57.

2. Hast thou not heard 'mid forest glades,

While ancient rivers murmured by,
A voice from forth the eternal shades
That spake a present Deity?

3. And as upon the sacred page

Thine eye in rapt attention turned
O'er records of a vanished age,

Hath not thy heart within thee burned?

4. It was the voice of God that spake
In silence to thy silent heart;
And bade each worthier thought awake,
And every dream of earth depart.

5. Voice of our God, oh yet be near!
In low, sweet accents whisper peace ;
Direct us on our pathway here,

I.

Then bid in heaven our wanderings cease.

The Ever-Present God.

S. G. Bulfinch.

LI. scenes alike engaging prove

AL

To souls impressed with sacred love;
Where'er they dwell, they dwell with Thee,

In heaven, in earth, or on the sea.

2. To me remains nor place nor time,
My country is in every clime;
I can be calm and free from care
On any shore since God is there.

3. While place we seek or place we shun,
The soul finds happiness in none;
But with my God to guide my way,
'Tis equal joy to go or stay.

L.M.

58.

4. Could I be cast where Thou art not,
That were, indeed, a dreadful lot;
But regions none remote I call,
Secure of finding God in all.

5. Then let me to His throne repair,
And never be a stranger there:
Then love divine shall be my guard,
And peace and safety my reward.

Jeanne M. B. Guion, tr. W. Cowper.

The Heavenly Helper.

I. UNTO Thee, abiding ever,

Look I in my need,

Strength of every good endeavour,
Holy thought and deed !

2. Thou dost guide the stars of heaven,
Heal the broken heart,

Bring in turn the morn and even,—
Law and love Thou art.

3. Clouds and darkness are about Thee,
Just and sure Thy throne,-
Not a sparrow falls without Thee,
All to Thee is known.

4. Origin and End of being,

All things in and through,-
Light Thou art of all my seeing,
Power to will and do.

5. Through my life, whate'er betide me,
Thou my trust shalt be;

Whom have I on earth beside Thee,

Whom in heaven but Thee?

8.5.8.5.

F. L. Hosmer.

59.

I.

God with us.

LORD! where'er Thy people meet,

There they behold Thy mercy-seat ;
Where'er they seek Thee, Thou art found,
And every place is hallowed ground.

2. For Thou, within no walls confined,
Inhabitest the humble mind;

Such ever bring Thee where they come,
And going, take Thee to their home.

3. With heavenly grace our souls endue ;
Thy former mercies here renew;
Here to our waiting hearts proclaim
The sweetness of Thy saving name.

4. Here may we prove the power of prayer
To strengthen faith, and sweeten care :
To teach our faint desires to rise,
And bring all heaven before our eyes.

60.

I.

L.M.

William Cowper.

The Universal Love.

8s. 6 lines.

ET all men know, that all men move

Under a canopy of love,

As broad as the blue sky above;
That doubt and trouble, fear and pain,
And anguish, all are shadows vain;

That death itself shall not remain.

2. That weary deserts we may tread,

A dreary labyrinth we may thread,

Through dark ways underground be led ;

61.

I.

Yet, if we will our Guide obey,
The dreariest path, the darkest way,
Shall issue out in heavenly day!

3. And we on divers shores now cast,
Shall meet, our perilous voyage past,
All in our Father's house at last!
Let all men count it true that love
Blessing, not cursing, rules above,
And that in it we live and move.

ALL

The Universal Providence.

R. C. Trench.

LL that in this wide world we see,
Almighty Father, speaks of Thee;

And in the darkness, or the day,
Thy monitors surround our way.

2. The winds, the lightnings of the sky,
The maladies by which we die,

The pangs that make the guilty groan,
Are angels from Thy awful throne.

3. Each mercy sent when sorrows lower,
Each mercy of the wingéd hour,

All we enjoy, and all we love,

Bring with them blessings from above.

L.M.

W. C. Bryant.

62.

1.

FAIR

The Angels of God.

'AIR are the feet that bring the news

Of gladness unto me;

How many messengers God hath,

If we had eyes to see!

C.M.

63.

I.

2. Thine angels speak, but still must we
The hearing ear bestow;

They smite the rock, but our own lips
Must stoop to drink the flow.

3. Lo! all things are Thine angels, Lord,
That bring my God to me :

O for the ear to hear their word!

O for the eye to see!

The Mystery of God.

NO human eyes Thy face may see;

J. Mason.

L.M.

No human thought Thy form may know;

But all creation dwells in Thee,

And Thy great life through all doth flow!
2. And yet, O strange and wondrous thought!
Thou art a God who hearest prayer,
And every heart with sorrow fraught
To seek Thy present aid may dare.

3. And though most weak our efforts seem
Into one creed these thoughts to bind,
And vain the intellectual dream,

To see and know th' Eternal Mind;

4. Yet Thou wilt turn them not aside, Who cannot solve Thy life divine, But would give up all reason's pride,

To know their hearts approved by Thine.

5. So, though we faint on life's dark hill,

And thought grow weak, and knowledge flee, Yet faith shall teach us courage still,

And love shall guide us on to Thee.

T. W. Higginson.