Hymn of Night.

HARRIS. 162

1 THE stars are sparks of burning sand; 1
They fall, with measured sound sublime,
From the great hour-glass in God's hand,
And mete the flying years of time.

2 We watch them from our earthly ball; 2
We hear their faint, mysterious hymn;

From east to west we see them fall
Beyond the blue horizon's rim.

3 0 burning hour-glass of the skies;
O sparks from glory's central sun;
Our spirits, while ye fall, arise,
In Love's eternal path to run.

4 From God ye roll in measured flight;
Your glory fails beneath his feet.
To God we tend, from light to light,
And all who love in him shall meet.

MARTINEAU.

"Be still and know that I am God."
HE who himself and God would know,
Into the silence let him go,
And, lifting off pall after pall,
Reach to the inmost depth of all.
Let him look forth into the night;
What solemn depths, what silent might!
Those ancient stars, how calm they roll,
He but an atom 'mid the whole!

3 How small, in that uplifted hour,
Temptation's lure and passion's power!
How weak the foe that made him fall!
How strong the soul to conquer all!

163

1

2

FROM THE GERMAN.
Blessedness of Love to God.

АH, happy hours! whene'er upsprings
My soul to yon eternal Source,
Whence the glad river downward sings,
Watering with goodness all my course.
Can I, with loveless heart, receive
Tokens of love that never cease?
Can I be thankless, Lord, and grieve
Thee, who art all my joy and peace?

3 Forth from thy rich and bounteous store
Life's common blessings daily flow;
More than I dare to ask, far more
Than I deserve, dost thou bestow.
Nor here alone: hope pierces far
Through all the shades of earth and time;
Faith mounts beyond the farthest star;
Yon shining heights she fain would climb.

Think the Almighty leans to hear;
Well pleased to list at such a time,
The wakeful heart in praise sublime.
3 Still watch and pray and raise the hymn, 4
Throughout the hours of darkness dim!
God will not spurn the humblest guest,
But give us of his holy rest.

Whither, O, whither should I fly,'
But to my loving Father's breast;
Secure within thine arms to lie,
And safe beneath thy wings to rest!
4 I have no skill the snare to shun,
But thou, O God! my wisdom art;
I ever into ruin run,

166

1

2 Thy voice we hear, thy presence feel,
Whilst thou, too pure for mortal sight,
Involved in clouds, invisible,
Reignest the Lord of life and light.
3 We know not in what hallowed part
Of the wide heav'ns thy throne may be;
But this we know, that where thou art,
Strength, wisdom, goodness, dwell with thee.
4 Thy children shall not faint nor fear,
Sustained by this delightful thought,
Since thou, their God, art everywhere, 2
They cannot be where thou art not.
165

ANON.

"In whose Hand are all thy Ways." 1 GoD of my life, whose gracious power Through varied deaths my soul hath led, Or turned aside the fatal hour, Or lifted up my sinking head! 2 In all my ways thy hand I own,

Thy ruling providence I see: Assist me still my course to run,

And still direct my paths to thee.

3

But thou art greater than my heart.

Providence Mysterious.

ANON.

THY ways, O Lord, with wise design,
Are framed upon thy throne above,
And every dark or bending line

Meets in the centre of thy love.
With feeble light, and half obscure,
Poor mortals thine arrangements view,
Not knowing that the least are sure,
And the mysterious just and true.
They neither know nor trace the way;
But, trusting to thy piercing eye,
None of their feet to ruin stray,

Nor shall the weakest fail or die.

4 My favored soul shall meekly learn
To lay her reason at thy throne;
Too weak thy secrets to discern;
I'll trust thee for my guide alone.

God good and omniscient.
1 How precious are thy thoughts of peace,
O God! to me,-how great the sum!
New every morn, they never cease;
They were, they are, and yet shall come,
In number and in compass more

Who wrote from thee the sacred page, Than ocean's sand or ocean's shore.

10 THOU, whose power o'er moving 172 worlds presides, [dom guides,

Whose voice created, and whose wis-1 0 THOU Eternal One! whose presence