O, GOD of times, and yet, in time a man!
Before all times thy time of being was;
And yet in time thy human birth began,
Lest we should fade, untimely, like the gress,---
Thou that hast said thy word shall never pass;
And thou that dost all times begin and end, --
Vouchsafe thy comfort to my sad soul send.
IN ardent adoration joined,
Obedient to Thy holy will
Let all my faculties combined
Thy just desires, O God, fulfil :
From thee derived, Eternal King,
To thee our noblest powers we bring:
O, may thy hand direct our wandering way i
O, bid thy light arise, and chase the clouds away ! LORENZO DE MEDICI.
Infinite Being, Thou who didst of old
To Thy anointed delegates reveal
The secret volume of mysterious fate,
O, All-sufficient Power, do thou direct
The aspiring lay! 'Tis Thine, and Thine alone,
To animate the muse to Heavenly themes.
O ALL-SUFFICIENT, All-Beneficent!
Thou God of goodness and of glory, hear!
Thou who to lowest minds dost condescend,
Assuming passions to enforce thy laws,
Adopting jealousy to prove thy love!
Thou who resigned humility upholdest,
E'en as the florist props the drooping rose;
But quellest tyrannic pride with peerless power,
E'en as the tempest rives the stubborn oak !
9 All-sufficient, All-beneficent!
Thou God of goodness and of glory, hear!
Bless all mankind, and bring them in the end
To heaven, to immortality, and Thee!
ALL-POWERFUL Grace, exert thy gentle sway,
And teach my rebel passions to obey;
Lest lurking folly, with insidious art,
Regain my volatile, inconstant heart!
SAVIOUR of mankind, Man, Emanuel!
Who, sinless, died for sin: who vanquished Hell;
The first fruits of the grave; whose light did give
Light to our darkness; in whose death we live;
O strengthen thou my faith, convert my will,
That mine may thine obey; protect me still,
So that the latter death may not devour,
My soul sealed with thy seal!
ETERNAL Spirit! Thou who think'st not sccrn
To make thyself a lowly habitant
In the mean cottage of the human breast,
When purity has been thy harbinger :
Come then, and lead the virtues in Thy train;
Allot to each her office; ceaseless guard
Still let them hold around this earth-born heart,
And watch, with closest glance, its languid pulse.
JOHN HEY,
AND chiefly Thou, O Spirit that dost prefer
Before all temples, the upright heart and purc,
Instruct me, for Thou knowest: Thou from the first
Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread
Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast abyss,
And mad'st it pregnant. What in me is dark,
Illumine; what is low raise and support;
That to the height of this great argument
I may assert eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to men.
Love no where to be found less than Divine!
Hail, Son of God, Saviour of men, Thy Name
Shall be the copious matter of my song
Henceforth, and never shall my harp Thy praise
Forget, nor from Thy Father's praise disjoin.
O THOU bless'd Spirit: whether the Supreme,
Great ante-mundane Father; in whose breast,
Embryo creation, unborn being, dwelt,
And all its various revolutions rolled,
Present, though future; prior to themselves;
Whose breath can blow it into naught again;
Or, from His throne some delegated power,
Who, studious of our peace, dost turn the thought
From vain and vile, to solid and sublime!
Unseen Thou lead'st me to delicious draughts
Of Inspiration, from a purer stream,
And fuller of the God, than that which burst
From famed Castalia.
BEHOLD how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments. PSALM Cxxxiii, 1, 2.
And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount. NUMBERS, XX, 28.
E'EN as the ointment whose sweet odours blended,
From Aaron's head upon his beard descended,
And, falling thence, with rich perfume ran o'er
The holy garb the prophet wore :
So doth the unity that lives with brothers
Share its best blessings and its joy with others.
He hasted to unclasp the priestly robe,
And cast it o'er his son, and on his head
The mitre place; while, with a feeble voice,
He blessed, and bade him keep his garments pure
From blood of souls. But then, as Moses raised
The mystic breastplate, and that dying eye
Caught the last radiance of those precious stones,
By whose oracular and fearful light
Jehovah had so oft His will revealed,
Unto the chosen tribes whom Aaron loved
In all their wanderings-but whose promised land
He might not look upon-he sadly laid
His head upon the mountain's turfy breast,
And with one prayer, half wrapped in stifled groans,
Gave up the ghost.
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. HEBREWS, xi, 8, 9, 10.
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. ROMANS, iv, 3
HIM God the Most High, vouchsafed
To call by vision, from his father's house,
His kindred, and false gods, into a land
Which He did show him, and from him did raise
A mighty nation; and upon him shower
His benedictions so, that in his seed
All nations shall be blest; he straight obeyed,
Not knowing to what land, yet firm believed:
He left his gods, his friends, and native soil,
Ur of Chaldea, passing now the ford
To Haran; after him a cuntbrous train
Of herds and flocks, and numerous servitude,
Not wandering poor, but trusting all his wealth
To God, who called him, in a land unknown.
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