DESIRES FOR GOD'S PRESENCE.

Then with my waking thoughts

Bright with thy praise,

Out of my stony griefs

BETHEL I'll raise;

So by my woes to be

Nearer, my God, to thee,-
Nearer to thee!

Or if on joyful wing

Cleaving the sky,

Sun, moon, and stars forgot,
Upwards I fly;

Still all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God, to thee,-

Nearer to thee!

DESIRES FOR GOD'S PRESENCE.

147

JONES VERY.

WILT thou not visit me?

The plant beside me feels thy gentle dew;
Each blade of grass I see

From thy deep earth its quickening moisture

drew.

Wilt thou not visit me?

Thy morning calls on me with cheering tone;

And every hill and tree

Lend but one voice, the voice of thee alone.

Come! for I need thy love,

More than the flower the dew, or grass the rain ; Come, like thy holy dove,

And let me in thy sight rejoice to live again.

Yes; thou wilt visit me;

Nor plant nor tree thy eye delights so well,
As when, from sin set free,

Man's spirit comes with thine in

peace to dwell.

GOD KNOWN BY LOVING HIM.

MADAME GUYON.

'T is not the skill of human art

Which gives me power my God to know;

The sacred lessons of the heart

Come not from instruments below.

Love is my teacher. He can tell
The wonders that he learnt above;

No other master knows so well;

'T is Love alone can tell of Love.

MATINS.

O, then of God if thou wouldst learn,
His wisdom, goodness, glory see,
All human arts and knowledge spurn,
Let love alone thy teacher be.

Love is my master. When it breaks,
The morning light, with rising ray,
To thee, O God! my spirit wakes,
And love instructs it all the day.

And when the gleams of day retire,
And midnight spreads its dark control,
Love's secret whispers still inspire
Their holy lessons in the soul.

MATINS.

MRS. H. B. STOWE.

149

STILL, Still with Thee, when purple morning breaketh,

When the bird waketh, and the shadows flee; Fairer than morning, lovelier than the daylight, Dawns the sweet consciousness, I am with Thee!

Alone with Thee, amid the mystic shadows,
The solemn hush of nature newly born;

Alone with Thee, in breathless adoration,
In the calm dew and freshness of the morn.

As in the dawning, o'er the waveless ocean,
The image of the morning-star doth rest,
So in this stillness Thou beholdest only

Thine image in the waters of my breast.

When sinks the soul, subdued by toil, to slumber, Its closing eye looks up to Thee in prayer, Sweet the repose beneath thy wings o'ershading, But sweeter still to wake and find Thee there.

So shall it be at last in that bright morning When the soul waketh, and life's shadows flee; O in that hour, fairer than daylight dawning, Shall rise the glorious thought, I am with Thee!

GOD THE FOUNTAIN OF LOVE TO HIS

CHILDREN.

MADAME GUYON.

I LOVE my God, but with no love of mine,
For I have none to give:

I love thee, Lord; but all the love is thine,
For by thy life I live.

I am as nothing, and rejoice to be

Emptied, and lost, and swallowed up in Thee.

66 DARK THE FAITH OF DAYS OF YORE."

Thou, Lord, alone, art all thy children need,
And there is none beside;

151

From thee the streams of blessedness proceed; In thee the blest abide;

Fountain of life, and all-abounding grace,

Our source, our centre, and our dwelling-place.

"DARK THE FAITH OF DAYS OF YORE."

ALTERED FROM COLERIDGE.

FOX'S COLLECTION.

DARK the faith of days of yore,
"And at evening evermore
Did the chanters, sad and saintly,
Yellow tapers burning faintly,
Doleful masses chant to thee,
Miserere, Domine!”

Bright the faith of coming days;
And when dawn the kindling rays
Of heaven's golden lamp ascending,
Happy hearts, and voices blending,
Joyful anthems chant to thee,.

Te laudamus, Domine!