Thanksgiving for Social and Spiritual Blessings.
1 HOMAGE, pay to GoD above,
GOD whose nature all is love; In his praise your breath employ,— Gracious Source of ev'ry joy!
2 Those who led our early youth
In the paths of love and truth,-
All who with affections glow
Share our joys and griefs below.-
3 All who e'er our wants redress'd,
Or felt with sympathizing breast,-
All are blessings from above;
All are thine, thou GoD of love!
4 All our hopes of life and heav'n,
Through thy grace alone are giv'n;
Bliss eternal, pure, divine,--
Ev'ry gift, O GOD! is thine.
5 Homage thus to thee we bring,
Of all good exhaustless spring!
In thy praise our hearts employ,
Gracious Source of ev'ry joy!
The Mercies of God thankfully acknowledged.
AWAKE our souls! awake our tongues,
Our GoD demands our grateful songs;
Let all our inmost pow'rs record
The wondrous goodness of the LORD.
2 Divinely free his mercy flows,
Forgives our sins, allays our woes;
He bids approaching death remove,
And crowns us with a Father's love.
3 Our youth decay'd his pow'r repairs;
His hand sustains our riper years;
He satisfies our mouths with food,
And feeds our hopes with heav'nly good.
4 His mercy with unchanging rays,
For ever shines, while time decays;
And children's children shall record
The truth and goodness of the LORD,
5 To those. who, with religious awe,
Love and obey,his sacred law,
Whose hearts with pure devotion glow,
Whose lives their grateful homage show.
6 While all his works his praise proclaim,
Let men unite to bless his name;
Let ev'ry heart. and life, and tongue,
Attend and join the sacred song.
Thanksgiving for Divine Mercy.
SOV'REIGN LORD of light and glory!
Author of our mortal frame!
Joyfully we bow before thee,
And extol thy holy name:
Hallelujah!
Ever sacred be the theme!
2 Kind dispenser of each blessing
Which surrounds the human race!
May we gratefully possessing,
Still adore thy boundless grace !
Hallelujah!
Praise to God, immortal praise!
3 Thus. with humble adoration,
We attend before thy throne ;
And with grateful exultation,
Thy abundant mercy own:
Hallelujah!
Praise belongs to thee alone! 4 In thy ev'ry dispensation,
Love and mercy we descry;
Thou, the GOD of our salvation!
To preserve us still art nigh:
Hallelujah!
Glory be to GoD on high!
Praise in Prosperity and Adversity.
1 PRAISE to GOD, immortal praise,
For the love that crowns our days;
Plenteous Source of ev'ry joy!
Let thy praise our tongue employ.
2 All the blessings of the fields,
All the stores the garden yields,
Flocks that whiten all the plain,
Yellow sheaves of ripen'd grain,-
3 All that spring, with bounteous hand,
Scatters o'er the smiling land,-
All that lib'ral autumn pours
From her rich o'erflowing stores,-
4 These to thee, our Gon! we owe,
Source whence all our blessings flow!
And for these our souls would raise
Grateful vows, and solemn praise.
5 Yet should rising whirlwinds tear
From its stem the rip'ning ear,
Though the sick'ning flock should fall,
And the herd desert the stall;
6 Should thy alter'd hand restrain
The early and the latter rain,
Blast each op'ning bud of joy,
And the rising ear destroy;
7 Though of other hopes bereft,
Still our hope of heav'n is left;
And for this our hearts would raise
Grateful vows, and solemn praise.
195. L. M.
Giving thanks to God in all Things.
1 GOD of my life! my thanks to thee
Should, like thy gifts, continual be; In constant streams thy bounty flows, Nor end nor intermission knows.
2 From thee my comforts all arise; My num'rous wants thy hand supplies: Nor can I need, or ask for more,
Than thou canst furnish from thy store. 3 If what I ask my GoD denies, It is because he's good and wise; And what for evils I mistake, He can my greatest blessings make. 4 Deep LORD! upon my thankful breast Let all thy goodness be impress'd, That I may never more forget The whole, or any single debt. 5 Dispose me, each revolving day, For daily gifts my thanks to pay; And though thy gifts withdrawn should be, In all things to give thanks to thee.
Obligation to Gratitude and Praise.
To thee my all I owe ;
Thy sov'reign bounty is the spring Whence all my blessings flow. 2 Thou ever good and kind!
A thousand reasons move,
A thousand obligations bind
My heart to grateful love.
3 Thy goodness like the sun,
Dawn'd on my early days,
Ere infant reason had begun
To form my lips to praise.
4 The creature of thy hand,
On thee alone I live:
My God thy benefits demand
More praise than tongue can give.
My soul with strength divine; Let all my powers to thee aspire,
And all my days be thine!
197. c. M.
Praise to God through all the Changes of Life. 1 FATHER of mercies! GOD of love!
My Father, and my GOD! I'll sing the honours of thy name, And spread thy praise abroad.
2 In ev'ry period of my life,
Thy thoughts of love appear;
Thy mercies gild the transient scene,
And crown each passing year.
3 In all thy mercies, may my soul
A Father's bounty see;
Nor let the gifts thy grace bestows,
Estrange my heart from thee.
4 Teach me in times of great distress,
To own thy hand, O GOD!
And, in submissive silence, hear
The lessons of thy rod.
5 Through ev'ry changing state of life.
Each bright, each clouded scene,
Give me a meek and humble mind,
Still equal and serene.
6 Then may I close my eyes in death,
Free from all anxious fear;
For death itself is life, my GOD!
If thou be with me there.
198. s. M.
Reliance on the Goodness of God a Remedy for Care
How kind his precepts are! Come cast your burdens on the LORD! And trust his constant care.'
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