"BLESS THE LORD."

(PSALM Ciii.)

BLESS the Lord, O my soul! O my soul, bless the Lord!

The merciful God, who alone is adored ;

The bountiful God, who each blessing bestows,
Who forgiveth thy sins, who relieveth thy woes;
Who redeemeth thy life from the shadow of death,
Who with mercy and love ever gladdens thy path,
Who rejoices thy heart with the fruits of each clime,
And renews, like the eagle's, the strength of thy prime.

The Lord executeth his judgments aright,'

And the poor and oppress'd are relieved by his might;

His judgments which he unto Moses revealed,

And the tribes over whom he extended his shield.
The Lord the Creator of all things below-
In mercy is plenteous, to anger is slow;

For his wrath, like the thunder-cloud, passes away,
And the sinner shall live to repent if he may.

As the earth is encircled by heaven above,
So the holy and just are embraced by his love;
And as far as the east is apart from the west,
So its guilt is removed from the heart that transgress'd:
As a fond father pities a child that is dear,
So the Lord pities them that abide in his fear;
For he knoweth the weakness and wants of our frame,
That shall quickly return to the earth whence it came.

Frail mortal! his days are as grass of the field,

As the flowers that at morning their summer-bloom

yield,

For, when the wild tempest has ravaged the plain,
The place that once knew them shall know not again.
But the mercy of God shall, for aye and for aye,
Descend on the righteous that walk in his way
Descend on the line of the pious and just,
Through nations that sleep yet unform'd in the dust.

The Lord in the heaven hath exalted his throne,
And his kingdom throughout all creation is known!
Ye angels of glory around him that stand,
And bend to his word, and obey his command!
Ye ministers all of celestial birth,

That his mandates convey to the ends of the earth!
Ye creatures of clay, that arose at his word!
O bless ye the mighty, the merciful Lord!

HEAVEN.

(JOB, xix. 26.)

WEEP, mourner, for the joys that fade
Like evening lights away-

For hopes that, like the stars decayed,
Have left thy mortal day;

FRIENDSHIP.

Yet clouds of sorrow will dispart,

And brilliant skies be given:

And though on earth the tear may start, Yet bliss awaits the holy heart

Amid the bowers of heaven; Where songs of praise are ever sung To angel-harp, by angel-tongue.

Weep, mourner, for the friends that pas

Into the lonesome grave,

As breezes sweep he wither'd grass
Along the whelming wave;

Yet though thy pleasures may depart,
And darksome days be given,
And lonely though on earth thou art,
Yet bliss awaits the holy heart,
When friends rejoin in heaven ;
Where streams of joy glide ever on
Around the Lord's eternal throne.

FRIENDSHIP.

(PROVERBS, Xvii. 17.)

O SAY, without a kindred mind

To share our wo, to share our bliss, What were the doom of human-kind? What were a weary world like this? What were the hopes that could endear The life that God hath given us here?

FRIENDSHIP.

The heart that joys in solitude

Is like the star that shines alone,

When evening's gathering shades obtrude
On day-beams hastening to be gone,
And night, upon her lonesome path,
Comes onward like the gloom of death.

The heart that weeps in lonely wo,
Is like a floweret in the wild,
Where no refreshing breezes blow,
Where falls no twilight tear-drop mild,
Where fearful tempests rise around,
To sweep it from the barren ground.

But, oh, 'tis sweet to feel the tear
Of pity on our sorrows fall!
And, oh, 'tis sweet, with bosoms dear,
To share our human comforts all!
And, oh, 'tis sweet to joy or grieve
With those who never will deceive!

'Tis sweet with them, in youthful prime,
The song of earthly joy to raise ;
And sweet with them, in after time,
In age's dark unlovely days,

To warble forth the holy strains
That shall be sung on heavenly plains.

O say,

without a kindred mind

To share our bliss, to share our wo,

Where could the soul a refuge find?

Where could the heart a comfort know?

Where could the spirit wish to rest

But in the grave's forgetful breast?

183

ISAAC AND REBEKAH.

(GENESIS, Xxiv. 63-67.)

It was the solemn hour of eve,

When twilight shades were gathering o'er him, That Isaac wandered forth to grieve

The recent loss of her that bore him ; And when that tender friend is gone, The heart conceives it hath no other; And all the joys that life has known,

Seem parted with a parted mother.

But while to him the path of life

Looked darksome through the tears of sorrow, Rebekah came his promised wife—

To bid him dream of joy to-morrow ; And if there be a human art

Unknown to sister, friend, or brother, It is a wife's to wean the heart

From sorrowing o'er a parted mother.

It is a wife's with radiant eye

To light a husband's path of sadness, As twilight stars steal on the sky

To fill the darkening vales with gladness; It is a wife's to soothe the breast,

(The breast that loves her-loves no other,) With earnest of that holy rest,

When he shall join a parted mother.