the chosen utterance of humble and intelligent piety.

It cannot be too much to hope and believe, that a collection so large as this, and made on these principles, must, together with the Prayer-book collection, embrace almost all the choicest metrical Hymns in our language. Some may have been included, which the judgment of other compilers would have rejected; but it is scarcely possible that many should be absent which would have been secure of general approval.

The persons who have undertaken the labour involved in the preparation of this book, and who must be responsible for the execution, are the Right Rev. Bishop Burgess, of Maine; the Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg, of New York; the Rev. Dr. Howe, of Pennsylvania; the Rev. Dr. Coxe, of Maryland; and Professor Wharton, of Kenyon College. They have been materially aided by the counsel and help of the Right Rev. Bishops Potter and Bowman, of Pennsylvania, the Rev. Dr. Andrews, of Virginia, and the Rev. John F. Young, of New York.

The book is now commended to the blessing of GOD, the FATHER, the SON, and the HOLY GHOST; whose praises it would utter in every line.

MAY, 1860.

THE

HOLY SCRIPTURES.

HYMN

1.

L. M.

THE

HE heavens declare Thy glory, Lord;
In every star Thy wisdom shines;
But when our eyes behold Thy word,
We read Thy Name in fairer lines.

2 The rolling sun, the changing light,

And nights and days Thy power confess; But the blest volume Thou hast writ, Reveals Thy justice and Thy grace.

3 Sun, moon, and stars, convey Thy praise Round the whole earth, and never stand; So when thy truth began its race,

It touch'd and glanced on every land.

4 Thy noblest wonders here we view
In souls renew'd, and sins forgiven;
Lord, cleanse our sins, our souls renew,
And make Thy word our guide to heaven.

(15)

HYMN

THE

THE starry firmament on high, And all the glories of the sky, Yet shine not to Thy praise, O Lord, So brightly as Thy written word.

2 The hopes that holy word supplies,
Its truths divine and precepts wise,
In each a heavenly beam I see,
And every beam conducts to Thee.

3 Almighty Lord! the sun shall fail,
The moon forget her nightly tale,
And deepest silence hush on high
The radiant chorus of the sky:

4 But fixed for everlasting years,
Unmoved amid the wreck of spheres,
Thy word shall shine in cloudless day,
When heaven and earth have pass'd away.

HYMN

3.

C. M.

W Majestic, like the sun,

HAT glory gilds the sacred page!

It gives a light to every age;

It gives, but borrows none.

2 The power that gave it still supplies
The gracious light and heat:
Its truths upon the nations rise;
They rise, but never set.

3 Let everlasting thanks be thine,
For such a bright display,

As makes a world of darkness shine
With beams of heavenly day.

4 My soul rejoices to pursue
The steps of Him I love,
Till glory breaks upon my view
In brighter worlds above.

HYMN

4.

II. 4.

SRAEL, in ancient days,
Not only had a view

Of Sinai in a blaze,

But learn'd the Gospel too:
The types and figures were a glass
In which they saw the Saviour pass.

2 The paschal sacrifice,

And blood-besprinkled door,
Seen with enlighten'd eyes,

And once applied with power,
Would teach the need of other blood,
To make the sinner's peace with God.

3 The scapegoat on his head
The people's trespass bore,
And, to the desert led,

Was to be seen no more;
In him our Surety seem'd to say,
"Behold! I bear your sins away."

4 Dipt in his fellow's blood,
The living bird went free;
The type well understood,
Expressed the sinner's plea,
Described a guilty soul enlarged,
And by a Saviour's death discharged.

5 Jesus, I love to trace,

Throughout the sacred page,
The footsteps of Thy grace,
The same in every age!

O grant that I may faithful be
To clearer light vouchsafed to me!

HYMN

5.

C. M.

COME

YOME, Holy Ghost, our hearts inspire; Let us Thine influence prove; Source of the old prophetic fire; Fountain of life and love.

2 Come, Holy Ghost, for moved by Thee
The prophets wrote and spoke :
Unlock the truth, Thyself the key;
Unseal the sacred book.

3 Expand Thy wings, celestial Dove,
Brood o'er our nature's night;
On our disorder'd spirits move,
And let there now be light.

4 God, through himself, we then shall know If Thou within us shine;

And sound, with all Thy saints below,
The depths of love divine.