A Library of Poetry and Song: Being Choice Selections from the Best Poets

A. D. F. RANDOLPH.

Life's heaviest cross is mine forevermore, TO DEAREST LAMB, TAKE THOU MY And I who wait his coming, shall not I

HEART! On his sure word rely ? And if sometimes the way be rough and steep, O DEAREST Lamb, take thou my heart ! Be heavy for the grief he sends to me,

Where can such sweetness be Or at my waking I would only weep,

As I have tasted in thy love,
Let me remember these are things to be,

As I have found in thee ?
To work his blessed will until he come
And take my hand, and lead me safely home. .. If there's a fervor in my soul,

And fervor sure there is,
Now it shall be at thy control,

And but to serve thee rise.
IS THIS ALL?

If love, that mildest flame, can rest
FROM “HYMNS OF FAITH AND PEACE."

In hearts so hard as mine,
Sometimes I catch sweet glimpses of His face,

Come, gentle Saviour, to my breast,
But that is all.

Its love shall all be thine.
Sometimes he looks on me, and seems to smile,
But that is all.

Now the gay world with treacherous art Sometimes he speaks a passing word of peace,

Shall tempt my heart in vain ;
But that is all.

I have conveyed away that heart,
Somctimes I think I hear his loving voice

Ne'er to return again.
Upon me call.

'Tis heaven on earth to taste his love, And is this all he meant when thus he spoke,

To feel his quickening grace, “Come unto me" ?

And all the heaven I hope above Is there no deeper, more enduring rest

Is but to see his face.

MORAVIAN COLLECTION OF HYMNS
In him for thee?
Is there no steadier light for thee in him ?
O, come and see !

THE DYING SAVIOUR.
O, come and see ! O, look, and look again!
All shall be right;

O SACRED Head, now wounded, 0, taste his love, and see that it is good,

With grief and shame weighed down ; Thou child of night!

Now scornfully surrounded
O, trust thou, trust thou in his grace and power !

With thorns, thy only crown;
Then all is bright.

O sacred Head, what glory,

What bliss, till now was thine !
Nay, do not wrong him by thy heavy thoughts,

Yet, though despised and gory,
But love his love.

I joy to call thee mine.
Do thou full justice to his tenderness,
His mercy prove;

O noblest brow and dearest,
Take him for what he is ; 0, take him all,

In other days the world
And look above !

All feared when thou appearedst;
Then shall thy tossing soul find anchorage

What shame on thee is hurled !
And steadfast peace ;

How art thou pale with anguish,
Thy love shall rest on his ; thy weary doubts

With sore abuse and scorn!

How does that visage languish
Forever cease.
Thy heart shall find in him and in his grace

Which once was bright as mom !
Its rest and bliss !

What language shall I borrow,
Christ and his love shall be thy blessed all

To thank thee, dearest Friend,
Forevermore !

For this thy dying sorrow,
Christ and his light shall shine on all thy ways

Thy pity without end !
Forevermore!

0, make me thine forever, Christ and his peace shall keep thy troubled soul

And should I fainting be,
Forevermore !

Lord, let me never, never,
HORATIUS BONAR.

Outlive my love to thee.

THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST.

If I, a wretch, should leave thee,

0 Jesus, leave not me! In faith may I receive thee,

When death shall set me free. When strength and comfort languish,

And I must hence depart, Release me then from anguish,

By thine own wounded heart.

Be near when I am dying,

O, show thy cross to me! . And for my succor flying,

Come, Lord, to set me free.
These eyes new faith receiving,

From Jesus shall not move;
For he who dies believing
Dies safely — through thy love.

PAUL GERHARDT.

“ Bright portals of the sky,
Embossed with sparkling stars;
Doors of eternity,
With diamantine bars,
Your arras rich uphold;
Loose all your bolts and springs,

Ope wide your leaves of gold ;
That in your roofs may come the King of kings.

“Scarfed in a rosy cloud,
He doth ascend the air ;
Straight doth the Moon him shroud
With her resplendent hair ;
The next encrystalled light
Submits to him its beams;

And he doth trace the height
Of that fair lamp which flames of beauty streams.

While as the wheels of nature roll, Thy hand supports the steady pole ; The sun is taught by thee to rise, And darkness when to veil the skies.

In Reason's ear they all rejoice,

And utter forth a glorious voice, Forever singing, as they shine,

" The Hand that made us is divine !"

ANDREW MARVELL

The flowery spring at thy command
Embalms the air, and paints the land ;
The summer rays with vigor shine
To raise the corn, and cheer the vine.

Thy hand in autumn richly pours
Through all our coasts redundant stores ;
And winters, softened by thy care,
No more a face of horror wear.

Seasons, and months, and weeks, and days
Demand successive songs of praise ;
Still be the cheerful homage paid
With opening light and evening shade.

Here in thy house shall incense rise,
As circling Sabbaths bless our eyes ;
Still will we make thy mercies known
Around thy board, and round our own.

LORD!, WHEN THOSE GLORIOUS LIGHTS

I SEE.
HYMN AND PRAYER FOR THE USE OF BELIEVERS.
LORD! when those glorious lights I see

With which thou hast adorned the skies,
Observing how they movéd be,

And how their splendor fills mine eyes,
Methinks it is too large a grace,

But that thy love ordained it so, -
That creatures in so high a place

Should servants be to man below.
The meanest lamp now shining there

In size and lustre doth exceed
The noblest of thy creatures here,

And of our friendship hath no need.
Yet these upon mankind attend

For secret aid or public light;
And from the world's extremest end

Repair unto us every night.
0, had that stamp been undefaced

Which first on us thy hand had set,
How highly should we have been graced,

Since we are so much honored yet!
Good God, for what but for the sake

Of thy beloved and only Son,
Who did on him our nature take,

Were these exceeding favors done!

0, may our more harmonious tongues
In worlds unknown pursue the songs ;
And in those brighter courts adore,
Where days and years revolve no more.

PHILIP DODDRIDGE.

THE SPACIOUS FIRMAMENT ON HIGH.

(This hymn originally appeared in the Spectator, and is thence popularly, but erroneously, supposed to have been composed by ADDISON.)

The spacious firmament on high,

With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,

Their great Original proclaim ;
The unwearied sun, from day to day,

Does his Creator's power display,
And publishes to every land

The work of an Almighty hand.

As we by him have honored been,

Let us to him due honors give ; Let his uprightness hide our sin,

And let us worth from him receive. Yea, so let us by grace improve

What thou by nature doth bestow, That to thy dwelling-place above

We may be raised from below.

GEORGE WITHER.

HYMN.

Soon as the evening shades prevail,

The moon takes up the wondrous tale, And nightly to the listening earth

Repeats the story of her birth; While all the stars that round her burn,

And all the planets in their turn, Confirm the tidings as they roll,

And spread the truth from pole to pole.

BEFORE SUNRISE, IN THE VALE OF CHAMOUNI.
Hast thou a charm to stay the morning-star
In his steep course ? So long he seems to pause
i On thy bald, awful head, O sovereign Blanc !

The Arve and Arveiron at thy base
Rave ceaselessly ; but thou, most awful Form,
Risest from forth thy silent sea of pines
How silently! Around thee and above

What though, in solemn silence, all

Move round the dark terrestrial ball ? What though no real voice or sound

Amid their radiant orbs be found ?

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