Spring. Canticles ii. 13, 14.
1. WHAT Soft delight the peaceful bosom warms,
When nature, dressed in all her vernal charms,
Around the beauteous landscape smiles serene,
And crowns with every gift the lovely scene.
2. But this delightful season must decay,
The year rolls on, and steals its charms away:-
Swiftly the gay, the transient pleasure flies,
Stern winter comes, and every beauty dies.
3. While pensive thought the fleeting bliss deplores,
The mind in search of nobler pleasure soars;
And seeks a fairer paradise on high,
Where beauties rise and bloom, and never die.
This do in Remembrance of Me.
1. HERE, O my Lord, I see thee face to face;
Here would I touch and handle things unseen;
Here grasp with firmer hand th' eternal grace,
And all my weariness upon thee lean.
2. Here would I feed upon the bread of God;
Here drink with thee the royal wine of heaven;
Here would I lay aside each earthly load,
Here taste afresh the calm of sin forgiven.
3. Too soon we rise; the symbols disappear;
The feast, though not the love, is passed and gone;
The bread and wine remove, but thou art here-
Nearer than ever-still my Shield and Sun.
4. Feast after feast thus comes and passes by;
Yet, passing, points to the glad feast above,
Giving sweet foretaste of the festal joy,
The Lamb's great bridal feast of bliss and love.
![[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]](https://books.google.ru/books/content?id=sH4dwiqxifIC&hl=ru&output=html_text&pg=PA67&img=1&zoom=3&q=fear&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U1af5EeH3fTGEsKV5fGJpky4bwyyA&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=221,231,610,385)
1. ALONG the banks where Babel's current flows,
The captive bands in deep despondence strayed;
While Zion's fall in sad remembrance rose,
Her friends, her children, mingled with the dead.
2. The tuneful harp that once with joy they strung,
When praise employed and mirth inspired the lay,
Was now in silence on the willows hung,
While growing grief prolonged the tedious day.
3. Their proud oppressors, to increase their woe,
With taunting smiles a song of Zion claim;
Bid sacred praise, in strains melodious flow,
While they blaspheme the great Jehovah's name.
4. But how, in heathen chains, and lands unknown,
Shall Israel's bands the sacred anthems raise ?
"O hapless Salem! God's terrestrial throne,
Thou land of glory, sacred mount of praise!
5. "If e'er my mem'ry lose thy lovely name,
If my cold heart neglect my kindred race,
Let dire destruction seize this guilty frame,
My hand shall perish, and my voice shall cease."
1. AGAIN the day returns of holy rest,
Which, when he made the world, Jehovah blest;
When, like his own, he bade our labors cease,
And all be piety, and all be peace.
2. Let us devote this consecrated day
To learn his will-and all we learn obey;
So shall he hear, when fervently we raise
Our supplications and our songs of praise.
3. Father in heaven, in whom our hopes confide,
Whose power defends us, and whose precepts guide,
In life our Guardian, and in death our Friend,
Glory supreme be thine till time shall end.
1. LORD of the Sabbath and its light, I hail thy hallowed day of rest; It is my weary soul's delight,
The solace of my care-worn breast.
2. Its dewy morn, its glowing noon,
Its tranquil eve, its solemn night, Pass sweetly; but they pass too soon,
Then will thy servant never fail
To deem thy Sabbath doubly blest. 202. The Sacrifice of the Heart. 1. WHEN, as returns this solemn day, Man comes to meet his Maker, God, What rites, what honors shall he pay? How spread his sovereign name abroad?
And leave me saddened at their flight. 2. From marble domes and gilded spires
3. Yet sweetly as they glide along,
And hallowed tho' the calm they yield,
Transporting tho' their rapturous song,
And heavenly visions seem revealed;
4. My soul is desolate and drear,
My silent harp untuned remains,
Unless, my Saviour, thou art near,
To heal my wounds and soothe my
pains.
5. O Jesus, let me ever hail
Thy presence with the day of rest;
Shall curling clouds of incense rise, And gems, and gold, and garlands, deck The costly pomp of sacrifice?
3. Vain, sinful man! creation's Lord
Thy golden offerings well may spare;
But give thy heart, and thou shalt find
Here dwells a God who heareth prayer.
4. O, grant us, in this solemn hour,
From earth and sin's allurements free,
To feel thy love, to own thy power,
And raise each raptured tho't to thee!
203. Holy Enjoyment anticipated.
1. ANOTHER Six days' work is done,
Another Sabbath is begun;
Return, my soul, enjoy thy rest,
Improve the day that God hath blest.
2. O that our thoughts and thanks may rise,
As grateful incense, to the skies,
And draw from heaven that sweet repose
Which none but he that feels it knows!
3 A heavenly calm pervades the breast,
The earnest of that glorious rest
Which for the church of God remains,
The end of cares, the end of pains.
4. With joy, great God, thy works we view,
In various scenes both old and new:
With praise, we think on mercies past;
With hope, we future pleasures taste.
5. In holy duties let the day,
In holy pleasures, pass away;
How sweet, a Sabbath thus to spend,
In hope of one that ne'er shall end!
204. A Song for the opening Year.
1. GREAT God, we sing that mighty hand,
By which supported still we stand:
The opening year thy mercy shows;
Let mercy crown it till it close.
2. By day, by night, at home, abroad,
Still we are guarded by our God;
By his continual bounty fed,
By his unerring counsel led.
3. With grateful hearts the past we own;
The future--all to us unknown-
We to thy guardian care commit,
And peaceful leave before thy feet.
4. In scenes exalted or depressed,
Be thou our joy, and thou our rest; Thy goodness all our hopes shall raise, Adored through all our changing days. 5. When death shall close our earthly songs, And seal in silence mortal tongues, Our Helper, God, in whom we trust, In brighter worlds our souls shall boast.
205. The Year crowned with Goodness.
1. ETERNAL Source of every joy,
Thy praise may well our lips employ,
While in thy temple we appear,
Whose goodness crowns the circling
year.
2. Wide as the wheels of nature roll,
Thy hand supports and guides the
whole;
The sun is taught by thee to rise,
And darkness when to veil the skies.
3. The flowery spring, at thy command,
Embalms the air and paints the land;
The summer rays with vigor shine,
To raise the corn and cheer the vine.
4. Thy hand in autumn richly pours
Through all our coasts abundant stores;
And winters, softened by thy care,
No more a dreary aspect wear.
5. Still be the cheerful homage paid
With morning light and evening shade;
Seasons, and months, and weeks, and
days,
Demand successive songs of praise. 206. A Blessing implored. 1. HERE, in thy name, eternal God, We build this earthly house for thee; O, choose it for thy fixed abode, And guard it long from error free. 2. Here when thy messengers proclaim The blessed gospel of thy Son, Still by the power of his great name Be mighty signs and wonders done. 3. When children's voices raise the song, Hosanna! to their heavenly King, Let heaven with earth the strain prolong;
Hosanna! let the angels sing.
4. But will, indeed, Jehovah deign
Here to abide, no transient guest?
Here will our great Redeemer reign,
And here the Holy Spirit rest?
5. Thy glory never hence depart;
Yet choose not, Lord, this house alone;
Thy kingdom come to every heart;
In every bosom fix thy throne.
207. Christ, our Wisdom and our Right
1. BURIED in shadows of the night,
We lie, till Christ restores the light;
Wisdom descends to heal the blind,
And chase the darkness of the mind.
2. Our guilty souls are drowned in tears,
Till his atoning blood appears;
Then we awake from deep distress,
And sing the Lord, our righteousness.
3. Jesus beholds where Satan reigns,
Binding his slaves in heavy chains;
He sets the pris'ners free, and breaks
The iron bondage from our necks.
4. Poor, helpless worms in thee possess
Grace, wisdom, power, and righteousness;
Thou art our mighty All;-and we
Give our whole selves, O Lord! to thee.
1. The Lord is my Shepherd, he makes me re-pose Where the
pas-tures in beau-ty are growing; He leads me a far from the
world and its woes, Where in peace the still wa- ters
|