Hymns for Christian Devotion

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5 Yes! in the mid-day's fervid beams,
And in the midnight's shadowy dreams,
In action and repose, we see,
We recognize and worship thee;
To thee our worthiest songs would give,
And in thee die, and to thee live.

964. 7s. M. B. Barton.

"He shall be like a tree planted in the rivers of water."

1 Blessed state! and happy he
Who is like that planted tree;
Living waters lave his root,
Bends his bough with golden fruit.

2 When the seedling from its bed
First lifts up its timid head,
Ministry of thine must give.
All on which its life can live.

3 Showers from thee must bid it thrive,
Breath of thine must oft revive;
Light from thee its bloom supplies,--
Left by thee it fades and dies.

4 Thine, O Lord! the power and praise
Which a sight like this displays;
Power of thine must plant it there,
Praise of thee it should declare.

965. 11s. M. (Peculiar.) F. Osgood.

"Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with
praise."

1 Approach not the altar
With gloom in thy soul;
Nor let thy feet falter,
From terror's control!
God loves not the sadness
Of fear and mistrust;
Oh serve him with gladness--
The Gentle, the Just!

2 His bounty is tender,
His being is love,
His smile fills with splendor,
The blue arch above.
Confiding, believing,
Oh! enter always,
"His courts with thanksgiving--
His portals with praise!"

3 Nor come to the temple
With pride in thy mien;
But lowly and simple,
In courage serene.
Bring meekly, before him,
The faith of a child:
Bow down and adore him,
With heart undefiled.

966. L. M. Miss Carey.

Light and Darkness.

1 Our Father, when beside the tomb
We mourn the unconscious dead below,
Thy angels come amid the gloom,
With solace for our doubt and woe.
And looking through the shades of death
To that bright land where none can die,
How clearly then the eye of faith
Beholds the portals of the sky!

2 And they whose lives serenely even
In pleasure's flowery way have kept,
Have never known the love of heaven,
As they whose souls have mourned and wept!
For stricken by the hand of woe,
The soul must seek a Father's love,
And they who weep can only know
What healing balm is found above!

3 And one repentant hour of tears,
Of sweet communion and of prayer,
Is worth a thousand, thousand years
Where pleasure's thoughtless children are!
And O, if ever man below
Draws nearer to the eternal throne,
'Tis when his soul, subdued by woe,
Seeks refuge with its God above!

967. L. M. Sir J. E. Smith.

"It is I, be not afraid."

1 When Power Divine, in mortal form,
Hushed with a word the raging storm,
In soothing accents Jesus said,
"Lo, it is I!--be not afraid."

2 So, when in silence nature sleeps,
And his lone watch the mourner keeps,
One thought, shall every pang remove--
Trust, feeble man, thy Maker's love.

3 Blessed be the voice that breathes from heaven,
To every heart in sunder riven,
When love, and joy, and hope are fled,
"Lo it is I!--be not afraid."

968. L. M. Bowring.

Joy after Sorrow.

1 As, when the deluge-waves were gone,
Hills, plains, and vales in freshness burst,
And nature's earliest rainbow shone
On scenes more lovely than the first,

2 Loosed from the ark, a heavenly dove,
The promise-branch of olive bore,--
Pledge of returning peace and love
That beamed more brightly than before:--

3 So when affliction's waters glide
From the enfranchised soul away,
More peaceful, pure, and sanctified,
The soul emerges into day.

4 And then, as with the olive bough
The heavenly dove of old drew near,
Some gentle words of truth will flow,
In holy music on the ear.

5 O'er all the transient things of time,
The oblivious foot of years hath trod;
But all that's sacred and sublime
Stands steadfast as the truth of God.

969. 7s. M. Bowring.

Pious Worship.

1 In thy courts let peace be found,
Be thy temple full of love;
There we tread on holy ground,
All serene, around, above.

2 While the knee in prayer is bent,
While with praise the heart o'erflows,
Tranquillize the turbulent!
Give the weary one repose!

3 Be the place for worship meet,
Meet the worship for the place;
Contemplation's best retreat,
Shrine of guilelessness and grace!

4 As an infant knows its home,
Lord! may we thy temples know;
Thither for instruction come--
Thence by thee instructed go.

970. L. M. Cunningham.

An Ancient Church.

1 Long be our fathers' temple ours,
Far hence the time in which it falls;
A thousand spirits watch its bowers,
A cloud of angels guard its walls.

2 And be their shield by us possessed;
Lord, rear around the blest abode,
The buttress of a holy breast,
The rampart of a present God.

971. C. M. Anonymous.

The Widow's Prayer.

1 Though faint and sick, and worn away
With poverty and woe,
My widowed feet are doomed to stray
'Mid thorny paths below.

2 Be thou, O Lord, my Father still,
My confidence and guide:
I know that perfect is thy will,
Whate'er that will decide.

3 I know the soul that trusts in thee
Thou never wilt forsake;
And though a bruised reed I be,
That reed thou wilt not break.

4 Then keep me, Lord, where'er I go,
Support me on my way,
Though, worn with poverty and woe,
My widowed footsteps stray.

5 To give my weakness strength, O God,
Thy staff shall yet avail;
And though thou chasten with thy rod,
That staff shall never fail.

972. C. M. Anonymous.

The Orphan's Hymn.

1 Where shall the child of sorrow find
A place for calm repose?
Thou, Father of the fatherless,
Pity the orphan's woes!

2 What friend have I in heaven or earth,
What friend to trust but thee?
My father's dead--my mother's dead;
My God, remember me!

3 Thy gracious promise now fulfil,
And bid my trouble cease;
In thee the fatherless shall find
Pure mercy, grace and peace.

4 I've not a secret care or pain,
But he that secret knows;
Thou, Father of the fatherless,
Pity the orphan's woes!

973. 7s. M. Bowring.

"The rich and poor meet together."

1 Come the rich and come the poor,
To the Christian temple door;
Let their mingled prayers ascend
To the universal Friend.

2 Here the rich and poor may claim
Common ancestry and name;
Claim a common heritage,
In the gospel's promise page.

3 Of the same materials wrought;
By the same instructor taught;
Walking in life's common way;
Tending to the same decay.

4 Rich and poor at last shall meet
At the heavenly mercy seat;
Where the name of rich and poor
Never shall be uttered more.

974. L. M. Bowring.

Temptation.

1 Oh, what a struggle wakes within,
When in the spirit's solitude,
The tempting, treacherous thoughts of sin,
In all their luring smiles intrude!

2 'Tis then, my Father! then I feel
My nature's weakness, and, oppressed,
Like a poor trembling child I steal
To thee, for safety, and for rest.

3 Beneath thy shadow let me live!
Be thou my Friend--my Father be!
I bend in trust--I pray! forgive
The erring child that flies to thee!

975. L. M. Anonymous.

The Faithful Minister.

1 "Let there be light!"--When from on high,
O God, that first commandment came,
Forth leaped the sun; and earth and sky
Lay in his light, and felt his flame.

2 "Let there be light!"--The light of grace
And truth, a darkling world to bless,
Came with thy word, when on our race
Broke forth the Sun of Righteousness.

3 Light of our souls! how strong it grows:
That sun, how wide his beams he flings,
As up the glorious sky he goes,
With light and healing in his wings!

4 Give us that light! O God, 'tis given!
Hope sees it open heaven's wide halls
To those who for the truth have striven;
And Faith walks firmly where it falls.

5 Churches no more, in cold eclipse,
Mourn the withholding of its rays;
It gilds their gates, and on the lips
Of every faithful preacher plays.

976. P. M. Moore.

Fall of Israel.

1 Fallen is thy throne, O Israel!--
Silence is on all thy plains,--
Thy dwellings all lie desolate,--
Thy children weep in chains.
Where are the dews that fed thee
On Ethan's barren shore?
That fire from heaven that led thee
Now lights thy path no more!

2 Lord, thou didst love Jerusalem!
Once she was all thy own!
Her love thy fairest heritage,
Her power thy glory's throne;
Till evil came and blighted
Thy long-loved olive tree,
And Salem's shrines were lighted
For other gods than thee.

3 Then sunk the star of Solyma,
Then passed her glory's day,
Like heath that in the wilderness
The wild wind whirls away.
Silent and waste her bowers,
Where once the mighty trod;
And sunk those guilty towers,
Where Baal reigned as God.

977. L. M. Anonymous.

Remonstrance with the Jews.

1 Why on the bending willows hung,
Israel! still sleeps thy tuneful string?--
Still mute remains thy sullen tongue,
And Zion's song denies to sing?

2 Awake! thy sweetest raptures raise;
Let harp and voice unite their strains
Thy promised King his sceptre sways;
Jesus, thine own Messiah, reigns!

3 No taunting foes the song require:
No strangers mock thy captive chain:
But friends provoke the silent lyre,
And brethren ask the holy strain.

4 Nor fear thy Salem's hills to wrong,
If other lands thy triumph share:
A heavenly city claims thy song;
A brighter Salem rises there.

5 By foreign streams no longer roam;
Nor, weeping, think of Jordan's flood:
In every clime behold a home,
In every temple see thy God.

978. 8s. & 7s. M. Cowper.

The Glory of the Redeemed.

1 Hear what God the Lord hath spoken,
"O my people, faint and few,
Comfortless, afflicted, broken,
Fair abodes I build for you;
Thorns of heart-felt tribulation
Shall no more perplex your ways;
Ye shall name your walls, Salvation,
And your gates shall all be praise.

2 "There, like streams that feed the garden,
Pleasures without end shall flow;
For the Lord, your faith rewarding,
All his bounty shall bestow;
Still, in undisturbed possession,
Peace and righteousness shall reign:
Never shall you feel oppression,
Hear the voice of war again.

3 "Ye no more your suns descending,
Waning moons no more shall see;
But, your griefs forever ending,
Find eternal noon in me;
God shall rise, and shining o'er you,
Change to day the gloom of night;
He, the Lord, shall be your glory,
God, your everlasting light."

979. C. M. Ancient Hymns.

The Noble Army of Martyrs.

1 The triumphs of the martyred saints
The joyous lay demand;
The heart delights in song to dwell
On that victorious band--
Those whom the senseless world abhorred,
Who cast the world aside,
Deeming it worthless, for the sake
Of Christ, their Lord and Guide.

2 For him they braved the tyrant's rage,
The scourge's cruel smart;
The wild beast's fang their bodies tore,
But vanquished not the heart;
Like lambs before the sword they fell,
Nor cry nor plaint expressed;
For patience kept the conscious mind
And armed the fearless breast.

3 What tongue can tell the crown prepared
The martyr's brow to grace?
His shining robe, his joys unknown,
Before thy glorious face?
Vouchsafe us, Lord, if such thy will.
Clear skies and seasons calm;
If not, the martyr's cross to bear,
And win the martyr's palm.

980. 6s. M. Luther.

The Death of Martyrs.

1 Flung to the heedless winds,
Or on the waters cast,
Their ashes shall be watched,
And gathered at the last:
And from that scattered dust,
Around us and abroad,
Shall spring a plenteous seed
Of witnesses for God.

2 The Father hath received
Their latest living breath;
Yet vain is Satan's boast
Of victory in their death:
Still, still, though dead, they speak,
And trumpet-tongued proclaim
To many a wakening land
The one availing name.

981. S. M. Ancient Hymns.

Thanks for all Saints.

1 For all thy saints, O God,
Who strove in Christ to live,
Who followed him, obeyed, adored,
Our grateful hymn receive.

2 For all thy saints, O God,
Accept our thankful cry,
Who counted Christ their great reward,
And strove in him to die.

3 They all, in life and death,
With him, their Lord in view,
Learned from thy Holy Spirit's breath
To suffer and to do.

4 For this thy name we bless,
And humbly beg that we
May follow them in holiness,
And live and die in thee.

982. 7s. & 6s. M. (Peculiar.) Meth. Coll.

Quiet Religion.

1 Open, Lord, my inward ear,
And bid my heart rejoice;
Bid my quiet spirit hear
The comfort of thy voice;
Never in the whirlwind found,
Or where earthquakes rock the place
Still and silent is the sound,
The whisper of thy grace.

2 From the world of sin, and noise,
And hurry, I withdraw;
For the small and inward voice
I wait with humble awe;
Silent I am now and still,
Dare not in thy presence move;
To my waiting soul reveal
The secret of thy love.

983. L. M. 8l. H. Ballou, 2d.

"A Hiding-place from the Wind," &c.

1 When dread misfortune's tempests rise,
And roar through all the darkened skies,
Where shall the anxious pilgrim gain
A shelter from the wind and rain?
Within the covert of thy grace,
O Lord, there is a hiding-place,
Where, unconcerned, we hear the sound,
Though storm and tempest rage around.

2 When, wandering o'er the desert bare
Of burning sands and sultry air,
We've sought the cheerless region through,
But found no stream to meet our view,--
'Tis then, the rivers of thy love,
Descending from thy throne above,
Supply our wants, and soothe our pain,
And raise our fainting souls again.

3 When in a weary land we tire,
And our exhausted powers expire,
With toil, and care, and heat oppressed,
Where shall our languid spirits rest?
O, who could bear the blasting ray,
And all the burden of the day,
Did not a Rock in Zion stand,
O'ershading all this weary land!

984. C. M. H. Ware.

On Opening an Organ.

1 All nature's works his praise declare
To whom they all belong;
There is a voice in every star,
In every breeze a song.
Sweet music fills the world abroad
With strains of love and power;
The stormy sea sings praise to God--
The thunder and the shower.

2 To God the tribes of ocean cry,
And birds upon the wing;
To God, the powers that dwell on high
Their tuneful tribute bring.
Like them let man the throne surround,
With them loud chorus raise,
While instruments of loftiest sound
Assist his feeble praise.

3 Great God! to thee we consecrate
Our voices and our skill;
We bid the pealing organ wait
To speak alone thy will.
Oh, teach its rich and swelling notes
To lift our souls on high;
And while the music round us floats,
Let earth-born passion die.

985. C. M. L. H. Sigourney.

Marriage Hymn.

1 Not for the summer's hour alone,
When skies resplendent shine,
And youth and pleasure fill the throne,
Our hearts and hands we join;

2 But for those stern and wintry days
Of sorrow, pain, and fear,
When Heaven's wise discipline doth make
Our earthly journey drear;--

3 Not for this span of life alone,
Which like a blast doth fly,
And as the transient flowers of grass,
Just blossom, droop, and die;--

4 But for a being without end
This vow of love we take;
Grant us, O God, one home at last,
For thy great mercy's sake.

986. 7s. & 6s. M. Heber.

The Same.

1 When on her Maker's bosom
The new-born earth was laid,
And nature's opening blossom
Its fairest bloom displayed;
When all with fruits and flowers,
The laughing soil was dressed,
And Eden's fragrant bowers
Received their human guest,--

2 No sin his face defiling,
The heir of nature stood,
And God, benignly smiling,
Beheld that all was good.
Yet in that hour of blessing
A single want was known,--
A wish the heart distressing,--
For Adam was alone.

3 O God of pure affection,
By men and saints adored,
O, give us thy protection
Around this nuptial board.
May thy rich bounties ever
To wedded love be shown,
And no rude hand dissever
Whom thou hast linked in one.

987. L. M. C. Sprague.

For the Blessing of Schools.

1 O Thou, at whose dread name we bend,
To whom our purest vows we pay,
God over all, in love descend,
And bless the labors of this day.

2 Our fathers here, a pilgrim band,
Fixed the proud empire of the free;
Art moved in gladness o'er the land,
And Faith her altars reared to thee.

3 Here, too, to guard, through every age,
The sacred rights their valor won,
They bade instruction spread her page,
And send down truth from sire to son.

4 Here still, through all succeeding time,
Their stores may truth and learning bring
And still the anthem-note sublime
To thee from children's children sing.

988. L. M. J. G. Adams.

Dedication of a School-house.

1 God of our fathers! from whose hand
Came all our lights and blessings down,--
Who this devoted, favored land
Dost with thy choicest mercy crown!

2 To Learning and to Knowledge reared--
We dedicate with prayer and praise
This edifice, to thee, revered
Above all gods, through endless days!

3 Accept the offering--deign to dwell
With thy confiding children here;
The shades of Ignorance dispel,--
In Truth's omnipotence appear!

4 Here through successive years may come
The youthful mind--fair Wisdom's guest;
Long be this house Instruction's home,
When those who reared it sink to rest.

989. 6s. & 4s. M. J. G. Adams.

The Same.

1 Raise the adoring song!
Praises to God belong,
In this glad hour!
He who from worlds on high,
Spreads over earth and sky
Proofs of his majesty,
Goodness and power!

2 Praise, that Instruction's voice
Bids the young heart rejoice
In this fair land;
Praise, that the humblest mind
Wisdom's true light may find,
Ground on which all inclined
Freely may stand.

3 Source of all holiness!
With thy rich favor bless
This house of thine;
Here be true knowledge sought,
Here purest wisdom taught,
Wisdom with Freedom fraught,
Freedom divine!

990. C. M. P. H. Sweetser.

The Same.

1 Let monumental pillars rise
In majesty sublime--
Their granite columns shall decay
Before the touch of time.

2 But mind, enlightened and refined,
Shall live beyond the sky,
And heavenly sciences explore,
When time itself shall die!

3 A nobler monument we raise
Than costly marble pile--
A beacon light to lead the way
From ignorance and guile.

4 This house, with prayer, O God, we give
To truth's supreme control;
To virtue and progressive thought,
The riches of the soul.

991. L. M. Anonymous.

The River of Life.

1 There is a pure and peaceful wave,
That issues from the throne of love,
Whose waters gladden as they lave
The bright and heavenly courts above.

2 In living streams behold that tide
Through Christ the rock profusely burst;
And in his word, behold supplied
The fount for which our spirits thirst.

3 The pilgrim faint, who seems to sink
Beneath the sultry sky of time,
May here repose, and freely drink
The waters of that better clime.

4 And every soul may here partake
The blessings of the fount above;
And none who drink will e'er forsake
The crystal stream of boundless love.

992. 8s. & 7s. M. Anonymous.

The Soldier of the Cross.

1 Soldier, to the contest pressing,
Onward, let thy watchword be;
God upon thee pours his blessing;
What though man derideth thee!

2 Onward, though the fagot's burning
By thy pathway's only light;
Onward, death and danger spurning;
Onward in the path of right!

3 God, for all thy wants providing,
Armor trusty hath for thee;
Gird thyself, in him confiding,
With the goodly panoply:

4 Righteousness thy breast defending,
And thy feet with justice shod:
Onward; with the foe contending,
Wield thy sword, the word of God.

5 Thine the helmet of salvation,
Faith thy mighty shield shall be;
And let prayer and supplication,
Lance and glorious falchion be;

6 Onward then, with bold contending,
In the path the martyrs trod:
God to thee his strength is lending;
Onward, in the strength of God.

993. C. M. Anonymous.

On Occasion of a Destructive Fire.

1 Eternal God, our humbled souls
Before thy presence bow;
With all thy wasting magazines,
How terrible art thou!

2 The flames thy messengers become,
And their destruction pour,
And that which we in strength had reared
Lies mouldered in an hour.

3 Within our pleasant places, Lord,
Destruction rears its head,
And blackened walls and smoking heaps
Along our streets are spread.

4 Lord, in this hour we come to thee,
With awe adore thy name;
Yet bless the hand of guardian love,
That snatched us from the flame.

994. C. M. E. H. Chapin.

During or after a Great Storm.

1 Amid surrounding gloom and waste,
From nature's face we flee;
And in our fear and wonder haste
O nature's life, to thee!
Thy ways are in the mighty deep;
In tempests as they blow;
In floods that o'er our treasures sweep;
The lightning; and the snow.

2 Though earth upon its axis reels,
And heaven is veiled in wrath;
Not one of nature's million wheels
Breaks its appointed path;
Fixed in thy grasp, the sources meet
Of beauty and of awe;
In storm or calm, all pulses beat
True to the central law.

3 Thou art that law, whose will thus done
In seeming wreck and blight,
Sends the calm planets round the sun,
And pours the moon's soft light.
We trust thy love; thou best dost know
The universal peace;
How long the stormy force should blow,
And when the flood should cease.

4 And though around our path some form
Of mystery ever lies,
And life is like the calm and storm
That checker earth and skies,
Through all its mingling joy and dread,
Permit us, Holy One,
By faith to see the golden thread
Of thy great purpose run.

995. C. M. Addison.

The Traveller's Hymn.

1 How are thy servants blest, O Lord!
How sure is their defence!
Eternal wisdom is their guide,
Their help omnipotence.

2 In foreign realms, and lands remote,
Supported by thy care,
They pass unhurt through burning climes,
And breathe in tainted air.

3 Thy mercy sweetens every soil,
Makes every region please;
The hoary, frozen hills it warms,
And smooths the boisterous seas.

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