5 So shall they, waiting here below, Like Thee, their Lord, a little span, In wisdom and in stature grow,

563

And favor both with God and man.

William Walsham How. 1860. a.

10 THOU, whose infant feet were found Within Thy Father's shrine,

C. M.

Whose years, with changeless virtue crowned,
Were all alike divine;

2 Dependent on Thy bounteous breath,
We seek Thy grace alone,

In childhood, manhood, age, and death,
To keep us still Thine own!

564

Reginald Heber. 1827.

1 LAMB of God, I look to Thee;
Thou shalt my Example be;
Thou art gentle, meek, and mild,
Thou wast once a little Child.

2 Fain I would be as Thou art;
Give me Thy obedient heart.
Thou art pitiful and kind;
Let me have Thy loving mind.

3 Loving Jesus, gentle Lamb,
In Thy gracious hands I am.
Make me, Savior, what Thou art,
Live Thyself within my heart.

4 I shall then show forth Thy praise,
Serve Thee all my happy days:
Then the world shall always see
Christ, the holy Child, in me.

7s.

C. Wesley. 1742.

565

566

Weil ich Jesu Schäflein bin.

1 SEEING I am Jesus' lamb,

Ever glad at heart I am

O'er my Shepherd kind and good,
Who provides me daily food,
And His lamb by name doth call,

For He knows and loves us all.
2 Guided by His gentle staff
Where the sunny pastures laugh,
go in and out and feed,
Lacking nothing that I need.
When I thirst, my feet He brings
To the fresh and living springs.

I

3 Shall I not rejoice for this?
He is mine, and I am His:

And when these bright days are past,
Safely in His arms at last

He will bear me home to heaven;
Ah, what joy hath Jesus given!

Miss Winkworth. 1858.

7's.

Tr. Louise Henriette von Hayn. 1778.

1 SAVIOR, Who Thy flock art feeding With the Shepherd's kindest care, All the feeble gently leading,

While the lambs Thy bosom share;

2 Now, these little ones receiving,
Fold them in Thy gracious arm;
There, we know, Thy Word believing,
Only there, secure from harm.

3 Never, from Thy pasture roving,
Let them be the lion's prey;

Let Thy tenderness, so loving,

8,7.

Keep them through life's dangerous way.

4. Then within Thy fold eternal
Let them find a resting-place;
Feed in pastures ever vernal,
Drink the rivers of Thy grace.

William Augustus Muhlenberg. 1826.

567

PRIVATE DEVOTION.

1 FAR from the world, O Lord, I flee,
From strife and tumult far;
From scenes where Satan wages still
His most successful war.

2 The calm retreat, the silent shade,
With prayer and praise agree;
And seem by Thy sweet bounty made
For those who follow Thee.

3 There, if Thy Spirit touch the soul,
And grace her mean abode,

O with what peace, and joy, and love,
She communes with her God!

4 There, like the nightingale, she pours
Her solitary lays;

Nor asks a witness of her song,
Nor thirsts for human praise.

5 Author and Guardian of my life,
Sweet Source of light divine,
And, all harmonious names in one,
My Savior,-Thou art mine!

C. M.

6 What thanks I owe Thee, and what love,
A boundless, endless store,

Shall echo through the realms above
When time shall be no more!

William Cowper. 1779.

568

1 I LOVE to steal awhile away
From every cumbering care,
And spend the hours of setting day
In humble, grateful prayer.

2 I love in solitude to shed

The penitential tear,

And all His promises to plead

Where none but God can hear.

3 I love to think on mercies past,
And future good implore,
And all my cares and sorrows cast
On Him whom I adore.

4 I love by faith to take a view

Of brighter scenes in heaven;
The prospect doth my strength renew,
While here by tempests driven.

5 Thus when life's toilsome day is o'er,
May its departing ray

Be calm as this impressive hour,
And lead to endless day.

C. M.

569

Phoebe H. Brown. 1826.

C. M.

1 Do not I love Thee, O my Lord?
Behold my heart, and see;

And cast each idol from its throne,
That dares to rival Thee.

2 Is not Thy Name melodious still
To mine attentive ear?

Doth not each pulse with pleasure bound,

My Savior's voice to hear?

3 Hast Thou a lamb in all Thy flock,
I would disdain to feed ?

Hast Thou a foe, before whose face
I fear Thy cause to plead?

4 Thou know'st I love Thee, dearest Lord;
But O, I long to soar

Far from the sphere of mortal joys,
That I may love Thee more.

570

Doddridge. 1755. a.

6, 4.

1 NEARER, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!

E'en though it be a cross

That raiseth me;

Still all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!

2 Though, like the wanderer,
The sun gone down,
Darkness be over me,
My rest a stone,

Yet in my dreams I'd be
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!

3 There let my 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!

4 Then with my waking thoughts
Bright with Thy praise,

Out of my stony griefs

Bethel I'll raise;

So by my woes to be
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!