SACRED SONG S.

THOU ART, OH GOD!

Air.-UNKNOWN.*

"The day is thine; the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.

"Thou hast set all the borders of the earth; thou hast made summer and winter."-Psalm lxxiv. 16, 17.

I.

II.

When Day, with farewell beam, delays.
Among the opening clouds of Even,
And we can almost think we gaze

Through golden vistas into Heaven-
Those hues, that make the Sun's decline
So soft, so radiant, LORD! are Thine.

III.

When Night, with wings of starry gloom,
O'ershadows all the earth and skies,
Like some dark, beauteous bird, whose plume
Is sparkling with unnumber'd eyes—
That sacred gloom, those fires divine,
So grand, so countless, LORD! are Thine.

IV.

When youthful Spring around us breathes,
Thy Spirit warms her fragrant sigh;

And every

flower the Summer wreathes

Is born beneath that kindling eye.

Where'er we turn, thy glories shine,

And all things fair and bright are Thine.

THIS WORLD IS ALL A FLEETING SHOW.

Air.-STEVENSON.

a

I.
This world is all a fleeting show,

For man's illusion given;
The smiles of Joy, the tears of Woe,
Deceitful shine, deceitful flow-

There's nothing true but Heaven!

II.
And false the light on Glory's plume,

As fading hues of Even ;
And Love and Hope, and Beauty's bloom,
Are blossoms gather'd for the tomb-

There's nothing bright but Heaven!

III.
Poor wanderers of a stormy day,

From wave to wave we're driven,
And Fancy's flash, and Reason's ray,
Serve but to light the troubled way-

There's nothing calm but Heaven!

FALLEN IS THY THRONE.

Air.-MARTINI.

I.

FALLEN is thy Throne, oh Israel!
Silence is o'er thy plains;
Thy dwellings all lie desolate,

Thy children weep in chains.
Where are the dews that fed thee
On Etham's barren shore?

That fire from Heaven which led thee,
Now lights thy path no more.

II.

Lord! thou didst love Jerusalem

Once she was all thy own;
Her love thy fairest heritage,*
Her power thy glory's throne: +
Till evil came, and blighted

Thy long-loved olive-tree ;—§

* "I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly-beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies.”—Jeremiah xii. 7. + “Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory."-Jer. xiv. 21. S' "The LORD called thy name a green olive-tree; fair and of goodly fruit," etc.-Jer. xi. 16.

And Salem's shrines were lighted
For other Gods than Thee!

III.

Then sunk the star of Solyma-
Then pass'd her glory's day,
Like heath that, in the wilderness,*
The wild wind whirls away.
Silent and waste her bowers,
Where once the mighty trod,
And sunk those guilty towers,
While Baal reign'd as God!

IV.

"Go," said the LORD-" Ye Conquerors!

66

Steep in her blood your swords,
"And raze to earth her battlements,†

"For they are not the LORD's!
"Till Zion's mournful daughter
"O'er kindred bones shall tread,
"And Hinnom's vale of slaughter S

"Shall hide but half her dead!"

"For he shall be like the heath in the desert."-Jer. xvii. 6.

"Take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD'S."-Jer. v. 10.

§ "Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that