University of Virginia Library

Almighty, True, Eternal, and Supreme,
By Person Threefold and in Nature One,
Jehovah dread, adorable I Am!
Through Christ alone accessibly reveal'd,
In whom Thine attributes and counsels meet
Become incarnate and the World redeem,—
Look on our hearts, and lift them up to Thee,
By prayer and praise for due ascension wing'd.
Illume, expand, and purify the Soul
With inward radiance, from Thyself derived;
The springs of mind unlock, and let them gush
Heavenward to Thee in one commingled stream
Of adoration, duteous as divine.

Thou Infinite! since first creation roll'd
Of heaven thy mercy hath a shade reveal'd
To Nature's heart; in ev'ry age or clime,
Heard in the wind, or by the tempest robed,
Or in the parent-sun presumed to shine,
Still has immortal soul been stamp'd with Thee!

Oh, all which thought can span, or eye perceive,
Is but a part, a shadow of Thy Power
Creating, filling, and upholding All!
The arch'd immensity above us spread,
Where mystic worlds their silent march perform,
And Seasons live, and act; the chainless Deep
Belting the earth with majesty and might;
The mountains pinnacled with storms; the floods
And streams, the meadows beautified with flowers,
A God declare! and in the thunder-peals
Rattling from cloud to cloud their voices dire,
Like Sinai, when the awe of sound convulsed
Her cavern'd height,—a Deity is there!
But when dark whirlwinds o'er creation sweep
Like rebel Spirits plunging from the sky,
We dread Thee, wing'd upon each awful blast!

Fountain of Light and Love! while Nature hymns
Thy praise in wave or wind, from shore to shore,
Thy miniature, immortal Man, the grace
And glory of the earth, with brow erect
Was made the world to walk in joy; to share
Thy goodness; and adore the Hand divine.
Then look, Thou Universal One! Whose eye
Alike on all is fix'd, with mercy view
This wide and peopled World; from east to west
From north to south Thy guardian care extend:
In Polar climes, in lands refined or rude,
In isles remote, or deserts grimly vast,
Where beats a heart within a human breast
There be Thou present, and Thy power adored!
And oh, since all one common race are doom'd
To run, and one Eternal Goal to reach,
May Thy prime Attribute each bosom warm
With tender sympathy and truth; may Man
To man be link'd, in fellowship of soul,
Till one vast chain of Love the world embrace.

Unsearchable! before whose boundless gaze
The Past the Present and the Future stand
Submissive, we implore Thee to unshroud
The Sun of truth; His heavenly beam advance
From pole to pole, till on His perfect face
All earth shall gaze, one glorious Altar rise,
And every soul unite to hail thee, God!

And, ah! may those who fight the war of faith
With weapons such as brave Apostles wore,
In climes where Sin and Satan darkly rage
Feel holy valour, from Thy shield derived:
Defend them, Thou! Whose cross their banner decks,
When bleak with ice or burnt with torrid glow
Deserts of gloom and death their eyes appal;
Or when at midnight, round their flapping tent
The hurricane like a demon howls,
Let Hope descend, their falt'ring hearts confirm,
And free as morning let their faith arise
Again for conquest, o'er the host of Hell;
While round them, daily may Redemption see
Idolatry from thrones of darkness fall
For ever, by the sword of Truth destroy'd.

As o'er the treach'rous sea of human life
We wander, till our anchor'd spirits rest
In the calm haven of eternity,
Without a heart-deep sense, a wakeful dread
Of Thee, felt in the mind, and by the act
Reveal'd, we perish on the rock of sin:
Lord of the Universe! impress, we pray,
Upon our minds Thy majesty, that breathes
A holy freshness through the heart; and raise
And animate the soul to things sublime;
O'erawe the passions, and each thought arrest
Which on the fiery wing of impulse roams
Unheedful of the Voice within, where dwells
The chronicler of virtue and of crime.
Omnipotent! in every Soul be shrined:
So shall our deeds be echoes of good thoughts,
And at Thy dreadful summons we shall stand
Unharm'd, secure amid the shock of worlds!

And since to Thee the unveil'd heart be known,
Nor voiceless thought, nor wish can rise, but Thou
Record'st it in Thine awful Book of Life,
The tempted mind oh! may we ever watch
And keep it pure from each unhallow'd wish,
From each depraved desire: so shall our days
In beautiful declension fade; and Hope
And Faith triumphant o'er the world exult;
Till back recall'd, the renovated Soul
Shall reap beatitude in realms of light.

On each degree of men, benignant God!
Thy sleepless care we pray Thee to bestow;
Grave it on each adoring mind, that Heaven's
Bright portals are to all unbarr'd, that high
Nor mean, nor rich nor poor with Thee prevail
By aught peculiar, save a perfect heart:
The meanest orphan of the world may win
A wreath in heaven; the humblest wear a crown
Of life. And oh! may those, the gifted few,
Archangels of the earth, before whose thrones
Mortality will bend, and half adore,
Remember what to Thee and Man they owe:
May Genius never stoop to pander vice,
But fix her eye on heaven, and walk the earth
A Spirit conscious of her native sphere.

Prime Source of being! let the richly-dower'd
Forget not Him from whom their riches flow,
And heaven-born Charity exult to be
A bright reflection of Thy glorious Self!
Her office 'tis, sweet Harbinger of love,
To light the burden from oppressed hearts,
To pluck the arrow from Affliction's breast,
Nor leave a pang behind; and where the sad
And unobtrusive Virtues toil, to shed
The balm of joy, and wreathe their cup of wo
With smiles accorded by approving Heaven.

To Thee, to Thee alone, pervading God,
The sum of human agonies is known!
But wheresoe'er the race of sorrow dwell
There may Thy dews of mercy fall; refresh
The wither'd heart, the languid eye of Want
Relume, and bid Misfortune smile again:
And since from Thee the breath of Life began
And on each brow the seal of God is set,
Oh, hear the bitter sighs of Thraldom, breathed
Morn, noon, and night, from out ten thousands hearts
Of agony, to Thee: Awake, arise,
God of the slave and free! and disenthral
The World; bid freedom shine, and like thy sun
Illume and animate Creation round.

And let the young, on whose delighted gaze
In hopeful beauty dawns the dream of life,
In their unspotted bosoms treasure thoughts
Of Thee, to guide them through the cloudy years;
And may the Old, upon whose gray-worn heads
An honourable crown past Time has placed,
When earth grows dim, and worldly joys decay,
Find heaven advancing as the world retires.

Oh! Thou that fathomest the guilty mind
And canst interpret each debasing thought
Untold, the erring soul arouse, by Sin
From Thee withdrawn; the form of Vice unveil,
And bare her hideous aspect to the eye
Of Truth; then, bid return the rebel heart,
And blot its error with repentant tears.

On him, whom Hope and Faith exalt, what dreams,
What joys, and what diviner moods attend!
The world He walks, as Jesus walk'd the waves,
Triumphant and secure. In every scene
A love for Thee prevails; Creation breathes
Of heaven: the vaulted sky with stars bedropt;
The Ocean roll'd to rest, or sending up
Tremendous pæans to her mighty Lord;
The field and flower; whate'er in noontide walk
Is sweet, to Him his wondering heart allure,
The source and spirit of the moving Whole.
All order, beauty, and perfection here
Form but the shadows of more perfect Bliss
Cast from a purer world; he dwells in Thee,
And Thou in him; Heaven seems his native home
And Immortality embowers him there.

Not for the fleeting joys of Life alone
We pray, and those by blood or truth allied:
When Life's fierce storms are hush'd, and Death that veil
Undraws, beyond which never human glance
Hath seen, oh, then be present, viewless Power!
And calm the pangs of Nature's closing scene:
Let haunting fears, nor fiery dreams the past
Recall; but may the grave a future bed
Of glory be; around the dying couch
May bands of sympathetic Angels watch,
And waft the wingèd Spirit to its home.

Omnipotent! at Whose creative word
Eternity a shining host sent forth
Of worlds, to balance in the beauteous air,
Still may the Sun upon his dazzling brow
Thy smile of mercy o'er mankind reflect;
Still let abundance crown the year; still roll
The seasons o'er a prosperous land, and breeze
And blast, and all the treasure of the clouds
The pregnant earth enrich, and heap the load
Of human gratitude to gracious heaven!

Incarnate King of kings, and Lord of lords!
Since at thy fiat empires rise and fall
And melt like palaces of painted cloud,
Mantle our cherish'd Country with Thy wings
Of glory: may she prosper in the pride
Of liberty; Her ancient throne around
Let all the kingly virtues throng; and bid
Thy delegate, the Monarch of our Land,
Be graced with wisdom, and his sceptre wield
The majesty of Justice and of Truth;
May he be great and good, and ever find
A loving bulwark in the People's heart!

But with the prayer let boundless praise ascend
On wings that never droop. We praise Thee, God!
For life and limb; we praise Thee, God! for health
And wisdom, hope divine, and deathless truth;
For each vast symbol of Thy power portray'd
By this dread Universe, where Thou art seen,
As ocean mirrors an imperial sun.
In feeble infancy, when on the breast
We hang in slumber, Thy protecting Hand
O'ershades us; on our steps Thine angels wait;
And day by day, Thou shap'st the formless mind,
Teaching the thought to bud, the tongue to speak,
And on the heart reflecting grace and truth,
Which are the flashes that Thyself reveal.
And thus, through all the ravell'd maze of life
With viewless guidance Thou direct'st our feet,
Till, lo! upon that awful Brink we stand
Where shines the light which leads to Heaven the soul.

But Thine infinity of awful love
Oh who can fathom, when th' Incarnate came
And bade the moral resurrection dawn?
He look'd,—and in His glance grew bright the Earth!
Her slavish eye Idolatry unscaled,
While Superstition from her gloom arose
Burst from her bonds, and with an angel-shout
From east to west the Hallelujah rang!

Victor of Death! mysterious God and Man,
Who bore the vial of almighty Wrath
Upon His head outpour'd, the tomb unlock'd,
Trampled on Hell, and oped the gates of Heaven
To banish'd Man, hail Prince of Peace! enthroned
In glory, with Thy co-eternal Sire,
Our prayer accept, the incense of the soul,
And hallow it with Thy perfecting grace.

Thou Light of Light! by ancient seers foretold,
And by prophetic minstrels hymn'd, the sun
And centre of our faith, redeeming Christ!
Look down, and consecrate thy Church below:
Around it rally all thy faithful hearts,
Pillars beyond the power of Hell to shake!
Reluctant time roll on; and spread from land
To land, from isle to isle, the Word of Truth
Till Earth shall seem one universal soul.

But all is fruitless, save Thy Spirit teach,
Console, attract, illumine and adorn
The penitential Mind. Can deaf men feel
How Music wakens her enchanted might;
Or blind ones, when the lids of Morning ope,
Greet the proud radiance of commencing day?
So dull, and eyeless to the words and beams
Of truth heaven-sanction'd, is the rocky heart,
Before an unction of converting grace
Descend, and bid the glorious change begin.
Or, mark the body, when the soul is fled,
How pale and powerless, how corrupt and cold
It lies, and withers like a Dream of clay!
So dead to things transcendently divine
In carnal trance the soul itself abides,
Till comes Thy Spirit with celestial breath,
The faded lineaments of God revives
And quickens nature with transforming power:
Then, Thou art all, and all in Thee resides.
Eternity upon the Book of Life
Reflected, how sublime the means of Grace!
In Christ what love immeasurably deep
Embodied! what a glory robes the Cross!
Each word, each promise, each divine appeal
By Thee brought home, how vast redemption grows!
Vile passions sink; and low affections raised,
No longer worm-like creep in dust and gloom,
But, wing'd by faith, beyond the world ascend,
Exulting round The Throne, and hearing oft
Faint echoes of some archangelic hymn
To Jesu chanted; Who, as Lord of deed
And life of thought, o'er all our being reigns;
And oft, by sacred fascination led,
To Calvary our yearning Hearts retire,
Kneel at the Cross, and see the Saviour die!

Be with us, Lord, till years of fadeless bloom
Act the bright wonders which Isaiah sung,
And Eden, lovelier far than Adam saw,
Lit by the Sun of Righteousness, appear!
And when at length Thy gospel-Kingdom comes,
When the last Trumpet wakes the trance of time
And thunders roll creation's knell, Thine eye
Shall beam with mercy; and Thy voice will sound
A welcome to the Skies; while, angel-wing'd,
Myriads ascend to shine immortal there.