OW gird your patient loins again, The Chief of all the sons of men- Rejoice! the hour is near; at length The Journeyer on His way Comes in the greatness of His strength To keep His holy day. With cheerful hymns and garlands sweet, Along His wintry road, Conduct Him to His green retreat, His sheltered, safe abode; Fill all His courts with sacred songs, And from the temple wall Wave verdure o'er the joyful throngs And still more greenly in the mind And underneath these hallowed eaves In every heart that Him receives On His triumphal morn. THE TWO ADVENTS. E came not, with His heavenly crown, His sceptre clad with power, His coming, was in feebleness, the infant of an hour; An humble manger cradled, first, the Virgin's holy birth, And lowing herds companioned there, the Lord of heaven and earth. He came not in His robe of wrath, with arm outstretched to slay ; But on the darkling paths of earth, to pour celestial day, To guide in peace the wandering feet; the broken heart to bind ; And bear, upon the painful cross, the sins of human kind. And Thou hast borne them, Saviour meek! and therefore unto Thee, In humbleness, and gratitude, our hearts shall offered be; And greenly, as the festal bough, that, on Thy altar lies, Our souls, our bodies, all be Thine, a living sacrifice! Yet once again, Thy sign shall be, upon the heavens, displayed, And earth, and its inhabitants, be terribly afraid; For, not in weakness, clad, Thou com'st our woes, our sins, to bear, But girt with all Thy Father's might, His vengeance to declare. The terrors of that awful day, Oh! who shall understand? Or, who abide, when Thou in wrath, shalt lift Thy holy hand? The earth shall quake, the sea shall roar, the sun in heaven grow pale, But Thou hast sworn, and wilt not change, Thy faithful will not fail. Then grant us, Saviour! so to pass our time in trembling, here, |