Lift to the firmament your eye-
Thither His path pursue;
His glory, boundless as the sky,
O'erwhelms the wondering view.
The forests in His strength rejoice;
Hark! on the evening breeze,
As once of old, Jehovah's voice,
Is heard among the trees.
Here, on the hills, He feeds his herds,
His flocks in yonder plains;
His praise is warbled by the birds;
Oh! could we catch their strains,
Mount with the lark, and bear our song
Up to the gates of light!
Or, with the nightingale, prolong
Our numbers through the night!
His blessings fall in plenteous showers
Upon the lap of earth,
That teems with foliage, fruits, and flowers,
And rings with infant mirth.
If God hath made this world so fair,
Where sin and death abound,
How beautiful, beyond compare,
Will Paradise be found!
JAMES MONTGOMERY.
91. FROM GREENLAND'S ICY MOUNTAINS.
FROM Greenland's icy mountains,
From India's coral strand,
Where Afric's sunny fountains
Roll down their golden sand;
From many an ancient river,
From many a balmy plain,
They call us to deliver
Their land from error's chain.
What though the spicy breezes
Blow soft on Ceylon's isle,
Though every prospect pleases,
And only man is vile?
In vain, with lavish kindness,
The gifts of God are strewn;
The heathen, in his blindness,
Bows down to wood and stone.
Shall we whose souls are lighted
With wisdom from on high,
Shall we to men benighted
The lamp of life deny?
Salvation! oh, salvation!
The joyful sound proclaim,
Till each remotest nation
Has learn'd Messiah's name.
Waft, waft, ye winds, his story,
And you, ye waters, roll,
Till, like a sea of glory,
It spreads from pole to pole;
Till o'er our ransom'd nature
The Lamb for sinners slain,
Redeemer, King, Creator,
In bliss returns to reign.
92. ALL'S FOR THE BEST.
ALL'S for the best! be sanguine and cheerful;
Trouble and sorrow are friends in disguise;
Nothing but folly grows faithless and fearful;
Courage for ever is happy and wise:
All's for the best,-if man would but know it,
Providence wishes us all to be blest;
This is no dream of the pundit or poet;
Heaven is gracious, and All's for the best!
All's for the best! set this on your standard,
Soldier of sadness, or pilgrim of love,
Who to the shores of despair may have wander'd,
A way-wearied swallow, or heart-stricken dove!
All's for the best! be a man but confiding,
Providence tenderly governs the rest;
And the frail bark of his creature is guiding
Wisely and warily, all for the best!
All's for the best! then fling away terrors;
Meet all your fears and your foes in the van;
And in the midst of your dangers or errors
Trust like a child, while you strive like a man:
All's for the best!— unbiass'd, unbounded, Providence reigns from the East to the West; And, by both wisdom and mercy surrounded, Hope, and be happy, that.
HEN through life unblest we rove,
Losing all that made life dear,
Should some notes we used to love,
In days of boyhood, meet our ear,-
Oh! how welcome breathes the strain!
Wakening thoughts that long have slept;
Kindling former smiles again
In faded eyes that long have wept!
Like the gale that sighs along
Beds of oriental flowers,
Is the grateful voice of song
That once was heard in happier hours;
Fill'd with balm, the gale sighs on,
Though the flowers have sunk in death;
So when pleasure's dream is gone,
Its memory lives in music's breath.
Music! oh, how faint, how weak,
Language fades before thy spell!
Why should feeling ever speak,
When thou canst breathe her soul so well?
Friendship's balmy words may feign;
Love's are e'en more false than they ;
Oh! 'tis only music's strain
Can sweetly soothe, and not betray
Y days amid the dead are past;
Åround me I behold,
Where'er these casual eyes are cast,
The mighty minds of old :
My never-failing friends are they,
With whom I converse day by day.
With them I take delight in weal,
And seek relief in woe;
And while I understand and feel
How much to them I owe,
My cheeks have often been bedew'd
With tears of thoughtful gratitude.
My thoughts are with the dead; with them
I live in long-past years;
Their virtues love, their faults condemn,
Partake their hopes and fears;
And from their lessons seek and find
Instruction with a humble mind.
My hopes are with the dead; anon
My place with them will be;
And I with them shall travel on
Through all futurity;
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