 | My Mind and its Thoughts, in Sketches, Fragments, and Essays |  |
DEDICATION HYMN.
WRITTEN AT THE REQUEST OF THE CHURCH OF WEST BOSTON.
In vain would mortal hands prepare
The temple's blest abode;
Unless, supreme in mercy there,
Descend the accepting God.
The temple's blest abode;
Unless, supreme in mercy there,
Descend the accepting God.
In vain the warbled prayer we raise
In strains that seem divine;
Unless the heart's responsive praise,
Inspiring God! be thine.
In strains that seem divine;
Unless the heart's responsive praise,
Inspiring God! be thine.
Such was a Mayhew's
soul of zeal,
Adoring thee with fear,
He taught the sinner's heart to feel,
The avenging power was near.
Mayhew and Howard were Divines established to preach the Gospel in the former Sanctuary, the Reverend Mr. Lowell, a young man amiable and eloquent, was the ordained Pastor of the new Church.—These three Stanzas being local and personal, might be omitted upon any occasion for which the remaining lines might be made applicable.
Adoring thee with fear,
He taught the sinner's heart to feel,
The avenging power was near.
With milder light a Howard shone,
To him persuasion given,
He made thy pitying promise known,
Parent of earth, and heaven!
To him persuasion given,
He made thy pitying promise known,
Parent of earth, and heaven!
Such may your youthful Pastor prove,
The words of life to feel,
Be his a Howard's patient love,
A Mayhew's heavenly zeal!
The words of life to feel,
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A Mayhew's heavenly zeal!
O THOU! to whom the solar blaze
Is but a shadowy zone,
To thee our holiest dome we raise,
Glorious for God alone!
Is but a shadowy zone,
To thee our holiest dome we raise,
Glorious for God alone!
| My Mind and its Thoughts, in Sketches, Fragments, and Essays | |