Praise ye the Lord! ’tis good to raise

Our hearts and voices in his praise:

His nature and his works invite

To make this duty our delight.

2 Great is the Lord! and great his might,

And all his glories infinite:

His wisdom vast, and knows no bound;

A deep where all our thoughts are drowned.

3 He loves the meek, rewards the just,

Humbles the wicked in the dust,

Melts and subdues the stubborn soul,

And makes the broken spirit whole.

Ere mountains reared their forms sublime,

Or heaven and earth in order stood—

Before the birth of ancient time,

From everlasting thou art God.

2 A thousand ages, in their flight,

With thee are as a fleeting day;

Past, present, future, to thy sight

At once their various scenes display.

3 But our brief life’s a shadowy dream,

A passing thought, that soon is o’er,

That fades with morning’s earliest beam,

And fills the musing mind no more.

4 To us, O Lord, the wisdom give

Each passing moment so to spend,

That we at length with thee may live,

Where life and bliss shall never end.

Lord, my weak thought in vain would climb

To search the starry vault profound:

In vain would wing her flight sublime,

To find creation’s outmost bound.

2 But weaker yet that thought must prove

To search thy great eternal plan—

Thy sovereign counsels, born of love

Long ages ere the world began.

3 When my dim reason would demand

Why that, or this, thou dost ordain,

By some vast deep I seem to stand,

Whose secrets I must ask in vain.

Father of spirits! nature’s God,

Our inmost thoughts are known to thee:

Thou, Lord, canst hear each idle word,

And every private action see.

2 Could we, on morning’s swiftest wings,

Pursue our flight through trackless air,

Or dive beneath deep ocean’s springs,

Thy presence still would meet us there.

3 In vain may guilt attempt to fly,

Concealed beneath the pall of night:

One glance from thy all-piercing eye,

Can kindle darkness into light.

4 Search thou our hearts, and there destroy

Each evil thought, each secret sin,

And fit us for those realms of joy

Where naught impure shall enter in.

Jehovah reigns; his throne is high;

His robes are light and majesty;

His glory shines with beams so bright

No mortal can sustain the sight.

2 His terrors keep the world in awe;

His justice guards his holy law;

His love reveals a smiling face.

His truth and promise seal the grace.

With one consent let all the earth

To God their cheerful voices raise;

Glad homage pay, with awful mirth,

And sing before him songs of praise:

2 Convinced that he is God alone,

From whom both we and all proceed;

We, whom he chooses for his own,

The flock that he vouchsafes to keep.

3 O, enter, then, his temple gate,

Thence to his courts devoutly press;

And still your grateful hymns repeat,

And still his name with praises bless.

4 For he’s the Lord supremely good,

His mercy is for ever sure;

His truth, which always firmly stood,

To endless ages shall endure.

O source divine, and life of all,

The fount of being’s wondrous sea!

Thy depth would every heart appall,

That saw not love supreme in thee.

2 We shrink before thy vast abyss,

Where worlds on worlds eternal brood;

We know thee truly but in this—

That thou bestowest all our good.

Unchangeable, all-perfect Lord!

Essential life’s unbounded sea!

What lives and moves, lives by thy word;

It lives, and moves, and is, from thee!

Whate’er in earth, or sea, or sky,

Or shuns, or meets, the wandering thought,

Escapes, or strikes, the searching eye,

By thee was to existence brought.

2 High is thy power above all hight;

Whate’er thy will decrees is done:

Thy wisdom, holiness and might

Can by no finite mind be known.

What our dim eyes could never see,

Is plain and naked in thy sight;

What thickest darkness vails, to thee

Shines clearly as the morning light.

3 Thine, Lord, is holiness, alone:

Justice and truth before thee stand:

Yet, nearer to thy sacred throne,

Love ever dwells at thy right hand.

And to thy love and ceaseless care,

Father! this light, this breath, we owe;

And all we have, and all we are,

From thee, great source of life! doth flow.

Lord, thou hast searched and seen me thro’;

Thine eye commands with piercing view

My rising and my resting hours,

My heart and flesh with all their powers.

Lord, thou hast formed mine every part,

Mine inmost thought is known to thee;

Each word, each feeling of my heart,

Thine ear doth hear, thine eye doth see.

2 Though I should seek the shades of night,

And hide myself in guilty fear,

To thee the darkness seems as light,

The midnight as the noonday clear.

3 The heavens, the earth, the sea, the sky,

All own thee ever present there;

Where’er I turn, thou still art nigh,

Thy Spirit dwelling everywhere.

4 O may that Spirit, ever blest,

Upon my soul in radiance shine,

Till welcomed to eternal rest,

I taste thy presence, Lord, divine!

Thou art, O Lord, the boundless source,

Whence all our thousand blessings flow;

And nature, through her endless course,

Proclaims thy love to all below;

2 The sun on golden chariot rides,

And sends to earth his rays of light;

While darkness from his brightness hides,

And vanishes from human sight;

This sunlight, when it comes to earth,

Declares thy goodness gave it birth.

3 The moon and stars, that rule at night,

And smile upon this world of wrong,

Bear on each trembling chord of light

The notes of this sweet, sacred song;

“Thou, Lord, didst make all things that move;

All are the creatures of thy love.”

4 Then help my poor, unworthy heart

To join aloud in nature’s praise;

And may my song, in every part,

Proclaim the wonders of thy ways;

And when I reach the heavenly plains,

I’ll sing thy love in nobler strains.

Lord, all I am is known to thee;

In vain my soul would try

To shun thy presence, or to flee

The notice of thine eye.

2 Thy all-observing eye surveys

My rising and my rest,

My public walks, my private ways,

The secrets of my breast.

3 My thoughts lie open to thee, Lord,

Before they’re formed within,

And ere my lips pronounce the word,

Thou knowest all I mean.

O God, we praise thee, and confess

That thou the only Lord

And everlasting Father art,

By all the earth adored.

2 To thee all angels cry aloud,

To thee the powers on high,

Both cherubim and seraphim,

Continually do cry—

3 O holy, holy, holy Lord,

When heavenly hosts obey;

The world is with the glory filled

Of thy majestic sway.

4 The apostles’ glorious company,

The prophets crowned with light,

With all the martyrs’ noble host,

Thy constant praise recite.

5 The holy Church, throughout the world,

O Lord, confesses thee,

That thou th’ eternal Father art

Of boundless majesty.

Songs of immortal praise belong

To my Almighty God;

He has my heart, and he my tongue,

To spread his name abroad.

2 How great the works his hand has wrought;

How glorious in our sight;

And men in every age have sought

His wonders with delight.

O God! my heart is fully bent

To magnify thy name;

My tongue, with cheerful songs of praise,

Shall celebrate thy fame.

2 Be thou, O God! exalted high

Above the starry frame;

And let the world, with one consent

Confess thy glorious name.

Great God! how infinite art thou,

What worthless worms are we;

Let the whole race of creatures bow,

And pay their praise to thee.

2 Thy throne eternal ages stood,

Ere seas or stars were made:

Thou art the ever-living God,

Were all the nations dead.

3 Our lives through various scenes are drawn,

And vexed with trifling cares;

While thine eternal thoughts move on

Thine undisturbed affairs.

4 Great God! how infinite art thou,

What worthless worms are we;

Let the whole race of creatures bow,

And pay their praise to Thee.