« WHICH HOLY ESTATE CARIST ADORNED AND

BEAUTIFIED WITH HIS PRESENCE.'

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[78. 6s.

454

God blessed them.--Gen. i. 28.
1 The voice that breathed o'er Eden

That earliest wedding day,
The primal marriage blessing,

It hath not pass'd away.
2 Still in the pure espousal

Of Christian man and maid,
The Holy Three are with us,

The threefold grace is said: :
3 For dower of blessed children,

For love and faith's sweet sake,
For high mysterious union

Which nought on earth may break.
4 Be present, awful Father,

To give away this bride,
As Eve thou gav'st to Adam

Out of his own pierced side.
5 Be present, gracious Saviour,

To join their loving hands,
As thou didst bind two natures

In thine eternal bands.
6 Be present, Holiest Spirit,

To bless them as they kneel ;
As thou, for Christ the Bridegroom,

The heavenly spouse dost seal.
7 O spread thy pure wing o'er them,

Let no ill power find place,
When onward to thine altar

The hallow'd path they trace,
8 To cast their crowns before thee

In perfect sacrifice,
Till to the home of gladness

With Christ's own bride they rise.'

455 Rest in the Lord and wait

patiently for him. [P.M.

Ps. xxxvii. 7.
1 Rest in the Lord—from harps above

The music seems to thrill-
Rest in his everlasting love,

Rest and be still.
2 Rest thou, who claimest for thine own

Thy chosen bride to-day,
Affianced in his faith alone

Thy bride for aye.
3 And thou, whose trustful hand is given

Avouching here thy spouse,
Rest, for a Father seals in heaven

His children's vows.
4 Rest ye, who cluster round them both

To mingle praise and prayers;
Your God affirms the plighted troth,

Your God and theirs.
5 Rest, for the Heavenly Bridegroom here

Is standing by your side,
And in this union draws more near

His mystic bride.
6 Rest in the Lord—thrice Holy Dove,

In us thy word fulfil-
Rest in his everlasting love,

Rest and be still."

[To be sung after the blessing, “ Almighty God, who at the

beginning did create our first parents,” &c.]

456 Being heirs together of the grace of life. [TEN 75.

1 Pet. iii. 7.
1 Ere the words of peace and love

Breathed on earth are borne above,
While their echo, soft and clear,
Lingers on the trancèd ear,-

Catch upon your lips the strain,
Swell the notes of prayer again,
Prayer with benedictions fraught,
Passing words and passing thought :

Co-eternal Three in One,

Seal the nuptial benison.
2 Blessings from the earth beneath,

Fruits and flowers in woven wreath;
Balmy dews that heaven distils
On the everlasting hills;
Angel wings, a guard of light
O’er the peaceful home by night;
Angels' steps to tend the way
Onward, heavenward, day by day:

Co-eternal Three in One,

Seal the nuptial benison.
3 Hear our prayer: this union be

Ratified, O God, by thee;
This another link entwined
Hearts and homes and heaven to bind
In that mystic chain of love,
Holding us, but held above;
Knitting all that world to this,
Eden's bloom to glory's bliss :

Co-eternal Three in One,

Seal the nuptial benison.
4 Three in One, and One in Three,

Blessedness is blessing thee;
While we pour in chant and hymn
Full hearts, flowing o'er the brim,-
Water by thy power benign
Blushing as celestial wine,
Till within the golden gates,
Where the Lamb his bridal waits,

We with all the white-robed throngs
Sing the heavenly Song of Songs.

The Visitation of the Sick. “O SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD, WHO BY THY CROSS AND

PRECIOUS BLOOD HAST REDEEMED US, SAVE US AND
HELP US, WE HUMBLY BESEECH THEE, O LORD.”

457 I cried unto God with my voice, and he gave (L.M.

ear unto me.-Ps. lxxvii. 1. 1 God of my life, to thee I call;

Afflicted at thy feet I fall :
When the great water-floods prevail,

Leave not my trembling heart to fail.
2 Friend of the friendless and the faint,
Where should I lodge my deep complaint ?-
Where but with thee, whose open door

Invites the helpless and the poor? 3 Did ever mourner plead with thee,

And thou refuse that mourner's plea ?
Does not the word still fix'd remain,

That none shall seek thy face in vain ? 4 That were a grief I could not bear,

Didst thou not hear and answer prayer;
But a prayer-hearing, answering God

Supports me under every load.
5 Poor though I am, despised, forgot,

Yet God, my God, forgets me not;
And he is safe, and must succeed,
For whom the Lord vouchsafes to plead."

458

I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy

likeness.-Ps. xvii. 15.

[L.M.

1 LORD, I am thine; but thou wilt prove

My faith, my patience, and my love;
I shall behold thy blissful face,
And stand complete in righteousness.

2 This life's a dream, an empty show,

But the bright world to which I go
Hath joys substantial and sincere:

When shall I wake, and find me there? 3 O glorious hour! O bless'd abode !

I shall be near and like my God;
And flesh and sin no more control

The sacred pleasures of the soul.
4 My flesh shall slumber in the ground

Till the last trumpet's joyful sound;
Then burst the chains, with sweet surprise,
And in my Saviour's image rise.

459 My meditation of him shall be sweet.-Ps. civ. 34. [C.M. 1 WHEN languor and disease invade

This trembling house of clay,
'Tis sweet to look beyond our cage,

And long to fly away:
2 Sweet to look inward and attend

The whispers of his love;
Sweet to look upward to the place

Where Jesus pleads above:
3 Sweet to look back, and see my name

In life's fair book set down;
Sweet to look forward, and behold

Eternal joys my own:
4 Sweet to reflect how grace divine

My sins on Jesus laid;
Sweet to remember that his blood

My debt of sufferings paid :
5 Sweet in his righteousness to stand,

Which saves from second death;
Sweet to experience, day by day

His Spirit's quickening breath :