The God of nature and of grace

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The God of nature and of grace

Author: James Montgomery
Published in 51 hymnals

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Representative Text

The God of nature and of grace
In all His works appears;
His goodness through the earth we trace,
His grandeur in the spheres.

Behold this fair and fertile globe
By Him in wisdom plann'd;
'Twas He who girded, like a robe,
The ocean round the land.

Lift to the arch of heaven your eye
Thither His path pursue;
His glory, boundless as the sky,
O'erwhelms the wondering view.

How excellent, O Lord, Thy name
In all creation's lines!
Spread through eternity, Thy fame
With rising lustre shines.

These lower works, that swell Thy praise
High as man's thoughts can tower,
Are but a portion of Thy ways,
The hiding of Thy power.

O shouldst Thou rend aside the veil,
And show thy dwelling-place,
The souls which thou hast made would fail
'Twere death to see Thy face.

Can none behold that face and live?
Yea, sinners may draw near:
The Lord is kind, and will forgive,
His love shall cast out fear.

5
Millions amidst His presence stand,
Who feel, while they adore,
Fulness of joy at His right hand,
And pleasures evermore.

Source: Sacred Poems and Hymns #4

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Author: James Montgomery

James Montgomery (b. Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, 1771; d. Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, 1854), the son of Moravian parents who died on a West Indies mission field while he was in boarding school, Montgomery inherited a strong religious bent, a passion for missions, and an independent mind. He was editor of the Sheffield Iris (1796-1827), a newspaper that sometimes espoused radical causes. Montgomery was imprisoned briefly when he printed a song that celebrated the fall of the Bastille and again when he described a riot in Sheffield that reflected unfavorably on a military commander. He also protested against slavery, the lot of boy chimney sweeps, and lotteries. Associated with Christians of various persuasions, Montgomery supported missio… Go to person page >

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First Line:	The God of nature and of grace
Author:	James Montgomery
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

The God of nature and of grace. J. Montgomery. [Glory of God in Creation.] Published in his Greenland and other Poems, 1819, p. 174, in 10 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed, "The Visible Creation." It was repeated the same year in Cotterill's Selection, No. 331, in 8 stanzas of 4 lines; again in Montgomery's Christian Psalmist, 1825, No. 520, also in 8 stanzas of 4 lines (slightly altered); and again, in the same form, in his Original Hymns, 1853. In Kennedy, 1863, No. 338, stanza i., and stanza ii. 11.1-4, are from this hymn—the rest of the cento being by Dr. Kennedy. The cento begins with the same first line as above. In addition there are in common use two centos from the original: (1) "Behold this fair and fertile globe"(stanza ii.), and (2) "How excellent, O Lord, Thy Name."

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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