PSALM 19. First Part. (S. M.) The Book of Nature and Scripture.
For a Lord's Day Morning.
I
Behold the lofty sky
Declares its maker God,
And all his starry works on high
Proclaim his power abroad.
II
The darkness and the light
Still keep their course the same;
While night to day and day to night
Divinely teach his name.
III
In every different land
Their general voice is known;
They shew the wonders of his hand,
And orders of his throne.
IV
Ye British lands, rejoice,
Here he reveals his word,
We are not left to nature's voice
To bid us know the Lord.
V
His statutes and commands
Are set before our eyes,
He puts his gospel in our hands
Where our salvation lies.
VI
His laws are just and pure,
His truth without deceit,
His promises for ever sure,
And his rewards are great.
VII
Not honey to the taste
Affords so much delight,
Nor gold that has the furnace past
So much allures the sight.
VIII
While of thy works I sing,
Thy glory to proclaim,
Accept the praise, my God, my king,
In my Redeemer's name.
The psalmist here, and in other psalms, uses the word Law, to
express the five books of Moses, or all the divine Revelation that he
had in his time; yet Christ and the apostles so frequently distinguish
the law and the gospel, that I have chosen to imitate their language,
and have often introduced the words gospel, truth, and promise,
instead of statues, testimonies, &c. as being more agreeable to the
style of the New Testament.
