115. "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.
"I will make them joyful in my house of prayer.” 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.
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.
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