Something of what is life, shake off this death; RICHARD HENRY DANA. SIT DOWN, SAD SOUL. SIT down, sad soul, and count For day is dying! Lie down, sad soul, and sleep, And no more measure The flight of time, nor weep The loss of leisure; But here, by this lone stream, We dream; do thou the same; We laugh, yet few we shame, Stay, then, till sorrow dies; hope and happy skies 'T were vain the ocean depths to sound, Or pierce to either pole. The world can never give The bliss for which we sigh: "T is not the whole of life to live, Nor all of death to die. Beyond this vale of tears There is a death whose pang Outlasts the fleeting breath: O, what eternal horrors hang Around the second death! GREENWOOD CEMETERY. How calm they sleep beneath the shade The willow hangs with sheltering grace O weary hearts, what rest is here, For, O, it will be blest to sleep, CRAMMOND KENNEDY. NOTHING BUT LEAVES. NOTHING but leaves; the spirit grieves Sin committed while conscience slept, Nothing but leaves; no garnered sheaves THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER. FATHER of all! in every age, In every clime adored, By saint, by savage, and by sage, Jehovah, Jove, or Lord! .Thou great First Cause, least understood, To know but this, that thou art good, Yet gave me, in this dark estate, What conscience dictates to be done, That mercy I to others show, That mercy show to me. Mean though I am, not wholly so, Through this day's life or death! This day be bread and peace my lot; All else beneath the sun, Thou know'st if best bestowed or not, To thee, whose temple is all space, ALEXANDER POPE. WRESTLING JACOB. FIRST PART. COME, O thou Traveller unknown, Whom still I hold, but cannot see; My company before is gone, And I am left alone with thee; I need not tell thee who I am; In vain thou strugglest to get free; Wilt thou not yet to me reveal Thy new, unutterable name? Tell me, I still beseech thee, tell; To know it now resolved I am; Wrestling, I will not let thee go Till I thy name, thy nature know. What though my shrinking flesh complain And murmur to contend so long, I rise superior to my pain; When I am weak, then am I strong! And when my all of strength shall fail, I shall with the God-man prevail. SECOND PART. YIELD to me now, for I am weak, Speak to my heart, in blessings speak ; Be conquered by my instant prayer ; Speak, or thou never hence shalt move, And tell me if thy name be Love. "T is love! 't is love! Thou diedst for me; My prayer hath power with God; the grace I see thee face to face and live! I know thee, Saviour, who thou art, But stay and love me to the end; The Sun of Righteousness on me Hath rose, with healing in his wings; Withered my nature's strength; from thee My soul its life and succor brings; My help is all laid up above; Thy nature and thy name is Love. Contented now upon my thigh I halt till life's short journey end; All helplessness, all weakness, I On thee alone for strength depend; Nor have I power from thee to move; Thy nature and thy name is Love. Lame as I am, I take the prey; Hell, earth, and sin with ease o'ercome; I leap for joy, pursue my way, And, as a bounding hart, fly home; Through all eternity to prove Thy nature and thy name is Love. CHARLES WESLEY. O GOD! OUR HELP IN AGES PAST. O GOD! our help in ages past, Before the hills in order stood, A thousand ages in thy sight Are like an evening gone; Short as the watch that ends the night Time, like an ever-rolling stream, Bears all its sons away; O God! our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Be thou our guide while troubles last, ISAAC WATTS. A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD. On earth is not his equal. Dost ask who that may be? From age to age the same, And he must win the battle. MARTIN LUTHER. Translation of F. H. Hedge. JEWISH HYMN IN JERUSALEM. GOD of the thunder! from whose cloudy seat Like a full wine-press tread'st the world below; God of the rainbow! at whose gracious sign The billows of the proud their rage suppress ; Father of mercies! at one word of thine An Eden blooms in the waste wilderness, And fountains sparkle in the arid sands, And timbrels ring in maidens' glancing hands, And marble cities crown the laughing lands, And pillared temples rise thy name to bless. O'er Judah's land thy thunders broke, O Lord! O'er Judah's land thy rainbow, Lord, shall beam, Thy vengeance gave us to the stranger's hand, And Abraham's children were led forth for slaves. With fettered steps we left our pleasant land, Envying our fathers in their peaceful graves. The strangers' bread with bitter tears we steep, And when our weary eyes should sink to sleep, In the mute midnight we steal forth to weep, Where the pale willows shade Euphrates' waves. The born in sorrow shall bring forth in joy; Thy mercy, Lord, shall lead thy children home; He that went forth a tender prattling boy HENRY HART MILMAN. WHEN JORDAN HUSHED HIS WATERS STILL. WHEN Jordan hushed his waters still, When Bethlehem's shepherds, through the night, Hark! from the midnight hills around, On wheels of light, on wings of flame, "O Zion, lift thy raptured eye; "See, Mercy, from her golden urn, He comes to cheer the trembling heart ; THOMAS CAMPBELL And, grateful for the blessing given With that dear infant on her knee, She trains the eye to look to heaven, The voice to lisp a prayer to thee. Such thanks the blessed Mary gave All-Gracious! grant to those who bear WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. MORTALS, AWAKE! WITH ANGELS JOIN. MORTALS, awake! with angels join, In heaven the rapturous song began, And strung and tuned the lyre. Swift through the vast expanse it flew, The theme, the song, the joy, was new, Down through the portals of the sky To bear the news to man. Hark! the cherubic armies shout, Hail, Prince of life! forever hail, Redeemer, Brother, Friend! Though earth and time and life should fail, THE MOTHER'S HYMN. "Blessed art thou among women." LORD, who ordainest for mankind Benignant toils and tender cares, We thank thee for the ties that bind The mother to the child she bears. We thank thee for the hopes that rise Thy praise shall never end. MEDLEY. HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS SOUNDS! How sweet the name of Jesus sounds In a believer's ear! It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, And drives away his fear. |