950. S. M. Curtis' Coll.
Flight of Time.
1Another day is past,
The hours forever fled,
And time is bearing us away
To mingle with the dead.
2Our minds in perfect peace
Our Father's care shall keep,
We yield to gentle slumber now,
For thou canst never sleep.
3How blesséd, Lord, are they
On thee securely stayed!
Nor shall they be in life alarmed,
Nor be in death dismayed.
951. S. M. Anonymous.
Evening Hymn.
1The day is past and gone;
The evening shades appear;
O, may we all remember well
The night of death draws near!
2We lay our garments by,
Upon our beds to rest;
So death shall soon disrobe us all
Of what is here possessed.
3Lord, keep us safe this night,
Secure from all our fears;
May angels guard us, while we sleep,
Till morning light appears!
952. 8s. & 7s. M. (Peculiar.) Kelly.
An Evening Offering.
1Through the day thy love hath spared us,
Now we lay us down to rest;
Through the silent watches guard us,
Let no foe our peace molest;
Father, thou our guardian be,
Sweet it is to trust in thee.
2Pilgrims here on earth, and strangers,
Dwelling in the midst of foes,--
Us and ours preserve from dangers,
In thine arms let us repose,
And, when life's short day is past,
Rest with thee in heaven at last.
953. 7s. M. Missionary Mag.
Evening Hymn.
1Lord of glory! King of power!
In this lone and silent hour,
While the shades of darkness rise,
And the eve is on the skies,
By thy blessing, as the dews,
Which yon shaded skies diffuse,
Bid our feverish passions cease;
Calm us with thy promised peace.
2Wheresoe'er the brow of pain
Seeks oblivion's balm in vain,
Or the form of watchful grief
Knows not of the night's relief,
There thy pity, softening power,
There the spirit's calm restore;
Till each tongue, from murmuring free,
Wakes the hymn of praise to thee.
954. P. M. Bp. Heber.
Evening Aspiration.
God, that madest earth and heaven,
Darkness and light,--
Who the day for toil hast given,
For rest the night,--
May thine angel guards defend us,
Slumber sweet thy mercy send us,
Holy dreams and hopes attend us,
This livelong night.
955. 7s. M. Anonymous.
Evening Hymn. Ps. 141:2.
1Softly now the light of day
Fades upon my sight away;
Free from care, from labor free,
Lord, I will commune with thee.
2Thou, whose all-pervading eye
Nought escapes, without, within:
Pardon each infirmity,
Open fault and secret sin.
3Soon, for me, the light of day
Shall forever pass away;
Then from sin and sorrow free,
Take me, Lord, to dwell with thee.
956. L. M. Kenn.
Midnight.
1My God, I now from sleep awake;
The sole possession of me take;
From midnight terrors me secure,
And guard my heart from thoughts impure.
2Blest angels, while we silent lie,
You hallelujahs sing on high;
You joyful hymn the Ever-blest,
Before the throne, and never rest.
3I with your choir celestial join,
In offering up a hymn divine;
With you in heaven I hope to dwell,
And bid the night and world farewell.
4Blest Jesus, thou, on heaven intent,
Whole nights hast in devotion spent;
But I, frail creature, soon am tired,
And all my zeal is soon expired.
5Shine on me, Lord, new life impart,
Fresh ardors kindle in my heart:
One ray of thy all-quickening light
Dispels the sloth and clouds of night.
957. S. M. Conder.
Saturday Evening.
1The hours of evening close;
Its lengthened shadows, drawn
O'er scenes of earth, invite repose,
And wait the Sabbath dawn.
2So let its calm prevail
O'er forms of outward care;
Nor thought for "many things" assail
The still retreat of prayer.
3Our guardian Shepherd near
His watchful eye will keep;
And, safe from violence and fear,
Will fold his flock to sleep.
4So may a holier light
Than earth's our spirits rouse,
And call us, strengthened by his might,
To pay the Lord our vows.
958. L. M. 6l. Anonymous.
The Same.
1Sweet to the soul the parting ray,
That ushers placid evening in,
When with the still, expiring day,
The Sabbath's peaceful hours begin;
How grateful to the anxious breast,
The sacred hours of holy rest.
2Hushed is the tumult of this day,
And worldly cares and business cease;
While soft the vesper breezes play,
To hymn the glad return of peace.
O season blest! O moment given
To turn the vagrant thoughts to heaven.
3Oft as this hallowed hour shall come,
O raise my thoughts from earthly things,
And bear them to my heavenly home,
On living faith's immortal wings--
Till the last gleam of life decay,
In one eternal Sabbath day.
959. L. M. Cunningham.
Sabbath Morning.
1Dear is the hallowed morn to me,
When Sabbath bells awake the day,
And, by their sacred minstrelsy,
Call me from earthly cares away.
2And dear to me the wingéd hour,
Spent in thy hallowed courts, O Lord!
To feel devotion's soothing power,
And catch the manna of thy word.
3And dear to me the loud Amen,
Which echoes through the blest abode,
Which swells and sinks, and swells again,
Dies on the walls, but lives to God.
4Oft when the world, with iron hands,
Has bound me in its six days' chain,
This bursts them, like the strong man's bands,
And lets my spirit loose again.
5Go, man of pleasure, strike thy lyre,
Of broken Sabbaths sing the charms;
Ours be the prophet's car of fire
That bears us to a Father's arms.
960. L. M. Anonymous.
Sabbath Evening.
1There is a time when moments flow
More happily than all beside;
It is, of all the times below,
A Sabbath of the eventide.
2O then the setting sun shines fair,
And all below, and all above,
The various forms of Nature, wear
One universal garb of love.
3And then the peace that Jesus brought
The life of grace eternal beams,
And we, by his example taught,
Improve the life his love redeems.
4Delightful scene! a world at rest;
A God all love; no grief, no fear;
A heavenly hope, a peaceful breast,
A smile, unsullied by a tear.
MISCELLANEOUS.
961. L. M. Edwards.
Sabbath Hymn with Nature.
1King of the world! I worship thee:
Lord of the mind! the Sabbath's thine:--
A contrite heart, a bended knee,
To-day shall be my corn, my wine.
A choral song for sacrifice
Will mount as fire, and heavenward own
The green-leaved earth, through joys and sighs
A satellite round Mercy's throne.
2The moon comes up to wake the dew,
And hang a star on every leaf;
The sun can take a rainbow hue,
To kiss away the meadow's grief;
The wave will lay its buoyance by,
To let the cloud take anchor there;
Earth, through her flowers, salutes the sky;
The sky meets earth in balmy air.
3And I was born to see and say
How beauty beams, without, within:
From the fly, made to gild a day,
To my own soul, outliving sin.
Even now I feel thy cherubim
Have come to me from thee, All-wise!--
Then, Silence, thou shalt be my hymn,
And thought, my only sacrifice.
962. C. M. Herbert.
The Soul's Beauty Unfading.
1Sweet day! so cool, so calm, so bright,
Bridal of earth and sky,
The dew shall weep thy fall to-night,
For thou, alas! must die.
2Sweet rose! in air whose odors wave,
And color charms the eye,
Thy root is ever in its grave,
And thou, alas! must die.
3Sweet spring! of days and roses made,
Whose charms for beauty vie,
Thy days depart, thy roses fade;
Thou too, alas! must die.
4Only a sweet and holy soul
Hath tints that never fly;
While flowers decay, and seasons roll,
This lives, and cannot die.
963. L. M. Bowring.
Evening Hymn with Nature.
1To Thee, my God! to thee I bring
The evening's grateful offering;
From thee, the source of joy above,
Flow everlasting streams of love;
And all the rays of light that shine,
And bless creation, Lord! are thine.
2The morn, when stepping down the hills--
The noon, which all creation fills
With glory; evening's placid fall,
The twilight and the raven pall
Of midnight; all alike proclaim
Thy great, thine all impressive name.
3And from the little worm, whose light
Shines palely through the shades of night,
Up to the sparkling stars that run
Their evening rounds--or glorious sun,
Rolling his car to twilight's rest--
All, all in thee is bright and blest.
4And over all--above, below,
We see thee--ever-present thou!
In every wandering rill that flows,
In every gentle breeze that blows;
In every rising, setting sun,
We trace thee--own thee--holy One!
5Yes! in the mid-day's fervid beams,
And in the midnight's shadowy dreams,
In action and repose, we see,
We recognize and worship thee;
To thee our worthiest songs would give,
And in thee die, and to thee live.
964. 7s. M. B. Barton.
"He shall be like a tree planted in the rivers of water."
1Blessed state! and happy he
Who is like that planted tree;
Living waters lave his root,
Bends his bough with golden fruit.
2When the seedling from its bed
First lifts up its timid head,
Ministry of thine must give.
All on which its life can live.
3Showers from thee must bid it thrive,
Breath of thine must oft revive;
Light from thee its bloom supplies,--
Left by thee it fades and dies.
4Thine, O Lord! the power and praise
Which a sight like this displays;
Power of thine must plant it there,
Praise of thee it should declare.
965. 11s. M. (Peculiar.) F. Osgood.
"Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise."
1Approach not the altar
With gloom in thy soul;
Nor let thy feet falter,
From terror's control!
God loves not the sadness
Of fear and mistrust;
Oh serve him with gladness--
The Gentle, the Just!
2His bounty is tender,
His being is love,
His smile fills with splendor,
The blue arch above.
Confiding, believing,
Oh! enter always,
"His courts with thanksgiving--
His portals with praise!"
3Nor come to the temple
With pride in thy mien;
But lowly and simple,
In courage serene.
Bring meekly, before him,
The faith of a child:
Bow down and adore him,
With heart undefiled.
966. L. M. Miss Carey.
Light and Darkness.
1Our Father, when beside the tomb
We mourn the unconscious dead below,
Thy angels come amid the gloom,
With solace for our doubt and woe.
And looking through the shades of death
To that bright land where none can die,
How clearly then the eye of faith
Beholds the portals of the sky!
2And they whose lives serenely even
In pleasure's flowery way have kept,
Have never known the love of heaven,
As they whose souls have mourned and wept!
For stricken by the hand of woe,
The soul must seek a Father's love,
And they who weep can only know
What healing balm is found above!
3And one repentant hour of tears,
Of sweet communion and of prayer,
Is worth a thousand, thousand years
Where pleasure's thoughtless children are!
And O, if ever man below
Draws nearer to the eternal throne,
'Tis when his soul, subdued by woe,
Seeks refuge with its God above!
967. L. M. Sir J. E. Smith.
"It is I, be not afraid."
1When Power Divine, in mortal form,
Hushed with a word the raging storm,
In soothing accents Jesus said,
"Lo, it is I!--be not afraid."
2So, when in silence nature sleeps,
And his lone watch the mourner keeps,
One thought, shall every pang remove--
Trust, feeble man, thy Maker's love.
3Blessed be the voice that breathes from heaven,
To every heart in sunder riven,
When love, and joy, and hope are fled,
"Lo it is I!--be not afraid."
968. L. M. Bowring.
Joy after Sorrow.
1As, when the deluge-waves were gone,
Hills, plains, and vales in freshness burst,
And nature's earliest rainbow shone
On scenes more lovely than the first,
2Loosed from the ark, a heavenly dove,
The promise-branch of olive bore,--
Pledge of returning peace and love
That beamed more brightly than before:--
3So when affliction's waters glide
From the enfranchised soul away,
More peaceful, pure, and sanctified,
The soul emerges into day.
4And then, as with the olive bough
The heavenly dove of old drew near,
Some gentle words of truth will flow,
In holy music on the ear.
5O'er all the transient things of time,
The oblivious foot of years hath trod;
But all that's sacred and sublime
Stands steadfast as the truth of God.
969. 7s. M. Bowring.
Pious Worship.
1In thy courts let peace be found,
Be thy temple full of love;
There we tread on holy ground,
All serene, around, above.
2While the knee in prayer is bent,
While with praise the heart o'erflows,
Tranquillize the turbulent!
Give the weary one repose!
3Be the place for worship meet,
Meet the worship for the place;
Contemplation's best retreat,
Shrine of guilelessness and grace!
4As an infant knows its home,
Lord! may we thy temples know;
Thither for instruction come--
Thence by thee instructed go.
970. L. M. Cunningham.
An Ancient Church.
1Long be our fathers' temple ours,
Far hence the time in which it falls;
A thousand spirits watch its bowers,
A cloud of angels guard its walls.
2And be their shield by us possessed;
Lord, rear around the blest abode,
The buttress of a holy breast,
The rampart of a present God.
971. C. M. Anonymous.
The Widow's Prayer.
1Though faint and sick, and worn away
With poverty and woe,
My widowed feet are doomed to stray
'Mid thorny paths below.
2Be thou, O Lord, my Father still,
My confidence and guide:
I know that perfect is thy will,
Whate'er that will decide.
3I know the soul that trusts in thee
Thou never wilt forsake;
And though a bruiséd reed I be,
That reed thou wilt not break.
4Then keep me, Lord, where'er I go,
Support me on my way,
Though, worn with poverty and woe,
My widowed footsteps stray.
5To give my weakness strength, O God,
Thy staff shall yet avail;
And though thou chasten with thy rod,
That staff shall never fail.
972. C. M. Anonymous.
The Orphan's Hymn.
1Where shall the child of sorrow find
A place for calm repose?
Thou, Father of the fatherless,
Pity the orphan's woes!
2What friend have I in heaven or earth,
What friend to trust but thee?
My father's dead--my mother's dead;
My God, remember me!
3Thy gracious promise now fulfil,
And bid my trouble cease;
In thee the fatherless shall find
Pure mercy, grace and peace.
4I've not a secret care or pain,
But he that secret knows;
Thou, Father of the fatherless,
Pity the orphan's woes!
973. 7s. M. Bowring.
"The rich and poor meet together."
1Come the rich and come the poor,
To the Christian temple door;
Let their mingled prayers ascend
To the universal Friend.
2Here the rich and poor may claim
Common ancestry and name;
Claim a common heritage,
In the gospel's promise page.
3Of the same materials wrought;
By the same instructor taught;
Walking in life's common way;
Tending to the same decay.
4Rich and poor at last shall meet
At the heavenly mercy seat;
Where the name of rich and poor
Never shall be uttered more.
974. L. M. Bowring.
Temptation.
1Oh, what a struggle wakes within,
When in the spirit's solitude,
The tempting, treacherous thoughts of sin,
In all their luring smiles intrude!
2'Tis then, my Father! then I feel
My nature's weakness, and, oppressed,
Like a poor trembling child I steal
To thee, for safety, and for rest.
3Beneath thy shadow let me live!
Be thou my Friend--my Father be!
I bend in trust--I pray! forgive
The erring child that flies to thee!
975. L. M. Anonymous.
The Faithful Minister.
1"Let there be light!"--When from on high,
O God, that first commandment came,
Forth leaped the sun; and earth and sky
Lay in his light, and felt his flame.
2"Let there be light!"--The light of grace
And truth, a darkling world to bless,
Came with thy word, when on our race
Broke forth the Sun of Righteousness.
3Light of our souls! how strong it grows:
That sun, how wide his beams he flings,
As up the glorious sky he goes,
With light and healing in his wings!
4Give us that light! O God, 'tis given!
Hope sees it open heaven's wide halls
To those who for the truth have striven;
And Faith walks firmly where it falls.
5Churches no more, in cold eclipse,
Mourn the withholding of its rays;
It gilds their gates, and on the lips
Of every faithful preacher plays.
976. P. M. Moore.
Fall of Israel.
1Fallen is thy throne, O Israel!--
Silence is on all thy plains,--
Thy dwellings all lie desolate,--
Thy children weep in chains.
Where are the dews that fed thee
On Ethan's barren shore?
That fire from heaven that led thee
Now lights thy path no more!
2Lord, thou didst love Jerusalem!
Once she was all thy own!
Her love thy fairest heritage,
Her power thy glory's throne;
Till evil came and blighted
Thy long-loved olive tree,
And Salem's shrines were lighted
For other gods than thee.
3Then sunk the star of Solyma,
Then passed her glory's day,
Like heath that in the wilderness
The wild wind whirls away.
Silent and waste her bowers,
Where once the mighty trod;
And sunk those guilty towers,
Where Baal reigned as God.
977. L. M. Anonymous.
Remonstrance with the Jews.
1Why on the bending willows hung,
Israel! still sleeps thy tuneful string?--
Still mute remains thy sullen tongue,
And Zion's song denies to sing?
2Awake! thy sweetest raptures raise;
Let harp and voice unite their strains
Thy promised King his sceptre sways;
Jesus, thine own Messiah, reigns!
3No taunting foes the song require:
No strangers mock thy captive chain:
But friends provoke the silent lyre,
And brethren ask the holy strain.
4Nor fear thy Salem's hills to wrong,
If other lands thy triumph share:
A heavenly city claims thy song;
A brighter Salem rises there.
5By foreign streams no longer roam;
Nor, weeping, think of Jordan's flood:
In every clime behold a home,
In every temple see thy God.
978. 8s. & 7s. M. Cowper.
The Glory of the Redeemed.
1Hear what God the Lord hath spoken,
"O my people, faint and few,
Comfortless, afflicted, broken,
Fair abodes I build for you;
Thorns of heart-felt tribulation
Shall no more perplex your ways;
Ye shall name your walls, Salvation,
And your gates shall all be praise.
2"There, like streams that feed the garden,
Pleasures without end shall flow;
For the Lord, your faith rewarding,
All his bounty shall bestow;
Still, in undisturbed possession,
Peace and righteousness shall reign:
Never shall you feel oppression,
Hear the voice of war again.
3"Ye no more your suns descending,
Waning moons no more shall see;
But, your griefs forever ending,
Find eternal noon in me;
God shall rise, and shining o'er you,
Change to day the gloom of night;
He, the Lord, shall be your glory,
God, your everlasting light."
979. C. M. Ancient Hymns.
The Noble Army of Martyrs.
1The triumphs of the martyred saints
The joyous lay demand;
The heart delights in song to dwell
On that victorious band--
Those whom the senseless world abhorred,
Who cast the world aside,
Deeming it worthless, for the sake
Of Christ, their Lord and Guide.
2For him they braved the tyrant's rage,
The scourge's cruel smart;
The wild beast's fang their bodies tore,
But vanquished not the heart;
Like lambs before the sword they fell,
Nor cry nor plaint expressed;
For patience kept the conscious mind
And armed the fearless breast.
3What tongue can tell the crown prepared
The martyr's brow to grace?
His shining robe, his joys unknown,
Before thy glorious face?
Vouchsafe us, Lord, if such thy will.
Clear skies and seasons calm;
If not, the martyr's cross to bear,
And win the martyr's palm.
980. 6s. M. Luther.
The Death of Martyrs.
1Flung to the heedless winds,
Or on the waters cast,
Their ashes shall be watched,
And gathered at the last:
And from that scattered dust,
Around us and abroad,
Shall spring a plenteous seed
Of witnesses for God.
2The Father hath received
Their latest living breath;
Yet vain is Satan's boast
Of victory in their death:
Still, still, though dead, they speak,
And trumpet-tongued proclaim
To many a wakening land
The one availing name.
981. S. M. Ancient Hymns.
Thanks for all Saints.
1For all thy saints, O God,
Who strove in Christ to live,
Who followed him, obeyed, adored,
Our grateful hymn receive.
2For all thy saints, O God,
Accept our thankful cry,
Who counted Christ their great reward,
And strove in him to die.
3They all, in life and death,
With him, their Lord in view,
Learned from thy Holy Spirit's breath
To suffer and to do.
4For this thy name we bless,
And humbly beg that we
May follow them in holiness,
And live and die in thee.
982. 7s. & 6s. M. (Peculiar.) Meth. Coll.
Quiet Religion.
1Open, Lord, my inward ear,
And bid my heart rejoice;
Bid my quiet spirit hear
The comfort of thy voice;
Never in the whirlwind found,
Or where earthquakes rock the place
Still and silent is the sound,
The whisper of thy grace.
2From the world of sin, and noise,
And hurry, I withdraw;
For the small and inward voice
I wait with humble awe;
Silent I am now and still,
Dare not in thy presence move;
To my waiting soul reveal
The secret of thy love.
983. L. M. 8l. H. Ballou, 2d.
"A Hiding-place from the Wind," &c.
1When dread misfortune's tempests rise,
And roar through all the darkened skies,
Where shall the anxious pilgrim gain
A shelter from the wind and rain?
Within the covert of thy grace,
O Lord, there is a hiding-place,
Where, unconcerned, we hear the sound,
Though storm and tempest rage around.
2When, wandering o'er the desert bare
Of burning sands and sultry air,
We've sought the cheerless region through,
But found no stream to meet our view,--
'Tis then, the rivers of thy love,
Descending from thy throne above,
Supply our wants, and soothe our pain,
And raise our fainting souls again.
3When in a weary land we tire,
And our exhausted powers expire,
With toil, and care, and heat oppressed,
Where shall our languid spirits rest?
O, who could bear the blasting ray,
And all the burden of the day,
Did not a Rock in Zion stand,
O'ershading all this weary land!
984. C. M. H. Ware.
On Opening an Organ.
1All nature's works his praise declare
To whom they all belong;
There is a voice in every star,
In every breeze a song.
Sweet music fills the world abroad
With strains of love and power;
The stormy sea sings praise to God--
The thunder and the shower.
2To God the tribes of ocean cry,
And birds upon the wing;
To God, the powers that dwell on high
Their tuneful tribute bring.
Like them let man the throne surround,
With them loud chorus raise,
While instruments of loftiest sound
Assist his feeble praise.
3Great God! to thee we consecrate
Our voices and our skill;
We bid the pealing organ wait
To speak alone thy will.
Oh, teach its rich and swelling notes
To lift our souls on high;
And while the music round us floats,
Let earth-born passion die.
985. C. M. L. H. Sigourney.
Marriage Hymn.
1Not for the summer's hour alone,
When skies resplendent shine,
And youth and pleasure fill the throne,
Our hearts and hands we join;
2But for those stern and wintry days
Of sorrow, pain, and fear,
When Heaven's wise discipline doth make
Our earthly journey drear;--
3Not for this span of life alone,
Which like a blast doth fly,
And as the transient flowers of grass,
Just blossom, droop, and die;--
4But for a being without end
This vow of love we take;
Grant us, O God, one home at last,
For thy great mercy's sake.
986. 7s. & 6s. M. Heber.
The Same.
1When on her Maker's bosom
The new-born earth was laid,
And nature's opening blossom
Its fairest bloom displayed;
When all with fruits and flowers,
The laughing soil was dressed,
And Eden's fragrant bowers
Received their human guest,--
2No sin his face defiling,
The heir of nature stood,
And God, benignly smiling,
Beheld that all was good.
Yet in that hour of blessing
A single want was known,--
A wish the heart distressing,--
For Adam was alone.
3O God of pure affection,
By men and saints adored,
O, give us thy protection
Around this nuptial board.
May thy rich bounties ever
To wedded love be shown,
And no rude hand dissever
Whom thou hast linked in one.
987. L. M. C. Sprague.
For the Blessing of Schools.
1O Thou, at whose dread name we bend,
To whom our purest vows we pay,
God over all, in love descend,
And bless the labors of this day.
2Our fathers here, a pilgrim band,
Fixed the proud empire of the free;
Art moved in gladness o'er the land,
And Faith her altars reared to thee.
3Here, too, to guard, through every age,
The sacred rights their valor won,
They bade instruction spread her page,
And send down truth from sire to son.
4Here still, through all succeeding time,
Their stores may truth and learning bring
And still the anthem-note sublime
To thee from children's children sing.
988. L. M. J. G. Adams.
Dedication of a School-house.
1God of our fathers! from whose hand
Came all our lights and blessings down,--
Who this devoted, favored land
Dost with thy choicest mercy crown!
2To Learning and to Knowledge reared--
We dedicate with prayer and praise
This edifice, to thee, revered
Above all gods, through endless days!
3Accept the offering--deign to dwell
With thy confiding children here;
The shades of Ignorance dispel,--
In Truth's omnipotence appear!
4Here through successive years may come
The youthful mind--fair Wisdom's guest;
Long be this house Instruction's home,
When those who reared it sink to rest.