That dismal barrier. What is there beyond?
Hear what the wise and good have said. Beyond
That belt of darkness, still the Years roll on
More gently, but with not less mighty sweep.
They gather up again and softly bear
All the sweet lives that late were overwhelmed
And lost to sight, all that in them was good,
Noble, and truly great, and worthy of love-
The lives of infants and ingenuous youths,
Sages and saintly women who have made
Their households happy; all are raised and borne
By that great current in its onward sweep,
Wandering and rippling with caressing waves
Around green islands with the breath
of flowers that never wither. So they pass
From stage to stage along the shining course
Of that bright river, broadening like a sea.
As its smooth eddies curl along their way
They bring old friends together; hands are clasped
In joy unspeakable; the mother's arms
Again are folded round the child she loved
And lost. Old sorrows are forgotten now,
Or but remembered to make sweet the hour
That overpays them; wounded hearts that bled
Or broke are healed forever. In the room
Of this grief-shadowed present, there shall be
A Present in whose reign no grief shall gnaw
The heart, and never shall a tender tie
Be broken; in whose reign the eternal Change
That waits on growth and action shall proceed
With everlasting Concord Hand in hand.
OUR FELLOW-WORSHIPPERS.
THINK not that thou and I
Are here the only worshippers to day,
Beneath this glorious sky,
Mid the soft airs that o'er the meadows play;
These airs, whose breathing stirs
The fresh grass, are our fellow-worshippers.
See, as they pass, they swing
The censers of a thousand flowers that bend
O'er the young herbs of spring,
And the sweet odors like a prayer ascend,
While, passing thence, the breeze
Wakes the grave anthem of the forest-trees.
The Hebrew poet called the mountain-steeps,
The forests, and the shore
Of ocean, and the mighty mid-sea deeps,
And stormy wind, to raise
A universal symphony of praise.
For, lo! the hills around,
Gay in their early green, give silent thanks;
And, with a joyous sound,
The streamlet's huddling waters kiss their banks,
And, from its sunny nooks,
To heaven, with grateful smiles, the valley looks.
The blossomed apple-tree,
Among its flowery tufts, on every spray,
Offers the wandering bee
A fragrant chapel for his matin-lay;
And a soft bass is heard
From the quick pinions of the humming-bird.
Haply-for who can tell?
Aerial beings, from the world unseen,
Haunting the sunny dell,
Or siowly floating o'er the flowery green,
May join our worship here,
With harmonies too fine for mortal ear.
HYMNS WRITTEN AT VARIOUS TIMES.
"THE EARTH IS FULL OF THY RICHES."
ALMIGHTY! hear thy children raise
The voice of thankfulness and praise,
To Him whose wisdom deigned to plan
This fair and bright abode for man.
For when this orb of sea and land
Was moulded in thy forming hand,
Thy calm, benignant smile impressed
A beam of heaven upon its breast.
Then rose the hills, and broad and green
The vale's deep pathway sank between;
Then stretched the plains to where the sky
Stoops and shuts in the exploring eye.
Beneath that smile earth's blossoms glowed,
Her fountains gushed, her rivers flowed,
And from the shadowy wood was heard
The pleasant sound of breeze and bird.
Thy hand outspread the billowy plains
Of ocean, nurse of genial rains,
Hung high the glorious sun and set
Night's cressets in her arch of jet.
Lord, teach us, while the admiring sight
Dwells on Thy works in deep delight,
To deem the forms of beauty here
But shadows of a brighter sphere.
"HIS TENDER MERCIES ARE OVER ALL HIS WORKS"
"HIS TENDER MERCIES ARE OVER ALL IS WORKS."
OUR Father! to thy love we owe
All that is fair and good below.
Life, and the health that makes life sweet,
Are blessings from thy mercy seat.
Oh Giver of the quickening rain!
Oh Ripener of the golden grain!
From Thee the cheerful day-spring flows,
Thy balmy evening brings repose.
Thy frosts arrest, thy tempests chase
The plagues that waste our helpless race,
Thy softer breath, o'er land and deep,
Wakes Nature from her winter sleep.
Yet, deem we not that thus alone
Thy bounty and thy love are shown,
For we have learned with higher praise
And holier names to speak thy ways.
In woe's dark hour our kindest stay,
Sole trust when life shall pass away,
Teacher of hopes that light the gloom
Of Death, and consecrate the tomb.
Patient with headstrong guilt to bear,
Slow to avenge and kind to spare,
Listening to prayer and reconciled
Full soon to thy repentant child.
"A BROKEN AND A CONTRITE HEART, OH GOD, THOU WILT NOT DESPISE."
OH God, whose dread and dazzling brow
Love never yet forsook!
On those who seek thy presence now
In deep compassion look.
Aid our weak steps and eyesight dim
The paths of peace to find,
And lead us all to learn of Him
Who died to save mankind.
For many a frail and erring heart
Is in thy holy sight,
And feet too willing to depart
From the plain way of right.
Yet, pleased the humble prayer to hear,
And kind to all that live,
Thou, when thou seest the contrite tear,
Art ready to forgive.
"HOW AMIABLE ARE THY TABERNACLES!"
THOU, whose unmeasured temple stands,
Built over earth and sea,
Accept the walls that human hands
Have raised, oh God! to thee.
And let the Comforter and Friend,
Thy Holy Spirit, meet
With those who here in worship bend
Before thy mercy seat.
May they who err be guided here
To find the better way,
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