That glows within my ravished heart?— But thou canst read it there! Thy providence my life sustained, To all my weak complaints and cries When in the slippery paths of youth Through hidden dangers, toils, and deaths, It gently cleared my way, 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 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! 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, But that thy love ordained it so, And of our friendship hath no need. O, had that stamp been undefaced Which first on us thy hand had set, Were these exceeding favors done! As we by him have honored been, And let us worth from him receive. What thou by nature doth bestow, HYMN. GEORGE WITHER. BEFORE SUNRISE, IN THE VALE OF CHAMOUNI. HAST thou a charm to stay the morning-star 中 Deep is the air and dark, substantial, black, - O dread and silent Mount! I gazed upon thee, I worshipped the Invisible alone. Yet, like some sweet beguiling melody, So sweet we know not we are listening to it, Yea, with my life and life's own secret joy, As in her natural form, swelled vast to Heaven! 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, And you, ye five wild torrents fiercely glad! Answer! and let the ice-plains echo, God! God! sing, ye meadow-streams, with gladsome 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. THOU art, O God, the life and light Who called you forth from night and utter death, the light and the sun. 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, Are but reflections caught from thee. Through golden vistas into heaven, 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! |