7 6,7 6,7 6. Psalm lxxvii. 1 IN time of tribulation Hear, Lord, my feeble cries; With humble supplication To thee my spirit flies; My heart with grief is breaking, Scarce can my voice complain; Mine eyes with tears kept waking, Still watch and weep in vain.
2 The days of old, in vision, Bring banished bliss to view; The years of lost fruition, Their joys in pangs renew; Remembered songs of gladness, Through nights lone silence brought, Strike notes of deeper sadness, And stir desponding thought.
3 Hath God cast off for ever? Can time his truth impair? His tender mercy never Shall I presume to share? Hath he his loving kindness Shut up in endless wrath? No; this is mine own blindness, That cannot see his path.
4 I call to recollection The years of his right hand; And, strong in his protection, Again through faith I stand; Thy deeds, O Lord, are wonder; Holy are all thy ways; The secret place of thunder Shall utter forth thy praise.
5 Thee, with the tribes assembled, O God, the billows saw; They saw thee, and they trembled, Turned, and stood still with awe; The clouds shot hail, they lightened; The earth reeled to and fro; Thy fiery pillar brightened The gulf of gloom below.
6 Thy way is in great waters, Thy footsteps are not known; Let Adam's sons and daughters Confide in thee alone: Through the wild sea thou leddest Thy chosen flock of yore; Still on the waves thou treadest, And thy redeemed pass o'er.
