Isaiah 40:17

Hymn 2:69. The faithfulness of God in his promises.

[Begin, my tongue, some heavenly theme, And speak some boundless thing, The mighty works, or mightier name Of our eternal King.

Tell of his wondrous faithfulness, And sound his power abroad, Sing the sweet promise of his grace, And the performing God.

Proclaim "salvation from the Lord "For wretched dying men;" His hand has writ the sacred word With an immortal pen.

Engrav'd as in eternal brass, The mighty promise shines; Nor can the powers of darkness rase Those everlasting lines.]

[He that can dash whole worlds to death And make them when he please, He speaks, and that almighty breath Fulfils his great decrees.

His very word of grace is strong As that which built the skies, The voice that rolls the stars along Speaks all the promises.

He said, "Let the wide heaven be spread," And heaven was stretch'd abroad; "Abrah'm, I'll be thy God," he said, And he was Abrah'm's God.

O, might I hear thine heavenly tongue But whisper, "Thou art mine;" Those gentle words should raise my song To notes almost divine.

How would my leaping heart rejoice And think my heaven secure! I trust the all-creating voice, And faith desires no more.]

Hymn 2:70. God's dominion over the sea, Psalm 107. 23 &c.

God of the seas, thy thundering voice Makes all the roaring waves rejoice, And one soft word of thy command Can sink them silent in the sand.

If but a Moses wave thy rod, The sea divides, and owns its God: The stormy floods their Maker knew, And let his chosen armies thro'.

The scaly flocks amidst the sea, To thee, their Lord, a tribute pay; The meanest fish that swims the flood Leaps up, and means a praise to God.

[The larger monsters of the deep, On thy commands attendance keep, By thy permission sport and play, And cleave along their foaming way.

If God his voice of tempest rears, Leviathan lies still and fears, Anon he lifts his nostrils high, And spouts the ocean to the sky.]

How is thy glorious power ador'd, Amidst those watery nations, Lord! Yet the bold men that trace the seas, Bold men, refuse their Maker's praise.

[What scenes of miracle they see, And never tune a song to thee! While on the flood they safely ride, They curse the hand that smooths the tide.

Anon they plunge in watery graves, And some drink death among the waves: Yet the surviving crew blaspheme, Nor own the God that rescu'd them.]

O for some signal of thine hand! Shake all the seas, Lord, shake the land, Great Judge, descend, lest men deny That there's a God that rules the sky.

From the 70th to the 109th Hymn, I hope the reader will forgive the neglect of the rhyme in the first and third lines of the stanza.

Hymn 2:71. Praise to God from all creatures.

The glories of my Maker God, My joyful voice shall sing, And call the nations to adore Their Former and their King.

'Twas his right-hand that shap'd our clay, And wrought this human frame, But from his own immediate breath Our nobler spirits came.

We bring our mortal powers to God, And worship with our tongues: We claim some kindred with the skies And join th' angelic songs.

Let groveling beasts of every shape, And fowls of every wing, And rocks, and trees, and fires, and seas, Their various tribute bring.

Ye planets, to his honour shine, And wheels of nature roll, Praise him in your unwearied course Around the steady pole.

The brightness of our Maker's Name The wide creation fills, And his unbounded grandeur flies Beyond the heavenly hills.

Hymn 2:72. The Lord's Day; or, The resurrection of Christ.

Bless'd morning, whose young dawning rays Beheld our rising God, That saw him triumph o'er the dust, And leave his dark abode.

In the cold prison of a tomb, The dead Redeemer lay, Till the revolving skies had brought The third, th' appointed day.

Hell and the grave unite their force To hold our God in vain, The sleeping Conqueror arose, And burst their feeble chain.

To thy great Name, Almighty Lord, These sacred hours we pay, And loud hosannas shall proclaim The triumph of the day,

[Salvation and immortal praise To our victorious King, Let heaven, and earth, and rocks, and seas, With glad hosannas ring.]

Hymn 2:73. Doubts scattered; or, Spiritual joy restored.

Hence from my soul, sad thoughts, be gone, And leave me to my joys, My tongue shall triumph in my God, And make a joyful noise.

Darkness and doubts had veil'd my mind, And drown'd my head in tears, Till sovereign grace with shining rays Dispell'd my gloomy fears.

O what immortal joys I felt, And raptures all divine, When Jesus told me, I was his, And my Beloved mine.

In vain the tempter frights my soul, And breaks my peace in vain, One glimpse, dear Saviour, of thy face, Revives my joys again.

Hymn 2:74. Repentance from a sense of divine goodness; or, A complaint of ingratitude.

Is this the kind return, And these the thanks we owe, Thus to abuse eternal love, Whence all our blessings flow?

TO what a stubborn frame Has sin reduc'd our mind! What strange rebellious wretches we, And God as strangely kind!

[On us he bids the sun Shed his reviving rays, For us the skies their circles run To lengthen out our days.

The brutes obey their God, And bow their necks to men, But we more base, more brutish things Reject his easy reign.]

Turn, turn us, mighty God, And mould our souls afresh, Break, sovereign grace, these hearts of stone, And give us hearts of flesh.

Let old ingratitude Provoke our weeping eyes, And hourly as new mercies fall Let hourly thanks arise.

Hymn 2:75. Spiritual and eternal joys; or, The beatific sight of Christ.

From thee, my God, my joys shall rise, And run eternal rounds, Beyond the limits of the skies And all created bounds.

The holy triumphs of my soul Shall death itself out-brave, Leave dull mortality behind, And fly beyond the grave.

There, where my blessed Jesus reigns In heaven's unmeasur'd space, I'll spend a long eternity In pleasure and in praise.

Millions of years my wondering eyes Shall o'er thy beauties rove, And endless ages I'll adore The glories of thy love.

[Sweet Jesus, every smile of thine Shall fresh endearments bring, And thousand tastes of new delight From all thy graces spring.

Haste, my beloved, fetch my soul Up to thy bless'd abode, Fly, for my spirit longs to see My Saviour and my God.

Hymn 2:76. The resurrection and ascension of Christ.

Hosanna to the Prince of Light, That cloth'd himself in clay, Enter'd the iron gates of death, And tore the bars away.

Death is no more the king of dread Since our Immanuel rose, He took the tyrant's sting away, And spoil'd our hellish foes.

See how the Conqueror mounts aloft, And to his Father flies, With scars of honour in his flesh, And triumph in his eyes.

There our exalted Saviour reigns, And scatters blessings down, Our Jesus fills the middle seat Of the celestial throne.

[Raise your devotion, mortal tongues, To reach his bless'd abode, Sweet be the accents of your songs To our incarnate God.

Bright angels, strike your loudest strings, Your sweetest voices raise, Let heaven, and all created things, Sound our Immanuel's praise.]

Hymn 77. The Christian warfare.

[Stand up, my soul, shake off thy fears, And gird the gospel-armour on, March to the gates of endless joy Where thy great Captain-Saviour's gone.

Hell and thy sins resist thy course, But hell and sin are vanquish'd foes, Thy Jesus nail'd them to the cross, And sung the triumph when he rose.]

[What tho' the prince of darkness rage, And waste the fury of his spite, Eternal chains confine him down To fiery deeps, and endless night.

What tho' thine inward lusts rebel, 'Tis but a struggling gasp for life The weapons of victorious grace Shall slay thy sins, and end the strife.]

Then let my soul march boldly on, Press forward to the heavenly gate, There peace and joy eternal reign, And glittering robes for conquerors wait.

There shall I wear a starry crown, And triumph in almighty grace, While all the armies of the skies Join in my glorious leader's praise.