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.
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