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That hope the sovereign Lord has given,
Who reigns above the skies;
Hope that unites our souls to heaven
By faith's endearing ties.

2 Each care, each ill of mortal birth,
Is sent in pitying love

To lift the lingering heart from earth,
And speed its flight above.

And every pang that wrings the breast,
And every joy that dies,
Tells us to seek a purer rest,

And trust to holier ties.

677.

L. M.

BRYANT.

"Blessed are they that mourn."

1 DEEM not that they are blest alone,
Whose days a peaceful tenor keep;
The God, who loves our race, has shown
A blessing for the eyes that weep.

2 The light of smiles shall fill again
The lids that overflow with tears,
And many hours of woe and pain
Are earnests of serener years.

3 0, there are days of hope and rest,
For every dark and troubled night!
And grief may bide an evening guest,
But joy shall come with early light.

4 And thou, who o'er thy friend's low bier,
Dost shed the bitter drops like rain,
Hope that a brighter, happier sphere,
Will give him to thy arms again.

5 Our Father marks each anguished day, And numbers every secret tear;

And heaven's long age of bliss shall pay,
For all his children suffer here.

678.

L. M. 61.

H. WARE, JR.

[Written in sickness, March, 1836.]
Prayer for peace in God.

1 FATHER, thy gentle chastisement
Falls kindly on my burdened soul;
I see its merciful intent,

To warn me back to thy control;
And pray, that while I kiss the rod,
I may find perfect peace with God.
2 The errors of my heart I know;
I feel my deep infirmities;
For often virtuous feelings glow,
And holy purposes arise,-
But like the morning clouds decay,
As empty, though as fair, as they.
3 Forgive the weakness I deplore;

And let thy peace abound in me;
That I may trust myself no more,
But wholly cast myself on thee:
Oh! let my Father's strength be mine,
And my devoted life be thine.

679.

L. M.

BOWRING.

Light in darkness.

1 Ir all our hopes and all our fears
Were prisoned in life's narrow bound;
If, travellers through this vale of tears,
We saw no better world beyond;

2 O, who could check the rising sigh?
What earthly thing could pleasure give?
O, who would venture then to die?
O, who could then endure to live?

3 And such were life, without the ray
From our divine religion given;

'Tis this that makes our darkness day; "Tis this that makes our earth a heaven.

4 Bright is the golden sun above,
And beautiful the flowers that bloom;
And all is joy, and all is love,
Reflected from a world to come.

680.

L. M.

BEARD'S COLL.

God's care our comfort.

1 Он, sweet it is to know, to feel,
In all our gloom, our wanderings here,
No night of sorrow can conceal
Man from thy notice, from thy care.

2 When disciplined by sore distress,
And led through paths of fear and woe,
Say, dost thou love thy children less?
No! ever gracious Father,-no!

3 No distance can outreach thine eye,
No night obscure thine endless day;
Be this my comfort when I sigh,
Be this my safeguard when I stray.

516

681. 11s. M.

FORD.

Through tribulation we enter the kingdom of heaven. 1 THE gloom of the night adds a charm to the morn,

Stern winter the spring in its beauty endears; And the darker the cloud on which it is drawn, The brighter by contrast the rainbow appears 2 So trials and sorrows the Christian prepare For the rest of the soul that remaineth above On earth tribulation awaits him, but there The smile of a Father's unchangeable love.

682. C. M. FOLLEN.

Resignation.

1 How sweet to be allowed to pray
To God, the Holy One,
With filial love and trust to say,
O God, thy will be done!

2 We in these sacred words can find
A cure for every ill;

They calm and soothe the troubled mind,
And bid all care be still.

3 0, let that will, which gave me breath,
And an immortal soul,

In joy or grief, in life or death,
My every wish control.

4 O, teach my heart the blessed way
To imitate thy Son!

Teach me, O God, in truth to pray,
"Thy will, not mine, be done."

683. L. M. PEABODY.

Heaven.

1 O, WHEN the hours of life are past,
And death's dark shade arrives at last,—
It is not sleep, it is not rest,-
'Tis glory opening to the blest.

2 Their way to heaven was pure from sin,
And Christ shall there receive them in;
There each shall wear a robe of light,
Like his, divinely fair and bright.
3 There parted hearts again shall meet
In union holy, calm and sweet;
Their grief find rest, and never more
Shall sorrow call them to deplore.

4 There angels will unite their prayers
With spirits bright and blest as theirs,
And light shall glance on every crown,
From suns that never more go down.

5 For there the God of mercy sheds
His purest influence on their heads,
And gilds the spirits round the throne
With glory radiant as his own.

684.

C. M.

PEABODY.

Peaceful death of the Pious.

1 BEHOLD the western evening light!
It melts in deepening gloom;
So calmly Christians sink away,
Descending to the tomb.

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