Chapter XV: Part 15

Though still thou gett’st, yet is thy want not spent,
But as thy wealth, so great thy wealthy itch;
But with my little I have great content--
Content hath all, and who hath all is rich;
Then this in reason thou must needs confess,
If I have little, yet that thou hast less.

Whatever man possesses, God has lent,
And to his audit liable is ever,
To reckon how, and where, and when he spent.
Then thus thou bragg’st thou art a great receiver.
Little my debt, when little is my store,
The more thou hast, thy debt still grows the more.

But seeing God himself descended down,
T’ enrich the _poor_ by His deep _poverty_,
His meat, his house, his grave were not his own,
Yet all is His from all eternity;
Let me be like my Head, whom I adore,
Be thou great, wealthy, I still base and _poor_.
_Phineas Fletcher._

I would be great, but that the sun doth still
Level his rays against the rising hill;
I would be high, but see the proudest oak,
Most subject to the rending thunder-stroke;
I would be rich, but see men, too unkind,
Dig in the bowels of the richest mine:
I would be wise, but that I often see
The fox suspected, whilst the ass goes free:
I would be fair, but see the fair and proud,
Like the bright sun, oft setting in a cloud:
I would be _poor_, but know the humble grass
Still trampled on by each unworthy ass;
Rich hated: wise suspected: scorn’d if _poor_:
Great fear’d: fair tempted: high still envied more:
I have wish’d all; but now I wish for neither;
Great, high, rich, wise, nor fair; _poor_ I’ll be rather.
_Sir Henry Wotton._

No soil like _poverty_ for growth divine,
As leanest land supplies the richest mine.
Earth gives too little, giving only bread,
To nourish pride, or turn the weakest head.
_Cowper._

Around each pure, domestic shrine,
Bright flowers of Eden bloom and twine;
Our hearths are altars all:
The prayers of hungry souls and _poor_,
Like armed angels at the door,
Our unseen foes appal.
_Keble._

And what is want? ’Tis virtue’s test:
What weakness? An escape from pride:
That life on earth may be the best
In which, by woe, the soul is tried:
For He whose word is ever sure,
Hath said that “Blessed are the _Poor_.”
_H. H. Weld._

If _poverty_--a bitter medicine--cure
The soul’s distempers, blessed are the _poor_;
Yea, if ye be Christ’s _poor_, thrice blessed men are ye.
_Thomas McKellar._

POWER.

_Power_ belongeth unto God.--Psalm lxii. 11.

Let every soul be subject unto the higher _powers_. For there is no _power_ but of God; the _powers_ that be are ordained of God.

Whosoever therefore resisteth the _power_, resisteth the ordinance of God.--Romans, xiii. 1, 2.

Upholding all things by the word of His _power_.--Hebrews, i. 3.

O, all-preparing Providence divine!
In thy large book, what secrets are enrolled,
What sundry helps doth Thy great power assign,
To prop the course which Thou intend’st to hold!
What mortal sense is able to define
Thy mysteries, Thy councils manifold!
It is Thy wisdom strangely that extends
Obscure proceedings to apparent ends.
_Michael Drayton._

There is a _power_
Unseen, that rules the illimitable world,
That guides its motions from the brightest star
To the least dust of this sin-tainted mould.
While man, who madly deems himself the Lord
Of all, is nought but weakness and dependence.
This sacred truth, by sure experience taught,
They must have learn’d when wand’ring all alone,
Each bird, each insect, flitting through the sky,
Was more sufficient for itself than thou.
_Thomson._

For the strong spirit will at times awake,
Piercing the mists that wrap her clay abode;
And, born of thee, she may not always take
Earth’s accents for the oracles of God;
And ev’n in this--O dust, whose mask is _power_!
Reed, that wouldst be a scourge thy little hour!
Spark, whereon yet the mighty hath not trod,
And therefore thou destroyest,--where were flown
Our hope, if man were left to man’s decrees alone.
_Mrs. Hemans._

O put away thy pride,
Or be ashamed of _power_,
That cannot turn aside
The breeze that waves a flower.
_Clare._

I’ve thought, at gentle and ungentle hour,
Of many an act and giant shape of _power_;
Of the old kings with high exacting looks
Sceptered and globed; of eagles on their rocks
With straining feet, and that fierce mouth and drear,
Answering the strain with downward drag austere;
Of the rich-headed lion, whose huge frown,
All his great nature, gathering, seems to crown;
Then of cathedral with its priestly height,
Seen from below at superstitions night;
Of ghastly castle, that eternally
Holds its blind visage out to the lone sea;
And of all sunless subterranean deeps
The creature makes, who listens while he sleeps;
Avarice; and then of those old earthly cones,
That stride, they say, over heroic bones;
And those stone heaps Egyptian, whose small doors
Look like low dens, under precipitous shores;
And him, great Memnon, that long sitting by,
In seeming idleness, with stony eye,
Sang at the morning’s touch, like poetry;
And then of all the fierce and bitter fruit
Of the proud planting of a tyrannous foot,
Of bruised right, and flourishing bad men,
And virtue wasting heavenwards from a den;
Brute force, and fury; and the devilish drouth
Of the fool cannon’s ever-gaping mouth;
And the bride-widowing sword; and the harsh bray
The sneering trumpet sends across the fray;
And all which lights the people-thinning star
That selfishness invokes--the horsed war,
Panting along with many a bloody mane.
_Leigh Hunt._

All-knowing, all-directing God!
In whom we move and live,
Our thoughts, and works, and empty days,
And careless wrongs forgive;
But most in need the cruel heart
That breeds the conscious wrong,
And cares not for the consequence
To helpless old and young.
Some wilful deeds are perfect crimes,
And some less wicked are,
Because ’twas meant that good should spring
Beneath the baleful star.
Yet of all sinful beings most
In need of mercy those,
Who having _power_ much good to do,
All goodness would oppose,
And turn heaven’s bounteous gifts to gall,
And nature’s smiles to blows.
_Horne._

’Tis not in mockery of man that earth
Is strewed with splendid fragments, temple, tower;
That realms, where glory sprang full-arm’d to birth,
Are desolate, the snake and tiger’s bower:
They lie the monuments of misused _power_,
Not freaks of fate, but warnings against crime:
And ancient Babylon might, at this hour,
Had she been guiltless, stand as in her prime,
Nay, stand in growing pomp, till God had finished time.
_Croly._

But, God be thanked! they are moments only when
Man, subdued by nature’s mightiest _power_,
Thinks even his purer self the sport of waves.
In such like moments ’tis the Godhead shows us
The distance ’twixt itself and us,--chastises
Man’s vain audacity to equal it,
And casts him back to nothingness and woe.
In such like moments, even the wisest sinks
Unto the dust: he, too, is formed of dust;
But soon again he rises purified
By Fate’s worst blast, and thus the Eternal’s will
Declares and proves its own omnipotence.
_From the German of Herder._

With God a thousand years are as one day;
He in one day can sum a thousand years;
All acts with him are equal; for no more
It costs Omnipotence to build a world,
And set a sun amidst the firmament,
Than mould a dewdrop, and light up a gem.
_R. Montgomery._

PRAISE.

_Praise_ ye the Lord. _Praise_ the Lord, O my soul.

While I live will I _praise_ the Lord: I will sing _praises_ unto my God while I have any being.--Psalm cxlvi. 1, 2.

_Praise_ ye the Lord. _Praise_ God in his sanctuary: _praise_ him in the firmament of his power.

_Praise_ him for his mighty acts: _praise_ him according to his excellent greatness.

Let every thing that hath breath _praise_ the Lord.--Psalm cl. 1, 2, 6.

For they loved the _praise_ of men more than the _praise_ of God.--John, xii. 43.

My God! I will address Thee
In loudest hymns of _praise_;
Then, too, my soul shall bless Thee,
When mute in deep amaze;
For Thou, who kind receivest
Each word to be addressed,
The silent thought perceivest,
The feeling unexpressed.
And, while we ne’er can know
Thy deep and wondrous ways,
Words sink far, far below
Thy due reward of _praise_.
_From the Greek of Synesius._

O! while thy sinful soul can cast
Sin’s robes away--redeem the past,
If not in deeds, in words to _praise_ thy Maker haste.
In sacred hymns employ the day,
In _praises_ pass the night away;
And let the martyrs’ _praise_ attune the willing lay.
O what a privilege, could I,
The prison of mortality
Thus burst, and breathing forth this language, die!
_From the Spanish of Prudentius._

Not thankful when it pleaseth me;
As if Thy blessings had spare days:
But such a heart whose pulse may be
Thy _praise_.
_George Herbert._

Fountains, and ye that warble as ye flow,
Melodious murmurs, warbling tune His _praise_.
Join voices all ye living souls: ye birds,
That singing up to heaven’s gate ascend,
Bear on your wings and in your notes His _praise_;
Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk the earth,
And stately tread, or lowly creep;
Witness if I be silent morn or even,
To hill or valley, fountain, or fresh shade,
Made vocal by my song, and taught His _praise_.
_Milton._

To God, who sits in highest seat,
Glory and power given be;
To father, Son, and Paraclete,
Who reign in equal dignity,
Whose boundless power we still adore,
And sing their _praise_ for evermore.
_Drummond._

While this immortal spark of heavenly flame
Distends my breast, and animates my frame,
To thee my ardent _praises_ shall be borne
On the first breeze that wakes the blushing morn;
The latest star shall hear the pleasing sound,
And nature in full choir shall join around.
When full of Thee, my soul excursive flies
Through earth, air, ocean, or thy regal skies;
From world to world new wonders still I find,
And all the Godhead flashes on my mind,
When, winged with whirlwinds, vice shall take its flight
To the deep bosom of eternal night,
To Thee my soul shall endless _praises_ pay:
Join, men and angels! join the exalted lay.
_Blacklock._

If no basis bear my rising name
But the fallen ruins of another’s fame;
Then teach me, Heaven! to scorn the guilty bays;
Drive from my breast that wretched lust of _praise_:
Unblemished let me live, or die unknown;
O, grant me honest fame, or grant me none.
_Pope._

Nor absolutely vain is human _praise_,
Where human is supported by divine.
_Young._

My fears of danger, while I breathe,
My dread of endless hell beneath,
My sense of sorrow for my sin,
To springing comfort change within;
Change all my sad complaints for ease,
To cheerful notes of endless _praise_.
_Parnell._

The praise I make will then be sweet indeed,
If Thou the Spirit give by which I pray:
My unassisted heart is barren clay,
That of its native self can nothing feed;
Of good and pious works Thou art the seed
That quickens only where Thou sayest it may;
Unless Thou show to us Thy own true way,
No man can find it. Father! Thou must lead:
Do Thou then breathe these thoughts into my mind
By which such virtue may in me be bred,
That in Thy holy footsteps I may tread:
The fetters of my tongue do Thou unbind,
That I may have the power to sing to Thee;
And sound Thy _praises_ everlastingly.
_Wordsworth._

Up to the throne of God is borne
The voice of _praise_ at early morn,
And He accepts the punctual hymn
Sung as the light of day grows dim.

Nor will He turn His ear aside
From holy offerings at noontide;
Then here, reposing, let us raise
A song of gratitude and _praise_.
_Wordsworth._

Oh, for the harp that David swept,
At whose divine entrancing sound,
The evil spirit distance kept,
While holier visions hover’d round:
Oh for such harp, in these our days,
To speak a God’s, a Saviour’s _praise_.
_Barton._

From yon lowly roof, whose curling smoke
O’ermounts the mist, is heard at intervals
The voice of psalms--the simple song of _praise_.
_Graham._

And now, with fixed intent and mind sincere,
Lift up your eyes from earth, to _praise_ with me
The Sovereign Lord, who reigns in heaven above,
And try to follow where I shew the way.
But be it yours, while joining in the prayer,
That not your tongue so much as heart may share.
O love supreme, full-orbed and glorious sun,
Compared with whom that other is but night,
The world’s true life alone, the world’s true light!
O Thou whose breath created it at first,
And still upholdest with a father’s care!
Whate’er Thou willest, who hast power to do!
O fountain without rise, whose boundless stream
Flows without ebb, and undiminished pours!
Who from Thyself derivest, underived!
And in Thyself hast ever lived!
Who, when revealed the most, then most art hid!
Thou, if the soul has breathed one true desire
To see Thy light, wilt give it wings for heaven.
To mount a phœnix at Thy beam revived!
Since nought there is beside Thee, in Thyself
And of Thyself sole blest! since only Thou
Conferrest good, and to receive must give.
Deign in my heart, to light the holy flame,
And by my lips give glory to Thy name.
_From the Italian of Celio Magno._

God of the fair and open sky!
How gloriously above us springs
The tented dome of heavenly blue,
Suspended on the rainbow’s rings!
Each brilliant star that sparkles through,
Each gilded cloud that wanders free
In evening’s purple radiance, gives
The beauty of its _praise_ to Thee!
_W. B. O. Peabody._

PRAYER.

O Lord God of hosts, hear my _prayer_: give ear, O God of Jacob.--Psalm lxxxiv. 8.

But thou, when thou _prayest_, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, _pray_ to thy Father, which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.--Matthew, vi. 6.

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by _prayer_ and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.--Philippians, iv. 6.

Is any among you afflicted? let him _pray_.--James, v. 13.

The effectual fervent _prayer_ of a righteous man availeth much.--James, v. 16.

Even as Elias, mounting to the sky,
Did cast his mantle to the earth behind,
So, when the heart presents the _prayer_ on high,
Exclude the world from traffic with the mind:
Lips near to God, and ranging heart within,
Is but vain babbling, and converts to sin.
_Robert Southwell._

Temporal blessings Heaven oft doth share
Unto the wicked, at the good man’s _prayer_.
_Quarles._

When we of helps or hopes are quite bereaven,
Our humble _prayers_ have entrance into Heaven.
_Ford._

Petitions yet remain
Which Heaven may hear, nor deem Religion vain.
Still raise for good the supplicating voice,
But leave to Heaven the measures and the choice.
Safe in His power whose eyes discern afar,
The secret ambush of a specious _prayer_;
Implore His aid, in His decisions rest,
Secure whate’er He gives, He gives the best.
_Dr. Johnson._

O may my _prayers_ before Thy throne arise,
An humble but accepted sacrifice!
And when Thou shalt my weary eyelids close,
And to my body grant a sweet repose,
May my ethereal guardian kindly spread
His wings, and from the tempter shield my bead!
May of Thy heavenly light some piercing beams
Illume my sleep, and sanctify my dreams.
_Watts._

What various hindrances we meet
In coming to a mercy-seat!
Yet who that knows the worth of _prayer_
But wishes to be often there?

_Prayer_ makes the darkened cloud withdraw,
_Prayer_ climbs the ladder Jacob saw,
Gives exercise to faith and love,
Brings every blessing from above.

Restraining _prayer_, we cease to fight;
_Prayer_ makes the Christian’s armour bright;
And Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.
_Cowper._

Enthroned amidst the worlds of light,
Jehovah rules the realms of bliss;
Yet bends to scenes of earthly night,
To such a house of pain as this!
The glories of the heavenly plains
Hide not one mourner from his eye,
Nor can the seraphs’ loudest strains
Drown, by their sound, the faintest sigh.

Oh _Prayer_! thou mine of things unknown,
Who can be poor possessing thee?
Thou wert a fount of joy alone,
Better than worlds of gold could be.
Were I bereft of all beside,
That bears the form or name of bliss,
I yet were rich, what will betide,
If God, in mercy, leave me this.
_Edmeston._

_Prayer_, surpassing human might;
_Prayer_, heaven’s holy portress;
_Prayer_, the saint’s supreme delight,
_Prayer_, the sinner’s fortress.
_Prayer_ and faith can joy impart,
Joy beyond expressing,
And call down upon the heart
Israel’s choicest blessing.
_Bernard Barton._

_Prayer_ is the soul’s sincere desire,
Uttered or unexpressed;
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.

_Prayer_ is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye,
When none but God is near.

_Prayer_ is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try;
_Prayer_ the sublimest strains that reach
The majesty on high.

_Prayer_ is the Christian’s vital breath,
The Christian’s native air;
His watchword in the hour of death,
He enters Heaven with _prayer_.

_Prayer_ is the contrite sinner’s voice,
Returning from his ways,
While angels in their hymns rejoice,
And cry, “Behold he _prays_!”

O Thou by whom we come to God,
The life, the truth, the way,
The path of _prayer_ Thyself hath trod,--
Lord, teach us how to _pray_.
_J. Montgomery._

Arrested suns and tranquill’d seas declare
To heav’n and earth th’ omnipotence of _prayer_,
That gives the hopeless hope, the feeble might,
Outruns the swift, and puts the strong to flight,
The noontide arrow foils, and plague that stalks by night;

Unmatch’d in power, unbounded in extent,
As omnipresent as omnipotent,
To no meridian nor clime confined,
Man with his fellow-man, and mind to mind,
’Tis hers, in links of love and charity to bind.

But farther still extends her awful reign:
To her indeed belongs that golden chain
From fabled God and their Olympus riven;
But, since to truth and her adorers given,
E’en with his Maker man to join, and earth with heaven.

Then let those lips that never _pray’d_, begin:
We must or cease to _pray_, or cease to sin;
Each earth-born want and wish, a grov’ling brood,
Are oft mistaken, or misunderstood;
But who would dare to _pray_ for aught that is not good?

Nor that our _prayers_ make Heav’n more prompt to give,
But they make us more worthy to receive:
There is in that celestial treasury
Wealth inexhaustible, admission free;
But he that never _prays_, rejects the golden key.
_Colton._

_Prayer_ is a creature’s strength, his very breath and being;
_Prayer_ is the golden key that can open the wicket of mercy;
_Prayer_ is the magic sound that saith to fate, so be it;
_Prayer_ is the slender nerve that moveth the muscles of
Omnipotence.
Wherefore, _pray_, O creature, for many and great are thy
wants;
Thy mind, thy conscience, and thy being, thy rights commend thee
unto _prayer_,
The cure of all cares, the grand panacea for all pains,
Doubt’s destroyer, ruin’s remedy, the antidote to all anxieties.
_Martin F. Tupper._

But holiest rite or longest _prayer_
That soul can yield, or wisdom frame,
What better import can it bear
Than “Father, hallowed be Thy name!”
_Eliza Cook._

Give me, O Lord, the spirit of _prayer_,
Thy grace, thy mercy to implore;
Let not my wilful spirit dare
To count secure her present store.
The richer falls Thy dew of grace,
The humbler let my head descend,
Till mercy’s sun in boundless space
Shall shed its bliss, time without end.
_John Jay Adams._

PREACHING.

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a _preacher_?

And how shall they _preach_, except they be sent.--Romans, x. 14, 15.

For, after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of _preaching_ to save them that believe.--I. Corinthians, i. 21.

_Preach_ the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine.--II. Timothy, iv. 2.

He bore his great commission in his look,
But sweetly tempered awe, and softened all he spoke.
He _preached_ the joys of Heaven, and pains of hell,
And warned the sinner with becoming zeal,
But on eternal mercy loved to dwell.
_Dryden._

But above all, in her own light array’d,
See mercy’s grand apocalypse display’d!
The sacred book no longer suffers wrong,
Bound in the fetters of an unknown tongue;
But speaks with plainness, art could never mend,
What simplest minds can soonest comprehend.
God gives the word, the _preachers_ throng around,
Live from his lips, and spread the glorious sound:
That sound bespeaks salvation on her way,
The trumpet of a life-restoring day;
’Tis heard where England’s eastern glory shines,
And in the gulfs of her Cornubian mines.
And still it spreads. See Germany send forth
Her sons to pour it on the farthest north:
Fired with a zeal peculiar, they defy
The rage and rigour of a polar sky,
And plant successfully sweet Sharon’s rose
On icy plains, and in eternal snows.
_Cowper._

No studied eloquence was there displayed,
Nor poetry of language lent its aid;
But plain the words that from the _preacher_ came;
A _preacher_ young, and all unknown to fame;
While youth and age a listening ear inclined,
To learn the way the pearl of price to find.
_Elizabeth Bogart._

PREPARATION.

The _preparations_ of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord.--Proverbs, xvi. 1.

For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath _prepared_ for him that waiteth for him.--Isaiah, lxiv. 4.

_Prepare_ to meet thy God.--Amos, iv. 12.

Blaspheme not Heaven with rash, impatient speech,
Nor deem, at thine own hour, its rest to reach,
Unhappy child! The full-appointed time
Is His to choose; and when the sullen chime
And deep-toned striking of the funeral bell,
Thy fate to earthly ears shall sadly tell,
O! may the death thou talk’st of as a boon,
Find thee _prepared_, nor come, even then, too soon!
_Mrs. Norton._

If no more
From its calmed deeps shall rise the fettered sea,
If Heaven’s fair bow proclaims the peril o’er;
A wreck more fearful yet remains for thee;
Time only bears thee to eternity.
Tread then the path thy bright Exemplar trod;
Think on the day when this vast earth shall be
In bursting flames dissolved--yon skies so broad
Shrink like a shrivelled scroll.--“_Prepare_ to meet thy God.”
_Dale._

_Prepare_ me gracious God
To stand before thy face!
Thy spirit must the work perform
For it is all of grace.

In Christ’s obedience clothe
And wash me in His blood!
So shall I lift my hand with joy
Among the sons of God.

Do thou my sins subdue;
Thy sov’reign love make known;
The spirit of my mind renew,
And save me in thy Son.
_Anon._

PRESENCE--OMNIPRESENCE.

O God, when Thou wentest forth before Thy people, when Thou didst march through the wilderness;

The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the _presence_ of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the _presence_ of God, the God of Israel.--Psalm lxviii. 7, 8.

Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy _presence_?

If I ascend up into Heaven, Thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there.

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.--Psalm cxxxix. 7, 8, 9, 10.

What!--will a man play tricks, will he indulge
A silly fond conceit of his fair form,
And just proportion, fashionable mien,
A pretty face, in _presence_ of his God?
_Cowper._

Come, holy, holy, holy Lord!
Thou Father, Son, and Spirit come!
I lean upon Thy changeless word;
Make the faithful soul Thy home!
Arm of the Lord, awake! awake!
In me Thy glorious self reveal:
Let me thy sevenfold gifts partake:
All, all Thy mighty _presence_ feel.
_C. Wesley._

Yes!--what was earth to him, whose spirit passed
Time’s utmost bounds?--on whose unshrinking sight
Ten thousand shapes of burning glory cast
Their full resplendence?--Majesty and might
Were in his dreams;--for him the veil of light
Shrouding Heaven’s inmost sanctuary and throne,
The curtain of the unutterably bright,
Was raised!--to him, in fearful splendour shown,
Ancient of days! e’en Thou mad’st Thy dread _presence_ known.
_Mrs. Hemans._

In all the immense, the strange, and old,
Thy _presence_ careless men behold;
In all the little, weak, and mean,
By Faith be thou as clearly seen.

Thou teachest not a leaf can grow,
Till life from Thee within it flow;
That not a speck of dust can be,
O Fount of Being, save by Thee!
_John Sterling._

What joy, while here I view the day,
That warns my thirsting soul away;
What transports fill my breast!
For lo! my great Redeemer’s power
Unfolds the everlasting door,
And leads me to His rest.

The festal morn, my God, is come,
That calls me to the hallowed dome,
Thy _presence_ to adore;
My feet the summons shall attend,
With willing steps Thy courts ascend,
And tread th’ ethereal floor.
_Merrick._

God hath a _presence_, and that ye may see
In the fold of the flower, the leaf of the tree,
In the sun of the noon-day, the star of the night,
In the storm-cloud of darkness, the rainbow of night,
In the waves of the ocean, the furrows of land,
In the mountain of granite, the atom of sand,
Turn where ye may, from the sky to the sod,
Where can ye gaze that ye see not God.
_Eliza Cook._

Soul of the world, All-seeing Eye,
Where, where shall man Thy _presence_ fly?
Say, would he climb the starry height?
All Heaven is instinct with Thy Light:--
Dwell in the darkness of the grave?
Yea, Thou art there to judge and save.

In vain on wings of morn we soar,
In vain the realms of space explore,
In vain retreat to shades of night,--
From what can veil us from Thy sight?
Distance dissolves before Thy ray,
And darkness kindles into day.
_William Peter._

PRIDE.

Every one that is _proud_ in heart is an abomination to the Lord.--Proverbs, xvi. 5.

_Pride_ goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.--Proverbs, xvi. 18.

Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof; and the patient in spirit is better than the _proud_ in spirit.--Ecclesiastes, vii. 8.

The day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is _proud_ and lofty.--Isaiah, ii. 12.

Small things make base men _proud_.
_Shakspere._

When grief, that well might humble, swells our _pride_,
And _pride_ increasing aggravates our grief,
The tempest must prevail till we are lost.
_Lillo._

Though, various foes against the truth combine,
_Pride_, above all, opposes her design;
_Pride_, of a growth superior to the rest,
The subtlest serpent, with the loftiest crest,
Swells at the thought, and, kindling into rage,
Would hiss the cherub Mercy from the stage.
_Cowper._

_Pride_, self-adoring _pride_, was primal cause
Of all sin past, all pain, all woe to come.
_Pollok._

Hate, unbelief, and blasphemy of God,
Envy and slender, malice and revenge,
And murder and deceit, and every birth
Of damned sort, were progeny of _pride_.
_Pollok._

What if his very virtues
Had pampered his swol’n heart, and made him _proud_?
And what if _pride_ had duped him into guilt?
_Coleridge._

If thou be one whose heart the holy form
Of young imagination hath kept pure,
Stranger! henceforth be warn’d, and know that _pride_,
Howe’er disguised in its own majesty,
Is littleness; that he who feels contempt
For any living thing, hath faculties
Which he has never used, that thought with him
Is in its infancy.
_Wordsworth._

PRIEST.

The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, thou art a _priest_ for ever after the order of Melchizedek.--Psalm cx. 4.

Such an high _priest_ became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.

For the law maketh men high _priests_ which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.--Hebrews, vii. 26, 28.

Behold, Melchizedek!
And he who for himself and for his seed
Paid tithes to him, and he who thus bespake
His pious Father: “But where is the Lamb
For sacrifice?”--his dignity partake,
Humbly with Isaac and with Abraham,
The eternal _priest_ bowed down in silent prayer.
Messiah thus--

“Ere Abraham was, I am!
And thou, thou _priest_ of Salem, who while-ere
Greeted the faithful from his victory
With sacramental blessing;--thou wert him
Of th’ everlasting Order and Decree,
Whence bread from Heaven, angelic food for man,
And life divine outpoured in blood. With thee
That sacramental ordinance began,
Accomplished now. Be thou a _priest_ for ever:
I swear, nor shall repent. I will--I can--
After thine Order rule, and it shall never
In righteousness and peace, surcease to hold
Sway and dominion when and wheresoever.”
_J. A. Heraud._

The _priestly_ brotherhood, devout, sincere,
From mean self-interest and ambition clear,
Their hope in Heaven, servility their scorn,
Prompt to persuade, expostulate, and warn.
There wisdom pure, and given them from above,
Their usefulness ensured by zeal and love,
As meek as the man Moses, and withal
As bold as in Agrippa’s presence, Paul,
Should fly the world’s contaminating touch,
Holy and unpolluted.
_Cowper._

PRISON.

Let the sighing of the _prisoner_ come before Thee; according to the greatness of Thy power preserve Thou those that are appointed to die.--Psalm lxxix. 11.

The Lord looseth the _prisoners_.--Psalm cxlvi. 7.

Turn you to the stronghold ye _prisoners_ of hope.--Zechariah, ix. 12.

Prisoners of hope, arise,
And see your Lord appear!
Lo! on the wings of love He flies,
And brings redemption near.

Redemption in His blood
He calls you to receive:
“Look unto me, the pardoning God;
Believe,” He cries, “believe!”
_C. Wesley._

Though not a human voice he hears,
And not a human form appears
His solitude to share,
He is not all alone--the eye
Of Him who hears the _prisoner’s_ sigh
Is even on him there.
_J. L. Chester._

The captive welcomes even death’s relief:
What then, to him, the frowning _prison_-walls,
The clanking chain, the tyrant’s ’vengeful spite?
From the freed spirit every shackle falls,--
Earth’s gloom is lost, in Heaven’s glorious light.
_H. H. Weld._

Thy solemn vows are on me, Lord;
Thou shalt receive my praise;
I’ll sing “How faithful is Thy word!
How righteous all thy ways!”

Thou hast secured my soul from death,
O set Thy _prisoner_ free!
That heart and hand, and life and breath,
May be employ’d for Thee.

Then, like a bird that soars and sings,
Escaping from the cage,
My _prisoned_ soul shall stretch her wings,
And in Thy cause engage.
_Anon._

PROMISE.

He remembered His holy _promise_, and Abraham His servant.

And He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen with gladness.--Psalm cv. 42, 43.

Behold I send the _promise_ of my Father upon you.--Luke, xxiv. 49.

The Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you.

All the _promises_ of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.--II. Corinthians, i. 19, 20.

His very word of grace is strong
As that which built the skies;
The voice that rolls the stars along
Speaks all the _promises_.
He said, “Let the wide heaven be spread;”
And heaven was stretched abroad.
“Abra’m, I’ll be thy God,” He said;
And He was Abra’m’s God.
_Watts._

Happy the man whose hopes rely
On Israel’s God: He built the sky,
And earth, and seas, with all their train;
His truth for ever stands secure,
He saves the oppress’d, He feeds the poor,
And none shall find His _promise_ vain.
_Watts._

When the good man yields his breath,
(For the good man never dies,)
Bright, beyond the gulf of death,
To the land of _promise_ hies!
_James Montgomery._

Still let me love the sacred page
Where truths from Heaven recorded lie;
And while I tread this mortal stage,
May I be taught to live and die.

Still let me bind it to my heart,
The richest jewel I can wear;
That when all other charms depart,
Its lustre still may sparkle there.

Father! Thy truth shall be my guide;
Thy _promises_ my soul shall cheer;
And when by sin or sorrow tried,
Oh! may Thy smile dispel my fear.
_Hutton._

PROPHECY--PROPHETS.

He spake by the mouth of His holy _prophets_, which have been since the world began.--Luke, i. 70.

Knowing this first, that no _prophecy_ of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

For the _prophecy_ came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.--II. Peter, i. 20, 21.

The world’s a _prophecy_ of worlds to come.
_Young._

The words of _prophecy_, those truths divine,
Which make that Heaven, if thou desire it, thine--
(Awful alternative! believed, beloved,
Thy glory--and thy shame if unimproved,)
Are never long vouchsafed, if pushed aside
With cold disgust, or philosophic pride.
_Cowper._

But chief the _Prophets_ glowed with full delight,
Strong as a god, mature as soon as born
To scotch the serpent’s coil. Oh, happy lands,
Where hope ne’er hopes in vain, and love is ne’er lovelorn!
And lo, Isaiah now amidst them stands,
Majestically eminent o’er all,
And blesses them with his thanksgiving hands.
Though they so great, he towers heroical,
Though humblest of that holiest company,
Sweet as sublime. So once looked royal Saul;
So looked, but was not what he seemed to be,
Amidst the children of his father’s land,
The goodliest, loftier then the rest was he.
But fairer Jesse’s son whom Samuel’s hand
King ’midst his brethren hallowed and proclaimed.
So Samuel stood above the _prophet_ band,
When the insane tyrant at the youth’s life aimed,
But, smit at Naioth by the Spirit there,
Quelled at his feet lay naked and ashamed.
Now, as a pupil in his own school here,
Vaileth his reverential forehead low
Unto the _prophet_, the time-hallowed Seer--
A larger college is endowed now;
A true _prophetic_ university;
The jewels are made up, or nearly so;
One only they await, to whose broad eye
Shall be disclosed the vision, that will fill
The casket up, and seal it sacredly.

* * * * *

So Jeremiah on a sea of grief
Floated his ark of pensive melody.

With bolder mien, and shown in strong relief,
Ezekiel, with a brother’s strict embrace,
Greeted the grasp of that returned chief;
Yet sighed bitterly before his face,
Because the furbished sword contemned the rod,
And, for a trial, glowed with its disgrace,
Sanguine with slaughter. Let it rage! For God
Will smite his hands together, and refrain
From fury--but the vintage must be trod.
To men on earth his was a lovely strain,
Of one who sweetly sang, and deftly played,
But in a foreign land discoursed in vain.

Oh, Daniel well beloved! who plainly said
In no strange tongue the things that were to be,
Simple of manners, and of mind unswayed.
Dear is the welcome of simplicity!
How dear is thine, to whom for this was given
The Hope of Nations over all to see!

Come forth, ye sacred band, inspired of Heaven,
Surround the _Prophet_ silently controlled,
And hear how well his embassy has thriven--
Hosea, the zealous; Amos, herdsman bold;
Jonas, type of our theme, and Obadiah,
And Nahum, who of Nineveh foretold--
Micah and Habakkuk, and Zephaniah,
Joel, Haggai, and Malachi who saves
But with a curse, and lofty Zechariah--
Noble your duty--noble he who braves
The stormy world, and guides the ark of God
In safety o’er the inimical waves!
_J. A. Heraud._

PROSPERITY.

For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the _prosperity_ of the wicked.

Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.

Surely Thou didst set them in slippery places: Thou castedst them down into destruction.--Psalm lxxiii. 3, 17, 18.

O Lord, I beseech thee, send now _prosperity_.--Psalm cxviii. 25.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall _prosper_ that love thee.

Peace be within thy walls, and _prosperity_ within thy palaces.--Psalm cxxii. 6, 7.

Daily and hourly proof
Tells us _prosperity_’s at the highest degree
The fount and handle of calamity.
_Chapman._

O, how portentous is _prosperity_!
How, comet-like, it threatens while it shines!
Few years but yield us proof of Death’s ambition
To cull his victims from the fairest fold,
And sheathe his shafts in all the pride of life.
When flooded with abundance, purpled o’er
With recent honour, bloomed with every bliss,
Set up in ostentation, made the gaze,
The gaudy centre of the public eye;
When fortune thus has tossed her child in air,
Snatched from the covert of an humble state,
How often have I seen him dropt at once,
Our morning’s envy, and our evening’s sigh!
As if her bounties were the signal given,
The flowery wreath to mark the sacrifice,
And call Death’s arrows on the destined prey.
_Young._

The man, perhaps,
Thou pitiest, draws his comfort from distress.
That mind so poised, and centred in the good
Supreme, so kindle with devotion’s flame,
Might, with _prosperity’s_ enchanting cup
Inebriate, have forgot the All-giving hand;
Might on earth’s vain and transitory joys
Have built its sole felicity, nor e’er
Winged a desire beyond.
_George Bally._

PSALM.

Take a _psalm_, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.--Psalm lxxxi. 2.

Speaking to yourselves in _psalms_ and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.--Ephesians, v. 19.

Is any merry? let him sing _psalms_.--James, v. 13.

When Israel’s king first woke his strains sublime,
And offered praises unto Thee, O Lord!
With heart contrite for expiated crime,
And soul that yearned Thy mercy-seat toward;
He knew Thy power, he felt Thy saving grace,
On earth with joy Thy wondrous works surveyed,
Then turned to Heaven, his final resting-place,
And thence drew inspiration as he prayed.

With shawms and psalt’rys as in days of yore,
And dulcimers and harps we greet Thee not,
But richer, sweeter strains around us pour,
And fill with melody this sacred spot;
To Thee, to Thee, great God of Hosts! this day
An instrument of praise we consecrate:
May we, like David, own Thy sovereign sway,
And unto Thee our service dedicate.

As through Thy temple now the deep strains peal
And choral minstrelsy is heard to swell,
Devotion wakes within us, and we feel
All that the _psalmist_ hath expressed so well;
Be it no transient feeling that within
The bosom stirs, and turns the soul to Thee;
Guard us, and save us from besetting sin;
Make us Thine own to all eternity!
_Egone._

Nor think the muse, whose sober voice ye hear,
Contracts, with bigot frown, her sullen brow;
Casts round Religion’s orb the mists of fear,
Or shades with horrors what with smiles should glow.

No; she would warm you with seraphic fire,
Heirs as ye are, of Heaven’s eternal day;
Would bid you boldly to that Heaven aspire,
Nor sink and slumber in your cells of clay.
_William Mason._

PUNISHMENT.

Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the _punishment_ of his sins?

Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.--Lamentations, iii. 39, 40.

Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

And these shall go away into everlasting _punishment_: but the righteous into life eternal.--Matthew, xxv. 41, 46.

Governors are sent by him for the _punishment_ of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well.--I. Peter, ii. 14.

The house of endless pain is built thereby,
In which ten thousand sorts of _punishment_
The cursed creatures do eternally torment.
_Spenser._

If you confess humanity, believe
There is a God, to _punish_ or reward
Our doings here.
_Thomas Southern._

Ye princes all, and rulers every one,
In _punishment_ beware of hatred’s ire.
Before you scourge, take heed; look well thereon:
In wrath’s ill will, if malice kindle fire,
Your hearts will burn in such a hot desire,
That, in those flames, the smoke shall dim your sight,
Ye shall forget to join your justice right.

You should not judge till things be well discerned;
Your charge is still to maintain upright laws:
In conscience’ rules ye should be thoroughly learned--
Where clemency bids wrath and rashness pause;
And further saith, strike not without a cause:
And when ye smite, do it for justice’ sake;
Then in good part each man your scourge will take.
_Thomas Churchyard._

Had I a hundred mouths, a hundred tongues,
I could not half those horrid crimes repeat,
Nor half the _punishment_ those crimes have met.
_Dryden._

A greater power
Now ruled him, _punished_ in the shape he sinned.
_Milton._

PURITY.

Blessed are the _pure_ in heart; for they shall see God.--Matthew, v. 8.

For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the _purifying_ of the flesh:

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.--Hebrews, ix. 13, 14.

Henceforth in my name
Take courage, O thou woman,--man take hope,
Your graves shall be as smooth as Eden’s sward,
Beneath the steps of your prospective thoughts;
And, one step past them, a new Eden gate
Shall open on a hinge of harmony,
And let you through to mercy. Ye shall fall
No more within that Eden, nor pass out
Any more from it. In which hope, move on
First sinners and first mourners. Live and love,
Doing both nobly because lowlily,
Love and work strongly,--because patiently!
And for the deed of death, trust it to God,
That it be well done, unrepented of,
And not to loss. And thence with constant prayers
Fasten your souls on high, that constantly
The smile of your heroic cheer may float
Above all floods of earthly agonies,
_Purification_ being the joy of pain.
_E. B. Browning._

Blest are the _pure_, whose hearts are clean
From the defiling power of sin,
With endless pleasure they shall see
A God of spotless _purity_.
_Watts._

Me through the blood of sprinkling make
_Pure_ from defilement white as snow,
Heal me for my Redeemer’s sake,
Then joy and gladness I shall know.
_J. Montgomery._

Thou holy God! preserve our souls
From all pollution free;
The _pure_ in heart are thy delight,
And they thy face shall see.
_Needham._

QUIET.

When he giveth _quietness_, who can then make trouble?--Job, xxxiv. 29.

But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be _quiet_ from fear of evil.--Proverbs, i. 33.

For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in _quietness_ and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.--Isaiah, xxx. 15.

Quiet, Lord, my froward heart,
Make me teachable and mild,
Upright, simple, free from art,
Make me as a weaned child,
From distrust and envy free,
Pleased with all that pleases Thee.
_Newton._

If there be a heaven so fair
O’er us ever shining,
We shall never enter there
By looking up and pining.
In one holy, _quiet_ thought,
Heaven to us is nearer brought,
Than in all the radiance bright,
Of a thousand worlds of light.
_J. Gostick._

Come to thy lonely bower, thou who dost love
The hour of musing. Come, before the brow
Of twilight darkens, or the solemn stars
Look from their casement, ’mid that hush of soul,
Music from viewless harps shall visit thee,
Such as thou never heard’st amid the din
Of earth’s coarse enginery, by toil and care
Urged on without reprieve: Ah! kneel and catch
That tuneful cadence.
How closely wrapt
In _quiet_ slumber are all things around,
The vine-leaf and the willow-fringe stir not,
Nor doth the chirping of the feeblest bird,
Nor even the cold glance of the vestal moon,
Disturb thy reverie.
_Mrs. Sigourney._

RANSOM.

They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;

None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a _ransom_ for him.--Psalm xlix. 6, 7.

And the _ransomed_ of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.--Isaiah, xxxv. 10.

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Who gave himself a _ransom_ for all, to be testified in due time.--I. Timothy, ii. 5, 6.

Ere the third dawning light
Return, the stars of morn shall see Him rise,
The _ransom_ paid which man from death redeems
His death for man.
_Milton._

Lord of every land and nation,
Ancient of eternal days,
Sounded through the wide creation
Be Thy just and lawful praise.

Brightness of Thy Father’s glory,
Shall Thy praise unuttered be?
Fly my tongue, such guilty silence,
Sing the Lord who came to die!

From the highest throne of glory,
To the cross of deepest woe;
All to _ransom_ guilty sinners:
Flow, thy praise, for ever, flow!
_Robinson._

The _ransomed_ shout to their glorious King,
Where no sorrow shades the soul as they sing;
But a sinless and joyless song they raise,
And their voice of prayer is eternal praise.
_Henry Ware, Jr._

Blessed are the sons of God;
They are bought with Jesu’s blood,
They are _ransom’d_ from the grave,
Life eternal they shall have:
With them number’d may we be,
Now and through eternity!
_Humphreys._

REASON--REASONS.

Come now, and let us _reason_ together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.--Isaiah, i. 18.

Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong _reasons_ saith the King of Jacob.--Isaiah, xli. 21.

And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High;

At the same time my _reason_ returned.--Daniel, iv. 34, 36.

Dim as the borrowed beams of moon and stars
To lonely, weary, wandering travellers,
Is _Reason_ to the soul; and as on high
Those rolling fires discover but the sky,
Not light us here; so _Reason’s_ glimmering ray
Was lent, not to assure our doubtful way,
But guide us upward to a better day.
And as those nightly tapers disappear,
When day’s bright lord ascends our hemisphere;
So pale grows _Reason_, at Religion’s sight;
So dies, and so dissolves, in supernatural light.
_Dryden._

Yet, since the effects of Providence, we find,
Are variously dispensed to human kind;
That Vice triumphs and Virtue suffers here,
A brand that sovereign justice cannot bear;
Our _reason_ prompts us to a future state,
The last appeal from fortune and from fate:
Where God’s all-righteous ways will be declared;
The bad meet punishment, the good reward.
_Dryden._

Though _Reason_ cannot through Faith’s mysteries see,
It sees that there, and such they be;
Though it, like Moses, by a sad command
Must not come into th’ Holy Land,
Yet thither it infallibly does guide,
And from afar ’tis all descried.
_Cowley._

Through _Reason’s_ wounds alone, thy faith can die.
_Young._

_Reason_ the root; fair faith is but the flower;
The fading flower shall die, but _reason_ lives
Immortal, as her Father in the skies.
_Young._

’Tis _Reason_ our great Master holds so dear;
’Tis _Reason’s_ injured rights His wrath resents;
’Tis _Reason’s_ voice obeyed, His glories crown;
To give lost _Reason_ life, He poured His own.
_Young._

With scanty line shall _Reason_ dare to mete
Th’ immeasurable depths of Providence?
On the swol’n bladders of opinion borne,
She floats awhile, then, floundering, sinks absorbed
Within that boundless sea she strove to grasp.
Shall man, here stationed to revere that God
Who called him into being from the dust,
His moral scheme implead, and, impious, cite
Th’ Almighty Legislator to the bar
Of erring intellect?
_George Bally._

Far other flame the vain enthusiast feels
When, _reason_ by delusive fancy led
In sad captivity, the thoughts confused
Rush on his mind in dark and doubtful sense,
His mind a chaos of blind zeal, that spurns
Th’ unerring clue which mild discretion lends.
Perchance the clashing images strike out
Some ray of casual light; how soon
The weak and momentary glance is lost
Beneath a load of wild obscurity!
Much does he labour with some weighty thought
Of faith, of grace, of Heaven, perchance of hell,
But all in vain be draws the thread confused
To tedious length; the end eludes his search,
And leaves him wrapt in wild perplexity,
Recoiling still on the same beaten track.
_Charles Jenner._

The godhead which is ours
Can never utterly be charmed or stilled;
That nothing hath a natural right to last
But equity and _reason_.
_Wordsworth._

REDEEMER.

I know that my _Redeemer_ liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.--Job, xix. 25.

Thy _Redeemer_ the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called.--Isaiah, liv. 5.

The _Redeemer_ shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.--Isaiah, lix. 20.

O, blest _Redeemer_, from Thy sacred throne,
Where saints and angels sing Thy triumphs won,
From that exalted height of bliss supreme
Look down on those who bear Thy Sacred Name;
Restore their ways, inspire them by Thy grace,
Thy laws to follow, and Thy steps to trace;
Thy bright example to Thy doctrine join,
And by their morals prove their faith divine!
_Boyse._

Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates,
The King of Glory comes! He comes to clothe
This mortal in the unperishable garb
Of immortality! Hear it, ye dead,
Hear the glad tidings! and with trembling hope
Expect that day, when at th’ Archangel’s trump,
From the long sleep of many thousand years
Ye shall awake--awake to sleep no more:
Hear it, O living man, ere greedy Death
Consigns thee to the prison of the tomb;
Hear and be wise, seek thy _Redeemer’s_ throne;
On bending knees implore His healing grace,
Chaunt forth His praise and venerate His name.
_William Bolland._

Then shall the day-spring rise, before whose beams
The darkness of the world is past: for hark!
Seraphs and angel-choirs with symphonies
Acclaiming of ten thousand golden harps,
Amid the bursting clouds of heaven reveal’d.
At once in glory jubilant,--they sing:
“God the _Redeemer_ liveth! He who took
Man’s nature on Him, and in human shroud
Veil’d His immortal glory! He is risen--
God the Redeemer liveth! and behold
The gates of life and immortality
Opened to all that breathe.”
_Bowles._

Out of my penitence there has grown hope;
I trust and raise my suppliant eyes to Heaven,
And when my soul desponds, I meekly say,
“I know that my _Redeemer_ liveth.”
_Miss Landon._

He dies; in whose high victory,
The slayer, death himself, shall die,
He dies; by whose all-conquering tread
Shall yet be crushed the serpent’s head;
From his proud throne to darkness hurled,
The god and tempter of this world.
He dies; creation’s awful Lord,
Jehovah, Christ, Eternal Word!
To come in thunder from the skies;
To bid the buried world arise;
The earth His footstool, heaven His throne;--
_Redeemer!_ may Thy will be done!
_Croly._

My blest _Redeemer_ lives.--In that last day
When, like the baseless fabric of a dream,
Earth’s unsubstantial glories pass away,
He then shall stand, acknowledged Lord supreme.
My blest _Redeemer_ lives.--Though death the head
Consign, a victim to the silent tomb;
Though worms around my lifeless body spread,
Though noisome worms these mouldering limbs consume,
Triumphant still o’er Satan’s power I rise,
My God, my God appears, and wakes these languid eyes.
_Samuel Hayes._

Rejected, scorned,
Despised, a man of sorrow and distress,
To all the ills which poverty’s chill cold,
Or power of tyrant malice could inflict,
Exposed a victim, through life’s wretched vale
Our blest _Redeemer_ passed.
_Samuel Hayes._

From all that dwell below the skies
Let the Creator’s praise arise;
Let the _Redeemer’s_ name be sung
Through every land by every tongue.
_Watts._

REDEMPTION.

With the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous _redemption_.--Psalm cxxx. 7.

But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who, of God, is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and _redemption_.--I. Corinthians, i. 30.

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal _redemption_ for us.--Hebrews, ix. 12.