Hymns for Christian Devotion Part 28

173. L. M. 6l. Montgomery's Coll.

The Beauties of Creation.

1 Ours is a lovely world, how fair Thy beauties e'en on earth appear!

The seasons in their courses fall, And bring successive joys. The sea, The earth, the sky, are full of thee, Benignant, glorious Lord of all!

2 There's beauty in the heat of day; There's glory in the noon-tide ray; There's sweetness in the twilight shades-- Magnificence in night. Thy love Arch'd the grand heaven of blue above, And all our smiling earth pervades.

3 And if thy glories here be found, Streaming with radiance all around, What must the fount of glory be!

In thee we'll hope, in thee confide, Thou, mercy's never ebbing tide, Thou, love's unfathomable sea!

174. L. M. 6l. Moore.

All Things are of G.o.d.

1 Thou art, O G.o.d, the life and light Of all this wondrous world we see; Its glow by day, its smile by night, Are but reflections caught from thee; Where'er we turn, thy glories s.h.i.+ne, And all things fair and bright are thine.

2 When day, with farewell beam delays Among the opening clouds of even, And we can almost think we gaze, Through opening vistas into heaven,-- Those hues that mark the sun's decline, So soft, so radiant, Lord, are thine.

3 When night, with wings of starry gloom, O'ershadows all the earth and skies, Like some dark, beauteous bird, whose plume Is sparkling with unnumbered eyes,-- That sacred gloom, those fires divine, So grand, so countless, Lord, are thine.

4 When youthful spring around us breathes, Thy spirit warms her fragrant sigh; And every flower that summer wreathes Is born beneath thy kindling eye: Where'er we turn, thy glories s.h.i.+ne, And all things fair and bright are thine.

175. L. M. Addison.

The Heavens declare the Glory of G.o.d.

1 The s.p.a.cious firmament on high, With all the blue ethereal sky, And spangled heavens, a s.h.i.+ning frame, Their great original proclaim.

Th' unwearied sun, from day to day, Doth his Creator's power display; And publishes to every land The work of an Almighty hand.

2 Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale, And nightly to the listening earth Repeats the story of her birth: Whilst all the stars which round her burn, And all the planets in their turn, Confirm the tidings as they roll, And spread the truth from pole to pole.

3 What though, in solemn silence, all Move round this dark terrestrial ball; What though no real voice nor sound Amidst their radiant orbs be found; In reason's ear they all rejoice, And utter forth a glorious voice; Forever singing, as they s.h.i.+ne,-- "The hand that made us is divine."

176. C. M. Zinzendorf.

The Creator, G.o.d.

1 Lord, when thou said'st, "So let it be,"

The heavens were spread and shone, And this whole earth stood gloriously; Thou spak'st and it was done.

2 The whole creation still records, Unto this very day, That thou art G.o.d, the Lord of lords; Thee all things must obey.

177. C. M. Bowring.

Nature's Evening Hymn.

1 The heavenly spheres, to thee, O G.o.d, Attune their evening hymn; All wise, all holy, thou art praised, In song of seraphim!

Unnumbered systems, suns and worlds, Unite to wors.h.i.+p thee, While thy majestic greatness fills s.p.a.ce, time, eternity.

2 Nature,--a temple worthy thee, That beams with light and love; Whose flowers so sweetly bloom below, Whose stars rejoice above, Whose altars are the mountain cliffs That rise along the sh.o.r.e; Whose anthems, the sublime accord Of storm and ocean roar;

3 Her song of grat.i.tude is sung By spring's awakening hours; Her summer offers at thy shrine Its earliest, loveliest flowers; Her autumn brings its ripened fruits, In glorious luxury given; While winter's silver heights reflect Thy brightness back to heaven.

4 On all thou smil'st; and what is man Before thy presence, G.o.d; A breath, but yesterday inspired, To-morrow but a clod.

That clod shall mingle in the vale, But, kindled, Lord, by thee, The spirit to thy arms shall spring, To life, to liberty.

178. L. M. 6l. Bowring.

"Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge."

1 The heavens, O Lord! thy power proclaim, And the earth echoes back thy name; Ten thousand voices speak thy might, And day to day, and night to night, Utter thy praise--thou Lord above!

Thy praise, thy glory, and thy love.

2 And nature with its countless throng, And sun, and moon, and planets' song, And every flower that light receives, And every dew that tips the leaves, And every murmur of the sea-- Tunes its sweet voice to wors.h.i.+p Thee.

3 Thy name thy glories they rehea.r.s.e, Great Spirit of the universe; Sense of all sense, and soul of soul, Nought is too vast for thy control; The meanest and the mightiest share Alike thy kindness and thy care.

179. 8s. & 7s. M. Heber.

"Consider the lilies of the field;--behold the fowls of the air."

1 Lo! the lilies of the field!

How their leaves instruction yield!