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This is my prayer unto Thee, O Lord: speak, and make me to know

the truth!

What is thy blessèd doctrine that I may meditate thereon ever

more?

What are the inspiring songs of praise wherefor, inspired of thee, I implored thee?

And what sure testimonies shall enable thy people to serve thee in quiet steadfastness?

Whereby may my soul press forward in goodness, speak, speak that compelling Word!

IX

This is my prayer unto Thee, O Lord: speak, and make me to know

the truth!

How may I sanctify unto myself the vision of truth thou hast

bestowed,

That as a master in the kingdom of loving kindness, persuasively I may impart it,

That possessing them both, indeed, I may with authority set thee

forth

Who with the law dost dwell with thy people, and in the good will of every heart?

X

This do I ask of Thee, O Lord: speak, and make me to know the

truth!

What doctrine of all revelations of faith is in thy sight the best? Which shall cause our homes to see good days that go hand in

hand with thy law?

Which ordereth our ways by justice and virtue to that will which ensueth the good?

May the prayers of my enlightened heart draw thee verily nigh

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This do I ask of Thee, O Lord: speak, and make me to know the

truth!

Shall the mind that is swift unto goodness come from thee unto

these thy servants

For whose sake, O all-knowing God, thy wisdom is published

abroad?

For lo, am not I in these blessèd gifts confessed of thy servants the foremost

Who all false gods, and them that worship the Lie, do cast out

and abhor!

HYMNS TO ZEUS

ANCIENT INVOCATION

Muses of the Piërian Mount, whose lays be begetters of glory,
Hither, cry aloud, and praise your sire, even Zeus, in your hymn,—
Through whom are all mortal men,-both the unknown to fame and

the far-famed,

Even as sung or unsung, by the grace of Zeus the most mighty— For lightly in sooth he imparteth strength, or the strong of thew layeth low,

Lightly the uplifted proud he minisheth, and the lowly he lifteth aloft,

Lightly he bendeth the crooked straight, and the haughty he withereth to husks:

Zeus, who thundereth in the highest, whose abode is the uppermost heaven,―

Hearken, behold and perceive! Guide, amend Thou our righteous judgments!

I

HOMERIC HYMN TO ZEUS

Zeus, the best of all Gods that are, will I praise in holy song,
The best, ay, and greatest, the lord, afar-off beholding all things
And bringing all to an end, who taketh evermore sweet counsel
With Themis, the lady of law and right on her queenly couch
reclining.

Be gracious, O thou far-seeing son of Kronos-who lord is of time,
Child of heaven himself and of earth--O thou most glorious One,
And greatest forever, [yea, hearken to one who invoketh thine aid].

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Of immortal gods most glorious, adored under manifold names, Almighty forever, O Zeus, heaven-god, who wroughtest and wieldest

nature,

Law-governed, steering the course of all with law, hail, hail! We proclaim and invoke thee,

As is meet, for of thy being are we gotten thine offspring, and of creatures that perish,

Which live and move on the earth, we alone are endowed with thy likeness and voice:

Wherefore, thee, thee must I, summon with worship for aye, exalting thy power.

2

Lo, in sooth yon whole fair order wheeleth sublime about this earthi Following whither thou guidest, strong, and exulting in thy sway. What thou holdest fast, to do thy will, thy servant in thine omnipotent hands,

Behold: 'tis the twain-edged blazing inextinguishable thunderbolt, At whose flash and crash the whole world shuddereth prone with holy fear,

What time thou into right paths directest that common reason and mind,

Which pulsing sweepeth and freely commingleth with whatso doth

appear

Both great and small, and hath mightier waxed 'till sovran in and through all.

3

Nay, nought on this hallowed earth, O God, without thy Godhead cometh to pass

From the unclomb height of heaven to the unplumbed deep of

the sea,

Save such things only as the wicked devise with their own sensevoided mind,

Albeit thou wottest well how to perfect what lacketh, or outgoeth

the right,

Enduing in beauteous form the uncomely and formless, winning thee foe to friend,

Yea, harmonizing the many in one that the noble do spring of the base,

And one mind, shared in common of all, may arise thence enduring

for aye;

Which they only eschew and do flee from, that are wicked 'mong mortal men,

Ill-starred the rather, for that ever they fondly crave of good things the mastery,

Yet none the less glance away from the law of God common to all, nor hearken:

Though even they, would they follow with sane mind and heed it, might lead brave, fortunate lives.

4

[But they start self-willed and fly backward from the right, each after his own:

With eager zeal some, in pursuit of false glory accruing to an evil

strife,

The while others be turned aside from any fair order by a covetous crafty greed,

And other some, unto listless sloth, and the delicate lusts of the flesh, Wherefore, in their unseemly hot haste, what runneth athwart their desire doth befall them.]

5

But O Zeus, bestower of all good gifts, cloud-wrapt in the dark, whose word is the thunder,

Do thou rid us, children of men, from the bane of a craven

inexperience,

The which do thou shiver, O Father, and scatter from the soul, granting grace that we 'light on

The blessed wisdom, in trust whereon Thou in righteousness steerest all things;

That having received so great honor from thee, we in deed requite thee with honor,

In our hymns, as beseemeth mortals, praising from the first to the last thy works

Seeing greater boon of joy there is none, for both them whom a wound can slay

And Gods imperishable, than in righteousness to praise the law common to all, that endureth forever!

ORPHIC HYMN TO ZEUS

Zeus is the first, Zeus shall be last, Lord and wielder of thunder; Zeus is the head, Zeus is the midmost, and all things were made

by Him.

Zeus is very foundation of earth, and of the star-glistering heaven. Zeus becometh the manly man, immortal Zeus the maiden chaste, Zeus is the deep-drawn breath of all creatures, the unquenchable flare of the fire,

Zeus is the root and fount of the vasty deep, Zeus is the sun and the moon,

Zeus is absolute Lord, Zeus inmost law, and bringer to birth of all, Whatso is veiled he veileth, and himself is their rise again to the

light;

Yea, out of his sacred heart, by his holy will is the evil men bear, decreed.

A VIRGILIAN DEFINITION OF RELIGION

"Virtute extendere vires."-By virtue, the essence of the man, increase we the powers of man.

"Spiritus intus alit."-The Cosmic Life-Spirit, the breath of heaven, nourisheth a man from within himself.

"Da pater augurium atque animis in labere nostris."

Give us, O Father, Thy guidance, yea, and glide Thou in to take possession of our souls.

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