EDMUND
CLARENCE
STEDMAN.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v26 to v30 - Tur to Zor and Index
XXVIII-1053
## p. 16834 (#534) ##########################################
16834
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
THE SOUL'S DEFIANCE
I
(
SAID to Sorrow's awful storm
That beat against my breast,
Rage on,- thou mayst destroy this form,
And lay it low at rest;
But still the spirit that now brooks
Thy tempest, raging high,
Undaunted on its fury looks
With steadfast eye. ”
I said to Penury's meagre train,
“Come on,- your threats I brave:
My last poor life-drop you may drain,
And crush me to the grave;
Yet still the spirit that endures
Shall mock your force the while,
And meet each cold, cold grasp of yours
With bitter smile. ”
I said to cold Neglect and Scorn,
“Pass on,- I heed you not:
Ye may pursue me till my form
And being are forgot;
Yet still the spirit, which you see
Undaunted by your wiles,
Draws from its own nobility
Its high-born smiles. ”
I said to Friendship's menaced blow,
“Strike deep,- my heart shall bear:
Thou canst but add one bitter woe
To those already there;
Yet still the spirit that sustains
This last severe distress
Shall smile upon its keenest pains,
And scorn redress,
I said to Death's uplifted dart,
«Aim sure, -oh, why delay ?
Thou wilt not find a fearful heart,
A weak, reluctant prey;
For still the spirit, firm and free,
Unruffled by dismay,
Wrapt in its own eternity,
Shall pass away. ”
LAVINIA STODDARD.
## p. 16835 (#535) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16835
ANY SOUL TO ANY BODY
S°
O we must part, my body, you and I,
Who've spent so many pleasant years together!
'Tis sorry work to lose your company
Who clove to me so close, whate'er the weather,
From winter unto winter, wet or dry;
But you have reached the limit of your tether,
And I must journey on my way alone,
And leave you quietly beneath a stone.
They say that you are altogether bad
(Forgive me, 'tis not my experience),
And think me very wicked to be sad
At leaving you, a clod, a prison, whence
To get quite free I should be very glad.
Perhaps I may be so, some few days hence;
But now, methinks, 'twere graceless not to spend
A tear or two on my departing friend.
Now our iong partnership is near completed,
And I look back upon its history,
I greatly fear 1 have not always treated
You with the honesty you showed to me.
And I must own that you have oft defeated
Unworthy schemes by your sincerity,
And by a blush or stammering tongue have tried
To make me think again before I lied.
'Tis true you're not so handsome as you were,
But that's not your fault and is partly mine, -
You might have lasted longer with more care,
And still looked something like your first design;
And even now, with all your wear and tear,
'Tis pitiful to think I must resign
You to the friendless grave, the patient prey
Of all the hungry legions of decay.
But you must stay, dear body, and I go.
And I was once so very proud of you!
You made my mother's eyes to overflow
When first she saw you, wonderful and new.
And now, with all your faults, 'twere hard to find
A slave more willing or a friend more true:
Ay - even they who say the worst about you
Can scarcely tell what I shall do without you.
COSMO MONKHOUSE.
## p. 16836 (#536) ##########################################
16836
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
BODY AND SOUL
H*
ERE at life's silent, shadowy gate,
O Soul, my Soul, I lie and wait;
Faint in the darkness, blind and dumb,
O Soul, my promised comrade, come!
The morn breaks gladly in the east;
Hush! hark! the signs of solemn feast:
The softened footstep on the stair;
The happy smile, the chant, the prayer;
The dainty robes, the christening-bowl -
'Tis well with Body and with Soul.
Why lingerest thou at dawn of life?
Seest not a world with pleasure rife?
Hear'st not the song and whir of bird ?
The joyous leaves to music stirred ?
Thou too shalt sing and float in light;
My Soul, thou shalt be happy — quite.
But yet so young, and such unrest ?
Thou must be glad, my glorious guest.
Here is the revel, here is mirth,
Here strains enchanting sway the earth;
Measures of joy in fullness spent:
My Soul, thou canst but be content.
Is this a tear upon my hand ?
A tear? I do not understand.
Ripples of laughter, and a moan?
Why sit we thus, apart, alone ?
Lift up thine eyes, O Soul, and sing!
He comes, our lover and our king!
Feel how each pulse in rapture thrills!
Look, at our feet the red wine spills!
And he – he comes with step divine,
A spirit meet, O Soul, for thine.
Body and Soul's supremest bliss -
What, dost thou ask for more than this?
Stay, here are houses, lands, and gold;
Here, honor's hand; here, gains untold :
Drink thou the full cup to the lees;
Drink, Soul, and make thy bed in ease.
Thou art my prisoner; thou my slave:
And thou shalt sip wherein I lave.
## p. 16837 (#537) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16837
Nay? nay? Then there are broader fields,
Whose luring path a treasure yields:
Thou shalt the universe explore,
Its heights of knowledge, depths of lore;
Shalt journey far o'er land and sea:
And I, my Soul, will follow thee;
Will follow — follow — but I lag:
My heart grows faint, my footsteps flag.
-
And there are higher, holier things ?
Is this a taunt thy spirit Alings?
What is it, Soul, that thou wouldst say ?
Thou erst had time to fast and pray.
Give me one word, one loving sign,
For this spent life of yours and mine!
I held thee fast by sordid ties?
I trailed thy garments, veiled thine eyes?
Go on, I come: but once did wait,
O Soul, for thee, at morning's gate.
Canst thou not pause to give me breath ?
Perchance this shadow, Soul, is death.
I stumble, fall — it is the grave:
I am the prisoner, I the slave;
And thou, strange guest, for aye art free:
Forgive me, Soul, - I could but be
The earth that soiled, the fleshly clod,
The weight that bound thee to the sod.
Dust unto dust! I hear the knell;
And yet, O Soul, I love thee well!
EMMA HUNTINGTON NASON.
GREETING
O
LIFE that maketh all things new,-
The blooming earth, the thoughts of men!
Our pilgrim feet, wet with thy dew,
In gladness hither turn again.
From hand to hand the greeting flows,
From eye to eye the signals run,
From heart to heart the bright hope glows;
The seekers of the Light are one.
## p. 16838 (#538) ##########################################
16838
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
One in the freedom of the truth,
One in the joy of paths untrod,
One in the soul's perennial youth,
One in the larger thought of God;
The freer step, the fuller breath,
The wide horizon's grander view,
The sense of life that knows no death,-
The life that maketh all things new.
Samuel LONGFELLOW.
IN LITTLES
A
LITTLE House of Life,
With many noises rife,
Noises of joy and crime;
A little gate of birth,
Through which I slipped to earth
And found myself in Time.
And there, not far before,
Another little door,
One day to swing so free!
None pauses there to knock,
No other hand tries lock,-
It knows, and waits for me.
From out what Silent Land
I came, on Earth to stand
And learn life's little art,
Is not in me to say:
I know I did not stray, -
Was sent; to come, my part.
And down what Silent Shore
Beyond yon little door
I
pass,
I cannot tell:
I know I shall not stray,
Nor ever lose the way, —
Am sent; and all is well.
WILLIAM CHANNING GANNETT.
## p. 16839 (#539) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16839
TO-MORROWS AND TO-MORROWS
To-
-
10-MORROWS and to-morrows stretch a gray
Unbroken line of shore; but as the sea
Will fret and gnaw the land, and stealthily
Devour it grain by grain, so day by day
Time's restless waters lap the sands away,
Until the shrinking isle of life, where we
Had pitched our tent, wholly engulfed shall be,
And swept far out into eternity,
Some morn, some noon, some night - we may not say
Just how, or when, or where! And then — what then?
O cry unanswered still by mortal ken!
This only may we know,- how far and wide
That precious dust be carried by the tide,
No mote is lost, but every grain of sand
Close-gathered in our Father's loving hand,
And made to build again — somehow, somewhere -
Another Isle of Life, divinely fair!
GERTRUDE BLOEDE (“Stuart Sterne").
SHALL I LOOK BACK ?
F
ROM some dim height of being, undescried,
Shall I look back and trace the weary way
By which my feet are journeying to-day, -
The toilsome path that climbs the mountain-side,
Or leads into the valley sun-denied,
Where, through the darkness, hapless wanderers stray,
Unblessed, uncheered, ungladdened by a ray
Of certitude their errant steps to guide ?
Shall I look back, and see the great things small;
The toilsome path, God's training for my feet,
The pains that never had been worth my tears ?
Will some great light of rapture, bathing all,
Make bygone woe seem joy; past bitter, sweet?
Shall I look back and wonder at my fears?
LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON.
## p. 16840 (#540) ##########################################
16840
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
LIFE
ONE Universe is stirred
B' By Les strong pulse, stars climb the darkening blue;
It throbs in each fresh sunset's changing hue,
And thrills through low sweet song of every bird;
By It, the plunging blood reds all men's veins;
Joy feels that Heart against his rapturous own,
And on It, Sorrow breathes her sharpest groan;
It bounds through gladnesses and deepest pains.
Passionless beating through all Time and Space,
Relentless, calm, majestic in Its march,
Alike, though Nature shake heaven's endless arch,
Or man's heart break because of some dead face!
'Tis felt in sunshine greening the soft sod,
In children's smiling as in mother's tears;
And, for strange comfort, through the aching years,
Men's hungry souls have named that great Heart, God!
MARGARET DELAND.
WHAT LIFE IS
I
“What is life but what a man is thinking of all day ? »
- EMERSON.
F LIFE were only what a man
Thinks daily of,— his little care,
His petty ill, his trivial plan;
His sordid scheme to hoard and spare;
His meagre ministry, his all
Unequal strength to breast the stream;
His large regret - repentance small;
His poor unrealized dream,-
'Twere scarcely worth a passing nod:
Meet it should end where it began.
But 'tis not so. Life is what God
Is daily thinking of for man.
JULIE M. LIPPMANN.
## p. 16841 (#541) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16841
GOD
O
THOU eternal One! whose presence bright
All space doth occupy, all motion guide,
Unchanged through time's all-devastating Aight!
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,-
Embracing all, supporting, ruling o'er, -
Being whom we call God, and know no more!
Thou from primeval nothingness didst call
First chaos, then existence. Lord! in thee
Eternity had its foundation; all
Sprung forth from thee; of light, joy, harmony,
Sole Origin - all life, all beauty thine.
Thy word created all, and doth create;
Thy splendor fills all space with rays divine.
Thou art, and wert, and shalt be! Glorious! great!
Light-giving, life-sustaining Potentate!
A million torches lighted by thy hand
Wander unwearied through the blue abyss;
They own thy power, accomplish thy command,
All gay with life, all eloquent with bliss.
What shall we call them ? Piles of crystal light —
A glorious company of golden streams
Lamps of celestial ether burning bright -
Suns lighting systems with their joyous beams?
But thou to these art as the noon to night.
Thou art! -- directing, guiding all — thou art!
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:
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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) ##########################################
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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.
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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:
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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) ##########################################
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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) ##########################################
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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.
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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) ##########################################
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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) ##########################################
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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.
-
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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;
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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.
