In Time of Tribulation. Ps. lxxvii.
IN time of tribulation,
Hear, Lord, our earnest cries; With humble supplication
To thee the spirit flies. Remembered songs of gladness,
Through night's lone silence brought,
Strike notes of deepest sadness,
And stir desponding thought.
Hath God cast off for ever?
Can time his truth impair?
His tender mercy never
Shall we presume to share?
Hath he his loving-kindness
Shut up in bitter wrath? No! it is human blindness, That cannot see his path. We'll call to recollection
The years of thy right hand, And, strong in thy protection, Again through faith we stand. Thy way is in great waters,
Thy footsteps are not known; But let earth's sons and daughters Confide in thee alone!
680." He turneth the shadow of death into morning.”
AROUND my path life's mysteries
Their deepening shadows throw;
And as I gaze and ponder,
They dark and darker grow.
Yet still amid the darkness
I feel the light is near; And in the awful silence
God's voice I seem to hear.
O God, the light and darkness
Are both alike to thee:
Then to thy waiting servant
Alike they both shall be.
That great unending future!
I cannot pierce its shroud;
But I nothing doubt nor tremble,→
God's bow is on the cloud.
To him I yield my spirit;
On him I lay my load:
Fear ends with death: beyond it
I nothing see but God.
Thus moving towards the darkness,
I calmly wait his call;
Seeing, fearing, nothing;
Hoping, trusting, all!
God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears; To his sure truth and tender care,
God shall lift up thy head.
Through waves, through clouds and
He gently clears thy way: [storms,
Wait thou his time; so shall the night
Soon end in joyous day.
He everywhere hath sway,
And all things serve his might;
His every act pure blessing is,
His path unsullied light.
Leave to his sovereign sway
To choose and to command:
With wonder filled, thou then shalt own
How wise, how strong his hand.
Thou comprehend'st him not:
Yet earth and heaven tell
God sits as sovereign on the throne;
He ruleth all things well.
Paul Gerhardt. 1659.
Tr. John Wesley. 1739.
Who earth and heaven commands.
Who points the clouds their course,
Whom wind and seas obey,
He shall direct thy wandering feet,
He shall prepare thy way.
Thou on the Lord rely,
So safe shalt thou go on;
Fix on his work thy steadfast eye,
So shall thy work be done.
No profit canst thou gain
By self-consuming care;
To him commend thy cause; his ear
Attends the softest prayer.
And whatsoe'er thou will'st,
Thou dost, O King of kings;
What thy unerring wisdom chose,
Thy power to being brings.
Paul Gerhardt.
Tr. John Wesley. 1739.
True Length of Life.
LIKE shadows gliding o'er the plain,
Or clouds that roll successive on,
Man's busy generations pass;
And, while we gaze, their forms are gone.
"He lived, he died :" behold the sum,
The abstract, of the historian's page!
Alike in God's all-seeing eye
The infant's day, the patriarch's age.
O Father, in whose mighty hand
The boundless years and ages lie!
Teach us thy boon of life to prize,
And use the moments as they fly;
To crowd the narrow span of life
With wise designs and virtuous deeds:
So shall we wake from death's dark night,
To share the glory that succeeds.
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A thousand ages, in their flight,
With thee are as a fleeting day:
Past, present, future, to thy sight
At once their various scenes display.
But our brief life's a shadowy dream,
A passing thought that soon is o'er;
That fades with morning's earliest beam,
And fills the musing mind no more.
To us, O Lord, the wisdom give
Each passing moment so to spend,
That we at length with thee may live
Where life and love shall never end.
Harriet Auber. 1829
Now is the seed-time: God alone Beholds the end of what is sown ; J. Taylor. Beyond our vision, weak and dim, The harvest time is hid with him.
ERE mountains reared their forms sublime,
Or heaven and earth in order stood;
Before the birth of ancient time;
From everlasting,
Yet unforgotten where it lies,
The seed of generous sacrifice,
Though seeming on the desert cast,
Shall rise with bloom and fruit at last.
Anon.
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