While at thy word we break the bread,
And pour the flowing wine.
2 Here thy revenging justice stands,
And pleads its dreadful cause;
Here saving mercy spreads her hands,
Like Jesus on the cross.

3 Thy saints attend with ev'ry grace,
On this great sacrifice :

And love appears with chearful face,
And faith with fixed
eyes.

4 Our hope in waiting posture sits,
To heav'n directs her sight;
Here ev'ry warmer passion meets,
And warmer pow'rs unite.

5 Zeal and revenge perform their part,
And rising sin destroy:

Repentance comes with aching heart,
Yet not forbids the joy.

6 Dear Saviour, change our faith to sight,
Let sin for ever die ;

Then shall our souls be all delight,
And ev'ry tear be dry.

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Makes living springs of grace arise,
And into boundless glory flow.

4 Thus God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Spirit we adore;
That sea of life and love unknown,
Without a bottom, or a shore.

HYMN XXVII. (1st C. M.)

1 GLORY to God the Father's name,
Who, from our sinful race
Chose out his fav'rites to proclaim
The honours of his grace.

2 Glory to God the Son be paid,
Who dwelt in humble clay,
And, to redeem us from the dead,
Gave his own life away.

3 Glory to God the Spirit give,
From whose almighty pow'r
Our souls their heav'nly birth derive,
And bless the happy hour.

4 Glory to God that reigns above,
Th' eternal Three and One,
Who by the wonders of his love
Has made his nature known.

2

I cannot persuade myself to put a full period to these Divine Hymns, till I have addressed a special song of glory to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.1 Though the Latin name of it Gloria Patria, be retained in our nation from the Roman church; and though there may be some excesses of superstitious honour paid to the words of it, which may have wrought some unhappy prejudices in weaker Christians, yet I believe it still to be one of the noblest parts of Christian worship. The subject of it is the doctrine of the Trinity, which is that peculiar glory of the divine nature, that our Lord Jesus Christ has so clearly revealed unto men, and is so necessary to true Christianity. The action is praise, which is one of the most complete and exalted parts of christian worship. I have cast the song into a variety of forms, and have fitted it by a plain version, or a larger paraphrase, to be sung either alone, or at the conclusion of another Hymn. I have added also a few hosannas, or ascriptions of salvation to Christ in the same manner, and for the same end.

DOXOLOGIES.

A song of praise to the ever-blessed
Trinity.

God the Father, Son, and Spirit.

HYMN XXVI. [1st L. M.]

1 BLESS'D be the Father and his love, To whose celestial source we owe Rivers of endless joy above,

And rills of comfort here below. 2 Glory to thee, great Son of God, From whose dear wounded body rolls A precious stream of vital blood, Pardon and life for dying souls. 3 We give thee, sacred Spirit, praise, Who in our hearts of sin and woe,

3

HYMN XXVIII. (1st S. M.)
LET God the Father live

For ever on our tongues:
Sinners from his first-love derive
The ground of all their songs.

Ye saints, employ your breath

In honours to the Son,

Who bought your souls from hell and death,

By off'ring up his own.

Give to the Spirit praise

Of an immortal strain,

Whose light, and pow'r, and grace convey

Salvation down to men.

4 While God the Comforter
Reveals our pardon'd sin,

5

O may the blood and water bear
The same record within.

To the great One and Three,

That seal'd this grace in heav'n, The Father, Son, and Spirit, be Eternal glory giv'n.

HYMN XXIX. (2d L. M.)

1 GLORY to God the Trinity,
Whose name has mysteries unknown;
In essence One, in persons Three:
A social nature, yet alone.

2 When all our noblest pow'rs are join'd
The honours of thy name to raise,
Thy glories over-match our mind,
And angels faint beneath the praise

HYMN XXX. (2d C. M.)

1 THE God of mercy be ador'd,
Who calls our souls from death,
Who saves by his redeeming word,
And new-creating breath:

1

2

1

2

PREFACE

TO ALL THAT ARE CONCERNED IN THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.

IT is an awful and important charge that is committed to you. The wisdom and welfare of the succeeding generation are entrusted with you before-hand, and depend much on your conduct. The seeds of misery or happiness in this world, and that to come, are oftentimes sown very early; and therefore whatever may conduce to give the minds of children a relish of virtue and religion, ought in the first place to be proposed to you.

Verse was at first designed for the service of God, though it hath been wretchedly abused since. The ancients among the Jews and the Heathens, taught their children and disciples the precepts of morality and worship in verse. The children of Israel were commanded to learn the words of the song of Moses, Deut. xxxi. 19, And we are directed in the New Testament, not only to sing with grace in the heart, but to "teach, and admonish one another by hymns and songs," Ephes. v. 19. And there are those four advantages in it.

30.

1. There is a great delight in the very learning of truths and duties this way. There is something so amusing and entertaining in rhymes and metre, that will incline children to make this part of their business a diversion. And you may turn their very duty into a reward by giving them the privilege of learning one of these Songs every week, if they fulfil the business of the week well, and promising them the book itself, when they have learnt ten or twenty songs out of it.

2. What is learnt in verse, is longer retained in memory, and sooner recollected. The like sounds, and the like number of syllables, exceedingly assist the remembrance. And it may often happen, that the end of a song running in the mind, may be an effectual means to keep off some temptations, or to incline to some duty, when a word of scripture is not upon their thoughts.

3. This will be a constant furniture for the minds of children that they may have something to think upon when alone, and sing over to themselves. This may sometimes give their thoughts a divine turn, and raise a young meditation. Thus they will not be forced to seek relief for an emptiness of mind, out of the loose and dangerous sonnets of the age.

4. These Divine Songs may be a pleasant and proper matter for their daily or weekly worship, to sing one in the family, at such time as the parents or governors shall appoint; and therefore I have confined the verse to the most usual psalm tunes.

So

The greatest part of this little book was composed several years ago, at the request of a friend, who has been long engaged in the work of catechising a very great number of children of all kinds, and with abundant skill and success. that you will find here nothing that savours of a party: The children of high and low degree, of the church of England, or dissenters, baptized in infancy, or not, may all join together in these songs. And as I have endeavoured to sink the language to the level of a child's understanding, and yet to keep it, if possible, above contempt; so I have designed to profit all, if possible, and offend none. I hope the more general the sense is, these composures may be of the more universal use and service.

I have added at the end some attempts of Sonnets on moral Subjects, for children, with an air of pleasantry, to provoke some fitter pen to write a little book of

them.

May the almighty God make you faithful in this important work of education; may he succeed your cares with his abundant grace, that the rising generation of Great Britain may be a glory among the nations, a pettern to the christian world, and a blessing to the earth.