PRIVATE AND FAMILY WORSHIP.
Family religion. Gen. xviii. 19.
1 FATHER of all, thy care we bless,
Which crowns our families with peace;
From thee they spring, and by thy hand
They have been, and are still, sustained.
2 To God, most worthy to be praised,
Be our domestic altars raised;
Who, Lord of heaven, scorns not to dwell
With saints in their obscurest cell.
3 To thee may each united house,
Morning and night, present its vows:
Our servants there, and rising race,
Be taught thy precepts, and thy grace.
4 O, may each future age proclaim
The honors of thy glorious name!
While pleased and thankful, we remove,
To join the family above.
The family altar erected.
1 IN all my ways, O God,
I would acknowledge thee,
And seek to keep my heart and house
From all pollution free.
2 Where'er I have a tent,
An altar will I raise;
And thither my oblations bring,
3 Could I my wish obtain,
My household, Lord, should be
Devoted to thyself alone,
A dwelling-place for thee.
1 WHILE thee I seek, protecting Power,
Be my vain wishes stilled;
And may this consecrated hour
With better hopes be filled.
2 Thy love the powers of thought bestowed!
To thee my thoughts would soar;
Thy mercy o'er my life has flowed;
That mercy I adore.
3 In each event of life, how clear
Thy ruling hand I see !
Each blessing to my soul more dear,
Because conferred by thee.
4 In every joy that crowns my days,
In every pain I bear,
My heart shall find delight in praise,
Or seek relief in prayer.
5 When gladness wings my favored hour,
Thy love my thoughts shall fill;
Resigned, when storms of sorrow lower,
My soul shall meet thy will.
6 My lifted eye, without a tear,
The gathering storm shall see;
My steadfast heart shall know no fear;
That heart shall rest on thee.
Retirement and meditation. Psaim iv. 4.
1 RETURN, my roving heart, return,
And chase these shadowy forms no more;
Seek out some solitude to mourn,
And thy forsaken God implore.
2 O thou great God! whose piercing eye
Distinctly marks each deep recess;
In these sequestered hours draw nigh,
And with thy presence fill the place.
3 Through all the windings of my heart.
My search let heavenly wisdom guide,
And still its radiant beams impart,
Till all be searched and purified.
4 Then, with the visits of thy love,
Vouchsafe my inmost soul to cheer;
Till every grace shall join to prove
That God has fixed his dwelling there.
1 FAR from the world, O Lord, 1 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,
Does she commune with 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 Saviour, thou art mine!
6 The thanks I owe thee, and the love,-
A boundless, endless store-
Shall echo through the realms above,
When time shall be no more.
Retirement and meditation.
1 MY God, permit me not to be
A stranger to myself and thee;
Amid a thousand thoughts I rove,
Forgetful of my highest love.
2 Why should my passions mix with earth,
And thus debase my heavenly birth?
Why should I cleave to things below,
And let my God, my Saviour, go?
3 Call me away from flesh and sense;
One sovereign word can draw me thence;
I would obey the voice divine,
And all inferior joys resign.
4 Be earth, with all her scenes, withdrawn;
Let noise and vanity be gone:
In secret silence of the mind
My heaven, and there my God, I find.
Secret devotion. Matt. vi. 6.
1 FATHER divine, thy piercing eye
Sees through the darkest night;
In deep retirement thou art nigh,
With heart-discerning sight.
2 There shall that piercing eye survey
My duteous homage paid,
With every morning's dawning ray,
And every evening's shade.
3 O may thine own celestial fire
The incense still inflame,
While my warm vows to thee aspire,
Through my Redeemer's name.
4 So shall the visits of thy love
My soul in secret bless;
So shalt thou deign, in worlds above,
Thy suppliant to confess.
1 HOW deep and tranquil is the joy
Which thou hast kindly given
To those who seek thy presence, Lord,
And tread the path to heaven.
2 'T is in the silence of the shade
My sober thoughts begin,
And earth's illusive charms appear
But vanity and sin.
3 'T is here the troubled springs of life
Are calmed to sweetest rest;
The stillness of this hour expels
The tumult of my breast.
4 Far, far above all mortal things
I walk with God alone;
And while he names celestial joys,
I call them all my own.
5 Then let the noisy world pursue
The trifles of a day,—
Mine be the silent, secret joys
That never fade away.
1 WHAT image does my spirit bear?
Is Jesus formed and living there?
Say, do his lineaments divine
In thought, and word, and action, shine?
2 Searcher of hearts, O search me still;
The secrets of my soul reveal;
My fears remove; let me appear
To God, and my own conscience, clear.
3 Scatter the clouds, which o'er my head
Thick glooms of dubious terrors spread;
Lead me into celestial day,
And to myself, myself display.
4 May I at that blest world arrive,
Where Christ through all my soul shall live,
And give full proof that he is there,
Without one gloomy doubt or fear!
Living in the presence of God.
1 TO thee, my God, my days are known,—
My soul enjoys the thought;
My actions all before thy face,
Nor are my faults forgot.
2 Each secret prayer devotion breathes
Is vocal to thine ear;
And all my walks of daily life
Before thine eyes appear.
3 The vacant hour, the active scene,
Thy mercy shall approve;
And every pang of sympathy,
And every care of love.
4 Each golden hour of beaming light
Is guided by thy rays;
And dark affliction's midnight gloom
A present God surveys.
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