PART FIRST.

HYMNS

ON

SCRIPTURE SUBJECTS.

THE

CHRISTIAN PSALMIST.

PART I.

ON SCRIPTURE SUBJECTS.

1.

The Creation.-Gen. i. 1.

1 Now let a spacious world arise,
Said the Creator-Lord:

At once the obedient earth and skies
Rose at his sovereign word.

2 Dark was the deep; the waters lay
Confused, and drown'd the land:
He call'd the light; the new-born day
Attends on his command.

3 He bade the clouds ascend on high;
The clouds ascend and bear
A watery treasure to the sky,
And float on softer air.

4 The liquid element below

Was gather'd by his hand;
The rolling seas together flow,
And leave the solid land.

5 With herbs and plants, a flowery birth,
The naked globe He crown'd,
Ere there was rain to bless the earth,
Or sun to warm the ground.

6 Then He adorn'd the upper skies;-
Behold the sun appears,

The moon and stars in order rise,
To make our months and years.

7 Out of the deep the almighty King
Did vital beings frame,
The painted fowls of every wing,
And fish of every name.

8 He gave the lion and the worm
At once their wondrous birth,
And grazing beasts of various form
Rose from the teeming earth.
9 Adam was framed of equal clay,
Though sovereign of the rest,
Design'd for nobler ends than they,
With God's own image bless'd.

10 Thus glorious in the Maker's eye
The young creation stood;

He saw the building from on high,
His word pronounced it good.

11 Lord, while the frame of nature stands,
Thy praise shall fill my tongue;
But the new world of grace demands
A more exalted song.

2.

Creation, Dissolution, and Renovation of all things.-
Gen. i. 1, &c.

1 By faith we know, the world was made
Formless at first and void:
We know, the universe decay'd

Shall be by fire destroy'd:
But soon the co-eternal Son
We shall in glory view,
Jehovah sitting on his throne,
Creating all things new.

2 Such is my soul, confused and void,
With darkness palpable o'erspread,
Stripp'd of the living form of God,
Fall'n emphatically dead,

"Till the eternal Spirit move,
And raise again the spark of love.

3 Expand thy wings, celestial Dove,

And brooding o'er my nature's night, Call forth the ray of heavenly love,

Let there in my dark soul be light,
And fill the illustrated abyss

With glorious beams of endless bliss. 4 Let there be light, again command,

5

6

And light there in our hearts shall be;
We then through faith shall understand
Thy great mysterious Majesty,
And, by the shining of thy grace,
Behold in Christ thy glorious face.

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
In council join again

To restore thine image, lost
By frail apostate man:

O might I thy form express,

Through faith begotten from above,

Stamp'd with real holiness,

And fill'd with perfect love!

Father, see this living clod,
This spark of heavenly fire!
Lo, my soul, the breath of God,
Doth after God aspire:
Let it still to heaven ascend,
Till I my Principle rejoin,
Blended with my glorious end,
And lost in Love Divine.