Confess him righteous in his just decrees,
Love what he loves, and let his pleasures please;
Die daily; from the touch of sin recede;
Then thou hast crowned him, and he reigns indeed.
Too far from thee, O Lord.
The world is close upon each captured sense;
The heart's dear idols never vanish hence;
Life's care and labor still are pressing nigh;
Its fates and passions hard about me lie;
But Thou art dim behind thine infinite sky,
O distantly adored!
O Lord, too far from thee!
Unwingéd Time stands ever in my sight,
Flooding the Past and Now with gloom and light;
Silent, but busy, constant at my side,
It shreds away strength, beauty, joy, and pride.
Eternal! why am I from Thee so wide,
Nor thy near Presence see?
Ne'er languished for as now,
Now that the hold of Earth feels poor and frail;
Now that the cheek of Hope looks thin and pale,
And forms of buried love rise ghostly round,
And dark thoughts struggle on o'er broken ground;
Where is thy face, O Father! radiant found
With mercy on thy brow?
I know that not from far,
Not from abroad, this presence is revealed, -
To our will denied, and from our wit concealed,
No search can find Thee, no entreaty bring,—
Reason a weak, Desert a spotted thing.
O Spirit, lift me on thy dove-like wing
To realms that last and ARE!
"In a season of calm weather,
Though inland far we be,
Our souls have sight of that immortal sea
That brought us hither;
Can in a moment travel thither,
And see the children sport upon the shore,
And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore."
TELL me, brother, what are we?
Spirits bathing in the sea
Half afloat, and half on land,
Wishing much to leave the strand,
Standing, gazing with devotion,
Yet afraid to trust the ocean,
Such are we.
Wanting love and holiness
To enjoy the waves' caress;
Wanting faith and heavenly hope,
Buoyantly to bear us up;
Yet impatient in our dwelling,
When we hear the ocean swelling,
And in every wave that rolls
We behold the happy souls
Peacefully, triumphantly,
Swimming on the smiling sea,
Then we linger round the shore,
Lovers of the earth no more.
We were drifted by this sea
To the coast of human birth,
To this body and this earth;
Gentle were the hands that bore
Our young spirits to the shore;
Gentle lips that bade us look
Outward from our cradle-nook
To the spirit-bearing ocean
With such wonder and devotion,
As, each stilly Sabbath day,
We were led a little way,
Where we saw the waters swell
Far away from inland dell,
And received with grave delight
Symbols of the Infinite:
Then our home was near the sea;
“Heaven was round our infancy ";
Night and day we heard the waves
Murmuring by us to their caves, —
Floated in unconscious life,
With no later doubts at strife,
Trustful of the Upholding Power,
Who sustained us hour by hour.
Now we 've wandered from the shore,
Dwellers by the sea no more;
Yet at times there comes a tone
Telling of the visions flown,
Sounding from the distant sea.
Where we left our purity:
Distant glimpses of the surge
Lure us down to ocean's verge;
There we stand, with vague distress,
Yearning for the measureless,
By half-wakened instincts driven,
Half loving earth, half loving heaven,
Fearing to put off and swim,
Yet impelled to turn to Him,
In whose life we live and move,
And whose very name is Love.
Grant me courage, Holy One,
To become indeed thy son,
And in thee, thou Parent Sea,
Live and love eternally.
LORD, what a change within us one short hour
Spent in thy presence will prevail to make, -
What heavy burdens from our bosoms take,
What parchéd grounds refresh, as with a shower!
We kneel, and all around us seems to lower;
We rise, and all, the distant and the near,
Stands forth in sunny outline, brave and clear;
We kneel how weak, we rise how full of power!
Why, therefore, should we do ourselves this wrong,
Or others, that we are not always strong, -
That we are ever overborne with care,
That we should ever weak or heartless be,
Anxious or troubled, when with us in prayer,
And joy, and strength, and courage, are with thee?
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