3 My thoughts lie open to the Lord
Before they're formed within;
And ere my lips pronounce the word,
He knows the sense I mean.

4 Oh, wondrous knowledge, deep and high!
Where can a creature hide?
Within thy circling arms I lie,
Beset on every side.

5 The beams of noon, the midnight hour,
Are both alike to thee;

power

Oh may I ne'er offend that
From which I cannot flee!

182.

L. M. TATE AND BRADY.

“Whither shall I go from thy Presence?”

1 THOU, Lord, by strictest search hast known My rising up and lying down;

My secret thoughts are known to thee,
Known long before conceived by me.
2 Surrounded by thy power I stand,
On every side I find thy hand;
O skill, for human reach too high!
Too dazzling bright for mortal eye!
3 O could I so perfidious be,

To think of once deserting thee!
Where, Lord, could I thy influence shun?
Or whither from thy presence run?

4 If I the morning's wings could gain,
And fly beyond the western main,
Thy swifter hand would first arrive,
And there arrest thy fugitive.

5 Or should I try to shun thy sight
Beneath the sable wings of night,
One glance from thee, one piercing ray,
Would kindle darkness into day.

6 Search, try, O God, my thoughts and heart, If mischief lurks in any part;

Correct me where I go astray,
And guide me in thy perfect way.

183.

L. M.

DODDRIDGE.

God our Guide, our Refuge, our Hope.

1 THOU, Lord, through every changing scene,
Hast to thy saints a refuge been;
Through every age, eternal God,
Their pleasing home, their safe abode.

2 In thee our fathers sought their rest,
In thee our fathers still are blest;
And while the tomb confines their dust,
In thee their souls abide, and trust.

3 Lo, we are risen, a feeble race,
Awhile to fill our fathers' place.
Our helpless state with pity view,
And let us share their refuge too.

4 Through all the thorny paths we trace
In this uncertain wilderness,

When friends desert and foes invade,
Revive our heart, and guard our head.

5 So when this pilgrimage is o'er,
And we must dwell in flesh no more,
To thee our separate souls shall come,
And find in thee a surer home.

God shining into the Heart.

1 PRAISE to the Lord of boundless might, With uncreated glories bright!

His presence gilds the worlds above, The unchanging Source of light and love 2 Our rising earth his eye beheld, When in substantial darkness veiled; "Let there be light," Jehovah said; And light o'er all its face was spread. 3 He sees the mind, when lost it lies In shades of ignorance and vice, And darts from heaven a vivid ray, And changes midnight into day.

4 Shine, mighty God, with vigour shine
On this benighted heart of mine;
And let thy glories stand revealed,
As in the Saviour's face beheld.

5 My soul, revived by heaven-born day,
Thy radiant image shall display,
While all my faculties unite

To praise the Lord, who gives me light.

"Canst thou, by searching, find out God?"

1 GREAT GOD! in vain man's narrow view
Attempts to look thy nature through:
Our labouring powers with reverence own
Thy glories never can be known.

2 Not the high seraph's mighty thought,
Who countless years his God has sought,
Such wondrous height or depth can find,
Or fully trace thy boundless mind.

3 Yet, Lord! thy kindness deigns to show
Enough for mortal man to know;
While wisdom, goodness, power divine,
Through all thy works and conduct shine.
4 O! may our souls with rapture trace
Thy works of nature and of grace;
Explore thy sacred truth, and still
Press on to know and do thy will.

"The Fear of God is the Beginning of Wisdom." 1 GREAT Author of all nature's frame, Holy and reverend is thy name; Against thee who shall lift his hand? Before thy terrors who can stand?

2 But blest are they, O gracious Lord!
Who fear thy name and keep thy word;
Thy wisdom guides, thy power defends
Their life, till life its journey ends.

3 0 that my soul, with awful sense
Of thy transcendent excellence,
May close the day, the day begin,
Watchful against each darling sin.
4 Never, O never from my heart
May this great principle depart;
But act with unabating power,
Within me, to my latest hour.

1 GREAT GOD! thine attributes divine,
Thy glorious works and ways,
The wonders of thy power and might,
The universe displays.

2 In safety may thy children rest
On thy sustaining arm;
Extended still and strong to save
From danger and alarm.

3 0 may thy gracious presence, Lord,
Chase anxious fears away;

Amidst the ruins of the world,

Our guardian and our stay!

The Mysteries of Providence.

1 ALMIGHTY GOD! thy wondrous works Of providence and grace,

An angel's perfect mind exceed,
And all our pride abase.

2 Stupendous heights! amazing depths! Creatures in vain explore:

Or, if a transient glimpse we gain, "Tis faint and quickly o'er.

3 Though all the mysteries lie concealed Beyond what we can see,

Grant us the knowledge of ourselves, The knowledge, Lord, of thee.