7 Still let my days serenely pass,
Without remorse or care;
And growing holiness my soul
For life's last hour prepare.
Virtuous Desires. Ps. xxv.
O GOD! thou just and kind,
The erring mind instruct,
And to the paths of righteousness
Its wandering steps conduct.
Do thou the humble guide,
And teach the meek thy way;
Kindness and truth be shown to all,
That mixes fear with love;
And lead me through whatever path
Thy wisdom shall approve.
O! ever keep my soul
From error, shame, and guilt;
Nor suffer the fair hope to fail,
Which on thy truth is built.
1 SUPREME and universal light!
Fountain of reason! Judge of right!
Parent of good! whose blessings flow
On all above, and all below :
2 Without whose kind, directing ray,
In everlasting night we stray,
From passion still to passion tost,
And in a maze of error lost :
3 Assist us, Lord! to act, to be,
What nature and thy laws decree;
Worthy that intellectual flame,
Which from thy breathing spirit came.
4 Our moral freedom to maintain,
Bid passion serve, and reason reign ;
Self-poised and independent still
On this world's varying good or ill.
5 No slaves to profit, shame, or fear,
O may our steadfast bosoms bear
The stamp of heaven, an upright heart,
Above the mean disguise of art!
6 May our expanded soul disclaim
The narrow view, the selfish aim;
But with a christian zeal embrace
Whate'er is friendly to our race.
7 O Father! grace and virtue grant;
No more we wish, no more we want:
To know, to serve thee, and to love,
Is peace below,-is bliss above.
75. C. M.
Spiritual Blessings implored.
1 FOUNTAIN of blessing! God of love!
To thee our hearts we raise;
Thine all-sustaining power we prove,
And gladly sing thy praise.
2 Thine, wholly thine, we long to be;
Our sacrifice receive;
Made, and preserved, and saved by thee,
To thee ourselves we give.
3 Heaven-ward our every wish aspires ;
For all thy mercy's store,
The sole return thy love requires,
Is, that we ask for more.
4 For more we ask; we open, Lord,
Our hearts t' embrace thy will;
Renew us by thy heavenly word,
And from thy fulness, fill.
5. O may we travel all the length
Of the celestial road;
And come, reposing on thy strength,
To see thy face, O God!
Prayer for Divine Aid and Guidance.
1 ETERNAL Source of light and thought! Supremely good and wise!
To thee we bring our grateful vows,
To thee lift up our eyes.
2 Thine influence, GoD of grace! is felt
Through nature's ample round;
In heaven, on earth, through air and skies, Thine energy is found.
3 Enlightened and sustained by thee, We'll do and bear thy will;
Thy grace shall make each burden light,
And every murmur still.
4 O safely guide us by that grace,
Through life's perplexing road,
To pleasures which for ever flow
From the right hand of God!
The Universal Prayer.
1 FATHER of all! whose cares extend
To earth's remotest shore,
From every clime let praise ascend,
And every age adore.
2 Thou great first Cause, least understood, Who, all my sense confined
To know but this-that thou art good,
And that myself am blind.
3 What conscience dictates to be done, Or warns me not to do:
This, teach me more than hell to shun,
That, more than heaven, pursue.
4 Save me alike from foolish pride,
Or impious discontent,
At aught thy wisdom has denied,
Or aught thy goodness lent.
5 Teach me to feel another's wo,
To hide the fault I see :
That mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me.
6 To thee, whose temple is all space,
Whose altar, earth, sea, skies,
One chorus let all beings raise,
All nature's incense rise!
The Universal Prayer.
1 O LORD! to earth's contracted span
Thy love I would not bound;
Or think thee kind alone to man,
When thousand worlds are round.
2 Let not this weak, unknowing hand
Presume thy bolts to throw;
And deal destruction round the land,
On each I judge thy foe.
3 If I am right, thy grace impart,
Still in the right to stay;
If I am wrong, O teach my heart
To find that better way.
4 Mean though I am, not wholly so,
Since quickened by thy breath;
O lead me, wheresoe'er I go,
Through this day's life, or death.
5 This day be bread and peace my lot ;-
But all beneath the sun,
Thou knowest, if best bestowed or not;
And let thy will be done.
Paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer.
1 FATHER in heaven! thy sacred name
In hallowed strains be sung;
Thy kingdom spread o'er all the earth,
Thy praise fill every tongue.
2 By happy spirits round thy throne,
As thy commands are done;
So be thy perfect will obeyed
By all beneath the sun.
3 Our numerous wants are known to thee, Who canst alone supply;
O grant, each day, our daily bread,
Nor higher good deny.
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