41. ETERNAL, IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE.

TERNAL and immortal King!

ET

Thy peerless splendors none can bear ;

But darkness veils seraphic eyes,

When God with all his lustre 's there.

Yet faith can pierce the awful gloom,
The great Invisible can see ;
And with its tremblings mingle joy,
In fixed regards, great God, to thee.

Then every tempting form of sin,
Shamed in thy presence, disappears;
And all the glowing, raptured soul
The likeness it contemplates wears.

O ever conscious to my heart!
Witness to its supreme desire !
Behold it presseth on to thee,
For it hath caught the heavenly fire.

This one petition would it urge,
To bear thee ever in its sight;
In life, in death, in worlds unknown,
Its only portion and delight!

L. M

PHILIP DODDRIDGE.

42.

EARLY WILL I SEEK THEE.

C. M.

43.

ARLY, my God, without delay,
I haste to seek thy face;
My thirsty spirit faints away
Without thy cheering grace.

So pilgrims on the scorching sand,
Beneath a burning sky,

Long for a cooling stream at hand,
And they must drink or die.

I've seen thy glory and thy power
Through all thy temple shine;
My God, repeat that heavenly hour,
That vision so divine.

Not life itself, with all its joys,

Can my best passions move,

Or raise so high my cheerful voice,
As thy forgiving love.

ISAAC WATTS.

MY GOD AND MY PORTION.

MY God, my Portion, and my Love,

My everlasting All,

I've none but thee in heaven above,

Or on this earthly ball.

C. M.

In vain the bright, the burning sun
Scatters his feeble light;

'Tis thy sweet beams create my noon;
If thou withdraw, 'tis night.

And whilst, upon my restless bed,
Amongst the shades I roll,

If my Redeemer shows his head,
'Tis morning with my soul.

To thee we owe our wealth and friends,
And health and safe abode ;

Thanks to thy name for meaner things,
But they are not my God.

Were I possessor of the earth,
And called the stars my own,
Without thy graces and thyself
I were a wretch undone.

Let others stretch their arms like seas,

And grasp in all the shore, Grant me the visits of thy face,

And I desire no more.

ISAAC WATTS.

44.

AS THE HART PANTETH.

L. M.

45.

AS, panting in the sultry beam,

The hart desires the cooling stream,

So to thy presence, Lord, I flee,
So longs my soul, O. God, for thee;
Athirst to taste thy living grace,

And see thy glory, face to face.

Ah, why, by passing clouds oppressed,
Should vexing thoughts distract thy breast?
Turn, turn to him, in every pain,
Whom suppliants never sought in vain ;
Thy strength in joy's ecstatic day,
Thy hope when joy has passed away.

When over dizzy heights we go,
One soft hand blinds our eyes;
The other leads us, safe and slow,
O Love of God most wise!

And though we turn us from thy face,
And wander wide and long,
Thou hold'st us still in thine embrace,
O Love of God most strong!

The saddened heart, the restless soul,
The toil-worn frame and mind,
Alike confess thy sweet control,
O Love of God most kind!

But not alone thy care we claim,
Our wayward steps to win;
We know thee by a dearer name,
O Love of God within !

And filled and quickened by thy breath,
Our souls are strong and free

To rise o'er sin and fear and death,

O Love of God, to thee !

ELIZA SCUDDER