Now o'er all my steps preside,
And for all my wants provide.

3 O what joy that word affords,
"Thou shalt reign o'er all the earth;"
King of kings, and Lord of lords,
Send thy gospel heralds forth:
Now begin thy boundless sway,
Usher in the glorious day.

1 BLEST morning, whose first dawning rays Beheld our rising God;

That saw him triumph o'er the dust,
And leave his dark abode!

2 In the cold prison of the tomb
Our dear Redeemer lay,

Till the revolving skies had brought
The third, th' appointed day.

3 Hell and the grave unite their force
To hold our God in vain;
The sleeping conqueror arose,
And burst their feeble chain.

4 To thy great name, Almighty Lord,
These sacred hours we pay,
And loud hosannas shall proclaim
The triumph of the day.

1 WHEN, on the third auspicious day,
While yet the blushing dawn
Shed forth its earliest smiling ray
To gild the rising morn;

2 The "holy women" sought the place
Where their belov'd was laid,

And shining angels preach'd the grace
That rais'd him from the dead;

3 They hasted from the hallow'd ground,
Where his dear flesh had lain,

To tell his mourning friends around,
That Jesus lives again.

4 This day, as days of older time,
Is one of heav'nly joy;

Good tidings reach to ev'ry clime,
And ev'ry tongue employ.

1 FREQUENT the day of God returns
To shed its quick'ning beams;
And yet how slow devotion burns,
How languid are its flames!

2 Accept our faint attempts to love;
Our frailties, Lord, forgive:
We would be like thy saints above,
And praise thee while we live.

3 Increase, O Lord, our faith and hope,
And fit us to ascend,

Where the assembly ne'er breaks up
The Sabbath ne'er shall end;

4 Where we shall breathe in heav'nly air,
With heav'nly lustre shine;
Before the throne of God appear,
And feast on love divine;

5 Where we, in high seraphic strains,
Shall all our pow'rs employ;
Delighted range th' etherial plains,
And take our fill of joy.

62

HYMN. L. M.

The Eternal Sabbath. Heb. iv. 9.

1 THINE earthly Sabbaths, Lord, we love,
But there's a nobler rest above;
To that our longing souls aspire,
With ardent pangs of strong desire.
2 No more fatigue, no more distress,
Nor sin, nor hell, shall reach the place;
No groans to mingle with the songs,
Which warble from immortal tongues.

3 No rude alarms of raging foes;
No cares to break the long repose;
No midnight shade, no clouded sun,
Obscures the lustre of thy throne.

4 Around thy throne, grant we may meet, And give us but the lowest seat;

We'll shout thy praise, and join the song Of the triumphant, holy throng.

1 IS there a time when moments flow, More peacefully than all beside?

It is, of all the times below,

A Sabbath eve in summer tide.

2 O then the setting sun smiles fair,
And all below, and all above,
The diff'rent forms of nature wear
One universal garb of love.

3 And then the peace that Jesus beams,
The life of grace, the death of sin,
With nature's placid woods and streams,
Is peace without, and peace within.
4 Delightful scene! a world at rest,
A God all love, no grief nor fear;
A heav'nly hope, a peaceful breast,
A smile unsullied by a tear.

5 If heav'n be ever felt below,

A scene so heav'nly, sure, as this, May cause a heart on earth to know Some foretaste of celestial bliss.

6 Delightful hour, how soon will night Spread her dark mantle o'er thy reign; And morrow's quick returning light Must call us to the world again.

7 Yet will there dawn at last a day,

A SUN that never sets shall rise; Night will not veil his ceaseless ray, The heav'nly Sabbath never dies!

1 I LOVE to steal awhile away
From every cumb'ring care,
And spend the hours of setting day,
In humble, grateful prayer.

2 I love in solitude to shed
The penitential tear,

And all His promises to plead,

Where none but God can hear.

3 I love to think on mercies past,
And future good implore,
And all my cares and sorrows cast
On him whom I adore.

4 I love by faith to take a view

Of brighter scenes in heav'n;

The prospect doth my strength renew
While here by tempests driv❜n.

5 Thus, when life's toilsome day is o'er,
May its departing ray

Be calm as this impressive hour,
And lead to endless day.

FOR THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR. 65

HYMN. L. M.

1 GREAT God, we sing thy mighty hand;
By that supported still we stand:
The op'ning year thy mercy shows;
Let mercy crown it till it close.

2 By day, by night-at home, abroad,
Still we are guarded by our God;
By his incessant bounty fed-
By his unerring counsels led.

3 With grateful hearts the past we own;
The future-all to us unknown-
We to thy guardian care commit,
And peaceful leave before thy feet.

4 In scenes exalted or depress'd,

Be thou our joy-and thou our rest;
Thy goodness all our hopes shall raise,
Ador'd through all our changing days.
5 When death shall close our earthly songs,
And seal in silence mortal tongues,

Our helper, God, in whom we trust,
In brighter worlds our souls shall boast.

1 ETERNAL God! I bless thy name,
The same thy power-thy grace the same;
The tokens of thy friendly care

Begin, and close, and crown the year.
2 Supported by thy guardian hand,
Amid ten thousand deaths I stand,
And see, when I survey thy ways,
Ten thousand monuments of praise.
3 Thus far thine arm has led me on-
Thus far I make thy mercy known;
And while I tread this desert land,
New mercies shall new songs demand.
4 My grateful voice on Jordan's shore,
Shall raise one sacred pillar more;
Then bear, in thy bright courts above,
Inscriptions of immortal love.

1 WHILE with ceaseless course the sun
Hasted through the former year,

Many souls their race have run,
Never more to meet us here:
Fixed in an eternal state,

They have done with all below;
We a little longer wait,

But how little-none can know.

2 Spared to see another year,

Let thy blessing meet us here;
Come, thy dying work revive,
Bid thy drooping garden thrive;