Teach us to number our Days. O GOD, the Rock of Ages, Who evermore hast been, What time the tempest rages, Our dwelling-place serene:
Before thy first creations, O Lord, the same as now, To endless generations The everlasting thou !
Our years are like the shadows On sunny hills that lie, Or grasses in the meadows That blossom but to die; A sleep, a dream, a story, By strangers quickly told, An unremaining glory
Of things that soon are old.
O thou, who canst not slumber, Whose light grows never pale, Teach us aright to number Our years before they fail. On us thy mercy lighten, On us thy goodness rest; And let thy spirit brighten The hearts thyself hath blessed.
Lord, crown our faith's endeavor With beauty and with grace, Till clothed in light forever, We see thee face to face. A joy no language measures; A fountain brimming o'er; An endless flow of pleasures; An ocean without shore.
Edward H. Bickersteth. 1866.
"O all ye works of the Lord, praise ye the Lord!" LET the whole creation cry, Glory to the Lord on high ! Heaven and earth, awake and sing, "God is good, and therefore King."
Praise him, all ye host above, Ever bright and fair in love! Sun and moon, uplift your voice; Night and stars, in God rejoice. Chant his honor, ocean fair!
Earth, soft rushing through the air; Sunshine, darkness, cloud and storm, Rain and snow, his praise perform. NUREMBERG. 7.7:7.7.
Let the blossoms of the earth Join the universal mirth; Birds, with morn and dew elate, Sing with joy at heaven's gate.
Warriors fighting for the Lord, Prophets burning with his word, Men and women, young and old, Raise the anthem manifold;
And let children's happy hearts In this worship bear their parts : Holy, Holy, Holy One, Glory be to God alone! AMEN.
Stopford A. Brooke.
JOHANN RUDOLF AHLE.
See the sun his power awakes, As through clouds his glory breaks; See the moon and stars of light Praising God in stillest night.
See how God this rolling globe Swathes with beauty as a robe; Forests, fields, and living things Each his Maker's glory sings.
Through the air thy praises meet, Birds are singing clear and sweet; Fire and storm and wind, thy will As thy ministers fulfil.
Ocean waves thy glory tell,
At thy touch they sink and swell; From the well-spring to the sea, Rivers murmur, Lord, of thee.
Ah, my God, what wonders lie Hid in thine infinity! Stamp upon my inmost heart
What I am, and what thou art! AMEN.
Joachim Neander. Tr. by J. D. Burns.
In this peaceful house of prayer Stronger faith, O God! we seek; Here we bring each earthly care, Thou the strengthening message speak!
In our greatest trials, we Calm, through thee, the way have trod; In the smallest, may we feel Thou art still our Helper-God.
Of thy presence and thy love We more steadfast feeling need, Till the high and holy thought Hallow every simplest deed.
Heavenly Father, at thy feet We would lay our earthborn care; Help us in our need, for thou Know'st the weight that each must bear.
AMEN. Hymns of the Spirit
118. "The living God which made heaven and earth,
and the sea, and all things that are therein."
GOD of the earth, the sky, the sea ! Maker of all above, below! Creation lives and moves in thee, Thy present life through all doth flow.
Thee in the lonely woods we meet, On the bare hills or cultured plains, In every flower beneath our feet, And even the still rock's mossy stains.
Thy love is in the sunshine's glow, Thy life is in the quickening air; When lightnings flash and storm-winds blow, There is thy power; thy law is there.
We feel thy calm at evening's hour, Thy grandeur in the march of night; And, when thy morning breaks in power, We hear thy word, Let there be light.
But higher far, and far more clear, Thee in man's spirit we behold; Thine image and thyself are there, The indwelling God, proclaimed of old.
John R. Wreford. Samuel Longfellow.
"His tender mercies are over all his works."
Our Father ! to thy love we owe All that is fair and good below. Life, and the health that makes life sweet, Are blessings from thy mercy-seat.
O Giver of the quickening rain ! O Ripener of the golden grain ! From thee the cheerful day-spring flows, Thy balmy evening brings repose.
Thy frosts arrest, thy tempests chase The plagues that waste our helpless race, Thy softer breath, o'er land and deep, Wakes nature from its winter sleep.
Yet, deem we not that thus alone Thy bounty and thy love are shown, For we have learned with higher praise, And holier names, to speak thy ways.
In woe's dark hour our kindest stay, Sole trust when life shall pass away, Teacher of hopes that light the gloom Of death, and consecrate the tomb. Patient with headstrong guilt to bear, Slow to avenge and kind to spare, Listening to prayer, and reconciled Full soon to thy repentant child. AMEN. William C. Bryant
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