Teach me to watch and pray;
My inward strength renew; And grant me grace from day to day, To keep my promise true.
Rejoice, I say, rejoice, &c.
And joining hand in hand,
United let us be;
And in one holy Christian band
March on to victory!
Rejoice, I say, rejoice, &c.
Give us a large increase,
Cast down the giant foe,
And let Thy servants never cease,
But ever onward go.
Rejoice, I say, rejoice, &c.
For Thee, O God, we fight;
May we be strong in Thee; Receiving of Thy strength and might
Rejoice, I say, rejoice, &c.
Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river."-Is. lxvi. 12.
IFE is like a flowing river,
From its gentle infant source,
Flowing on, and flowing ever,
In its own appointed course:
Sometimes brief, and sometimes long,
Now in peace, and now in strife;
Sometimes weak, and sometimes strong,
Ending in the Endless Life.
Sometimes, like a weary river,
Life is stagnant in its course;
Always ebbing, flowing never,
'Reft of vigour, might, and force :
Always weak, and never strong,
Narrow its contracted breadth;
Feebly rolls its wave along,
Ending in the Sea of Death.
Time is like a rushing river,
Swift its moments pass away,
Fleeting on, and halting never,
Hour by hour, and day by day:
Swift and sure the moments go,
Like a bright but transient dream;
Thus Time's currents onward flow,
Past the margin of the stream.
Sometimes, like a stagnant river,
Time misspent hath idly stood,
Profitless, ignoble ever,
Ebbing out its useless flood:
Sluggish is its course and slow,
Fetid and impure its wave ;
Nowhere can its waters flow,
Buried in their worthless grave.
Wealth is like a swollen river,
Like some full and flowing tide,
From its bounteous, gracious Giver,
In its flow of pomp and pride :
Here the golden harvests grow,
Here the horn of plenty stands,
More enriching than the flow
Of the fabled golden sands.
Sometimes, like a pent-up river,
Wealth no outlet doth attain ;
And, amassed and hoarded ever,
Brings forth neither fruit nor gain.
On its wave no blessings flow,
All its gold is given to rust;
By its stream no reapers go,
All its margin is but dust.
Love is like a copious river,
Overflowing all the field;
Ever glad, rejoicing ever,
Oh, the harvests it doth yield!
For the hungry eater, bread;
For the sower, seed to sow ;
From its golden river-bed,
Love doth ever overflow.
Truth is like a spreading river,
From the Mind of God above;
Flowing now, it flows for ever,
Like the boundless tide of Love:
Truth shall yet triumphant stand;
Truth the conqueror shall be ;
Truth shall one day fill the land,
As the waters fill the sea.
ORD of power, Thou Mighty God,
Author, Giver of all good;
Graft in all our hearts the love
Of Thy Name adored above;
True religion, Lord, increase;
Nourish us in holiness;
Of Thy mercy, through Thy Name,
Keep us ever in the same;
Make us with Thee alway one,
Through the merits of Thy Son.-Amen.
|