Thy constant mercy deigneth
A covenant of peace;
So long as earth remaineth,
Its plenty shall not cease;
Still in Thy holy keeping
Our grateful eyes behold
The sowing and the reaping,
As in the days of old!
Yea, though in righteous reason
Thy judgments might have frown'd,
The harvest in its season
Hath joyfully come round;
And while our sins are grievous
And make us fear the rod,
Thy pity doth relieve us
Because we hope in GOD!
Thee, Thee alone for ever
Thy children still shall praise,
And duteously endeavour
To walk in all Thy ways; Still hoping and still asking Thy pardon and Thy love, And in the sunshine basking Of blessings from above!
Our Chanksgiving Bqwn.
NOVEMBER 15, 1849.
Father of mercies, O SPIRIT of love,
O SON of the Blessed who reignest above,
Thou Good One, and Great One! in homage to Thee,
We bring the glad heart, and we bend the true knee.
Thy people would praise Thee, O Thou beyond praise!
For wondrous in love are Thy works and Thy ways;
Thy children would pour from the heart and the voice
Their psalm of thanksgiving in GOD to rejoice!
Because Thou hast heard us! and answer'd the pray'r
We made in the season of death and despair;
Because over judgment, and terror, and pain,
Thy mercy hath triumph'd, and saved us again!
Ah! well we remember how dark and how dread
The pestilence brooded o'er living and dead;
And can we forget with what mercy and might
The prayer which Thou blessest hath scatter'd the blight!
Yet more! for the fulness of plenty and peace
Hath made us in wealth as in health to increase,
And so would we thank Thee, because thou hast given
The fatness of earth, and the favour of heaven!
Then, Father of mercies, accept what we bring,-
Our incense of praise to the SAVIOUR and King!
Hosannah!-to Thee let us gratefully live,—
Hallelujah! O LORD, when Thou hearest, forgive.
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!
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 ?—
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 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!
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:
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!
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,-
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!
“Liberty-Equality—Fraternity !”
Liberty!-Who shall be free ?
The winds of the air, and the waves of the sea,
And the beast in his lair, and the bird on its tree,
And the savage who battles with boars and with bears
For the root that he grubs, or the flesh that he tears,-
Liberty, these are for thee!
That reason, and duty, and science, and skill,
And order, and beauty, are lawgivers still,-
And yet that responsible Man can be found
Untrammell'd by rules, and by harness unbound ?—
Liberty, No man is free.
Were the heart without love, or the mind without fear,
For the Father above, and his family here;
And faith and affection, constraining or fond,
What are they but chains, an invincible bond,
Liberty, manacling Thee! ·
Liberty, look not on me
With a Siren's smile on thy beautiful face,
And a treacherous wile in thy warm embrace :
No! let me feel fetter'd,—a martyr, a slave
To honour and duty from cradle to grave!
Liberty, I'll none of Thee.
Liberty!" fetter'd," yet free:
For the chain that we wear is of roses and balm,
And the badge that we bear is The Conqueror's palm,
And the licence we loathe is a freedom to Sin,
And the thraldom we love is Obedience within,
Liberty, leading to Thee!
Liberty!-for thou shalt be
My glorious reward in a happier clime,
From the hand of my LORD, who hath bound me to Time
As a bondsman here for a year and a day
To reign as a King for ever and aye,
Holy, and happy, and Free!
|