2.

Yet void of art or toil it grows,

Looks bright, and lives its transient hour: Then, man, forget thy earth-born woes; The hand that made preserves the flower.

3.

And see, in fields of desert air
The feather'd people wildly roam;
God makes their little wants his care,
Hears their weak cry, and guards their home.

4.

If thus he clothes the lily race,
That bud and blossom but to die;
If thus from heaven, his lofty place,
He heeds the humblest things that fly :

5.

Shall faithless man, to fears a prey,
In dark despondence waste his hours?
Can love's exhaustless source decay?
Or are we less than birds or flowers?

272. P. M. J. TAYLOR.

Religious equanimity.

1.

How blest is the soul where content
Its empire with gratitude shares!
The gifts which kind heaven has lent
How much they outnumber her cares!

The sunshine of prosperous days
No poisonous vapour exhales;
With courage the storm she surveys
When adversity's tempest assails.

2.

She mingles unhurt in the throng,
In solitude melts into praise;
When forests are vocal with song
She joins the glad chorus they raise :
Midst palaces, pomp, and rich lands,
Unenvying their wealth she can rove,
For the talents heaven puts in her hands
She is anxious alone to improve.

3.

In youth, the bright morning of life,
She consecrates all to her God;

And in manhood's temptations and strife
Sweet peace makes her breast its abode :
She sees the dark season come on,
With a temper composed and resign'd;
When earthly delights are all flown,
In heaven her reward she shall find.

273. c. M.

DODDRIDGE.

Christian resignation in adversity.

1.

My God, the covenant of thy love

Abides for ever sure,

And in its matchless grace I feel
My happiness secure.

2.

Since thou, the everlasting God,
My father art become;

Jesus my guardian and my friend,
And heaven my final home:

3.

I welcome all thy sovereign will,
For all that will is love;

And when I know not what thou dost,
I wait the light above.

4.

Thy covenant, in the darkest gloom,
Shall heavenly rays impart,

Which, when my eyelids close in death,
Shall warm my chilling heart.
274. C. M.

WATTS.

Pious resignation.

1.

WITH humble reverence we adore
The wise, the righteous God:
Our souls in meek submission bow
Beneath his chastening rod.

2.

"Tis God who lifts our comforts high,
Or sinks them to the grave:
He gives; and, blessed be his name!
He takes but what he gave.

3.

Peace, all our restless passions, then!
Let each impatient sigh

Be silent at his sovereign will,
And every murmur die.

4.

If smiling mercy crown our lives,
Its praises shall be spread;
And we'll adore the justice too

That strikes our comforts dead.

275. c. M.

COWPER.

Submission to Divine Providence.

1.

O LORD, my best desires fulfill,
And help me to resign

Life, health, and comfort, to thy will,
And make thy pleasure mine.

2.

Why should I shrink at thy command,
Whose love forbids my fears;
Or tremble at the gracious hand
That wipes away my tears?

3.

No: rather let me freely yield
What most I prize to thee,
Who never hast a good withheld,
Or wilt withhold, from me.

4.

Wisdom and mercy guide my way;
Shall I resist them both?
Short-sighted creature of a day,
And crush'd before the moth!

5.

But ah! my inward spirit cries,
Still bind me to thy sway;

Else the next cloud that veils the skies

Drives all these thoughts away.

276. L. M.

DODDRIDGE.

Submission to the will of God.
[Matt. xxvi. 42.]

1.

"FATHER divine!" the Saviour cried,
While horrors press'd on every side,
And prostrate on the ground he lay,
"Remove this bitter cup away.

2.

"But if these pangs must still be borne, "Or helpless man be left forlorn, "I bow my soul before thy throne, "And say, Thy will, not mine, be done!"

3.

Thus our submissive souls would bow,
And, taught by Jesus, lie as low;
Our hearts, and not our lips alone,
Would say, Thy will, not ours, be done!

277. L. M. J. TAYLOR.

Obedience enforced by the example of Christ.

1.

"NOT as I will," the Saviour said,
And bow'd his agonizing head:
Bade nature's bleeding throbs be still,
Obedient to his Father's will.

2.

O great example! stronger far

Than precept drawn with soundest care: Its power shall bend the rebel mind, And make the proudest soul resign'd.