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3 Living stars to view be brought
In the boundless realms of thought;
High and infinite desires,
Flaming like those upper fires!

4 Holy Truth, Eternal Right,
Let them break upon my sight;
Let them shine serene and still,
And with light my being fill.

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"Abide with us, for it is towards evening."

ABIDE with me! Fast falls the eventide,
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpers, O abide with me!

2 Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;
Earths joys grow dim, its glories pass away:
Change and decay in all around I see;

O Thou who changest not, abide with me!

3 I need thy presence every passing hour:
What but thy grace can foil the tempter's power?
Who like thyself my guide and stay can be?
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me!

78. M.

98.

DODDRIDGE.

Evening Hymn.

1 INTERVAL of grateful shade,
Welcome to my weary head!
Welcome slumbers to mine eyes,
Tired with glaring vanities!

2 My great Master still allows
Needful periods of repose:
By my Heavenly Father blest,
Thus I give my powers to rest.

3 Heavenly Father! gracious name!
Night and day his love the same!
Far be each suspicious thought,
Every anxious care forgot!

4 Thou, my ever-bounteous God,
Crown'st my days with various good;
Thy kind eye, which cannot sleep,
My defenceless hours shall keep.

5 What if death my sleep invade?
Should I be of death afraid?
While encircled by thine arm,
Death may strike, but cannot harm.

6 With thy heavenly presence blest,
Death is life, and labor rest :
Welcome sleep or death to me,

Still secure,

L. M.

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for still with thee!

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How shall we praise thee, Lord of light?
How all thy boundless love declare?
Though earth is veiled in shades of night,
The heaven is open to our prayer,

That heaven, so bright with stars and suns,
That glorious heaven which has no bound:
There the full tide of being runs,
And life and beauty glow around.

We would adore thee, God sublime,
Whose power and wisdom, love and grace,
Are greater than the round of time,
And wider than the bounds of space;
O how shall thought expression find,
All lost in thine immensity!

How shall we seek thee, glorious Mind,
Amid thy dread infinity!

But thou art present with us here,
As in thy glittering, high domain;
And grateful hearts and humble fear
Can never seek thy face in vain.
Help us to praise thee, Lord of light,
Help us thy boundless love declare,
And while we seek thy face to-night
Aid us, and hearken to our prayer.

L. M.

100.

W. H. BURleigh.

Evening Hymn.

1 DAY unto day doth utter speech,

And night to night thy voice makes known; Through all the earth, where thought may reach,

Is heard the glad and solemn tone;

And worlds beyond the farthest star

Whose light hath reached the human eye,

Catch the high anthem from afar,

That rolls along immensity.

O Holy Father! 'mid the calm
And stillness of the evening hour,
We too would lift our solemn psalm,
To praise thy goodness and thy power;

For over us, as over all,

Thy tender mercies still extend,
Nor vainly shall the contrite call

On thee, their Father and their Friend.

C. M.

101.

BOWRING.

Nature's Evening Hymn.

1 THE heavenly spheres to thee, O God,
Attune their evening hymn:
All wise, all holy, thou art praised
In song of seraphim!

Unnumbered systems, suns, and worlds
Unite to worship thee,
While thy majestic greatness fills
Space, time, eternity.

2 Nature, a temple worthy thee,

That beams with light and love; Whose flowers so sweetly bloom below, Whose stars rejoice above; Whose altars are the mountain cliffs That rise along the shore; Whose anthems, the sublime accord Of storm and ocean roar:

3 Her song of gratitude is sung
By spring's awakening hours;
Her summer offers at thy shrine
Its earliest, loveliest flowers;
Her autumn brings its ripened fruits,
In glorious luxury given;
While winter's silver heights reflect
Thy brightness back to heaven.

4 On all thou smil'st; and what is man
Before thy presence, God?

A breath but yesterday inspired,
To-morrow but a clod.

That clod shall mingle in the vale,
But, kindled, Lord, by thee,
The spirit to thy arms shall spring,
To life, to liberty.

L. M.

102.

An Evening Hymn.

WATTS.

1 THUS far the Lord has led me on,
Thus far his power prolongs my days!
And every evening shall make known
Some fresh memorial of his grace.

2 Much of my time has run to waste,
And I, perhaps, am near my home;
But he forgives my follies past,
And gives me strength for days to come.

3 I lay my body down to sleep;
Peace is the pillow for my head:
While well-appointed angels keep
Their watchful stations round my bed.

4 Faith in his name forbids my fear:
O may thy presence ne'er depart!
And in the morning make me hear
Thy love and kindness in my heart.

5 Thus, when the night of death shall come,
My flesh shall rest beneath the ground,
And wait thy voice to rouse my tomb,
With sweet salvation in the sound.

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