“Good Lord, deliver us.”
“En all time of our tribulation ;"
SAVIOUR of sinners! when with grief oppressed,
Earth's wretched children bow to Thee appealing,
Look down in mercy on the poor distressed,
For Thou wert once like us, of mortal feeling;
And Thou did'st promise if we came to Thee,
That Thou would'st heed our woe and misery.
“En all time of our wealth;"
Father Eternal! when this world seems fair,
And wealth profusely pours her glittering treasures,
Creatures of dust-oh! may we never dare
In days so seeming-bright, forget that pleasures,
Like these, may yield corruption, and become
A lasting barrier to our heavenly home.
"En the hour of Death;"
All-gracious Comforter! in that dread hour,
When the worn spirit leaves its earthly dwelling,—
Uphold and guide with thine Almighty power,
The fearful soul, safe through dark Jordan's swelling;
Uphold and guide, till on the radiant shore,
It rests in happiness for evermore.
“And in the day of Judgment.”
Triumphant Judge, on that last awful day,
When earth and sky shall like a scroll be riven;
At thy right hand may we in bright array,
Await thy summons to a home in heaven ;
With angels and archangels there to be,
Throughout a long and blest Eternity!
"The word of the Lord, even the pestilence in the Land."
SWIFT the wrathful angel flies
Through the land;
In his path the nation dies
"THE GREAT AND WIDE SEA."
(Psalm civ. 25.)
THOU boundless, beauteous, crested sea,
Glory and matchless might are thine!
Grandeur, and grace, and majesty
Attract us to thy solemn shrine:
Around thine "outer court" we tread,
Awed into silence while we gaze,
And feel supernal influence shed,
Deepening the soul's intense amaze;
Whose every power,
Yields in that hour,
Its mute, but truthful, tribute to thy praise.
Who does not love thee when around
So soft and placid beams thy smile?
Thy gentlest ripplings, scarcely sound,
And thy whole surface, for a while
Translucent, as a mirror bright,
Reflects with sparkling playfulness,
Heaven's burning glow, or softer light,
And all its ever-changing dress:
Borrowing from each,
Whatever may promote thy loveliness.
Who does not fear thee when is heard
Thy tempest-voice with angry roar?
And from their sleep thy waves are stirred,
And madly lash the wondering shore;
Lifting the craggy bark on high,
Using thy dread, despotic power,
Regardless of the seamen's cry,
Who tremble at thy frown, and cower,
And, all despair,
Breathe forth a prayer—
Thy jaws insatiate, yawning to devour.
But, love or fear, who would not find,
A season of repose with thee,
Leaving his wasting cares behind,
And cheered by thy sweet melody:
Thy fragrant atmosphere inhale,
Beneath thy refluent wave to dive,
'Mid rocks and sands, o'er hill and dale,
From every scene some good derive:
The glowing cheek
Thy praise shall speak,
Grateful to feel th' enfeebled powers revive.
Yet thy Creator I would own,
And trace in thee, His glorious hand,
He wakes the smile that's o'er thee thrown, And bids thee charge the trembling strand.
Thy music, His majestic voice,
Thy cool, refreshing gales, His breath,
Fixed are thy boundaries by His choice,
He rules thy caverns dark beneath;
Thy Sovereign Lord,
Whose mighty word,
Makes thee yield vigour, or engulph in death.
And thou wilt feel this, when the day
Deciding every fate, shall dawn;
Smitten and shrinking with dismay,
Thy long-held treasures from thee torn.
Thy depths shall hear the archangel's blast,
Thy prisons rend, thy dead arise;
Thy reign of power for ever pass'd,
With this old earth-these wasted skies;
Where ceaseless sorrows swell, or pleasures rise.
DREAMERS AND WAKERS.
SAY not 'tis idleness to dream,
When the free soul wanders far,
"Tis man's Realities that seem,
His Fabled Things that are.
Have we a hope of future joy,
Tillume the night of care,
Whose fulness is Eternity--
The Unseen plants it there.
If then to feel its cheering beam,
Its radiance to see
If thought of heaven be but a dream,
O! I'll a dreamer be.
So let me dream out all this night,
And when the morning breaks,
When none may slumber in its light,
Then tell me who awakes.
"WEEP FOR YOURSELVES, AND FOR YOUR CHILDREN."
WE mourn for those that toil,
The slave who ploughs the main,
Or him who hopeless tills the soil
Beneath the stripe and chain;
For those who in the world's hard race
O'erwearied and unblest,
A host of restless phantoms chase,→
Why mourn for those who rest?
We mourn for those who sin,
Bound in the tempter's snare,
Whom syren pleasure beckons in
To prisons of despair;
Whose hearts, by whirlwind passions torn,
Are wrecked on folly's shore,-
But why in sorrow should we mourn
For those who sin no more?
We mourn for those who weep,
Whom stern afflictions bend
With anguish o'er the lowly sleep
Of lover or of friend ;-
But they to whom the sway
Of pain and grief is o'er,
Whose tears our God hath wiped away,
Oh, mourn for them no more!
"All's well that ends well"-let our parting rhyme Be weighty then, as best befits the time;
“Give Now thine heart to God; and all thy days
"Shall share His mercies, and shew forth His praise.”
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