XXI.

PRAISE TO GOD FROM ALL NATURE.

1 O AZURE Vaults! O crystal sky! The world's transparent canopy!

Break your long silence, and let mortals know With what contempt you look on things below.

2 O light! thou fairest, first of things,

From whom all joy, all beauty springs; O praise the almighty Ruler of the globe, Who useth thee as his imperial robe.

3 Great eye of all! whose glorious ray Rules the bright empire of the day;

O praise his name, without whose purer light,
Thou hadst been hid in an abyss of night.

4 Ye moon and planets! who dispense
By God's command your influence;
Resign to him, as to your Maker due,
That homage which man's folly pays to you.
5 Ye mists and vapours, hail and snow,
And you who through the concave blow,
Swift to perform the mandates of his word,
Whirlwinds and tempests! praise the almighty
Lord.

6 Praise him, ye monsters of the deep,
That in the sea's vast bosom sleep:

At whose command the foaming billows roar; Yet know their limits, tremble, and adore.

7 Praise him, old monuments of time!
O praise him, ye in youthful prime !
All ye who shine in beauty's excellence!
And praise him, thou sweet age of innocence!

8 Let the wide world his praises sing,

From whom its various blessings spring; Let echoing anthems make his praises known, On earth his footstool, as in heaven his throne.

XXII.

FALLEN is thy throne, O Israel;
Silence is o'er thy plains;
Thy dwellings all lie desolate,

Thy children weep in chains.

Where are the dews that fed thee
On Elim's barren shore?
That fire from Heaven which led thee,
Now lights thy path no more.

XXIII.

THE CHRISTIAN ISRAEL.

1 0 PRAISE our great and glorious Lord,
And call upon his name;

To strains of joy tune every chord,
His mighty acts proclaim.

Tell how he led his chosen race
To Canaan's promised land;
Tell how his covenant of grace
Unchanged shall ever stand.

2 He gave the shadowing cloud by day,
The moving fire by night:
To guide his Israel on their way,
He made their darkness light.
And have we not a sure retreat,
A Saviour ever nigh?

The same clear light to guide our feet,
The Day-spring from on high?

3 We, too, have manna from above,

'The bread that came from Heaven ;'
To us the same kind hand of love
Hath living waters given.

A rock we have from whence the spring
In rich abundance flows:

"That rock is Christ,' our Priest, our King, Who life and health bestows.

4 O let us prize this blessed food,
And trust our heavenly guide;
So shall we find death's fearful flood
Serene as Jordan's tide;

And safely reach that happy shore,
The land of peace and rest,
Where angels worship and adore,
In God's own presence blest.

XXIV.

SONG OF SIMEON.-Luke ii. 29.

1 'Tis enough-the hour is come;
Now within the silent tomb
Let this mortal frame decay,
Mingled with its kindred clay;
Since thy mercies oft of old
By thy chosen seers foretold,
Faithful now, and steadfast prove,
God of truth, and God of love!

2 Since at length my aged eye
Sees the day-spring from on high!
Those whom death has overspread
With his dark and dreary shade,
Lift their eyes, and, from afar,
Hail the light of Jacob's star;
Waiting till the promised ray
Turn their darkness into day.

3 Sun of Righteousness, to Thee,
Lo! the nations bow the knee;
And the realms of distant kings
Own the healing of thy wings;
See the beams intensely shed,
Shine on Zion's favoured head!
Never may they hence remove,
God of truth, and God of love!

XXV.

FOR CHRISTMAS.

THOU Child divine, Immanuel,

Welcome unto thy humble manger, With heartfelt joy thy birth we hail,

And greet with songs the heavenly stranger;

Our doubts and fears and sadness
Are turned to joy and gladness;
Good will to men, and peace on earth,
Are now declared by a Saviour's birth.

Hosanna! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!

XXVI.

Go forth to the mount, bring the olive branch home, And rejoice, for the day of our freedom is come!

From that day when the moon, upon Ajalon's vale Looking motionless down, saw the kings of the

earth

In the presence of God's mighty champion grow

pale,

Oh never had Judah an hour of such mirth!

Go forth to the mount, bring the olive branch home, And rejoice, for the day of our freedom is come!