Angels joyful to attend, Is thy earthly house distressed? Shudder not to pass the stream; Gentle as the summer's eve; Not one object of His care See the haven full in view, Love divine shall bear thee through: Weigh thy anchor, spread thy sail! See they throng the blissful shore. Mount, their transports to improve, Opens through the shades of death. TOPLADY. CHRIST'S ABIDING PRESENCE. John xiv. 23. ABIDE with me, fast falls the eventide; Swift to its close ebbs our life's little day; Not a brief glance, I ask, a passing word; Come not in terrors, as the King of Kings, O Friend of sinners, so abide with me. Thou on my head in early youth didst smile, And though rebellious and perverse in guile, Thou didst not leave me, though I oft left Thee: O to the end, O Lord, abide with me. I need Thy presence every passing hour; I fear no foe with Thee at hand to bless; Reveal Thyself before my closing eyes, Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee; Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies: In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me. REV. F. LYTE. THE LORD'S DAY MORNING. DEAR is the hallowed morn to me, And dear to me the winged hour, And dear to me the loud Amen, Which echoes through the blest abode, Which swells, and sinks, and swells again, Dies on the walls, but lives to God. And dear the rustic harmony, Sung with the pomp of village art; That holy, heavenly melody, The music of a thankful heart. In secret I have often prayed, And still the anxious tears would fall; But, in Thy sacred presence shed, Oft when the world, with iron hands, Then dear to me the Sabbath morn, The village bells, the shepherd's voice; These oft have found my heart forlorn, And always bade that heart rejoice. Go, man of pleasure, strike thy lyre, RESIGNATION. DID I ask for the wings of a dove, That impatient from grief I might flee? Did I wish to be soaring above, Uncalled, Lord, unbidden by Thee? Unwilling to suffer below, Am I weary of doing Thy will? Would I hasten from labour and woe, Nor wait Thy designs to fulfil ? Forgotten the privilege given, Because I would struggle no more? |