Used by permission of OLIVER DITSON & CO
Creation's anthem. Melton, 59. THE homeless winds that wander o'er the land,
The deep-voiced thunder speaking words of fire,
The waves that break in sunshine on the strand,
Or smite with stormy hands their rocky lyre;
The stars that blossom in the fields of night,
The buds that burst in beauty from the sod;
The birds that dip their wings in rainbow light,
Are Nature's symphony to thee, O God! And as Creation's anthem onward rolls From age to age, in grandeur still the same,
The seals of silence break from human souls,
Man sings new praises to thy holy name. Our eyes are radiant with the glow of life, Our hearts enfold those sapphire-deeps above,
Our ears grow deaf to all earth's foolish strife,
We join, far off, the angels' song of Love! Albert Laighton.
And prayer is made, and praise is given, By all things near and far:
The ocean looketh up to heaven And mirrors every star;
The green earth sends her incense up From many a mountain shrine; From folded leaf and dewy cup
She pours her sacred wine.
The blue sky is the temple's arch; Its transept, earth and air; The music of its starry march The chorus of a prayer.
So Nature keeps the reverent frame With which her years began; And all her signs and voices shame A prayerless heart in man.
200. Hymn of Nature. Nuremburg, 39
HARK, my soul, how everything Strives to serve our bounteous King: Each a double tribute pays,- Sings its part, and then obeys. Nature's chief and sweetest choir Him with cheerful notes admire; Chanting every day their lauds, While the grove their song applauds.
Though their voices lower be, Streams have, too, their melody; Night and day they warbling run, Never pause, but still sing on.
All the flowers that gild the spring Hither their still music bring; If Heaven bless them, thankful they Smell more sweet, and look more gay.
I SAW the beauty of the world Before me like a flag unfurled, The splendor of the morning sky, And all the stars in company; I thought, How beautiful it is!-
My soul said, "There is more than this."
I saw the pomps of death and birth, The generations of the earth;
I looked on saints and heroes crowned, And love as wide as heaven is round; I thought, How wonderful it is!- My soul said, "There is more than this." Sometimes I have an awful thought That bids me do the thing I ought; It comes like wind, it burns like flame; How shall I give that thought a name? It draws me like a loving kiss,- My soul says, "There is more than this."
Yea, there is One I cannot see Or hear, but he is Lord to me: And in the heavens and earth and skies, The good which lives till evil dies, The love which I cannot withstand, God writes his name with his own hand.
Two worlds are ours: and is it sin Forbids us to descry
The mystic heaven and earth within, Plain as the sea and sky?
The glorious sky embracing all
Is like the Maker's love,
Wherewith encompassed, great and small In peace and order move.
The dew of heaven is like his grace;
It steals in silence down, But where it lights, the favored place By richest fruits is known.
Thou who hast given me eyes to see And love this sight so fair, Give me a heart to find out thee, And read thee everywhere!
The secret place. Lloyd, 24.
THE Lord is in his Holy Place In all things near and far: Shekinah of the snow-flake, he, And Glory of the star, And Secret of the April-land That stirs the field to flowers, Whose little tabernacles rise
To hold him through the hours. He hides himself within the love Of those whom we love best; The smiles and tones that make our homes Are shrines by him possessed;
And shepherds every thought: We find him not by seeking long,— We lose him not, unsought.
206. GOD of the earth, the sky, the sea! Maker of all above, below! Creation lives and moves in thee, Thy present life through all doth flow.
In all. Miss'y Chant, 16.
Thy love is in the sunshine's glow, Thy life is in the quickening air; When lightnings flash and storm-winds blow,
There is thy power; thy law is there.
We feel thy calm at evening's hour, Thy grandeur in the march of night; And, when the morning breaks in power, We hear thy word, "Let there be light!"
But higher far, and far more clear, Thee in man's spirit we behold: Thine image and thyself are there,- The Indwelling God, proclaimed of old.
The Presence. Hamburg, 12.
MYSTERIOUS Presence, Source of all,— The world without, the soul within, Fountain of Life, O hear our call, And pour thy living waters in! Thou breathest in the rushing wind, Thy Spirit stirs in leaf and flower; Nor wilt thou from the willing mind Withhold thy light and love and power. Thy hand unseen to accents clear Awoke the psalmist's trembling lyre, And touched the lips of holy seer With flame from thine own altar-fire. That touch divine still, Lord, impart, Still give the prophet's burning word; And vocal in each waiting heart Let living psalms of praise be heard.
From Plymouth Collection, by per.
By the whisper of whose breath Atoms wake that seem but death, With whose silent-working will The eternal ages thrill—
Lord of Life, to heaven tower Spires of being high and grand, Till on man thou lay thy power That he serve with heart and hand; Till thou flood him with thy light That he see thee with his sight, Who art Reason, who art Right, Majesty of Love and Might!
Not on earth the glory ends; In unnumbered worlds it reigns; From Eternity descends, To Eternity remains.
When the things we hear and see Vanish in life's mystery, Still, all glories that can be Wait in thine Infinity.
LIFE of Ages, richly poured, Soul of Worlds, unspent and free, Nature's uncreated Word, Atom and Infinity!
Secret of the morning stars, Motion of the oldest hours, Pledge through elemental wars Of the coming spirit's powers!
Rolling planet, flaming sun, Stand in nobler Man complete; Prescient laws thine errands run, Frame a shrine for Godhead meet.
Homeward led, his wondering eye Upward yearned, in joy or awe, For the Love that waited nigh, Guidance of thy guardian Law.
LIFE of Ages, richly poured, Love of God, unspent and free, Flowing in the Prophet's word And the People's liberty! Never was to chosen race That unstinted tide confined; Thine is every time and place, Fountain sweet of heart and mind! Breathing in the thinker's creed, Pulsing in the hero's blood, Nerving simplest thought and deed, Freshening time with truth and good, Consecrating art and song, Holy book and pilgrim track, Hurling floods of tyrant wrong From the sacred limits back,— Life of Ages, richly poured, Love of God, unspent and free, Flow still in the Prophet's word And the People's liberty!
212. "Consider the lilies." Abdiel, 51.
He hides within the lily
A strong and tender Care, That wins the earth-born atoms To glory of the air;
He weaves the shining garments Unceasingly and still, Along the quiet waters, In niches of the hill.
After German Choral. 1715.
We linger at the vigil
With him who bent the knee
To watch the old-time lilies
In distant Galilee;
And still the worship deepens
And quickens into new, As, brightening down the ages, God's secret thrilleth through.
O Toiler of the lily,
Thy touch is in the Man! No leaf that dawns to petal But hints the angel-plan: The flower-horizons open,
The blossom vaster shows, We hear thy wide worlds echo, "See how the lily grows!"
Shy yearnings of the savage, Unfolding, thought by thought,
To holy lives are lifted,
To visions fair are wrought: The races rise and cluster, And evils fade and fall,
Till chaos blooms to beauty, Thy purpose crowning all!
O LOVE Divine, whose constant beam Shines on the eyes that will not see, And waits to bless us, while we dream Thou leav'st us when we turn from thee! All souls that struggle and aspire, All hearts of prayer, by thee are lit; And, dim or clear, thy tongues of fire On dusky tribes and centuries sit.
Nor bounds, nor clime, nor creed thou know'st;
Wide as our need thy favors fall; The white wings of the Holy Ghost Stoop, unseen, o'er the heads of all.
The city of God. Hummel, 23
CITY of God, how broad and far Outspread thy walls sublime! The true thy chartered freemen are, Of every age and clime.
One holy Church, one army strong, One steadfast high intent,
One working band, one harvest-song, One King Omnipotent!
How purely hath thy speech come down From man's primeval youth! How grandly hath thine empire grown Of Freedom, Love, and Truth!
In vain the surge's angry shock, In vain the drifting sands; Unharmed, upon the Eternal Rock, The Eternal City stands.
One holy Church. Hummel, 23.
ONE holy Church of God appears Through every age and race, Unwasted by the lapse of years, Unchanged by changing place.
From oldest time, on farthest shores, Beneath the pine or palm, One Unseen Presence she adores, With silence or with psalm.
Her priests are all God's faithful sons, To serve the world raised up; The pure in heart her baptized ones, Love, her communion-cup.
The Truth is her prophetic gift, The Soul her sacred page; And feet on mercy's errand swift Do make her pilgrimage.
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