I Too Will Magnify the Lord

I too will mag­ni­fy the Lord

And emu­late the an­gels’ lays

His lov­ing-kind­ness­es re­cord

In sounds of ev­er­last­ing praise.

For all He hath on us be­stowed

This on­ly tri­bute can I bring

Extol the mer­cies of my God

His mul­ti­tude of mer­cies sing.

How good to Is­ra­el’s chos­en race:

Who

who can all His good­ness tell!

So rich in un­ex­haust­ed grace

His rich­es are un­search­able.

Surely

He said

mine own they are

My people will not faith­less prove

My child­ren will not slight my care

Or dis­ap­point a Fa­ther’s love.

Sweetly He strove their hearts to gain

He wooed them to em­brace His will

They nev­er asked His help in vain

But found a pre­sent Sav­iour still.

Dear as the ap­ple of His eye

In all their griefs He kind­ly grieved;

The an­gel of His pre­sence nigh

From all the fa­vo­rite na­tion saved.

He res­cued when to ev­il sold

He snatched them from im­pend­ing harms

Carried them all the days of old

Safe in His ev­er­last­ing arms.

He mag­ni­fied His sav­ing pow­er

Called them His ut­most grace to prove

With in­fi­nite com­pas­sion bore

The ob­jects of His ten­der­est love.

But Oh! They soon for­sook their God

The faith­less and re­bel­lious race

In de­vi­ous paths of ev­il trod

And grieved the Spir­it of His grace.

They vexed; and forced His wrath to rise

His ven­geance fell so long de­layed:

Constrained the rebels to chas­tise

He poured His judg­ments on their head.

His mer­cy then He called to mind

He called to mind the an­cient days

When on­ly mer­ci­ful

and kind

He smiled on the pe­cu­li­ar race.

Where is He now—their God

their guide!

(He taught their hearts the pow­er­ful plea)

Where is He now

their hearts re­plied

Who brought His peo­ple from the sea?

Who placed a shep­herd o’er the rest

And gave him wis­dom from above

And breathed in­to his peace­ful breast

The meek

mild Spir­it of His love.

Them by the hand of Mo­ses led

His pow­er

and good­ness to pro­claim

Beyond the bounds of time to spread

Jehovah’s ev­er­last­ing name.

The Lord of hosts in all ap­peared

He smote the sea with Mo­ses’ rod

His glo­ri­ous arm aloft He reared.

The part­ing sea con­fessed its God.

He brought them thro’ the won­drous way

The deep was dry at His com­mand

Secure they marched in firm ar­ray

Nor stum­bled

till they reached the land.

Smooth as the ge­ner­ous nur­tured beast

Into the ver­dant vale goes down

To bring them to that pro­mised rest

His Spir­it gent­ly led them on.

Thus didst Thou guide Thy chos­en race

That ev­ery tongue might speak Thy fame

And earth and Heav­en con­spire to praise

The God of Is­ra­el’s glo­ri­ous name.