Ye saw of old on chaos rise · Bright heralds of th' Eternal Will, Loud is the song, the heavenly plain But I amid your choirs shall shine, NEARER, MY GOD, TO THEE. NEARER, my God, to thee, Still all my song shall be, - Nearer to thee! Though, like the wanderer, Yet in my dreams I'd be There let the way appear Steps unto heaven; All that thou sendest me In mercy given; Angels to beckon me Nearer, my God, to thee, Nearer to thee! Then with my waking thoughts, Bright with thy praise, Or if on joyful wing, Sun, moon, and stars forgot, FROM the recesses of a lowly spirit, We see thy hand, it leads us, it supports us; O, how long-suffering, Lord! but thou delightest To win with love the wandering: thou invitest, By smiles of mercy, not by frowns or terrors, Man from his errors. Father and Saviour! plant within each bosom The seeds of holiness, and bid them blossom In fragrance and in beauty bright and vernal, And spring eternal. JOHN BOWRING. PRAISE TO GOD, IMMORTAL PRAISE PRAISE to God, immortal praise, Let thy praise our tongues employ ! For the blessings of the field, Flocks that whiten all the plain, All that Spring, with bounteous hand, These to thee, my God, we owe, Yet should rising whirlwinds tear Thy providence my life sustained, And hung upon the breast. To all my weak complaints and cries When in the slippery paths of youth Through hidden dangers, toils, and deaths, And through the pleasing snares of vice, When worn with sickness oft hast thou Thy bounteous hand with worldly bliss Has made my cup run o'er, And in a kind and faithful friend Ten thousand thousand precious gifts Through every period of my life And after death, in distant worlds, When nature fails, and day and night Through all eternity to thee A joyful song I'll raise; For O, eternity's too short To utter all thy praise! JOSEPH ADDISON. THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS! AND is there care in heaven? And is there love In heavenly spirits to these creatures base, That may compassion of their evils move? There is clse much more wretched were the case Of men then beasts: but O the exceeding grace How oft do they their silver bowers leave, EDMUND SPENSER. ETERNAL SOURCE OF EVERY JOY! ETERNAL Source of every joy! 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. The flowery spring at thy command Thy hand in autumn richly pours Seasons, and months, and weeks, and days Here in thy house shall incense rise, O, 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, The work of an Almighty hand. 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. 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? 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 moved be, And how their splendor fills mine eyes, Methinks it is too large a grace, But that thy love ordained it so, Should servants be to man below. And of our friendship hath no need. O, 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 As we by him have honored been, And let us worth from him receive. HYMN. GEORGE WITHER. BEFORE SUNRISE, IN THE VALE OF CHAMOUNI. HAST thou a charm to stay the morning-star Awake, my soul! not only passive praise Thou owest! not alone these swelling tears, Mute thanks, and secret ecstasy! Awake, Voice of sweet song! Awake, my heart, awake! Green vales and icy cliffs, all join my hymn. Thou first and chief, sole sovereign of the vale! 0, struggling with the darkness all the night, And visited all night by troops of stars, Or when they climb the sky or when they sink, Companion of the morning-star at dawn, Thyself Earth's rosy star, and of the dawn Co-herald, - wake, O, wake, and utter praise! Who sank thy sunless pillars deep in earth? Who filled thy countenance with rosy light? Who made thee parent of perpetual streams ? And you, ye five wild torrents fiercely glad! Answer! and let the ice-plains echo, God! voice! Ye pine-groves, with your soft and soul-like sounds! And they too have a voice, yon piles of snow, And in their perilous fall shall thunder, God! Ye living flowers that skirt the eternal frost ! Ye wild goats sporting round the eagle's nest! Ye eagles, playmates of the mountain-storm! Ye lightnings, the dread arrows of the clouds ! Ye signs and wonders of the elements ! Utter forth God, and fill the hills with praise ! Thou, too, hoar Mount! with thy sky-pointing peaks,. Oft from whose feet the avalanche, unheard, Shoots downward, glittering through the pure serene, Into the depth of clouds that veil thy breast, · SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE. THOU ART, O GOD "The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter."- PSALM lxxiv. 16, 17. Who called you forth from night and utter death, the light and the sun. Your strength, your speed, your fury, and your joy, And who commanded (and the silence came), Ye ice-falls! ye that from the mountain's brow Adown enormous ravines slope amain, Torrents, methinks, that heard a mighty voice, And stopped at once amid their maddest plunge! Motionless torrents! silent cataracts! Who made you glorious as the gates of Heaven Beneath the keen full moon? Who bade the sun Clothe you with rainbows? Who, with living flowers Of loveliest blue, spread garlands at your feet? God!-let the torrents, like a shout of nations, THOU art, O God, the life and light Are but reflections caught from thee. When day, with farewell beam, delays Among the opening clouds of even, And we can almost think we gaze Through golden vistas into heaven, When night, with wings of starry gloom, When youthful spring around us breathes, Thy Spirit warms her fragrant sigh; And every flower the summer wreathes Is born beneath that kindling eye. Where'er we turn, thy glories shine, And all things fair and bright are thine! THOMAS MOORE. THE HEAVENS DECLARE THY GLORY, LORD! PSALM XIX. THE heavens declare thy glory, Lord! The rolling sun, the changing light, Reveals thy justice and thy grace. Sun, moon, and stars convey thy praise Round the whole earth, and never stand; So when thy truth began its race It touched and glanced on every land. Nor shall thy spreading gospel rest Till through the world thy truth has run ; Till Christ has all the nations blest That see the light or feel the sun. Great Sun of Righteousness, arise! Bless the dark world with heavenly light! Thy gospel makes the simple wise, Thy laws are pure, thy judgments right. Thy noblest wonders here we view, In souls renewed and sins forgiven; Lord, cleanse my sins, my soul renew, And make thy word my guide to heaven! ISAAC WATTS. GOD MOVES IN A MYSTERIOUS WAY. GOD moves in a mysterious way He plants his footsteps in the sea, Deep in unfathomable mines He treasures up his bright designs, Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take! |