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3 Their streaming eyes together flow
For human guilt and mortal woe;
Their ardent prayers together rise
Like mingling flames in sacrifice.
4 Together shall they seek the place
Where God reveals his awful face :
How high, how strong, their raptures swell,
There's none but kindred souls can tell.
5 Nor shall the glowing flame expire
When nature droops her sickening fire;
Then shall they meet in realms above,
A heaven of joy, because of love.

354.

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1 FAR from thy servants, God of grace,
Th' unfeeling heart remove,

And form in our obedient souls
The image of thy love.

2 O, may our sympathizing breasts
The generous pleasure know,
Kindly to share in others' joy,
And weep for others' woe!

3 Where'er the helpless sons of grief
In low distress are laid,

Soft be our hearts their pains to feel,
And swift our hands to aid.

4 O, be the law of love fulfilled
In every act and thought,
Each angry passion far removed,
Each selfish view forgot!

5 Be thou, my heart, dilated wide
With this kind, social grace,
And, in one grasp of fervent love,
All earth and heaven embrace.

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The Law of Sympathy.

DRENNAN.

1 ALL nature feels attractive power,
A strong, embracing force;
The drops that sparkle in the shower,
The planets in their course.

2 Thus in the universe of mind
Is felt the law of love;

The charity, both strong and kind,
For all that live and move.

3 In this fine, sympathetic chain
All creatures bear a part;
Their every pleasure, every pain,
Linked to the feeling heart.

4 More perfect bond, the Christian plan
Attaches soul to soul;

Our neighbour is the suffering man,
Though at the farthest pole.

5 To earth below, from heaven above,
The faith in Christ professed

356.

More clear reveals that God is love,
And whom he loves is blest.

S. P. M.

The Blessings of Friendship.

1 HOW pleasant 't is to see
Kindred and friends agree!
Each in his proper station move;
And each fulfil his part,

With sympathizing heart,

In all the cares of life and love!

2 Like fruitful showers of rain,
That water all the plain,

WATTS.

Descending from the neighbouring hills;

Such streams of pleasure roll
Through every friendly soul,
Where love, like heavenly dew, distils.

357.

L. M.

Charitable Judgment.

SCOTT.

1 ALL-SEEING God! 't is thine to know
The springs whence wrong opinions flow;
To judge, from principles within,
When frailty errs, and when we sin.
2 Who among men, great Lord of all,
Thy servant to his bar shall call ?

Judge him, for modes of faith, thy foe,
And doom him to the realms of woe ?
3 Who with another's eye can read?
Or worship by another's creed?
Trusting thy grace, we form our own,
And bow to thy commands alone.
4 If wrong, correct; accept, if right;
While, faithful, we improve our light,
Condemning none, but zealous still
To learn and follow all thy will.

358.

L. M.

The Properties of Christian Charity.

BROWNE.

1 LET men of high conceit and zeal
Their fervor and their faith proclaim :

If charity be wanting still,

The rest is but a sounding name. 2 Patient and meek, she suffers long, And slowly her resentments rise: Soon she forgets the greatest wrong, And rage retires, and malice dies. 3 She envies none their better state,

But makes her neighbour's bliss her own:

Nor vaunts herself with mind elate,
But still a modest air puts on.
4 This is the grace that reigns on high,
And brightly will for ever burn,
When hope shall in fruition die,
And faith to sight triumphant turn.
L. M.

359.

Love to all Mankind.

1 O GOD, my Father and my King,
Of all I have, or hope, the spring!
Send down thy spirit from above,
And fill my heart with heavenly love.
2 May I from every act abstain,
That hurts or gives another pain :
And bear a sympathizing part,
Whene'er I meet a wounded heart.

BROWNE.

3 And let my neighbour's
prosperous state
A mutual joy in me create ;
His virtuous triumph let me join;
His peace and happiness be mine.
4 And though my neighbour's hate I prove,
Still let me vanquish hate with love,
And every secret wish suppress,
That would abridge his happiness.
5 Let love through all my conduct shine,
An image fair, though faint, of thine;
Thus let me his disciple prove,

Who came to manifest thy love.

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Christ's Love to Enemies our Example.

1 GOD of our mercy and our praise,
Thy glory is our song ;

We 'Il speak the honors of thy grace
With a rejoicing tongue.

WATTS

2 When Christ among the sons of men
In humble form was found,

With cruel slanders, false and vain,
They compassed him around.

3 Their miseries his compassion moved,
Their peace he still pursued ;
They rendered hatred for his love,
And evil for his good.

4 Their malice raged without a cause;
Yet, with his dying breath,

He prayed for murderers on his cross
And blest his foes in death.

5 O, may his conduct, all divine,
To us a model prove

Like his, O God, our hearts incline
Our enemies to love.

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1 HAPPY the heart where graces reign,
Where love inspires the breast:
Love is the brightest of the train,
And strengthens all the rest.

2 Knowledge, -alas! 't is 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;
'T is this shall strike our joyful strings
In realms of endless peace.

4 Before we quite forsake our clay,
Or leave this dark abode,

The wings of love bear us away
To see our gracious God.

WATTS.

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