A wreath of lightning arms his crown,
But love adorns it still.

III.

Celestial King, our spirits lie
Trembling beneath thy feet,
And wish, and cast a longing eye,
To reach thy lofty seat.

IV.

When shall we see the Great Unknown,
And in thy presence stand?
Reveal the splendors of thy throne,
But shield us with thy hand.

V.

In thee what endless wonders meet!
What various glory shines!
The crossing rays too fiercely beat
Upon our fainting minds.

VI.

Angels are lost in sweet surprize
If thou unvail thy grace;

And humble awe runs through the skies,
When wrath arrays thy face.

VII.

When mercy joins with majesty,

To spread their beams abroad, Not all their fairest minds on high Are shadows of a God.

VIII.

Thy works the strongest seraph sings
In a too feeble strain,

And labours hard on all his strings
To reach thy thoughts in vain.

Created pow'rs, how weak they be!
How short our praises fall!
So much akin to nothing we,
And thou th' Eternal All.

HYMN III. C. M.

God's Dominion and Decrees.

I.

KEEP silence all created things,

And wait your Maker's nod:

The Muse stands trembling while he sings The honours of her GoD.

II.

Life, death, and hell, and worlds unknown,
Hang on his firm decree:

He sits on no precarious throne,
Nor borrows leave to be.

III.

Th' Almighty Voice bid ancient Night
Her endless realm resign:
And lo, ten thousand globes of light,
In fields of azure shine!

IV.

Now Wisdom with superior sway
Guides the vast moving frame,
Whilst all the ranks of beings pay
Deep rev'rence to his name,

V.

He spake: The sun obedient stood,
And held the falling day:

Old Jordan backward drives his flood, And disappoints the sea.

VI.

Lord of the armies of the sky,
He marshals all the stars;
Red comets lift their banners high,
And wide proclaim his wars.

VII.

Chain'd to his throne a volume lies,
With all the fates of men,
With ev'ry angel's form and size,
Drawn by th' eternal Pen.

VIII

His providence unfolds the book, And makes his counsels shine: Each opening leaf, and ev'ry stroke Fulfils some deep design.

IX,

Here he exalts neglected worms
To scepters and a crown:
Anon the following page he turns,
And treads the monarch down.

X.

Not Gabriel asks the reason why,
Nor God the reason gives:
Nor dares the fav'rite-angel pry
Between the folded leaves.

XI.

My God, I never long'd to see
My fate with curious eyes,
What gloomy lines are writ for me,
Or what bright scenes shall rise.

XII.

In thy fair book of life and grace
May I but find my name
Recorded in some humble place,
Beneath my Lord the LAMB.

HYMN IV. L. M.

A Song of Praise to God

I.

GOD the universal King

Let all the kind their tribute bring: All that have breath, your voices raise, In songs of never-ceasing praise.

II.

The spacious earth on which we tread,
And wider heav'ns stretch'd o'er our head,
A large and solemn temple frame,
To celebrate its builder's fame.

III.

Here the bright sun that rules the day,
As thro' the sky he makes his way,
To all the world proclaim aloud
The boundless sov'reignty of God.

IV.

When from his courts the sun retires,
And with the day his voice expires,
The moon and stars adopt the song,
And thro' the night the praise prolong.

V.

The list'ning earth with rapture hears
Th' harmonious music of the spheres;

And all her tribes the notes repeat, That God is wise, and good, and great.

VI,

But men, endow'd with nobler pow'rs,
His GoD in nobler strains adores:
His is the gift to know the song,
As well as sing with tuneful tongue.

HYMN V. C. M.

Felicity Above.

I

No, 'tis in vain to seek for bliss ;

For bliss can ne'er be found

"Till we arrive where JESUS is, And tread on heav'nly ground.

II.

There's nothing round these painted skies, Or round this dusty clod;

Nothing, my soul, that's worth thy joys, Or lovely as thy GOD.

III.

'Tis heav'n on earth to taste his love,
To feel his quick'ning grace;
And all the heav'n I hope above

Is but to see his face.

IV.

Why move my years in slow delay?

O GOD of ages! why?

Let the sphere cleave, and mark my way To the superior sky.