35

THE ALL-SEEING EYE.

"O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me."

A

PSALM CXXxix. 1.

LMIGHTY God, thy piercing eye

Strikes through the shades of night,

And our most secret actions lie

All open to thy sight.

There's not a sin that we commit,

Nor wicked word we say,

But in thy dreadful book 'tis writ,
Against the judgment day.

And must the crimes that I have done
Be read and published there?

Be all exposed before the sun,
While men and angels hear?

Lord, at thy feet, asham'd, I lie ;
Upward I dare not look ;
Pardon my sins before I die,

And blot them from thy book.

Remember all the dying pains
That my Redeemer felt;

And let his blood wash out my stains,
And answer for my guilt.

O may I now for ever fear

T' indulge a sinful thought;

Since the great God can see and hear,
And writes down ev'ry fault.

36

CHRISTIAN PRIVILEGES.

"I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel."-PSALM XVI. 7.

OW may our hearts and voices raise

Now

A grateful tribute to thy praise,

O God of love! for 'tis thy hand
Hath placed us in this Christian land.

The shades of ignorance are past,
And by thy grace our lot is cast,
Where gospel light, and love, and truth,
Illume and bless the minds of youth.

We might have all received our birth,
In the dark corners of the earth;
Where crimes and cruelties disgrace
An unenlightened heathen race.

May we have cause to bless the Lord,
That we are taught to read his word;
To seek his face and learn his praise,
Now in the morning of our days.

37

DAILY PRAISE.

"Bless the Lord, O my soul."-PSALM ciii. 1.

COME

YOME, let us bless the Lord our God,
And all his works proclaim:

Let all our souls, with all their might,
Conspire to praise his name.

Come, let our souls repeat his praise,
Whose mercies are so great;
Whose anger is so slow to rise,
So ready to abate.

Far as the heaven above the earth
Its lofty arch extends,

So far his love to sinful man

Our utmost thought transcends.

Far as the east is from the west,
He all our guilt removes ;
And spares us, as a father spares
The children whom he loves.

O, let us then renew the theme,
And all his works proclaim;

Let all our souls with all their might,
Conspire to praise his name.

38

GOD'S GOODNESS.

"He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things."-AcTS xvii. 25.

ALMIGHTY Father! Gracious Lord!

Kind Guardian of our days!

Thy mercies let our hearts record,
In songs of grateful praise.

In life's first dawn, our tender frame
Was nurtur'd by thy care,

Long ere we could pronounce thy name,
Or breathe the infant prayer.

Each passing hour new favours brought
From thine exhaustless store;
But ah! in vain our labouring thought
Would count thy mercies o'er.

Thy goodness, Lord, through all our days
In grateful songs we'll trace;
Whilst richer blessings claim our praise,
The blessings of thy grace.

The thanks we owe for all thy love,

A boundless endless store!

Shall sound throughout the realms above,
When time shall be no more.

E

39

ISRAEL'S GOD.

"Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help."

PSALM CXlvi. 5.

APPY the man, whose hopes rely

HA

On Israel's God, who made the sky, And earth and seas with all their train: He saves the oppress'd: he feeds the poor; His truth for ever stands secure,

And none shall find his promise vain.

The Lord gives eye sight to the blind;
The Lord relieves the guilty mind:

The Lord vouchsafes the mourner peace;
He helps the stranger in distress,
The widow and the fatherless;

And grants the pris'ner sweet release.

We'll praise him while he gives us breath, And when our voice is lost in death,

Praise shall employ our nobler powers: Our day of praise shall ne'er be past, While life, and thought, and being last, Or immortality endures.