HOLY, holy, holy

Lord God of Hosts!

God Almighty!

Who wast, and who art, and art to come!

XXIV.

MIGHTY God! while angels bless thee,

May an infant lisp thy name!

Lord of men, as well as angels,

Thou art every creature's theme.

Lord of every land and nation,
Ancient of eternal days!

Sounded through the wide creation
Be thy just and lawful praise :

For the grandeur of thy nature-
Grand beyond a seraph's thought;

For created works of power

Works with skill and kindness wrought:

For thy providence that

governs

Through thine empire's wide domain;

Wings an angel, guides a sparrow,—

Blessed be thy gentle reign!

Hallelujah! Amen.

PRAISE to thee, all holy God,

From the world, the race, thou rulest;
From the green earth's dewy sod;

From the wayward hearts thou schoolest-
Sometimes with a teaching stern,

Till thy saving truth they learn.

Teach us, glorious Being, still
In our hearts to feel thy glory!
Nature ever works thy will-
May we read her gentle story,
And, like her, obey the One,
Universal and alone!

XXVI.

THE Lord is on his holy throne,

He sits in kingly state;

Let those who for his favour seek,
In humble silence wait.

True prayer is not the imposing sound

That clamorous lips repeat;

But the deep silence of a soul

That clasps Jehovah's feet.

B

CREATOR-SPIRIT, by whose light

The sleeping worlds were called from night! Come, visit every pious mind,

Come, pour thy joys on human kind;

From sin and sorrow set us free,

And make us temples worthy thee.

O Source of uncreated light,

By whom our souls emerge from night,
Our frailty help, our vice control,

Thou Ruler of our secret soul!

And, lest our feet should haply stray,
Protect and guide us in the way.

XXVIII.

THEN round about the starry throne
Of Him who ever rules alone,

The heavenly-guided soul shall climb,
Of all this earthly grossness quit,

With glory crowned for ever sit,

And triumph over Death, and thee, O Time!

XXIX.

MOONS, planets, suns, that swim the sky,
Shine to the praise of God most high:
Their lasting lustre he has given
To all the moving host of heaven.

Yet even stars shall cease to burn,
And to primeval night return;
Systems of worlds themselves decay –
To him the insects of a day.

But he remains; and he shall give
The extinguished elements to live;
Bid them in new creations roll,
And still extend the peopled whole.

XXX.

THE heaven of heavens cannot contain

The universal Lord;

Yet he in humble hearts will deign
To dwell and be adored.

Where'er ascends the sacrifice
Of fervent praise and prayer,
Or on the earth, or in the skies,
The heaven of God is there.

His presence there is spread abroad,

Through realms, through worlds unknown;

Who seek the mercies of our God

Are always near his throne.

SHALL man confine his Maker's sway
To Gothic domes of mouldering stone?
Thy temple is the face of day,

Earth, ocean, heaven, thy boundless throne.

Thou, who canst guide the wandering star Through trackless realms of æther's space; Who calm'st the elemental war,

Whose hand from pole to pole I trace ;

Thou, who in wisdom placed me here,
Who, when thou wilt, can take me hence,
Ah, while I tread this earthly sphere,
Extend to me thy wide defence!

To thee, my God, to thee I call!
Whatever weal or woe betide;

By thy command I rise or fall,
In thy protection I confide.

If, when this dust to dust 's restored,
My soul shall float on airy wing,
How shall thy glorious name adored
Inspire her feeble voice to sing!