LORD, how happy should we be
If we could cast our care on thee;
If we from self could rest,
And feel at heart that One above,
In perfect wisdom, perfect love,
Is working for the best.
2 How far from this our daily life,
How oft disturbed by anxious strife,
By sudden wild alarms!
O could we but relinquish all
Our earthly props, and simply fall
On thine almighty arms!
3 Could we but kneel and cast our load,
E'en while we pray, upon our God;
Then rise with lightened cheer,
Sure that the Father, who is nigh
To still the famished raven's cry,
Will hear in that we fear.
4 We can not trust him as we should;
So chafes weak nature's restless mood
To cast its peace away;
But birds and flowerets round us preach,
All, all the present evil teach
Sufficient for the day.
5 Lord, make these faithless hearts of ours
Such lessons learn from birds and flowers;
Make them from self to cease,
Leave all things to a Father's will,
And taste-before him lying still,
E'en in affliction-peace.
HEN, in the hour of utmost need,
We know not where to look for aid;
When days and nights of anxious thought
Nor help nor counsel yet have brought;
2 Then this our comfort is alone,
That we may meet before thy throne,
And cry, O faithful God, to thee,
For rescue from our misery.
3 We lift to heaven our heart and eye
With true contrition's sorest sigh;
To all our sins be pity sent,
And soften all their chastisement;
4 That so, with all our hearts, may we
Once more with joy give thanks to thee,
And walk obedient to thy Word,
And now and ever praise the Lord.
(REAT God! thou dost all nations rule,
And their affairs control;
Thy power extends o'er all the earth,
Thy love from pole to pole.
2 Our native land in mercy view!
From heaven, O Lord, look down
Thy kingdom in each heart erect!
Maintain thy rightful crown!
3 On people and on ruler let
Thy blessing, Lord, be shed;
To God and country true, may we
In wisdom's paths be led.
4 As thee their God our fathers owned
So thou art still our King:
Thou only canst our peace maintain,
Or our deliverance bring.
5 To thee the glory we ascribe,
From whom salvation came;
In God, our shield, we will rejoice,
And ever bless thy Name.
LORD of Hosts, whose glory fills
The bounds of the eternal hills,
And yet vouchsafes, in christian lands,
To dwell in temples made with hands;
2 Grant that all we, who here to-day
Rejoicing this foundation lay,
May be in very deed thine own,
Built on the precious Corner-stone.
3 Endue the creatures with thy grace,
That shall adorn thy dwelling-place;
The beauty of the oak and pine,
The gold and silver, make them thine.
4 To thee they all pertain; to thee
The treasures of the earth and sea;
And when we bring them to thy throne,
We but present thee with thine own.
5 The heads that guide endue with skill,
The hands that work preserve from ill,
That we, who these foundations lay,
May raise the topstone in its day.
6 Both now and ever, Lord, protect
The temple of thine own elect;
Be thou in them, and they in thee,
O ever-blessed Trinity!
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