Hymns and Spiritual Songs Part 31

6 [Ten thousand praises to the King, Hosanna in the highest; Ten thousand thanks our spirits bring To G.o.d and to his Christ.]

Hymn 2:38.

Love to G.o.d.

1 Happy the heart where graces reign, Where love inspires the breast; Love is the brightest of the train, And strengthens all the rest.

9 Knowledge, alas! 'Tis all in vain, And all in vain our fear, Our stubborn sins will fight and reign If love be absent there.

3 'Tis love that makes our cheerful feet In swift obedience move, The devils know and tremble too, But Satan cannot love.

4 This is the grace that lives and sings When faith and hope shall cease, 'Tis this shall strike our joyful strings In the sweet realms of bliss.

5 Before we quite forsake our clay, Or leave this dark abode, The wings of love bear us away To see our smiling G.o.d.

Hymn 2:39.

The shortness and misery of life.

1 Our days, alas! our mortal days Are short and wretched too; "Evil and few," the patriarch says, [1]

And well the patriarch knew.

2 'Tis but at best a narrow bound That heaven allows to men, And pains and sins run thro' the round Of threescore years and ten.

3 Well, if ye must be sad and few, Run on, my days, in haste; Moments of sin, and months of woe, Ye cannot fly too fast.

4 Let heavenly love prepare my soul, And call her to the skies, Where years of long salvation roll, And glory never dies.

[1] Genesis 47:9.

Hymn 2:40.

Our comfort in the covenant made with Christ.

1 Our G.o.d, how firm his promise stands, E'en when he hides his face!

He trusts in our Redeemer's hands His glory and his grace.

2 Then why, my soul, these sad complaints, Since Christ and we are one; Thy G.o.d is faithful to his saints, Is faithful to his Son.

3 Beneath his smiles my heart has liv'd, And part of heaven possess'd; I praise his Name for grace receiv'd, And trust him for the rest.

Hymn 2:41.

A sight of G.o.d mortifies us to the world.

1 [Up to the fields where angels lie, And living waters gently roll, Fain would my thoughts leap out and fly, But sin hangs heavy on my soul.

2 Thy wondrous blood, dear dying Christ, Can make this load of guilt remove; And thou canst bear me where thou fly'st, On thy kind wings, celestial Dove!]

3 O might I once mount up and see The glories of th' eternal skies, What little things these worlds would be!

How despicable to my eyes!

4 Had I a glance of thee, my G.o.d, Kingdoms and men would vanish soon, Vanish, as tho' I saw them not, As a dim candle dies at noon.

5 Then they might fight, and rage, and rave, I should perceive the noise no more Than we can hear a shaking leaf, While rattling thunders round us roar.

6 Great All in All, eternal King, Let me but view thy lovely face, And all my powers shall bow and sing Thine endless grandeur and thy grace.

Hymn 2:42.

Delight in G.o.d.

1 My G.o.d, what endless pleasures dwell Above at thy right-hand!

The courts below, how amiable, Where all thy graces stand!

2 The swallow near thy temple lies, And chirps a cheerful note; The lark mounts upward to thy skies, And tunes her warbling throat:

3 And we, when in thy presence, Lord, We shout with joyful tongues, Or sitting round our Father's board, We crown the feast with songs.

4 While Jesus s.h.i.+nes with quickening grace, We sing and mount on high; But if a frown becloud his face, We faint, and tire, and die.

5 [Just as we see the lonesome dove Bemoan her widow'd state, Wandering she flies thro' all the grove, And mourns her loving mate.

6 Just so our thoughts from thing to thing In restless circles rove, Just so we drop, and hang the wing, When Jesus hides his love.]

Hymn 2:43.

Christ's sufferings and glory.

1 Now for a tune of lofty praise To great Jehovah's equal Son!

Awake, my voice, in heavenly lays, Tell the loud wonders he hath done.

2 Sing how he left the worlds of light And the bright robes he wore above, How swift and joyful was his flight On wings of everlasting love.

3 Down to this base, this sinful earth He came to raise our nature high; He came t' atone almighty wrath; Jesus the G.o.d was born to die.]

4 [h.e.l.l and its lions roar'd around, His precious blood the monsters spilt, While weighty sorrows press'd him down, Large as the loads of all our guilt.]

5 Deep in the shades of gloomy death Th' almighty Captive pris'ner lay; Th' almighty Captive left the earth, And rose to everlasting day.

6 Lift up your eyes, ye sons of light, Up to his throne of s.h.i.+ning grace, See what immortal glories sit Round the sweet beauties of his face.

7 Amongst a thousand harps and songs Jesus the G.o.d exalted reigns, His sacred Name fills all their tongues And echoes thro' the heavenly plains!

Hymn 2:44.

h.e.l.l; or, The vengeance of G.o.d.