wrath the deep thunder-clouds form,
And dark is His path on the wings of the storm.

Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light,
It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
And sweetly distils in the dew and the rain.

Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail.
Thy mercies how tender! how firm to the end!
Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!

This is a model hymn of worship. Like the previous one by Thomas
Olivers, it is strongly Hebrew in its tone and diction, and drew its
inspiration from the Old Testament Psalter, the text-book of all true
praise-song.

Sir Robert Grant was born in the county of Inverness, Scotland, in 1785,
and educated at Cambridge. He was many years member of Parliament for
Inverness and a director in the East India Company, and 1834 was
appointed Governor of Bombay. He died at Dapoorie, Western India, July
9, 1838.

Sir Robert was a man of deep Christian feeling and a poetic mind. His
writings were not numerous, but their thoughtful beauty endeared him to
a wide circle of readers. In 1839 his brother, Lord Glenelg, published
twelve of his poetical pieces, and a new edition in 1868. The volume
contains the more or less well-known hymns--

The starry firmament on high.

Saviour, when in dust to Thee,

and--

When gathering clouds around I view.

Sir Robert's death, when scarcely past his prime, would indicate a
decline by reason of illness, and perhaps other serious affliction, that
justified the poetic license in the submissive verses beginning--

Thy mercy heard my infant prayer.

* * * * *

And now _in age_ and grief Thy name
Does still my languid heart inflame,
And bow my faltering knee.
Oh, yet this bosom feels the fire,
This trembling hand and drooping lyre
Have yet a strain for Thee.

_THE TUNE._

Several musical pieces written to the hymn, "O, Worship the King," have
appeared in church psalm-books, and others have been borrowed for it,
but the one oftenest sung to its words is Haydn's "Lyons." Its vigor and
spirit best fit it for Grant's noble lyric.

"MAJESTIC SWEETNESS SITS ENTHRONED."

Rev. Samuel Stennett D.D., the author of this hymn, was the son of Rev.
Joseph Stennett, and grandson of Rev. Joseph Stennett D.D., who wrote--

Another s