Ballads for the Times (Now first collected,) Geraldine, A Modern Pyramid, Bartenus, A Thousand Lines, and other poems. By Martin F. Tupper. A new Edition, enlarged and revised |
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Acceptable Thanks!
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 | Ballads for the Times |  |
266
Acceptable Thanks!
A Sequel to “Our Thanksgiving Hymn.”
Thanksgiving! O brothers, how pleasant a thing
It is the glad anthem to raise
In deep adoration of Heaven's High King,
So far above blessing and praise!
It is the glad anthem to raise
In deep adoration of Heaven's High King,
So far above blessing and praise!
Thanksgiving! O children of God in all ranks,
How then shall we worthily give
A holy oblation, acceptable thanks,
To Him in whose favour we live?—
How then shall we worthily give
A holy oblation, acceptable thanks,
To Him in whose favour we live?—
By penitence, patience, contentment, and prayer,
By peace upon earth and goodwill,
By speeding the woes of affliction to share,
And hasting the hungry to fill:
By peace upon earth and goodwill,
By speeding the woes of affliction to share,
And hasting the hungry to fill:
By making, as masters, this Thanksgiving Day
A holiday, happy and true,
Not meanly withholding the journeyman's pay,
But giving it all as his due!
A holiday, happy and true,
Not meanly withholding the journeyman's pay,
But giving it all as his due!
By bringing an Englishman's home to the poor,
A home of clean comfort, and peace;
By driving disease and despair from his door,
And making his hardships to cease:
A home of clean comfort, and peace;
By driving disease and despair from his door,
And making his hardships to cease:
By Water, and Air,—the free bounties of Heaven;
By wise recreation and rest;
By fairly earn'd wages ungrudgingly given
For Labour,—the honest man's test!
By wise recreation and rest;
By fairly earn'd wages ungrudgingly given
For Labour,—the honest man's test!
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O thus, if the rich for the poor man will move
To better his home and his hearth,—
O thus, if the poor his rich brother will love,
And honour his betters on earth,—
To better his home and his hearth,—
O thus, if the poor his rich brother will love,
And honour his betters on earth,—
Then God will be pleased! and this Thanksgiving Day
Will indeed be a Summer of days,
For Man will be gladden'd by Man as he may,
And God by acceptable praise!
Will indeed be a Summer of days,
For Man will be gladden'd by Man as he may,
And God by acceptable praise!
| Ballads for the Times | |