Page images
PDF
EPUB

408.

S. M.

STEBLE.

409.

Religion a Support in Life.

1 RELIGION can assuage
The tempest of the soul;

And

every

fear shall lose its rage

At her divine control.

2 Through life's bewildered way,
Her hand unerring leads;
And o'er the path her heavenly ray
A cheering lustre sheds.

3 When reason, tired and blind,
Sinks helpless and afraid,
Thou blest supporter of the mind,
How powerful is thine aid!

4 O, let us feel thy power,
And find thy sweet relief,
To brighten every gloomy hour
And soften every grief.

C. M.

The Righteous and the Wicked.

TATE & BRADY

1 How blest is he, who ne'er consents
By ill advice to walk;

Nor stands in sinners' ways, nor sits
Where men profanely talk:

2 But makes the perfect law of God
His business and delight;
Devoutly reads therein by day,
And meditates by night.

3 Like some fair tree, which, fed by streams,
With timely fruit does bend,

He still shall flourish, and success
All his designs attend.

4 Ungodly men, and their attempts,
No lasting root shall find;
Untimely blasted, and dispersed
Like chaff before the wind.

410.

C. M.

EXETER COLL.

The Influence of Habitual Piety.

1 BLEST is the man who fears the Lord!
His well established mind,
In every varying scene of life,

Shall true composure find.

2 Oft through the deep and stormy sea
The heavenly footsteps lie;
But on a glorious world beyond.
His faith can fix its eye.

3 Though dark his present prospects be,
And sorrows round him dwell,
Yet hope can whisper to his soul,
That all shall issue well.

4 Full in the presence of his God,
Through every scene he goes;
And, fearing him, no other fear
His steadfast bosom knows.

C. M.

The Happiness of a Christian.

1 WHEN true religion gains a place,
And lives within the mind,

The sensual life subdued by grace,
And all the soul refined:

2 The desert blooms in living green,
Where thorns and briers grew;
The barren waste is fruitful seen,
And all the prospect new.

411.

PROUD

3 O happy Christian, richly blessed!
What floods of pleasure roll!
By God and man he stands confessed,
In dignity of soul.

4 Substantial, pure, his every joy:
His Maker is his friend;
'The noblest business his employ,
And happiness his end.

412.

7s. & 8s. M.

BOWRING.

"He that walketh uprightly, walketh surely."
1 He who walks in virtue's way,
Firm and fearless, walketh surely;
Diligent, while yet 't is day,

On he speeds, and speeds securely.

2 Flowers of peace beneath him grow,
Suns of pleasure brighten o'er him;
Memory's joys behind him go,

Hope's sweet angels fly before him.

3 Thus he moves from stage to stage,
Smiles of earth and heaven attending;
Softly sinking down in age,

And at last to death descending.

4 Cradled in its quiet deep,

413.

Calm as summer's loveliest even,
He shall sleep the hallowed sleep;
Sleep that is o'erwatched by Heaven.

C. M.

The Happiness of the Righteous.

1 THE man, in life wherever placed,

Hath happiness in store,

Who walks not in the wicked's way,
Nor learns their guilty lore:

BURNS.

2 Nor from the seat of scornfui pride
Casts forth his eyes abroad,
But with humility and awe,
Still walks before his God.

3 That man shall flourish like the trees
Which by the streamlets grow;
The fruitful top is spread on high,
And firm the root below.

4 But he whose blossom buds in guilt
Shall to the ground be cast,

And, like the rootless stubble, tossed
Before the sweeping blast.

414.

L. M.

KEBLE.

"Not that thou wouldst take them out of the world, but keep them from its evil."

1 SWEET is the bliss of souls serene,

When they have sworn and steadfast mean,
Counting the cost, in all t' espy
Their God, in all themselves deny.

2 O could we learn that sacrifice,
What lights would all around us rise!
How would our hearts with wisdom talk,
Along life's dullest, dreariest walk!

3 We need not bid, for cloistered cell,
Our neighbor and our work farewell,
Nor strive to wind ourselves too high
For sinful man beneath the sky :

4 The trivial round, the common task,
Would furnish all we ought to ask;
Room to deny ourselves; a road
To bring us, daily, nearer God.

415.

7s. & 6s. M.

Joy and Peace in Believing.

1 SOMETIMES a light surprises
The Christian while he sings:
It is the Lord, who rises
With healing in his wings:
When comforts are declining,
He grants the soul again
A season of clear shining,
To cheer it after rain.

2 In holy contemplation,

We sweetly then pursue
The theme of God's salvation,
And find it ever new :
Set free from present sorrow,
We cheerfully can say,
"E'en let the unknown morrow
Bring with it what it may."

3 It can bring with it nothing,
But he will bear us through:
Who gives the lilies clothing,
Will clothe his people too:
Beneath the spreading heavens,
No creature but is fed;
And he who feeds the ravens,
Will give his children bread.

COWPER

4 Though vine, nor fig tree neither,
Its wonted fruit should bear;
Though all the field should wither,
Nor flocks, nor herds be there :
Yet God the same abiding,
His praise shall tune my voice;
For while in him confiding,
I cannot but rejoice.

« PreviousContinue »