1 L. M. The works and the word of God. Psalm 19.
The heavens declare thy glory, Lord! In every star thy wisdom shines; But when our eyes behold thy word, We read thy name in fairer lines.
2 The rolling sun, the changing light, And nights and days, thy power confess; But the blest volume thou hast writ, Reveals thy justice and thy grace.
3 Sun, moon, and stars, convey thy praise Round the whole earth, and never stand; So when thy truth began its race, It touched and glanced on every land.
4 Nor shall thy spreading gospel rest Till through the world thy truth has run; Till Christ has all the nations blest That see the light, or feel the sun.
5 Great Sun of Righteousness! arise; Bless the dark world with heavenly light: Thy gospel makes the simple wise, Thy laws are pure, thy judgments right.
6 Thy noblest wonders here we view, In souls renewed, and sins forgiven; Lord! cleanse my sins, my soul renew, And make thy word my guide to heaven.
2 L. M. Divine love displayed, etc.
To thee my heart, Eternal King! Would now its thankful tribute bring, To thee its humble homage raise In songs of ardent, grateful praise.
2 All nature shows thy boundless love, In worlds below and worlds above; But in thy blesséd word I trace The richer glories of thy grace.
3 There what delightful truths are given; There Jesus shows the way to heaven; His name salutes my listening ear, Revives my heart and checks my fear.
4 There Jesus bids our sorrows cease, And gives the laboring conscience peace; Raises our grateful feelings high, And points to mansions in the sky.
5 For love like this, O, may our song Through endless years thy praise prolong; And distant climes thy name adore, Till time and nature are no more!
3 L. M. Nature and revelation.
The starry firmament on high, And all the glories of the sky, Yet shine not to thy praise, O Lord, So brightly as thy written word.
2 The hopes that holy word supplies, Its truths divine and precepts wise— In each a heavenly beam I see, And every beam conducts to thee.
3 Almighty Lord! the sun shall fail, The moon forget her nightly tale, And deepest silence hush on high The radiant chorus of the sky—
4 But fixed for everlasting years, Unmoved amid the wreck of spheres, Thy word shall shine in cloudless day When heaven and earth have passed away.
4 L. M. Strength and peace from the divine word.
There is a stream whose gentle flow Supplies the city of our God; Life, love, and joy, still gliding through, And watering our divine abode.
2 That sacred stream, thy holy word, Supports our faith, our fear controls; Sweet peace thy promises afford, And give new strength to fainting souls.
5 L. M. The Scriptures our light and guide.
When Israel through the desert passed, A fiery pillar went before, To guide them through the dreary waste, And lessen the fatigues they bore.
2 Such is thy glorious word, O God; ’Tis for our light and guidance given; It sheds a luster all abroad, And points the path to bliss and heaven.
3 It fills the soul with sweet delight, And quickens its inactive powers; It sets our wandering footsteps right, Displays thy love and kindles ours.
4 Its promises rejoice our hearts; Its doctrine is divinely true; Knowledge and pleasure it imparts; It comforts and instructs us too.
5 Ye favored lands, who have this word! Ye saints, who feel its saving power! Unite your tongues to praise the Lord, And his distinguished grace adore.
6 L. M. Their words to the end of the world. Psalm 19:4.
Upon the gospel’s sacred page The gathered beams of ages shine; And, as it hastens, every age But makes its brightness more divine.
2 On mightier wing, in loftier flight, From year to year, does knowledge soar; And, as it soars, the gospel light Becomes effulgent more and more.
3 More glorious still, as centuries roll, New regions blest, new powers unfurled; Expanding with the expanding soul, Its radiance shall o’erflow the world;
4 Flow to restore, but not destroy; As when the cloudless lamp of day Pours out its flood of light and joy, And sweeps the lingering mist away.
7 L. M. Hold fast the form of sound words. 2 Tim. 1:13.
God’s law demands one living faith, Not a gaunt crowd of lifeless creeds; Its warrant is a firm “God saith;” Its claim, not words, but living deeds.
2 Yet, Lord, forgive; thy simple law Grows tarnished in our earthly grasp; Pure in itself, without a flaw, It dims in our too-worldly clasp.
3 We handle it with unwashed hands; We stain it with unhallowed breath; We gloss it with device of man’s, And hide thine image underneath.