To man, and bird, and beast,
And everything that lives.
Thy liberal care,
And harvest moon,
Our lips declare.
In winter, awful thou!
With storms around thee cast;
The leafless forests bow
Beneath thy northern blast.
While tempests lower, We homage bring,
1 GREAT God, we sing that mighty hand,
By which supported still we stand:
The opening year thy mercy shows;
That mercy crowns it, till it close.
2 By day, by night, at home, abroad,
Still are we guarded by our God,
By his incessant bounty fed,
By his unerring counsel led.
3 With grateful hearts the past we own;
The future, all to us unknown,
We to thy guardian care commit,
And peaceful leave before thy feet.
4 In scenes exalted or depressed,
Thou art our joy, and thou our rest;
Thy goodness all our hopes shall raise,
Adored through all our changing days.
5 When death shall interrupt these songs,
And seal in silence mortal tongues,
Our helper, God, in whom we trust,
In better worlds our souls shall boast.
1 OUR Father! through the coming year We know not what shall be,
But we would leave without a fear
Its ordering to thee.
2 It may be we shall toil in vain
For what the world holds fair,
And all its good we thought to gain
Deceive, and prove but care.
3 It may be it shall darkly blend
Our love with anxious fears,
And snatch away the valued friend,
The tried of many years.
4 It may be it shall bring us days
And nights of lingering pain,
And bid us take our farewell gaze
Of these loved haunts of men.
5 But calmly, Lord, on thee we rest;
No fears our trust shall move;
Thou knowest what for each is best,
And thou art perfect love.
The Fleeting Years of Life.
1 WHILE, with ceaseless course, the sun
Hasted through the former year,
Many souls their race have run,
Never more to meet us here!
Fixed in an eternal state,
They have done with all below:
We a little longer wait;
But how little, none can know.
2 As the wingèd arrow flies
Speedily the mark to find,
As the lightning from the skies
Darts, and leaves no trace behind,
Swiftly thus our fleeting days
Bear us down life's rapid stream;
Upward, Lord, our spirits raise;
All below is but a dream.
3 Thanks for mercies past receive,
Pardon of our sins renew;
Teach us henceforth how to live,
With eternity in view.
Bless thy word to young and old;
Fill us with a Saviour's love;
And, when life's short tale is told,
May we dwell with thee above.
1 GOD of the changing year! whose arm of power
In safety leads through danger's darkest hour,
Here in thy temple bow thy creatures down,
To bless thy mercy, and thy might to own.
Thine are the beams that cheer us on our way,
And pour around the gladdening light of day;
Thine is the night; and the fair orbs that shine
To cheer its hours of darkness all are thine.
3 If round our path the thorns of sorrow grew,
And mortal friends were faithless, thou wert true:
Did sickness shake the frame, or anguish tear
The wounded spirit, thou wert present there.
4 Yet when our hearts review departed days,
How vast thy mercies! how remiss our praise!
Well may we dread thine awful eye to meet,
Bend at thy throne, and worship at thy feet.
5 O lend thine ear, and lift our voice to thee;
Where'er we dwell, still let thy mercy be;
From year to year, still nearer to thy shrine
Draw our frail hearts, and make them wholly thine.
The Promises of the Year.
1 THE year begins with promises
Of joyful days to come,
Of Sabbath bells, of times of prayer,
Of thoughts on heaven, our home;
2 Of seed-time, with its gentle winds,
Soft dews, and healthful showers,
And streamlets gushing from the hills,
And birds, and opening flowers;
Of summer, with its warbling choir
Amid the balmy leaves;
Of autumn, with its fragrant herbs
And fruits and bending sheaves;
4 Of countless mercies from our God,
Who rules the changeful years,
Both here and in the world of love,
Beyond the heavenly spheres.
"Thou crownest the year with thy goodness."
1 ETERNAL Source of every joy!
Well may thy praise our lips employ,
While in thy temple we appear,
Whose goodness crowns the circling year.
2 Wide as the wheels of nature roll,
Thy hand supports the steady pole;
The sun is taught by thee to rise,
And darkness when to veil the skies.
3 The flowery spring, at thy command,
Embalms the air and paints the land;
The summer rays with vigor shine,
To raise the corn, and cheer the vine.
4 Thy hand in autumn richly pours
Through all our coasts redundant stores;
And winters, softened by thy care,
No more a face of horror wear.
5 Seasons, and months, and weeks, and days,
Demand successive songs of praise;
Still be the cheerful homage paid,
With opening light, and evening shade.
6 O may our more harmonious tongues
In worlds unknown pursue the songs;
And in those brighter courts adore,
Where days and years revolve no more!
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