5 Thee, sovereign Lord, let all confess,
That move in earth, or air, or sky;
Revere thy power, thy goodness bless,→
Tremble before thy piercing eye.
6 All ye who owe to him your birth,
In praise your every hour employ:
Jehovah reigns! be glad, O earth!
And shout, ye morning stars, for joy!
ALMIGHTY Former of creation's plan,
Faintly reflected in thine image, man ;
Holy and just,-the greatness of whose name
Fills and supports this universal frame :--
2 Whose spirit fills the infinitude of space,—
Who art thyself thine own vast dwelling-place ;-
Soul of our soul, whom yet no sense of ours
Discerns, eluding our most active powers :-
3 Encircling shades attend thine awful throne,
That veil thy face, and keep thee still unknown;
Unknown, tho' dwelling in our inmost part,
Lord of the thoughts, and Sovereign of the
heart.!
MME. GUION, C. 1689: tr. W. Cowper, 1782.
"Who by searching can find
CANNOT find thee! still on restless pinion
My spirit beats the void where thou dost
dwell:
I wander lost through all thy vast dominion,
And shrink beneath thy light ineffable.
2 I cannot find thee! E'en when most adoring Before thy shrine I bend in lowliest prayer, Beyond these bounds of thought my thought upsoaring
From furthest quest comes back: thou art not there!
3 Yet high above the limits of my seeing, And folded far within the inmost heart, And deep below the deeps of conscious being, Thy splendour shineth: there, O God, thou art!
4 I cannot lose thee! Still in thee abiding,
The end is clear, how wide soe'er I roam: The law that holds the worlds my steps is guiding, And I must rest at last in thee, my home. ELIZA SCUDDER, 1864.
"He dwelleth not in temples made
with hands."
I THE Lord hath builded for himself;
He needs no earthly dome :
The universe his dwelling is,
Eternity his home.
2 Yon glorious sky his temple stands,
So lofty, bright, and blue,
All lamped with stars, and curtained round
With clouds of every hue.
3 Earth is his altar: nature there
Her daily tribute pays:
The elements upon him wait;
The seasons roll his praise.
4 Where shall I see him? how describe
The dread, Eternal One?
His foot-prints are in every place;
Himself is found in none.
5 I search the rounds of space and time,
Nor find his semblance there :
Grandeur has nothing so sublime,
Nor beauty half so fair.
6 He is; he was; he aye shall be:
But how, my soul? and what?
Where is he? say, ye works of his :-
Vain thought! where is he not?
7 Thou Omnipresent, dread Unknown!
Engage me evermore :
Enlarge my views, exalt my soul,
And help me to adore!
I WAIT, O my soul, thy Maker's will:
Tumultuous passions, all be still;
Nor let one murmuring thought arise :-
His ways are just, his counsels wise.
2 He in the thickest darkness dwells,
Performs the work, the cause conceals;
And though his footsteps are unknown,
Judgment and truth support his throne.
3 In heaven and earth, in air and seas,
He executes his wise decrees:
Know this alone and be at rest,-
That what he does is ever best.
4 Wait, then, my soul, submissive wait;
With reverence bow before his feet;
Though paths of pain thou oft hast trod,
Trust in a wise and gracious God.
1 ETERNAL Power! whose high abode
Becomes the grandeur of a God;
Infinite length beyond the bounds
Where stars revolve their little rounds :-
2 Thee while the first archangel sings,
He hides his face behind his wings;
And ranks of shining thrones around
Fall worshipping, and spread the ground.
3 Lord! what shall dust and ashes do?
We would adore our Maker too;
From sin and dust to thee we cry,
The Great, the Holy, and the High!
4 Earth from afar hath heard thy fame,
And men have learned to lisp thy name:
But O! the glories of thy mind
Leave all our soaring thoughts behind!
5 God is in heaven, and men below!
Be short our tunes; our words be few;
A sacred reverence checks our songs,
And praise sits silent on our tongues.
Nature perishable, God eternal.
MOONS, planets, suns that swim the sky,
Shine to the praise of God most high:
Their lasting lustre he has given
To all the moving host of heaven.
2 Yet even stars shall cease to burn,
And to primeval night return;
Systems of worlds themselves decay,
To him the insects of a day.
3 But he remains; and he shall give
The extinguished elements to live;
Bid them in new creations roll,
And still extend the peopled whole.
L. M.
A thousand years as one day.
COD of our fathers! in whose sight
The thousand years that sweep away
Man and the traces of his might,
Are but the break and close of day!
2 Grant us that love of truth sublime,
That love of goodness and of Thee,
Which makes thy children in all time
To share thine own eternity.
The invisible glory seen in the
visible. Ps. 36.
Y God, what monuments I see,
In all around, of thine and thee!
I view thee in the heavens above :-
More high than these is heavenly love!
2 I mark the strong eternal hill :—
Thy faithfulness is stronger still!
I gaze on ocean deep and broad :-
More deep thy counsels are, O God!
O give me 'neath thy wings to rest,
To lean on thy parental breast,
To feed on thee, the living bread,
And drink at mercy's fountain-head.
4 The springs of life are all thy own;
They flow from thy eternal throne:
Light in thy light alone we see :
O save us! for we rest in thee.
|