'ONE GOD AND FATHER OF ALL.'
O THOU Eternal One! whose presence bright All space doth occupy, all motion guide, Unchanged through time's all-devastating flight, Thou only God! there is no God beside,
Being above all beings, Mighty One,
Whom none can comprehend and none explore,
Who fill'st existence with Thyself alone,
Being whom we call God, and know no more!
Thy laws the unmeasured universe surround,
Upheld by Thee, by Thee inspired with breath;
Thou the beginning with the end hast bound,
And beautifully mingled life with death.
FATHER! the effluence of Thy light divine,
Pervading worlds, hath reached my bosom too;
Yes; in my spirit doth Thy spirit shine,
As shines the sunbeam in a drop of dew.
O thought ineffable! O vision blest!
Though poor be our conceptions all, of Thee,
Yet shall Thy shadowed image fill our breast,
And waft its homage to the Deity.
" ABOVE ALL, THROUGH ALL.'
UNCHANGEABLE, all-perfect Lord!
Essential life's unbounded Sea!
What lives and moves, lives by Thy word;
It lives, and moves, and is, from Thee.
Whate'er in earth or sea or sky
Or shuns or meets the wandering thought,
Escapes or strikes the searching eye,
By Thee was to existence brought.
High is Thy power above all height;
Whate'er Thy will decrees is done;
Thy wisdom, holiness, and might
Can by no finite mind be known.
What our dim eyes could never see
Is plain and naked in Thy sight;
What thickest darkness veils, to Thee
Shines clearly as the noonday light.
Thine, Lord, is holiness alone;
Justice and Truth before Thee stand;
Yet, nearer to Thy sacred throne,
Love ever dwells at Thy right hand.
And to Thy love and ceaseless care,
FATHER! this light, this breath, we owe;
And all we have, and all we are,
From Thee, great Source of Life! doth flow.
ETERNAL God! Almighty Cause
Of earth, and seas, and worlds unknown!
All things are subject to Thy laws;
All things depend on Thee alone.
Worship to Thee alone belongs,
Worship to Thee alone we give ;
Thine be our hearts, and Thine our songs,
And to Thy glory may we live.
O, spread Thy truth through every land,
In every heart Thy love be known;
Subdue the world to Thy command,
And, as Thou art, reign God alone!
No human eyes Thy face may see;
No human thought Thy form may know;
But all creation dwells in Thee,
And Thy great life through all doth flow!
And yet, O strange and wondrous thought!
Thou art a God who hearest prayer,
And every heart with sorrow fraught
To seek Thy present aid may dare.
And though most weak our efforts seem
Into one creed these thoughts to bind,
And vain the intellectual dream,
To see and know the Eternal Mind,
Yet Thou wilt turn them not aside,
Who cannot solve Thy life divine,
But would give up all reason's pride
To know their hearts approved by Thine.
So, though we faint on life's dark hill,
And Thought grow weak, and Knowledge flee,
Yet Faith shall teach us courage still,
And Love shall guide us on to Thee.
'WHO BY SEARCHING CAN FIND OUT GOD?' 11 & 10s M.
I CANNOT find Thee! Still on restless pinion My spirit beats the void where Thou dost dwell; I wander lost through all Thy vast dominion, And shrink beneath Thy Light ineffable.
I cannot find Thee! Even when most adoring Before Thy shrine I bend in lowliest prayer; Beyond these bounds of thought, my thought upsoaring,
From furthest quest comes back; Thou art not there.
Yet high above the limits of my seeing,
And folded far within the inmost heart,
And deep below the deeps of conscious being,
Thy splendor shineth; there, O God! Thou art.
I cannot lose Thee! Still in Thee abiding
The End is clear, how wide soe'er I roam;
The Law that holds the worlds my steps is
guiding,
And I must rest at last in Thee, my home.
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