For cares may blind and gloom may shroud,
And desolation chill the heart,
But Thou canst rend the blackest cloud,
And heal life's anguish and its smart;
As humbly I may turn to Thee.
O Lord of Hosts! to comfort me.
The Voice of God
HEARD His voice in song of wren
Beneath the hedge at daybreak, when
The dew like diamonds gleams.
I heard His voice in bubbling rills
That tumbled down the verdant hills,
To swell the sea-ward streams.
I heard His voice in whisp'ring breeze,
That gleaned the secret of the trees
And conned the flowers' dreams.
I heard His voice when squirrels woke
And dropped an acorn from the oak
And whisked their bushy tails.
I heard His voice when Curly Locks
Drove forth to bathe her feathered flocks,
And Meg cleaned out the pails.
I heard His voice when belfry tower
In lazy notes struck noonday hour
And cattle shirked the sun.
I heard His voice when nine was tolled
And all the sheep had gone to fold,
And bleated day was done.
I heard His voice as midnight crept
With murky steps o'er men that slept-
Some pillowed 'neath the sod.
Yes, even in that silent hour
I heard in full majestic power
The mighty voice of God.
UNTO thy Rock, O my soul, uplift thy gaze,
His loving-kindness day and night implore.
Remember thy Creator in the days
Of youth, in song His glorious name adore.
He is thy portion through earth's troubled maze,
Thy shelter, when life's pilgrimage is o'er.
Thou knowest that there waits for thee always
A peaceful resting-place His throne before.
Therefore the Lord my God I bless and praise,
Even as all creatures bless Him evermore.
Hope for the Salvation of the Lord
HOPE for the salvation of the Lord,
In Him I trust, when fears my being thrill;
Come life, come death, according to his word,
He is my portion still.
Him will I serve, His am I as of old;
I ask not to be free.
Sweet is ev'n sorrow coming in His name,
Nor will I seek its purpose to explore;
His praise will I continually proclaim,
And bless Him evermore.
God Everywhere
WHERESOE'ER I turn mine eyes
Around on Earth or toward the skies,
I see thee in the starry field,
I see thee in the harvest's yield,
In every breath, in every sound,
An echo of Thy name is found.
The blade of grass, the simple flower,
Bear witness to Thy matchless pow'r.
My every thought, Eternal God of Heaven,
Ascends to thee, to whom all praise be given.
ABRAHAM IBN EZRA.
(Translated by D. E. de L.)
The Living God
THIRST for God, to Him my soul aspires, The living God it is my heart's desires.
The living God created me
To life. Yea, as I live, spake He,
No living man my face shall see,
Shall see my face and live.
He fashioned all with counsel wise
And purpose wonderful that lies
For ever hidden from our eyes,
The eyes of all who live.
Supreme o'er all His glory reigns,
Extolled on earth in holy strains,
Blessed is He whose hand maintains
The soul of all who live.
He separated Israel's seed
To teach them statutes, which indeed
If that a man do hear and heed,
His soul by them shall live.
Can pure and just themselves declare
They who of dust created were?
Lo, in Thy sight, O Lord, we dare.
Call no man just who lives.
Like serpent's poison venomous,
The sinful passion dwells in us,
Can then from evil cankerous
Be any free that live?
But they the cords of sin who break
May yet the evil path forsake,
Ere in that house their rest they take,
That waits for all who live.
Call us in mercy unto Thee
Again Thy witnesses to be,
O Thou, who openest graciously
Thy hand to all that live.
ABRAHAM IBN EZRA.
(Translated by Alice Lucas.)
FOR God, the living Lord, my soul's athirst My heart and soul in joyous praise outburst.
A living God-He gives
To me creation's call,
But warneth mortals all;
No man sees God and lives.
Behold His wisdom's might,
Creating all in light,
All to Him is clear and bright
Howso hid from mortal sight.
Regal in His glory
In all mouths its story,
Blessed! in whose hand
Our souls sustained stand.
Abraham's sons He set apart,
His laws to them He did impart;
Wise laws which to the World they give,
For mortals to obey and live.
Man cannot do the right:
Dust is he to Godlike sight:
For who in Heaven's eye
His way can justify?
Base the longing of our heart,
Envenom'd as the scorpion's dart.
How can our flesh in life abide
When sin has seared and mortified?
Needs must we sinners then
Repeat our evil courses.
Before we reach the end, the goal,
Of all that boasts a living soul.
Enthralled by Thy love,
We hail Thee, God above!
That from Thine open hand
Feedest our living band.
Sleeping children, Lord! awake:
Pity for their fathers' sake:
The promised days to hasten deign
When Jesse's son once more will reign.
Regard the mother's truth when tested.
How shrill the handmaid* hath protested:
"The dead religion-it is thine,
The living one is mine, is mine."
Awestruck I bow the head,
In prayer my hands I spread,
God's due from man my lips confess,
Each soul of life his God must bless.
ABRAHAM IBN EZRA.
(Translated by E. N. A.)
*Hagar to Sarah, i. e., Mahomet to Israel.
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