1 My soul shall bless thee, O my God!
Through all my mortal days;
And to eternity prolong
Thy vast, thy boundless praise.
2 In each bright hour of peace and hope,
Be this my sweet employ ;
Thy praise refines my earthly bliss,
And doubles all my joy!
3 When gloomy care, or keen distress,
Invades my throbbing breast,
My tongue shall learn to speak thy praise,
And sooth my pains to rest.
4 Nor shall my tongue alone proclaim
The honours of my God;
My life, with all my active powers,
Shall spread his praise abroad.
5 When death is past, in purer strains
My grateful praise I'll pay;
The theme demands a nobler song,
And an eternal day,
HYMN CXXII. L. M.
Giving thanks in all things.
1 God of our lives! our thanks to thee Should, like thy gifts, continual be;
In constant streams thy bounty flows,
Nor end, nor intermission knows.
2 From thee our comforts all arise,
Our num'rous wants thy hand supplies;
Nor can we ever, Lord! be poor,
Who live on thine exhaustless store.
3 If what we ask our God denies,
It is because he's good and wise;
And what for evils we mistake,
He can our greatest blessings make.
4 Deep, Lord! upon the thankful breast
Let all thy favours be impress'd,
That we may never more forget
The whole, or any single debt.
5 Dispose us, each revolving day,
For daily gifts, our thanks to pay;
And tho' withdrawn those gifts should be,
In all things to give thanks to thee.
HYMN CXXIII. C. M.
Praise to God through all the changes of life. 1 Father of mercies! God of love! My Father, and my God!
I'll sing the honours of thy name,
And spread thy praise abroad.
2 In every period of my life,
Thy thoughts of love appear!
Thy mercies gild the transient scene,
And crown each passing year.
3 In all thy mercies, may my soul
A Father's bounty see;
Nor let the gifts thy grace bestows,
Estrange my heart from thee.
4 Teach me, in times of deep distress,
To own thy hand, O God!
And in submissive silence hear
The lessons of thy rod.
5 Through every changing state of life,
Each bright, each clouded scene,
Give me a meek and humble mind,
Still equal and serene.
6 Then may I close my eyes in death,
Free from all anxious fear;
For death itself, my God! is life,
If thou be with me there.
HYMN CXXIV. C. M.
Habitual devotion.
1 While thee I seek, protecting Power! Be my vain wishes still'd;
And may this consecrated hour
With better hopes be fill'd.
2 Thy love the powers of thought bestow'd;
To thee my thoughts would soar ;
Thy mercy o'er my life has flow'd;
That mercy I adore.
3 In each event of life, how clear
Thy ruling hand I see!
Each blessing to my soul more dear
Because conferr'd by thee.
4 In every joy that crowns my days,
In every pain I bear,
My heart shall find delight in praise,
Or seek relief in prayer.
5 When gladness wings my favour'd hour,
Thy love my thoughts shall fill;
Resign'd when storms of sorrow lower,
My soul shall meet thy will.
6 My lifted eye, without a tear,
The gath'ring storm shall see;
My steadfast heart shall know no fear; That heart shall rest on thee !
1 Great Author of all nature's frame ! Holy and rev'rend is thy name!
Thou, Lord of life, and Lord of death,
Worlds rise and vanish at thy breath.
2 Nations, in thine all-seeing eye,
Are less than nothing, vanity;
Against thee who shall lift his hand?
Before thy terrors who can stand?
3 But blest are they, O gracious Lord,
Who fear thy name, and hear thy word!
With such thy dwelling is, on those
Thy peace its joy divine bestows.
4 Thy wisdom guides, thy power defends
Their life, till life its journey ends;
Death shall convey them to thy seat,
Where all thy saints in glory meet.
50 that my soul, with awful sense
Of thy transcendent excellence,
May close the day, the day begin,
Watchful against each darling sin!
6 Never, O never from my heart
May this great principle depart!
But act, with unabating power,
Within me to my latest hour.
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