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HYMN I. THE PRAYER OF JACOB.

O GOD of Abraham! by whose hand
Thy people still are fed;
Who, thro' this weary pilgrimage,
Hast all our fathers led!
Our vows, our prayers, we now present
Before thy throne of grace;
God of our Fathers be the God
Of their succeeding race!
Thro' each perplexing path of life
Our wandering footsteps guide,
Give us by day our daily bread,
And raiment fit provide!
O spread thy covering wings around,
Till all our wandrings cease,
And at our Fathers loved abode
Our feet arrive in peace!
Now with the humble Voice of prayer
Thy mercy we implore;
Then with the grateful voice of praise
Thy goodness we'll adore!
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HYMN II. THE COMPLAINT OF NATURE.

Few are thy days and full of woe,
O man of woman born!
Thy doom is written, dust thou art,
And shalt to dust return.
Determin'd are the days that fly
Successive o'er thy head;
The number'd hour is on the wing,
That lays thee with the dead.
Alas! the little day of life
Is shorter than a span;
Yet black with thousand hidden ills
To miserable man.
Gay is thy morning, flattering Hope
Thy sprightly step attends;
But soon the tempest howls behind,
And the dark night descends.
Before its splendid hour the cloud
Comes o'er the beam of light;
A Pilgrim in a weary land,
Man tarries but a night.
Behold! sad emblem of thy state,
The flowers that paint the field;
Or trees, that crown the mountain's brow,
And boughs and blossoms yield.
When chill the blast of Winter blows,
Away the Summer flies,
The flowers resign their sunny robes,
And all their beauty dies.
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Nipt by the year the forest fades;
And shaking to the wind,
The leaves toss to and fro, and, streak
The wilderness behind.
The Winter past, reviving flowers
Anew shall paint the plain,
The woods shall hear the voice of Spring,
And flourish green again.
But man departs this earthly scene,
Ah! never to return!
No second Spring shall e'er revive
The ashes of the urn.
Th' inexorable doors of death
What hand can e'er unfold?
Who from the cearments of the tomb
Can raise the human mold?
The mighty flood that rolls along
Its torrents to the main,
The water's lost can ne'er recall
From that abyss again.
The days, the years, the ages, dark
Descending down to night,
Can never, never be redeem'd
Back to the gates of light.
So Man departs the living scene,
To Night's perpetual gloom;
The voice of Morning ne'er shall break
The slumbers of the tomb.
Where are our Fathers? Whither gone
The mighty men of old?
“The Patriarchs, Prophets, Princes, Kings,
“In sacred boks inroll'd.
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“Gone to the resting-place of man,
“The everlasting home,
“Where ages past have gone before,
“Where future ages come.”
Thus Nature pour'd the wail of woe,
And urged her earnest cry;
Her voice in agony extreme
Ascended to the sky.
Th' Almighty heard: Then from his throne
In majesty he rose;
And from the Heaven, that open'd wide,
His Voice in mercy flows.
“When mortal man resigns his breath,
“And falls a clod of clay,
“The soul immortal wings its flight,
“To never-setting day.
“Prepared of old for wicked men
“The bed of torment lies;
“The just shall enter into bliss
“Immortal in the skies.”

HYMN III. TRUST IN PROVIDENCE.

Almighty Father of mankind,
On Thee my hopes remain;
And when the day of trouble comes,
I shall not trust in vain.
Thou art our kind Preserver, from
The cradle to the tomb;
And I was cast upon thy care,
Even from my mother's womb.
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In early years thou wast my guide,
And of my youth the friend;
And as my days began with thee,
With Thee my days shall end.
I know the Power in whom I trust,
The arm on which I lean;
He will my Saviour ever be,
Who has my Saviour been.
In former times, when trouble came,
Thou didst not stand afar;
Nor didst thou prove an absent friend
Amid the din of war.
My God, who causedst me to hope,
When life began to beat,
And when a stranger in the world,
Didst guide my wandering feet;
Thou wilt not cast me off, when age
And evil days descend;
Thou wilt not leave me in despair,
To mourn my latter end.
Therefore in life I'll trust to Thee,
In death I will adore
And after death will sing thy praise,
When time shall be no more.

HYMN IV. HEAVENLY WISDOM.

O happy is the man who hears
Instruction's warning voice,
And who celestial Wisdom makes
His early, only choice.
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For she has treasures greater far
Than East or west unfold,
And her reward is more secure
Than is the gain of gold.
In her right hand she holds to view
A length of happy years,
And in her left, the prize of Fame
And Honour bright appears.
She guides the young, with innocence,
In Pleasure's path to tread,
A crown of glory she bestows
Upon the hoary head.
According as her labours rise,
So her rewards increase,
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
And all her paths are peace.

HYMN V.

Behold! the mountain of the Lord
In latter days shall rise,
Above the mountains and the hills,
And draw the wondering eyes
To this the joyful nations round
All tribes and tongues shall flow,
Up to the Hill of God they'll say,
And to his house we'll go.
The beam that shines on Zion hill
Shall lighten every land;
The King who reigns in Zion towers
Shall all the world command.
No strife shall vex Messiah's reign,
Or mar the peaceful years,
To ploughshares soon they beat their swords,
To pruning-hooks their spears.
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No longer hosts encountering hosts,
Their millions slain deplore;
They hang the trumpet in the hall,
And study war no more.
Come then—O come from every land,
To worship at his shrine;
And, walking in the light of God,
With holy beauties shine.

HYMN VI.

Behold! th' Ambassador divine,
Descending from above,
To publish to mankind the law
Of everlasting love!
On him in rich effusion pour'd
The heavenly dew descends;
And truth divine he shall reveal,
To earth's remotest ends.
No trumpet-sound, at his approach,
Shall strike the wondring ears;
But still and gentle breath the voice
In which the God appears.
By his kind hand the shaken reed
Shall raise its falling frame;
The dying embers shall revive,
And kindle to a flame.
The onward progress of his zeal
Shall never know decline,
Till foreign lands and distant isles
Receive the law divine.
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He who spread forth the arch of Heaven,
And bade the planets roll,
Who laid the basis of the earth,
And form'd the human soul.
Thus saith the Lord, “Thee have I sent,
“A Prophet from the sky,
“Wide o'er the nations to proclaim
“The message from on high.
“Before thy face the shades of death
“Shall take to sudden flight,
“The people who in darkness dwell
“Shall hail a glorious light;
“The gates of brass shall 'sunder burst,
“The iron fetters fall;
“The promis'd jubilee of Heaven
“Appointed rise o'er all.
“And lo! presaging thy approach,
“The Heathen temples shake,
“And trembling in forsaken fanes,
“The fabled idols quake.
“I am Jehova: I am One:
“My name shall now be known;
“No idol shall usurp my praise,
“Nor mount into my throne.”
Lo, former scenes, predicted once,
Conspicuous rise to view;
And future scenes, predicted now,
Shall be accomplish'd too.
Now sing a new song to the Lord!
Let earth his praise resound;
Ye who upon the ocean dwell,
And fill the isles around.
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O city of the Lord! begin
The universal song;
And let the scattered villages
The joyful notes prolong.
Let Kedar's wildness afar
Lift up the lonely voice;
And let the tenants of the rock
With accent rude rejoice.
O from the streams of distant lands
Unto Jehova sing!
And joyful from the mountain tops
Shout to the Lord the King!
Let all combined with one accord
Jehovah's glories raise,
Till in remotest bounds of earth
The nations sound his praise.

HYMN VII.

Messiah! at thy glad approach
The howling wilds are still;
Thy praises fill the lonely waste,
And breathe from every hill.
The hidden fountains, at thy call,
Their sacred stores unlock;
Loud in the desert sudden streams
Burst living from the rock.
The incense of the sping ascends
Upon the morning gale;
Red o'er the hill the roses bloom
The lilies in the vale.
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Renew'd, the earth a robe of light,
A robe of beauty wears;
And in new heavens a brighter Sun
Leads on the promised years.
The kingdom of Messiah come,
Appointed times disclose;
And fairer in Emmanuel's land
The new Creation glows.
Let Israel to the Prince of Peace
The loud Hosannah sing!
With Hallelujahs and with hyms,
O Zion, hail thy King!

HYMN VIII.

When Jesus, by the Virgin brought,
So runs the law of Heaven,
Was offer'd holy to the Lord,
And at the altar given;
Simeon; the Just and the Devout,
Who frequent in the fane
Had for the Saviour wailed long,
But waited still in vain;
Came Heaven-directed at the hour
When Mary held her son;
He stretched forth his aged arms,
While tears of gladness run:
With holy joy upon his face
The good old father smiled,
While fondly in his wither'd arms
He clasp'd the promis'd child.
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And then he lifted up to Heaven
An earnest asking eye;
My joy is full, my hour is come,
Lord let thy servant die.
At last my arms embrace my Lord,
Now let their vigour cease;
At last my eyes my Saviour see,
Now let them close in peace!
The star and glory of the land
Hath now begun to shine;
The morning that shall gild the globe
Breaks on these eyes of mine!

HYMN IX.

Where high the heavenly temple stands
The house of God not made with hands,
A great High Priest our Nature wears,
The Patron of mankind appears.
He who for men in mercy stood,
And pour'd on earth his precious blood,
Pursues in Heaven his plan of Grace,
The Guardian God of human race.
Tho' now ascended up on high,
He bends on earth a brother's eye,
Partaker of the human name
He knows the frailty of our frame.
Our fellow sufferer yet retains
A fellow-feeling of our pains;
And still remembers in the skies
His tears, and agonies, and cries.
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In every pang that rends the heart,
The Man of Sorrows had a part;
He sympathises in our grief,
And to the sufferer sends relief.
With boldness, therefore, at the throne
Let us make all our sorrows known,
And ask the aids of heavenly power,
To help us in the evil hour.
THE END.
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