2 Though hid from man's sight, God sits on his throne,
Yet here by his works their author is known:
The world shines a mirror its maker to show,
And heaven views its image reflected below.
3 By knowledge supreme, by wisdom divine,
God governs this earth with gracious design;
O'er beast, bird, and insect, his providence reigns,
Whose will first created, whose love still sustains.
4 And man, his last work, with reason endued,
Who, falling through sin, by grace is renewed;
To God, his creator, let man ever raise
The song of thanksgiving, the chorus of praise!
I God of mercy, God of grace,
Show the brightness of thy face;
Shine upon us, Father, shine,
Fill us with thy light divine;
And thy saving health extend
Unto earth's remotest end.
2 Let the people praise thee, Lord!
Let thy love on all be poured;
Let awakened nations sing
Glory to their heavenly King,
At thy feet their tribute pay,
And thy holy will obey.
3 Let the people praise thee, Lord!
Earth shall then her fruits afford,
God to man his blessing give,
Man to God devoted live;
All below, and all above, One in joy and light and love. 134
Rev. Henry F. Lyte, 1793
I As the hart, with eager looks,
Panteth for the water-brooks,
So my soul, athirst for thee,
Pants the living God to see.
When, O when, with filial fear,
Lord, shall I to thee draw near?
2 Why art thou cast down, my soul?
God, thy God, shall make thee whole;
Why art thou disquieted?
God shall lift thy fallen head,
And his countenance benign
Be the saving health of thine.
I Eternal and immortal King!
Thy peerless splendors none can bear; But darkness veils seraphic eyes, When God with all his glory's there.
2 Yet faith can pierce the awful gloom,
The great invisible can see;
And with its tremblings mingle joy,
In fixed regard, great God, to thee.
3 Then every tempting form of sin,
Shamed in thy presence, disappears; And all the glowing, raptured soul, The likeness it contemplates, wears.
O ever conscious to my heart, Witness to its supreme desire!
ST. BEES 7. (Hymn 138)
Behold, it presseth on to thee,
For it hath caught the heavenly fire.
This one petition would it urge,
To bear thee ever in its sight;
In life, in death, in worlds unknown,
Its only portion and delight!
Rev. Philip Doddridge, 1702
136
I God of our fathers! in whose sight
The thousand years that sweep away
Man and the traces of his might,
Are but the break and close of day!
2 Grant us that love of truth sublime, That love of goodness and of thee, Which makes thy children in all time To share thine own eternity.
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