3.

Here let the pious contemplate,

With reverence deep and thought sedate;
And e'en when sorrowing in the dust,
Be faith their light, and heaven their trust!

4.

Religion asks no sacrifice

But such as reason justifies ;

And oft where trouble meets our eyes, 'Tis mercy's angel in disguise.

5.

Trust ye the Lord: how sweet to trace
E'en here the counsels of his grace!
Obedience trains us for the skies,
And God accepts the sacrifice.

278. C. M.

WATTS.

Religious reverence and obedience.

1.

WITH my whole heart I've sought thy face;

O let me never stray

From thy commands, O God of

Nor tread the sinners' way!

2.

grace,

Thy word I've hid within my heart,
To keep my conscience clean,
And be an everlasting guard
From every rising sin.

3.

O that thy statutes every hour
Might dwell upon my mind!
Thence I derive a quickening power,
And daily peace I find.

4.

To meditate thy precepts, Lord,
Shall be my sweet employ;
My soul shall ne'er forget thy word,
Thy word is all my joy.

5.

My God, I long and hope and wait
For thy salvation still;

Whilst thy whole law is my delight,
And I obey thy will.

WHEREFORE should man, frail child of clay,
Who, from the cradle to the shroud,
Lives but the insect ca day,

O why should mortar man be proud?

2.

His brightest visions just appear,
Then vanish, and no more are found;
The stateliest pile his pride can rear
A breath may level with the ground.

3.

By doubt perplext, in error lost,
With trembling step he seeks his way:
How vain of wisdom's gifts the boast!
Of reason's lamp how faint the ray!

4.

Follies and crimes, a countless sum,
Are crowded in life's little span:
How ill, alas, does pride become
That erring, guilty creature, man!

5.

God of my life, Father divine,
Give me a meek and lowly mind;
In modest worth O let me shine,
in humble virtue find!

And

peace

280. P. M. MRS. BARBA ULD.

Devout aspirations.

1.

GOD, our kind master, merciful as just,
Knowing our frame, remembers man is dust;
His ear is open to the softest cry;
His grace descends to meet the lifted eye.

2.

He reads the language of the silent tear, And sighs are incense from a heart sincere: He marks the dawn of every virtuous aim, And fans the smoking flax into a flame.

3.

O set me from all earthly bondage free; Still every wish that centres not in thee: Bid my fond hopes, my vain disquiets, cease, And point my path to everlasting peace.

TEACH me, O teach me, Lord, thy way,
That to my life's remotest day,

By thine unerring precepts led,
My willing feet thy paths may tread.

2.

Inform'd by thee, with sacred awe
My heart shall meditate thy law;
And, with cœlestial wisdom fill'd,
To thee entire obedience yield.

3.

O turn from vanity mine eye;
My soul with holy strength supply;
And with thy promised mercy cheer
A heart devoted to thy fear.

4.

Long as within this house of clay
Supported by thy power I stay,
Thy mercy let thy servant see;
Grant me to live conform'd to thee.

5.

That mercy, Lord, whose beams extend
Far as the world's remotest end,
That mercy to my soul impart;
Engrave thy precepts on my heart.

282. L. M. HENRY MOORE.
Heavenly guidance.

1.

AMIDST a world of hopes and fears, A wild of cares, of toils, and tears, Where foes alarm and dangers threat, And pleasures kill, and glories cheat;

2.

Shed down, O Lord, a heavenly ray To guide me in the doubtful way; And o'er me hold thy shield of power, To guard me in the dangerous hour.

3.

Teach me the flattering paths to shun In which the thoughtless many run, Who for a shade the substance miss, And grasp their ruin in their bliss.

4.

May never pleasure, wealth, or pride,
Allure my wandering soul aside!
But through this maze of mortal ill
Safe lead me to thy heavenly hill.

283. C. M. DODDRIDGE.
Inconstancy in religion lamented.

1.

grace,

PERPETUAL Source of light and
We hail thy sacred name:
Through every year's revolving round
Thy goodness is the same.

2.

On us, all-worthless as we are,

Its wondrous mercy pours, Sure as the heaven's establish'd course, And plenteous as the showers.

3.

Inconstant service we repay,

And treacherous vows renew; False as the morning's scattering cloud, And transient as the dew.

4.

In flowing tears our guilt we mourn,
And loud implore thy grace
To bear our feeble footsteps on
In all thy righteous ways.

M