4 With warmest beams, thou God of grace,

Shine on this heart of mine, Turn thou my winter into spring, And be the glory thine.

574

1

GRE

The Harvest.

REAT God, as seasons disappear,
And changes mark the rolling year,
Thy favor still has crowned our days,
And we would celebrate thy praise.
2 The harvest-song would we repeat;
Thou givest us the finest wheat:
The joys of harvest we have known;
The praise, O Lord, is all thy own.

3 Another harvest comes apace;
Prepare our spirits by thy grace,
That we may calmly meet the blow
The sickle gives to lay us low.

4 That when the angel-reapers come,
To gather sheaves to thy bless'd home,
Our spirits may be borne on high,
To thy safe garner in the sky.

575

1

SEE

Autumn. Isa. Ixiv. 6.

EE. the leaves around us falling, Dry and withered, to the ground; Thus to thoughtless mortals calling,

In a sad and solemn sound.

2 "Ye on length of days presuming,
Think how soon our course has fled;
We were lately fresh and blooming,
Now are withered, dry, and dead.
3 "Cease presumptuous hopes to cherish,
Prize the seasons as they fly;
Like the leaves you rise and flourish,
Like the leaves must droop and die.

4 "But to those in Jesus planted

By a true and living faith,
Shall unfading spring be granted,
And a triumph over death."

Rippon.

L. M.

8.7.

Bickersteth

576 1 STE

Winter.

TERN winter throws his icy chains,
Encircling nature round;

How bleak, how comfortless the plains
Late with gay verdure crowned!

2 The sun withdraws his vital beams,
And light and warmth depart;
And drooping, lifeless nature seems
An emblem of my heart.

3 My heart, where mental winter reigns,
In night's dark mantle clad,
Confined in cold, inactive chains-
How desolate and sad!

4 Return, O blissful Sun, and bring
Thy soul-reviving ray;

This mental winter shall be spring,
This darkness cheerful day.

5 Oh happy state, divine abode,

Where spring eternal reigns; And perfect day, the smile of God, Fills all the heavenly plains!

6 Great Source of light, thy beams display,
My drooping joys restore,

And guide me to the seats of day,
Where winter frowns no more.

577

1

Drought.

HE sun, that minister of love,
Who from the naked ground

Calls forth the hidden scenes to birth,
And spreads their beauties round;

2 At the dread order of his God,

Now darts destructive fires;

C. M.

Mrs. Steele.

C. M.

Hills, plains, and vales, are parched with drought, And blooming life expires.

3 Like burnished brass, the heaven around

In angry terror burns,

While the earth lies a joyless waste,

And into iron turns.

4 Oh pity, Lord, our deep distress, Nor with our land contend;

1

Gibbons.

C. M.

NOT

TOW may the Lord of earth and skies
Regard us when we call;

"Tis he who bids the vapors rise,

And showers abundant fall.

2 On thee, our God, we all depend
. For life, and health, and food;
Oh make refreshing showers descend,
And crown the year with good.

3 Let grace come down, like copious rain,
On Zion's drooping field;

So shall our souls revive again,
And fruit abundant yield.

4 Then smiling nature shall express
Her mighty Maker's praise;
And we, the children of thy grace,
Join her harmonious lays.

579

1

OH

Liberality.

H, what stupendous mercy shines
Around the majesty of heaven!

Rebels he deigns to call his sons,

Their souls renewed, their sins forgiven.

2 Go, imitate the grace divine,

The grace that blazes like a sun:
Hold forth your fair, though feeble light,
Through all your lives let mercy run.
3 Upon your bounty's willing wings,
Swift let the great salvation fly!
The hungry feed, the naked clothe,
To pain and sickness help apply.

4 When all is done, renounce your deeds,
Renounce self-righteousness with scorn;
Thus will you glorify your God,

And thus the Christian name adorn.

580

1

1IF

Encouragement to Perseverance.

our warfare be laborious,

Soon the strife will reach a close:

Burder.

L. M.

Rippon.

8.7.4.

Rest is sweet, secure, and glorious,
That from prosp'rous warfare flows:
Doubly precious

After labor is repose.

2 Are there many foes before us,
Standing to oppose our way?
Yet they shall not overpower us—
This with boldness we may say;
Since Jehovah

Guards his people night and day.
3 Are we blind and prone to error?
God vouchsafes to be our guide:
Are we faint, and full of terror?
He himself is on our side.
"Tis sufficient-

God our Saviour will provide.

4 When through him we prove victorious,
Then will strife and labor cease;

Then our triumph will be glorious,
Then his people dwell at ease;
And their portion

Will be everlasting peace.

581

1

Benevolent Effort.

Kelly.

C. M.

LORD, who dost thy boundless power
In acts of goodness show,

Thy mercy let the world adore;

Thence all our blessings flow.

2 This still shall be our grateful theme,
Thy praise we'll ever sing:

Our friends the kind refreshing stream,
But thou th' unfailing spring.

3 Each hand and heart that lends us aid,
Thou dost inspire and guide;

Nor shall their love be unrepaid,
Who for the poor provide.

4 May all the pleasing pains they share
Be crowned with wished success;
The present age applaud their care,
And future ages bless.

Russell.

1 LORD of glory, who didst honor David's humble sling and stone,

Ancient Israel to deliver

Now as weak an effort own;
Bless the labor

Which our feeble hands have done.

2 'Tis the gospel seed we 're sowing
On the good and fallow ground;
Bearing, weeping, without knowing
Which shall fail and which abound:
Holy Spirit,

Let it verdant spring around.
3 When the harvest-time is ended,
When the Master counts our sheaves,
Oh let those by us attended,
Be as numerous as the leaves
Which we scatter,

And a dying world receives.

583

Temperance Hymn.

1 MOURN for the thousands slain,
The youthful and the strong;
Mourn for the wine-cup's fatal reign,
And the deluded throng.

2 Mourn for the tarnished gem

For Reason's light divine,

Quenched from the soul's bright diadem,
Where God had bid it shine.

3 Mourn for the ruined soul

Eternal life and light

Lost by the fiery, maddening bowl,
And turned to hopeless night.

4 Mourn for the lost-but call,

Call to the strong, the free;
Rouse them to shun that dreadful fall,
And to the refuge flee.

5 Mourn for the lost-but pray,

Pray to our God above,

To break the fell destroyer's sway,

And show his saving love.

8.7.4.

S. M.

C. (orig.)