His blood for me did once atone,
And still He loves and guards His own. 2. When, passing through the watery deep, I ask, in faith, His promised aid, The waves an awful distance keep, And shrink from my devoted head. Fearless, their violence I dare;
They cannot harm since GoD is there! 3. Since Thou hast bid me come to Thee, (Good as Thou art, and strong to save ;) I'll walk o'er life's tempestuous sea, Upborne by th' unyielding wave: Dauntless, though shoals and straits be near And yawning whirlpools of despair. 4. Though in affliction's furnace tried, Unhurt, on snares and death we tread: Though sin assail, and hell thrown wide Pour all its flames around our head; Like Horeb's bush, we mount the higher, And flourish, unconsumed in fire.
CCCIX.
MIDNIGHT.
By Montgomery.
1. IN a land of strange delight,
My transported spirit stray'd:
I awake where all is night,
Silence, solitude, and shade;
Is the dream of nature flown?
Is the universe destroy'd?
Man extinct,--and I alone
Breathing through the formless void?
2. No, my soul, in GoD rejoice!
Through the gloom His light I see,
In the silence hear His Voice,
And His hand is over me.
When I slumber in the tomb,
He will guard my resting-place;
When I wake to meet my doom,
I will hide in His embrace.
FOR DIVINE ILLUMINATION. By Dr. S. Johnson. Psalm xxxvi. 9.
1. O THOU, whose power o'er moving worlds presides;
Whose voice created, and whose wisdom
guides:
On darkling man in pure effulgence shine,
And cheer the clouded mind with light
Divine !
2. 'Tis Thine alone to calm the pious breast,
With silent confidence and holy rest:
From Thee, great God! we spring-to
Thee we bend,
PATH, MOTIVE, GUIDE, ORIGINAL, and
END!
GOD OF MY LIFE.
By Doddridge. Psalm cxlvi. 2. Music, 137th Ps. M. S.
1. GOD of my life! through all it's days
My grateful powers shall sound Thy praise:
The song shall wake by opening light,
And warble to the silent night.
When anxious cares would break my rest,
Andgriefs would tear my throbbing breast,
Thy tuneful praises, rais'd on high
Shall check the murmur and the sigh.
2. When death o'er nature shall prevail,
And all the powers of language fail,
Joy through my swimming eyes shall break,
And mean the thanks I cannot speak.
But O! when that last conflict's o'er,
And I am chain'd to flesh no more,
With what glad accents shall I rise,
To join the music of the skies!
3. Soon shall I learn th' exalted strains,
Which echo o'er the heavenly plains;
And emulate, with joy unknown,
The glowing Seraphs round Thy throne.
This cheerful tribute will I give,
Long as a deathless soul can live:
A work so sweet, a theme so high,
Demands and crowns eternity!
TWENTY-THIRD PSALM.
By Addison. Music as in Magdalen-Asylum Collection.
1. THE LORD my pasture shall prepare,
And feed me with a shepherd's care;
His presence shall my wants supply,
And guard me with a watchful eye:
My noon-day walks He shall attend,
And all my midnight hours defend.
2. When in the sultry glebe I faint,
Or on the thirsty mountains pant;
To fertile vales, or dewy meads,
My weary wandering steps he leads ;
Where peaceful rivers, soft and slow,
Amid the verdant landscape flow.
3. Though, in a bare and rugged way,
Through devious lonely wilds I stray;
Thy bounty shall my wants beguile;
The barren wilderness shall smile,
With sudden green and herbage crown'd;
And streams shall murmur all around.
4. Though in the paths of Death I tread,
With gloomy horrors overspread;
My stedfast heart shall fear no ill,
For Thou, O Lord, art with me still!
THY friendly crook shall give me aid,
And guide me through the dreadful shade.
1. FROM the corruption and the pride, Which in this fallen heart reside, And sins that will not be denied,
Good Lord, deliver me!
2. From those besetting sins in chief,
Which urge my soul and cause it grief;
And root of all, from unbelief,
Good Lord, deliver me!
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