All Things vain without Love.
1 HAD I the tongues of Greeks and Jews,
And nobler speech than angels use,
If love be absent, I am found
Like tinkling brass, an empty sound.
2 Were I inspired to preach and tell
All that is done in heaven and hell;
Or could my faith the world remove,
Still I am nothing without love.
3 Should I distribute all my store
To feed the cravings of the poor;
Or give my body to the flame
To gain a martyr's glorious name;
4 If love to God and love to men
Be absent, all my hopes are vain:
Nor tongues, nor gifts, nor fiery zeal,
The works of love can e'er fulfil.
'But the greatest of these is Charity.' 1 HAPPY the heart where graces reign, Where love inspires the breast: Love the brightest of the train, And strengthens all the rest.
2 Knowledge-alas! 'tis all in vain,
And all in vain our fear;
Our stubborn sins will fight and reign,
If love be absent there.
3 This is the grace that lives and sings
When faith and hope shall cease;
'Tis this shall strike our joyful strings
In the sweet realms of bliss.
4 Before we quite forsake our clay,
Or leave this dark abode,
The wings of love bear us away
To see our gracious God.
Mutual Charity among Christians.
1 LET party names no more
The Christian world o'erspread;
Gentile and Jew, and bond and free,
Are one in Christ their head.
2 Among the saints on earth
Let mutual love be found;
Heirs of the same inheritance,
With mutual blessings crowned.
envy, child of hell!
Be banished far away;
Those should in strictest friendship dwell
Who the same Lord obey.
4 Thus will the church below
Resemble that above;
Where streams of pleasure ever flow,
And every heart is love.
Brotherly Love. Ps. 133.
1 How beautiful the sight Of brethren who agree
In friendship to unite,
And bonds of charity!
'Tis like the precious ointment shed O'er all his robes from Aaron's head.
2 'Tis like the dews that fill
The cups of Hermon's flowers;
Or Zion's fruitful hill,
Bright with the drops of showers;
When mingling odors breathe around,
And glory rests on all the ground.
3 For there the Lord commands
Blessings, a boundless store,
From his unsparing hands,
Yea, life for evermore.
Thrice happy they who meet above
To spend eternity in love!
The Same. Ps. 133.
1 Lo, what an entertaining sight
Áre brethren that agree!
Brethren whose cheerful hearts unite
In bands of piety!
2 When streams of love, from Christ the spring, Descend to every soul,
And heavenly peace, with balmy wing,
Shades and bedews the whole.
3 'Tis like the oil, divinely sweet,
On Aaron's reverend head;
The trickling drops perfumed his feet,
And o'er his garments spread.
4 'Tis pleasant as the morning dews
That fall on Zion's hill,
Where God his mildest glory shows.
And makes his grace distil.
Honest Search for Truth.
1 IMPOSTURE shrinks from light,
And dreads the curious eye;
But Christian truths the test invite,-
They bid us search and try.
2 A meek, inquiring mind,
Lord, help us to maintain;
That growing knowledge we may find,
And growing virtue gain.
3 With understanding blest,
Created to be free,
Our faith on man we dare not rest,
Subject to none but thee.
4 Give us the light we need;
Our minds with knowledge fill;
From noxious error guard our creed,
From prejudice our will.
5 The truth thou shalt impart
May we with firmness own;
Abhorring each evasive art,
And fearing thee alone.
'Blessed are the Meek.'
1 'BLEST are the meek,' he said,
Whose doctrine is divine;
The humble-minded earth possess,
And bright in heaven will shine.
2 While here on earth they stay,
Calm peace with them shall dwell;
And cheerful hope and heavenly joy
Beyond what tongue can tell.
3 The God of peace is theirs;
They own his gracious sway;
And, yielding all their wills to him,
His sovereign laws obey.
4 No angry passions move,
No envy fires the breast;
The prospect of eternal peace
Bids every trouble rest.
O gracious Father! grant
That we this influence feel,
That all we hope, or wish, may be
Subjected to thy will.
Meekness and Moderation.
1 HAPPY the man whose cautious steps
Still keep the golden mean!
Whose life, by wisdom's rules well formed,
Declares a conscience clean.
2 Not of himself he highly thinks,
Nor acts the boaster's part;
His modest tongue the language speaks
Of his still humbler heart.
3 Not in base scandal's arts he deals,
For truth dwells in his breast;
With grief he sees his neighbor's faults,
And thinks and hopes the best.
4 What blessings bounteous heaven bestows He takes with thankful heart;
With temperance he both eats and drinks,
And gives the poor a part.
|