For each gift Thou hast withholden
From my foolish, grasping hand;
For each pang which quick has chidden
Every breach of Thy command;
For the weariness and pain
Which Thou hast not sent in vain.
Let Thy spirit reign within me,
Guard me in unconscious sleep;
I shall feel that Thou art with me
While death slumbers o'er me creep; —
And the journey's peril past,
I shall rest with Thee at last.
Again as evening shadow falls,
We gather in these hallowed walls;
And vesper hymn and vesper prayer
Rise mingling on the silent air.
May struggling hearts that seek release.
Here find the rest of God's own peace;
And, strengthened here by hymn and prayer,
Lay down the burden and the care!
O God, our light! to Thee we bow,
Within all shadows standest Thou:
Give deeper calm than night can bring;
Give sweeter songs than lips can sing.
Life's tumult we must meet again,
We cannot at Thy shrine remain ;
But in the spirit's secret cell
May hymn and prayer forever dwell.
Now God be with us, for the night is closing, The light and darkness are of His disposing; And 'neath His shadow here to rest we yield us, For He will shield us.
Let evil thoughts and passions flee before us;
Till morning cometh, watch, O Father, o'er us,
In soul and body Thou from harm defend us,
Thy mercy send us.
Let pious thoughts be ours when sleep o'ertakes us, Our earliest thoughts be Thine when morning
All sick and mourners, we to Thee commend them; Do thou befriend them.
We have no refuge, none on earth to aid us,
But Thee, O Father, who Thine own hast made us;
Keep us in life; forgive our sins, deliver
In the dead silence of the voiceless night,
When from my wakeful eyes the slumbers flee,
Whom in the darkness doth my spirit seek,
O God, but Thee?
And if there be a weight upon my heart,
Some lingering sadness of the day foregone-
Scarce knowing what it is, I fly to Thee
And lay it down.
Or, if it be the chilling gloom that creeps
Before the shadow of advancing ill,
My soul still rests unheeding what it is,
Since 't is Thy will.
More tranquil than the stillness of the night, More peaceful than the silence of this hour, More blest than any thing, my spirit lies Beneath Thy power.
For what is there on earth that I desire,
Of all that it can give or take from me;
Or whom in heaven doth my spirit seek,
O God, but Thee?
139 A COLLOQUY WITH GOD.
The night is come like to the day,
Depart not Thou, Great God, away;
Let not my sins, black as the night,
Eclipse the lustre of Thy light.
Keep still in my horizon, for to me
The sun makes not the day, but Thee.
Thou whose nature cannot sleep,
On my temple sentry keep;
Guard me 'gainst those watchful foes
Whose eyes are open, while mine close.
Let no dreams my head infest
But such as Jacob's temple blest.
While I do rest, my soul advance,
Make my sleep a holy trance.
That I may, my rest being wrought,
Awake into some holy thought,
And with as active vigor run
My course as doth the noble sun.
Sleep is a death! O make me try
By sleeping what it is to die,
And as gently lay my head
On my grave as on my bed.
Howe'er I rest, Great God, let me
Awake again, at last, with Thee.
And thus assured behold I lie
Securely, or to wake or die.
MOTHERHOOD.
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
Within her heart as, day by day,
The dawning soul from those young eyes
Looks with a clearer, steadier ray.
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.
All-gracious! grant to those who bear
A mother's charge, the strength and light
To lead the steps that own their care
In ways of love and truth and right.
This child we dedicate to Thee,
O God of grace and purity!
Shield it from sin and threatening wrong,
And let Thy love its life prolong.
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