No More Learning

Direct my understanding then to thee;
Control my spirit, guide my wandering heart:
Though but an atom 'midst immensity,
Still I am something, fashioned by thy hand!
I hold a middle rank 'twixt heaven and earth –
On the last verge of mortal being stand,
Close to the realms where angels have their birth,
Just on the boundaries of the spirit-land!
The chain of being is complete in me;-
In me is matter's last gradation lost,


## p. 16842 (#542) ##########################################

16842
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
And the next step is spirit — Deity!
I can command the lightning, and am dust!
A monarch and a slave - a worm, a god!
Whence came I here, and how, so marvelously
Constructed and conceived ? Unknown! This clod
Lives surely through some higher energy;
For from itself alone it could ‘not be!
Creator, yes! Thy wisdom and thy word
Created me! Thou source of life and good!
Thou spirit of my spirit, and my Lord!
Thy light, thy love, in their bright plenitude,
Filled me with an immortal soul, to spring
Over the abyss of death; and bade it wear
The garments of eternal day, and wing
Its heavenly fight beyond this little sphere,
Even to its source — to thee - its Author there.
GABRIEL ROMANOVICH DERZHAVIN (Russian).
Translation of Sir John Bowring.
«CAN FIND OUT GOD ? »
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.
ELIZA SCUDDER.


## p. 16843 (#543) ##########################################

SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16843
THE INDWELLING GOD
«Oh that I knew where I might find Him. ”
Gº
O NOT, my soul, in search of Him:
Thou wilt not find Him there,
Or in the depths of shadow dim,
Or heights of upper air.
For not in far-off realms of space
The Spirit hath its throne;
In every heart it findeth place
And waiteth to be known.
Thought answereth alone to thought,
And soul with soul hath kin;
The outward God he findeth not,
Who finds not God within.
And if the vision come to thee
Revealed by inward sign,
Earth will be full of Deity
And with his glory shine!
Thou shalt not want for company,
Nor pitch thy tent alone;
The indwelling God will go with thee,
And show thee of his own.
Oh gift of gifts, oh grace of grace,
That God should condescend
To make thy heart his dwelling-place,
And be thy daily Friend!
Then go not thou in search of him,
But to thyself repair;
Wait thou within the silence dim,
And thou shalt find him there.
FREDERICK LUCIAN HOSMER.
THE COMFORTER
M"
Y HEART is searching for thee,
And lost in longing for thy voice!
Voice that lies deeper than the per-
manent sea,


## p. 16844 (#544) ##########################################

16844
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Deeper than thought,
Deeper than my own life.
Behold the child,
With yellow locks and aspect wild,
Gazing on naught;
With hands hung listless
And heart at strife,
Waiting, a young lost Israelite,
For angels' food!
We are all children lost, of one great race,
Sighing for light,
Whom thou alone canst bless:
Give us manna, the promised good!
Show us thy face!
Else how should joy survive
The ebbing tide,
And hear the burden of the desert sea ?
Where art thou, Guide ?
Ah! where dost thou abide ?
Within what heart or on what wave dost live ?
Must man forever hunger till beyond his reach
Splendors of speech
Fall on his untaught ear?
Give me new light!
Give me new day!
« Who are ye
Thus crying for the light of a new day?
• If wonders press on thee,
Delay thy feet, - delay!
But now
Fear clouds thy brow,
And seems to hunt thee through the wood.
Listen, delay!
I, the comforter, am near :
I am the loveliness of the earth;
I am the spring's birth;
I sing on the solemn shore;
I am the presence at the dark, low door. )
ANNIE FIELDS.


## p. 16845 (#545) ##########################################

SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16845
MYSTERY
O "Wrapped close for never round the throne of God ?
Why is our pathway still in mystery trod ?
None answers, though we call aloud.
The seedlet of the rose,
While still beneath the ground,
Think you it ever knows
The mystery profound
Of its own power of birth and bloom,
Until it springs above its tomb?
The caterpillar crawls
Its mean life in the dust,
Or hangs upon the walls
A dead aurelian crust:
Think you the larva ever knew
Its gold-winged flight before it flew?
When from the port of Spain
Columbus sailed away,
And down the sinking main
Moved toward the setting day,
Could any words have made him see
The new worlds that were yet to be ?
The boy with laugh and play
Fills out his little plan,
Still lisping day by day
Of how he'll be a man;
But can you to his childish brain
Make aught of coming manhood plain?
Let heaven be just above us,
Let God be e'er so nigh,
Yet howso'er he love us,
And howe'er much we cry,
There is no speech that can make clear
The thing that doth not yet appear. ”
'Tis not that God loves mystery:
The things beyond us we can never know,
Until up to their lofty height we grow,
And finite grasps infinity.
MINOT JUDSON SAVAGE.
(


## p. 16846 (#546) ##########################################

16846
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
HELEN KELLER
M
UTE, sightless visitant,
From what uncharted world
Hast voyaged into Life's rude sea,
With guidance scant;
As if some bark mysteriously
Should hither glide, with spars aslant
And sails all furled ?
In what perpetual dawn,
Child of the spotless brow,
Hast kept thy spirit far withdrawn -
Thy birthright undefiled ?
What views to thy sealed eyes appear ?
What voices mayst thou hear
Speak as we know not how?
Of grief and sin hast thou,
O radiant child,
Even thou, a share ? Can mortai taint
Have power on thee unfearing
The woes our sight, our hearing,
Learn from Earth's crime and plaint ?
Not as we see
Earth, sky, insensate forms, ourselves,
Thou seest, but vision-free
Thy fancy soars and delves,
Albeit no sounds to us relate
The wondrous things
Thy brave imaginings
Within their starry night create.
Pity thy unconfined
Clear spirit, whose enfranchised eyes
Use not their grosser sense?
Ah, no! thy bright intelligence
Hath its own Paradise,
A realm wherein to hear and see
Things hidden from our kind.
Not thou, not thou— 'tis we
Are deaf, are dumb, are blind.
EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN.


## p. 16847 (#547) ##########################################

SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16847
NIGHT AND DEATH
M
YSTERIOUS Night! when our first parent knew
Thee from report divine, and heard thy name,
Did he not tremble for this lovely frame,
This glorious canopy of light and blue ?
Yet 'neath the curtain of translucent dew,
Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame,
Hesperus with the host of heaven came;
And lo! creation widened in man's view.
Who could have thought such darkness lay concealed
Within thy beams, O Sun? or who could find,
While Ay and leaf and insect stood revealed,
That to such countless orbs thou mad'st us blind ?
Why do we then shun death with anxious strife ? -
If light can thus deceive, wherefore not life?
J. BLANCO WHITE.
NIGHTFALL
SO
LOWLY, by thy hand unfurled,
Down around the weary world
Falls the darkness: oh, how still
Is the working of thy will!
Mighty Maker, here am I, -
Work in me as silently:
Veil the day's distracting sights;
Show me heaven's eternal lights.
From the darkened sky come forth
Countless stars, - a wondrous birth!
So may gleams of glory start
From this dim abyss, my heart;
Living worlds to view be brought
In the boundless realms of thought;
High and infinite desires,
Flaming like those upper fires!
Holy Truth, eternal Right -
Let them break upon my sight;
Let them shine serenely still,
And with light my being fill.


## p. 16848 (#548) ##########################################

16848
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Thou who dwellest there, I know,
Dwellest here within me too;
May the perfect love of God
Here, as there, be shed abroad.
Let my soul attunèd be
To the heavenly harmony,
Which, beyond the power of sound,
Fills the universe around.
WILLIAM HENRY FURNESS,
ABIDE WITH ME
A
BIDE with me! Fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens: Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me!
Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;
Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see:
O thou, who changest not, abide with me!
Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word,
But as thou dwell'st with thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free,–
Come, not to sojourn, but abide, with me!
Come not in terrors, as the King of kings;
But kind and good, with healing in thy wings,
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea:
Come, Friend of sinners, and thus bide with me!
Thou on my head in early youth didst smile:
And, though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left thee:
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me!
I need thy presence every passing hour.
What but thy grace can foil the Tempter's power?
Who like thyself my guide and stay can be ?
Through cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me!
I fear no foe with thee at hand to bless :
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death's sting? where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if thou abide with me.


## p. 16849 (#549) ##########################################

SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16849
Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies.
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee:
In life and death, O Lord, abide with me!
HENRY FRANCIS LYTE.
HELP THOU MY UNBELIEF
B
ECAUSE I seek thee not, oh seek thou me!
Because my lips are dumb, oh, hear the cry
I do not utter as thou passest by,
And from my lifelong bondage set me free!
Because content I perish, far from thee,
Oh seize me, snatch me from my fate, and try
My soul in thy consuming fire! Draw nigh
And let me, blinded, thy salvation see.
If I were pouring at thy feet my tears,
If I were clamoring to see thy face,
I should not need thee, Lord, as now I need,
Whose dumb, dead soul knows neither hopes nor fears,
Nor dreads the outer darkness of this place; —
Because I seek not, pray not, give thou heed!
LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON.
AWAKING
N"
are
Light after night we dauntlessly embark
On slumber's stream, in whose deep waves
drowned
Sorrow and care, and with all senses bound
Drift for a while beneath the sombre arc
Of that full circle made of light and dark
Called life; yet have no fear, and know refound
Lost consciousness shall be, even at the sound
Of the first warble of some early lark
Or touch of sunbeam. Oh, and why not then
Lie down to our last sleep, still trusting Him
Who guided us so oft through shadows dim,
Believing somewhere on our sense again
Some lark's sweet note, some golden beam, shall break,
And with glad voices cry, "Awake! awake! ”
GERTRUDE BLOEDE (“Stuart Sterne").
XXVIII-1054


## p. 16850 (#550) ##########################################

16850
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
LIGHT SHINING OUT OF DARKNESS
G®
OD moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs
And works his sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take:
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace:
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour:
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.
WILLIAM CowPER.
SURSUM
Y*
E GOLDEN lamps of heaven, farewell,
With all your feeble light;
Farewell, thou ever-changing moon,
Pale empress of the night.
And thou, refulgent orb of day,
In brighter flames arrayed,
My soul, that springs beyond thy sphere,
No more demands thine aid.


## p. 16851 (#551) ##########################################

SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16851
Ye stars are but the shining dust
Of my divine abode,
The pavement of those heavenly courts
Where I shall reign with God.
The Father of eternal light
Shall there his beams display;
Nor shall one moment's darkness mix
With that unvaried day.
No more the drops of piercing grief
Shall swell into mine eyes;
Nor the meridian sun decline
Amidst those brighter skies.
Philip DODDRIDGE.
GOD WITH US
O
God, whose presence glows in all,
Within, around us, and above!
Thy word we bless, thy name we call,
Whose word is truth, whose name is love.
That truth be with the heart believed
Of all who seek this sacred place;
With power proclaimed, in peace received,
Our spirit's light, thy spirit's grace.
That love its holy influence pour,
To keep us meek, and make us free,
And throw its binding blessing more
Round each with all, and all with thee,
Send down its angel to our side;
Send in its calm upon the breast:
For we would know no other guide,
And we can need no other rest.
NATHANIEL LANGDON FROTHINGHAM.


## p. 16852 (#552) ##########################################

16852
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
FULFILLMENT
O
CEASE, my wandering soul,
On restless wing to roam;
All this wide world, to either Pole,
Hath not for thee a home.
Behold the ark of God,
Behold the open door;
O haste to gain that dear abode,
And rove, my soul, no more.
There safe thou shalt abide,
There sweet shall be thy rest,
And every longing satisfied,
With full salvation blest.
WILLIAM AUGUSTUS MUHLENBERG
REST
[Lines found under the pillow of a soldier who died in hospital at Port
Royal. ]
LAY me down to sleep,
With little care
Whether my waking find
Me here, or there.
I
A bowing, burdened head
That only asks to rest,
Unquestioning, upon
A loving breast.
My good right hand forgets
Its cunning now;
To march the weary march
I know not how.
I am not eager, bold,
Nor strong, — all that is past :
I am ready not to do,
At last, at last.
My half-day's work is done,
And this is all my part:


## p. 16853 (#553) ##########################################

SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16853
I give a patient God
My patient heart;
And grasp his banner still,
Though all the blue be dim;
These stripes as well as stars
Lead after him.
MARY Woolsey HOWLAND.
NEARER HOME
O
NE sweetly solemn thought
Comes to me o'er and o'er —
I'm nearer home to-day
Than I ever have been before:
Nearer my Father's house,
Where the many mansions be;
Nearer the great white Throne,
Nearer the jasper sea;
Nearer the bound of life,
Where we lay our burdens down;
Nearer leaving the cross,
Nearer wearing the crown!
But lying darkly between,
Winding down through the night,
Is the silent unknown streain
That leads at last to the light.
Closer and closer my steps
Come to the dread abysm;
Closer Death to my lips
Presses the awful chrism.
Father, perfect my trust!
Strengthen my feeble faith!
Let me feel as I would, when I stand
On the shore of the river of Death;
Feel as I would, when my feet
Are slipping over the brink:
For it may be I'm nearer home,
Nearer now, than I think.
PH@BE CARY.


## p. 16854 (#554) ##########################################

16854
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
PERFECT PEACE
I
N QUIET hours the tranquil soul
Reflects the beauty of the sky:
No passions rise or billows roll,
And only God and heaven are nigh.
The tides of being ebb and flow,
Creating peace without alloy:
A sacred happiness we know,
Too high for mirth, too deep for joy.
Like birds that slumber on the sea,
Unconscious where the current runs,
We rest in God's infinity
Of bliss, that circles stars and suns.
His perfect peace has swept from sight
The narrow bounds of time and space,
And looking up with still delight
We catch the glory of his face.
AUGUSTA LARNED.
WE ARE CHILDREN
C
HILDREN indeed are we — - children that wait
Within a wondrous dwelling, while on high
Stretch the sad vapors and the voiceless sky.
The house is fair, yet all is desolate
Because our Father comes not; clouds of fate
Sadden above us shivering we espy
The passing rain, the cloud before the gate,
And cry to one another, “He is nigh!
At early morning, with a shining Face,
He left us innocent and lily-crowned;
And now this late night cometh on apace;
We hold each other's hands and look around,
Frighted at our own shades! Heaven send us grace!
When He returns, all will be sleeping sound.
ROBERT BUCHANAN.


## p. 16855 (#555) ##########################################

SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16855
ROCKED IN THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP
R
OCKED in the cradle of the deep
I lay me down in peace to sleep;
Secure I rest upon the wave,
For thou, O Lord! hast power to save.
I know thou wilt not slight my call,
For thou dost mark the sparrow's fall;
And calm and peaceful shall I sleep.
Rocked in the cradle of the deep.
When in the dead of night I lie
And gaze upon the trackless sky,
The star-bespangled heavenly scroll,
The boundless waters as they roll,-
I feel thy wondrous power to save
From perils of the stormy wave:
Rocked in the cradle of the deep,
I calmly rest and soundly sleep.
And such the trust that still were mine,
Though stormy winds swept o'er the brine,
Or though the tempest's fiery breath
Roused me from sleep to wreck and death!
In ocean cave, still safe with thee,
The germ of immortality!
And calm and peaceful shall I sleep,
Rocked in the cradle of the deep.
EMMA C. WILLARD.
NO MORE SEA
LE
IFE of our life, and Light of all our seeing,
How shall we rest on any hope but Thee,
What me our souls, to thee for refuge fleeing,
Long for the home where there is no more sea ?
For still this sea of life, with endless wailing,
Dashes above our heads its blinding spray;
And vanquished hearts, sick with remorse and failing,
Moan like the waves at set of autumn day.
And ever round us swells the insatiate ocean
Of sin and doubt that lures us to our grave:


## p. 16856 (#556) ##########################################

16856
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
When its wild billows, with their mad commotion,
Would sweep us down — then only thou canst save.
And deep and dark the fearful gloom unlighted
Of that untried and all-surrounding sea,
On whose bleak shore arriving - lone – benighted,
We fall and lose ourselves at last - in thee.
Yea! in thy life our little lives are ended,
Into thy depths our trembling spirits fall:
In thee enfolded, gathered, comprehended,
As holds the sea her waves — thou hold'st us all!
ELIZA SCUDDER.
TRANQUILLITY
O
FEVERED eyes, with searching strained
Till both the parching globes are pained,
At set of sun is balm for you;
Look up, and bathe them in the blue.
No need to count the coming stars,
Nor watch those wimpled pearly bars
That flush above the west; but follow
In idler mood the idle swallow,
With careless, half-unconscious eye,
Round his great circles on the sky,
Till he, and all things, lose for you
Their being in that depth of blue.
O fevered brain, with searching strained
Till every pulsing nerve is pained,
In tranquil hours is balm for you;
Vex not the thoughts with false and true;
Be still and bathe them in the blue.
To every sad conviction throw
This grim defiance: "Be it so! ”
To doubts that will not let you sleep,
This answer: “Wait! the truth will keep. ”
Weary, and marred with care and pain
And bruising days, the human brain
Draws wounded inward; it might be
Some delicate creature of the sea,
That, shuddering, shrinks its lucent dome,


## p. 16857 (#557) ##########################################

SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16857
And coils its azure tendrils home,
And folds its filmy curtains tight,
At jarring contact, e'er so light;
But let it float away all free,
And feel the buoyant, supple sea
Among its tinted streamers swell,
Again it spreads its gauzy rings,
And, waving its wan fringes, swings
With rhythmic pulse its crystal bell.
Think out, float out away from where
The pressure of the trembling air
Keeps down to earth the shrunken mind.
Set free the smothered thought, and find
Beyond our world a vaster place,
To thrill and vibrate out through space;
As some auroral banner streams
U'p through the night in widening gleams,
And floats and flashes o'er our dreams;
There let the whirling planet fall
Down - down, till but a vanishing ball,
A misty gleam: and dwindled so,
Thyself, thy world, no trace can show;
Too small to have a care or woe
Or wish, apart from that one will
That doth His worlds with music fill.
Author Unknown.
EVENING HYMN
L
O, THE day of rest declineth,
Gather fast the shades of night;
May the Sun that ever shineth
Fill our souls with heavenly light.
Softly now the dew is falling:
Peace o'er all the scene is spread;
On his children. meekly calling,
Purer influence God will shed.
While thine ear of love addressing,
Thus our parting hymn we sing. –
Father, give thine evening blessing;
Fold us safe beneath thy wing.
CHANDLER ROBBINS.


## p. 16858 (#558) ##########################################

16858
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
VESPER HYMN
ow, sea
Nº
N°*Brings the night its peace profound:
Let our vesper hymn be blending
With the holy calm around.
Soon as dies the sunset glory,
Stars of heaven shine out above,
Telling still the ancient story —
Their Creator's changeless love.
Now, our wants and burdens leaving
To His care who cares for all,
Cease we fearing, cease we grieving;
At his touch our burdens fall.
As the darkness deepens o'er us,
Lo! eternal stars arise;
Hope and Faith and Love rise glorious,
Shining in the Spirit's skies.
SAMUEL LONGFELLOW.
MORNING HYMN
WAKE, my soul, and with the sun
Thy daily stage of duty run;
Shake off dull sloth, and joyful rise
To pay thy morning sacrifice.
A
Thy precious time misspent, redeem;
Each present day thy last esteem;
Improve thy talent with due care —
For the great day thyself prepare.
Let all thy converse be sincere,
Thy conscience as the noonday clear;
Think how all-seeing God thy ways,
And all thy secret thoughts, surveys.
By influence of the light divine,
Let thy own light to others shine;
Reflect all heaven's propitious rays
In ardent love and cheerful praise.


## p. 16859 (#559) ##########################################

SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16859
Wake, and lift up thyself, my heart,
And with the angels bear thy part,
Who all night long unwearied sing
High praise to the eternal King.
Awake, awake, ye heavenly choir !
May your devotion me inspire;
That I like you my age may spend,
Like you may on my God attend.
May I like you in God delight,
Have all day long my God in sight,
Perform like you my Master's will —
Oh, may I never more do ill!
THOMAS KEN.
THE AGE OF GOLD
THE
HE God that to the fathers
Revealed his holy will
Has not the world forsaken,-
He's with the children still.
Then envy not the twilight
That glimmered on their way;
Look up and see the dawning,
That broadens into day.
'Twas but far off, in vision,
The fathers' eyes could see
The glory of the Kingdom,
The better time to be:
To-day, we see fulfilling
The dreams they dreamt of old;
While nearer, ever nearer,
Rolls on the age of gold.
With trust in God's free spirit,
The ever-broadening ray
Of truth that shines to guide us
Along our forward way,
Let us to-day be faithful,
As were the brave of old;
Till we, their work completing,
Bring in the age of gold!
MINOT JUDSON SAVAGE.


## p. 16860 (#560) ##########################################

16860
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
PARADISE
O
PARADISE, O Paradise,
Who doth not crave for rest?
Who would not seek the happy land
Where they that loved are blest?
Where loyal hearts and true
Stand ever in the light,
All rapture through and through,
In God's most holy sight.
O Paradise, O Paradise,
The world is growing old;
Who would not be at rest and free
Where love is never cold?
Where loyal hearts and true
Stand ever in the light,
All rapture through and through,
In God's most holy sight.
O Paradise, O Paradise,
Where they shall sin no more,
Who strive to be as pure on earth
As on thy spotless shore;
Where loyal hearts and true
Stand ever in the light,
All rapture through and through,
In God's most holy sight.
O Paradise, O Paradise,
I greatly long to see
The heavenly place my dearest Lord
Is destining for me;
Where loyal hearts and true
Stand ever in the light,
All rapture through and through,
In God's most holy sight.
O Paradise, O Paradise,
I feel 'twill not be long;
Patience! I almost think I hear
Faint fragments of thy song:
Where loyal hearts and true
Stand ever in the light,
All rapture through and through,
In God's most holy sight.
FREDERICK W. FABER.


## p. 16861 (#561) ##########################################

SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16861
PEACE ON EARTH
I"
T CAME upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold:
«Peace on the earth, good will to men,”
From heaven's all-gracious King;
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.
Still through the cloven skies they come,
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
O'er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever o'er its Babel-sounds
The blessed angels sing.
Yet, with the woes of sin and strife,
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring :
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing!
And ye, beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way,
With painful steps and slow,-
Look now, for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing:
O rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing !
For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophet-bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold:
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.
EDMUND HAMILTON SEARS.
-


## p. 16862 (#562) ##########################################

16862
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
"I WOULD NOT LIVE ALWAY»
(JOB VII. 16)
I
WOULD not live alway: I ask not to stay,
Where storm after storm rises dark o'er the way;
Where, seeking for rest, I but hover around,
Like the patriarch's bird, and no resting is found;
Where Hope, when she paints her gay bow in the air,
Leaves her brilliance to fade in the night of despair,
And Joy's fleeting angel ne'er sheds a glad ray
Save the gloom of the plumage that bears him away.
I would not live alway—thus fettered by sin,
Temptation without, and corruption within;
In a moment of strength if I sever the chain,
Scarce the victory's mine ere I'm captive again.
E’en the rapture of pardon is mingled with fears,
And my cup of thanksgiving with penitent tears.
The festival trump calls for jubilant songs,
But my spirit her own miserere prolongs.
I would not live alway: no, welcome the townb;
Immortality's lamp burns there bright 'mid the gloom.
There too is the pillow where Christ bowed his head —
Oh, soft be my slumbers on that holy bed!
And then the glad morn soon to follow that night,
When the sunrise of glory shall beam on my sight,
When the full matin-song, as the sleepers arise
To shout in the morning, shall peal through the skies.
Who, who wou'd live alway, away from his God:
Away from yon heaven, that blissful abode,
Where the rivers of pleasure flow o'er the bright plains,
And the noontide of glory eternally reigns;
Where the saints of all ages in harmony meet,
Their Savior and brethren transported to greet;
While the anthems of rapture unceasingly roll,
And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul?
That heavenly music! what is it I hear?
The notes of the harpers ring sweet on my ear.
And see, soft unfolding, those portals of gold;
The King all arrayed in his beauty behold!
Oh, give me — oh, give me the wings of a dove!
Let me hasten my flight to those mansions above;


## p. 16863 (#563) ##########################################

SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16863
Ay, 'tis now that my soul on swift pinions would soar,
And in ecstasy bid earth adieu evermore.
WILLIAM AUGUSTUS MUHLENBERG.
FAITH AND A HEART
WA
HAT can console for a dead world ?
We tread on dust which once was life;
To nothingness all things are hurled:
What meaning in a hopeless strife ?
Time's awful storm
Breaks but the form.
The essential truth of life remains,
Its goodness and its beauty too,
Pure love's unutterable gains,
And hope which thrills us through and through.
God has not fled,
Souls are not dead.
Not in most ancient Palestine
Nor in the lightsome air of Greece,
Were human struggles more divine,
More blessed with guerdon of increase.
Take thou thy stand
In the workers' band.
Whatever comes, whatever goes,
Still throbs the heart whereby we live,
The primal joys still lighten woes,
And Time which steals doth also give.
Fear not, be brave:
God can thee save.
Hast thou no faith? Thine is the fault:
What prophets, heroes, sages, saints,
Have loved, on thee still makes assault,
Thee with immortal things acquaints.
On life then seize:
Doubt is disease.
JOHN LANCASTER SPALDING.


## p. 16864 (#564) ##########################################

16864
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
FAITH AND HOPE
W"
HEN gathering clouds around I view,
And days are dark and friends are few,
On Him I lean, who not in vain
Experienced every human pain:
He sees my wants, allays my fears,
And counts and treasures up my tears.
If aught should tempt my soul to stray
From heavenly wisdom's narrow way,
To fy the good I would pursue,
Or do the sin I would not do,
Still He, who felt temptation's power,
Shall guard me in that dangerous hour.
If wounded love my bosom swell,
Deceived by those I prized too well,
He shall his pitying aid bestow
Who felt on earth severer woe,-
At once betrayed, denied, or fled,
By those who shared his daily bread.
If vexing thoughts within me rise,
And, sore dismayed, my spirit dies,
Still He, who once vouchsafed to bear
The sickening anguish of despair,
Shall sweetly soothe, shall gently dry,
The throbbing heart, the streaming eye.
When sorrowing o'er some stone I bend
Which covers what was once a friend,
And from his voice, his hand, his smile,
Divides me for a little while,
Thou, Savior, mark'st the tears I shed —
For thou didst weep o'er Lazarus dead!
And oh, when I have safely passed
Through every conflict but the last,
Still, still unchanging, watch beside
My painful bed, for thou hast died !
Then point to realıns of cloudless day,
And wipe the latest tear away!
ROBERT GRANT.


## p. 16865 (#565) ##########################################

SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16865
FAITH
W"
E will not weep - for God is standing by us,
And tears will blind us to the blessed sight;
We will not doubt, if darkness still doth try us,–
Our souls liave promise of serenest light.
We will not faint,— if heavy burdens bind us,
They press no harder than our souls can bear;
The thorniest way is lying still behind us,
We shall be braver for the past despair.
Oh, not in doubt shall be our journey's ending;
Sin with its fears shall leave us at the last:
All its best hopes in glad fulfillment blending,
Life shall be with us when the Death is past.
Help us, O Father! when the world is pressing
On our frail hearts, that faint without their friend;
Help us, O Father! let thy constant blessing
Strengthen our weakness — till the joyful end.
WILLIAM HENRY HURLBURT.
MY FAITH LOOKS UP TO THEE
«Behold the Lamb of God. )
M
Y FAITH looks up to thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary,
Savior divine!
Now hear me while I pray –
Take all my guilt away;
O let me from this day
Be wholly thine.
May thy rich grace impart
Strength to my fainting heart,
My zeal inspire:
As thou hast died for me,
O may my love to thee
Pure, warm, and changeless be —
A living fire.
While life's dark maze I tread,
And griefs around me spread,
Be thou my guide;
XXVIII-1055


## p. 16866 (#566) ##########################################

16866
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Bid darkness turn to day,
Wipe sorrow's tears away,
Nor let me ever stray
From thee aside.
When ends life's transient dream,
When death's cold, sullen stream
Shall o'er me roll,-
Blest Savior, then in love
Fear and distrust remove;
O bear me safe above,
A ransomed soul.
RAY PALMER.
THE GATE OF HEAVEN
S"
HE stood outside the gate of heaven, and saw them entering in,
A world-long train of shining ones, all washed in blood from
sin.
The hero-martyr in the blaze uplifted his strong eye,
And trod firm the reconquered soil of his nativity!
And he who had despised his life, and laid it down in pain,
Now triumphed in its worthiness, and took it up again.
The holy one, who had met God in desert cave alone,
Feared not to stand with brethren around the Father's throne.
They who had done, in darkest night, the deeds of light and flame,
Circled about with them as with a glowing halo came.
And humble souls, who held themselves too dear for earth to buy,
Now passed on through the golden gate, to live eternally.
And when into the glory the last of all did go,
[woe. ”
« Thank God! there is a heaven,” she cried, “though mine is endless
The angel of the golden gate said, “Where then dost thou dwell?
And who art thou that enterest not ? " – "A soul escaped from hell. "
“Who knows to bless with prayer like thine, in hell can never be;
God's angel could not, if he would, bar up this door from thee. ”
She left her sin outside the gate, she meekly entered there,
Breathed free the blessed air of heaven, and knew her native air.
Author Unknown.


## p. 16867 (#567) ##########################################

SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16867
THE ALMIGHTY LOVE
I
N DARKEST days and nights of storm,
Men knew thee but to fear thy form;
And in the reddest lightning saw
Thine arm avenge insulted law.
In brighter days, we read thy love
In flowers beneath, in stars above;
And in the track of every storm
Behold thy beauty's rainbow form;
And in the reddest lightning's path
We see no vestiges of wrath,
But always wisdom,– perfect love
From flowers beneath to stars above.
See, from on high sweet influence rains
On palace, cottage, mountains, plains;
No hour of wrath shall mortals fear,
For their Almighty Love is here.
THEODORE PARKER.
A SHELTER AGAINST STORM AND RAIN
O
NLY a shelter for my head I sought,
One stormy winter night;
To me the blessing of my life was brought,
Making the whole world bright.
How shall I thank thee for a gift so sweet,
O dearest Heavenly Friend ?
I sought a resting-place for weary feet,
And found my journey's end.
Only the latchet of a friendly door
My timid fingers tried :
A loving heart, with all its precious store,
To me was opened wide.
I asked for shelter from a passing shower-
My sun shall always shine!
I would have sat beside the hearth an hour -
And the whole heart was mine!
RÜCKERT (German).
Translation of James Freeman Clarke.


## p. 16868 (#568) ##########################################

16868
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
HEAVEN, O LORD, I CANNOT LOSE
Nºw
ow summer finds her perfect prime!
Sweet blows the wind from western calms;
On every bower red roses climb;
The meadows sleep in mingled balms.
Nor stream nor bank, the wayside by,
But lilies float and daisies throng,
Nor space of blue and sunny sky
That is not cleft with soaring song.
O flowery morns, O tuneful eves,
Fly swift! my soul ye cannot fill!
Bring the ripe fruit, the garnered sheaves,
The drifting snows on plain and hill, -
Alike to me fall frosts and dews;
But heaven, O Lord, I cannot lose!
Warm hands to-day are clasped in mine;
Fond hearts my mirth or mourning share;
And over hope's horizon line
The future dawns serenely fair.
Yet still, though fervent vow denies,
I know the rapture will not stay:
Some wind of grief or doubt will rise,
And turn my rosy sky to gray;
I shall awake, in rainy morn,
To find my hearth left lone and drear.
Thus, half in sadness, half in scorn,
I let my life burn on as clear,
Though friends grow cold or fond love wooes;
But heaven, O Lord, I cannot lose!
In golden hours the angel Peace
Comes down and broods me with her wings:
I gain from sorrow sweet release;
I mate me with divinest things;
When shapes of guilt and gloom arise,
And far the radiant angel flees,
My song is lost in mournful sighs,
My wine of triumph left but lees.
In vain for me her pinions shine,
And pure, celestial days begin :
Earth's passion-flowers I still must twine,
Nor braid one beauteous lily in.


## p. 16869 (#569) ##########################################

SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16869
Ah! is it good or ill I choose ?
But heaven, O Lord, I cannot lose!
EDNA DEAN PROCTOR.
COME YE DISCONSOLATE
С"
OME ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish;
Come, at God's altar fervently kneel;
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your an-
guish:
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.
Joy of the desolate, Light of the straying,
Hope, when all others die, fadeless and pure:
Here speaks the Comforter, in God's name saying,
“Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot cure. ”
Here see the Bread of Life; see waters flowing
Forth from the throne of God, pure from above:
Come to the feast of love; come, ever knowing
Earth has no sorrow but heaven can remove.
THOMAS MOORE.
THE HOPE OF THE HETERODOX
I
N THEE, O blessed God, I hope,
In thee, in thee, in thee!
Though banned by Presbyter and Pope,
My trust is still in thee.
Thou wilt not cast thy servant out
Because he chanced to see
With his own eyes, and dared to doubt
What praters preach of thee.
Oh no! no! no!
For ever and ever and aye
(Though Pope and Presbyter bray)
Thou wilt not cast away
An honest soul from thee.
I look around on earth and sky,
And thee, and ever thee,
With open heart and open eye
How can I fail to see?


## p. 16870 (#570) ##########################################

16870
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
My ear drinks in from field and fell
Life's rival floods of glee:
Where finds the priest his private hell
When all is full of thee?
Oh no! no! no!
Though flocks of geese
Give Heaven's high ear no peace,
I still enjoy a lease
Of happy thoughts from thee.
My faith is strong; out of itself
It grows erect and free;
No Talmud on the Rabbi's shelf
Gives amulets to me.
Small Greek I know, nor Hebrew much,
But this I plainly see:
Two legs without a Bishop's crutch
God gave to thee and me.
Oh no! no! no!
The Church may loose and bind,
But mind, immortal mind,
As free as wave or wind,
Came forth, O God, from thee!
O pious quack! thy pills are good;
But mine as good may be,
And healthy men on healthy food
Live without you or me.
Good lady! let the doer do!
Thought is a busy bee,
Nor honey less what it doth brew,
Though very gall to thee.
Oh no! no! no!
Though Councils decree and declare,
Like a tree in open air
The soul its foliage fair
Spreads forth, O God, to thee!
JOHN STUART BLACKIE.
HYMN AND PRAYER
NFINITE Spirit! who art round us ever,
In whom we float, as motes in summer sky,
May neither life nor death the sweet bond sever,
Which joins us to our unseen Friend on high.


## p. 16871 (#571) ##########################################

SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16871
Unseen, yet not unfelt,- if any thought
Has raised our mind from earth, or pure desire
A generous act or noble purpose brought,
It is thy breath, O Lord, which fans the fire.
To me, the meanest of thy creatures, kneeling,
Conscious of weakness, ignorance, sin, and shame,
Give such a force of holy thought and feeling
That I may live to glorify thy name;
That I may conquer base desire and passion,
That I may rise o'er selfish thought and will,
O'ercome the world's allurement, threat, and fashion,
Walk humbly, softly, leaning on thee still.
I am unworthy. — Yet for their dear sake
I ask, whose roots planted in me are found;
For precious vines are propped by rudest stake,
And heavenly roses fed in darkest ground.
Beneath my leaves, though early fallen and faded,
Young plants are warmed, they drink my branches' dew:
Let them not, Lord, by me be Upas-shaded;
Make me for their sake firm, and pure, and true.
For their sake too — the faithful, wise, and bold,
Whose generous love has been my pride and stay,
Those who have found in me some trace of gold —
For their sake purify my lead and clay.
And let not all the pains and toil be wasted,
Spent on my youth by saints now gone to rest,
Nor that deep sorrow my Redeemer tasted,
When on his soul the guilt of man was pressed.