

HYMN 62. B. 2. C. M. b or
Swanwick, London.
God the thunderer; or, the last judg
ment and hell.*

1SING to the Lord,ye heavenly hosts,

And thou, O earth, adore:
Let death and hell, through all their
Stand trembling at his power. [coasts,
2 His sounding chariot shakes the sky,

He makes the clouds his throne;
There all his stores of lightning lie,
Till vengeance darts them down.
3His nostrils breathe out fiery streams—
And from his awful tongue

A sovereign voice divides the flames,
And thunder roars along!

4 Think, O my soul, the dreadful day,
When this incensed God
Shall rend the sky, and burn the sea
And fling his wrath abroad!
5 What shall the wretch, the sinner do
He once defy'd the Lord;

6

But he shall dread the Thunderer now,
And sink beneath his word.
Tempests of angry fire shall roll,
To blast the rebel worm,
And beat upon his naked soul

In one eternal storm.

*Made in a great sudden storm of thunder, August 20, 1697.

YOUTH AND OLD AGE.

PSALM 8. 1st Part. L. M. X
Truro, Shoel.

564
The hosanna of the children; or, in-
fants praising God.

Through the wide earth thy name is
LMIGHTY Ruler of the skies,
And thine eternal glories rise [spread;
O'er all the heavens thy hands have made.

To thee the voices of the young
A monument of honour raise;
And babes, with uninstructed tongue,
Declare the wonders of thy praise.
Thy power assists their tender age
To bring proud rebels to the ground
To still the bold blasphemer's rage,
And all their policies confound.
Children amid thy temple throng
To see their great Redeemer's face;
The Son of David is their song,
And young hosannas fill the place.
The frowning scribes and angry priests
In vain their impious cavils bring;
Revenge sits silent in their breasts,
While Jewish babes proclaim their King.

2 PSALM 34. 2d Part. L. M. bor
Portugal, Quercy.

65}

young,

Your parents' hope, your parents' joy,
Attend the counsels of my tongue;
Let pious thoughts your minds employ
If you desire a length of days,
And peace to crown your mortal state,
Restrain your feet from impious ways,
Your lips from sander and deceit.
The eyes of God regard his saints,
His ears are open to their cries;
He sets his frowning face against
The sons of violence and lies.
To humble souls and broken hearts,
God with his grace is ever righ;
Pardon and hope his love imparts,
When men in deep contrition lie.

He tells their tears, he counts their

groans,

His Son redeems their souls from death;
Jis Spirit heals their broken bones:
They in his praise employ their breath.

2

3 His eyes awake to guard the just,
His ears attend their cry;
When broken spirits dwell in dust,
The God of grace is nigh

4 What though the sorrows here they taste
Are sharp and tedious too,
The Lord, who saves them all at last,
Is their supporter now.

5 Evil shall smite the wicked dead,
But God secures his own,
Prevents the mischief when they slide,
Or heals the broken bone.
When desolation, like a flood,
O'er the proud sinner rolls,
Saints find a refuge in their God,
For he redeem'd their souls.

6

567

HYMN 91. B. 1. L. M. b
Putney, Carthage.
Advice to youth; or, old age and death
in an unconverted state.

1

2

NOW, in the heat of youthful blood,
Behold the months come hastening on,
Remember your Creator, God:
Behold the aged sinner goes,
When you shall say, "My joys are gone.'
Laden with guilt and heavy woes,
Down to the regions of the dead,
With endless curses on his head.
3 The dust returns to dust again;
The soul, in agonies of pain,

Ascends to God, not there to dwell,
But hears her doom, and sinks to hell.
4 Eternal King, I fear thy name;
Teach me to know how frail I am;
And when my soul must hence remove,
Give me a mansion in thy love.

568}

b

HYMN 89. B. 1. L. M.
Armley, Eaton.
Youth and judgment.
1 YE sons of Adam, vain and young,
Indulge your eyes,indulge your tongue,
Taste the delights your souls desire,
And give a loose to all your fire.
Pursue the pleasures you design,
And cheer yourhearts with songs and wine;
Enjoy the day of mirth; but know
There is a day of judgment too.
3God from on high beholds your thoughts;
His book records your secret faults:
The works of darkness you have done
Must all appear before the sun.
4 The vengeance to your follies due
Should strike your hearts with terror
through:

How will ye stand before his face, 17 Our souls would learn the heavenly art, Or answer for his injur'd grace?

5 Almighty God, turn off their eyes
From these alluring vanities,
And let the thunder of thy word
Awake their souls to fear the Lord.

HYMN 90. B. 1. C. M.

569 Rockingham, Plymouth.

The same.

T'improve the hours we have, That we may act the wiser part, And live beyond the grave.

571}

PSALM 71. 1st Part. C. M. b
St. Anns, Plymouth.

b The aged saint's reflection and hope.

1the Young all nature rove,
O, the young tribes of Adam rise,
Fulfil the wishes of their eyes,

And taste the joys they love.
2 They give a loose to wild desires ;
But let the sinners know
The strict account that God requires
Of all the works they do.
3 The Judge prepares his throne on high;
The frighted earth and seas
Avoid the fury of his eye,

And flee before his face.

4 How shall I bear that dreadful day,
And stand the fiery test?
I give all mortal joys away,
To be forever blest.

PSALM 90. 2d Part. C. M. b

570 Rockingham, Wantage.

Infirmities and mortality the effect of sin; or, life,
old age, and preparation for death.

1LORD, if thine eyes survey our faults,
And justice grow severe,
Thy dreadful wrathexceeds our thoughts,

And burns beyond our fear.
2 Thine anger turns our frame to dust:
By one offence to thee,
Adam, with all his sons, have lost
Their immortality.

3 Life, like a vain amusement, flies,
A fable or a song;

By swift degrees our nature dies,
Nor can our joys be long.
4 'Tis but a few whose days amount
To threescore years and ten;
And all beyond that short account
Is sorrow, toil and pain,
5 [Our vitals, with laborious strife,
Bear up the crazy load,
And drag those poor remains of life
Along the tiresome road.]
6 Almighty God, reveal thy love,
And not thy wrath alone;
O let our sweet experience prove
The mercies of thy throne!

'MI live upon thy truth;
Y God, my everlasting hope,

Thine hands have held my childhood up,
And strengthen'd all my youth.
2 My flesh was fashion'd by thy power,
With all these limbs of mine;
And from my mother's painful hour,
I've been entirely thine.

3 Still hath my life new wonders seen,
Repeated every year;

Behold my days that yet remain,
I trust them to thy care.
4Cast me not off when strength declines,
When hoary hairs arise;
And round me let thy glory shine,
Whene'er thy servant dies.

5 Then, in the history of my age,
When men review my days,
They'll read thy love in every page,
In every line, thy praise.

PSALM 71. 3d Part. C. M. b
Durham, Canterbury.

572}
The aged Christian's prayer and song
or, old age, death, and the resurrection
GODof my childhood and my youth
1 have declar'd thy heavenly truth
The guide of all my days,
And told thy wondrous ways.
2 Wilt thou forsake my hoary hairs,
And leave my fainting heart?
Who shall sustain my sinking years,

If God, my strength, depart?
3 Let me thy power and truth proclaim

To the surviving age,
And leave a savour of thy name
When I shall quit the stage.
4 The land of silence and of death
Attends my next remove;
O may these poor remains of breath
Teach the wide world thy love.
PAUSE.

5 Thy righteousness is deep and high,
Unsearchable thy deeds;
Thy glory spreads beyond the sky
And all my praise exceeds.

6 Oft have I heard thy threatenings roar, 574
And oft endur'd the grief;
But when thy hand hath press'd me sore,
Thy grace was my relief.

7 By long experience have I known
Thy sovereign power to save;
At thy command I venture down
Securely to the grave.

8 When I lie buried deep in dust,
My flesh shall be thy care;
These withering limbs with thee I trust,
To raise them strong and fair.

FAST AND THANKSGIVING
DAYS, &c.

573}

PSALM 10. C. M.
Windsor, Wantage.

b

Prayer heard, and saints saved; or, pride, atheism, and oppression punished. For a humiliation day.

PSALM 12. C. M. b or X St. Anns, Colchester. Complaint of a general corruption of manners; or, the promise and signs of Christ's coming to judgment. HELP, Lord, for men of virtue fail, Religion loses ground;

The sons of violence prevail,
And treacheries abound.

2 Their oaths and promises they break,
Yet act the flatterer's part;
With fair, deceitful lips they speak,
And with a double heart.
3If we reprove some hateful lie,
How is their fury stirr'd!
"Are not our lips our own," they cry,
"And who shall be our Lord ?”
4 Scoffers appear on every side,

Where a vile race of men
Is rais'd to seats of power and pride,
And bears the sword in vain.
PAUSE.

WHY doth the Lord stand off so far? 5 Lord, when iniquities abound,

And why conceal his face,

When great calamities appear,
And times of deep distress?
2 Lord, shall the wicked still deride
Thy justice and thy power?
Shall they advance their heads in pride,
And still thy saints devour?
3They put thy judgments from their sight,
And then insult the poor,
They boast, in their exalted height,
That they shall fall no more.
4 Arise, O God, lift up thine hand;
Attend our humble cry;
No enemy shall dare to stand
When God ascends on high.
PAUSE.

5 Why do the men of malice rage,
And say, with foolish pride,
"The God of heaven will ne'er engage
"To fight on Zion's side?"
6 But thou forever art our Lord;
And powerful is thine hand,
As when the heathens felt thy sword,
And perish'd from thy land.
Thou wilt prepare our hearts to pray,
And cause thine ear to hear;
Hearken to what thy children say,
And put the world in fear.
8 Proud tyrants shall no more oppress,
No more despise the just;
And mighty sinners shall confess
They are but earth and dust.

6

And blasphemy grows bold,

When faith is hardly to be found,
And love is waxing cold;

Is not thy chariot hastening on?
Hast thou not giv'n the sign?
May we not trust and live upon
A promise so divine?

7 "Yes," saith the Lord, "now will I rise,
"And make oppressors flee;
"I shall appear to their surprise,
"And set my servants free."
8 Thy word, like silver seven times try'd,
Through ages shall endure:
The men, who in thy truth confide
Shall find the promise sure.