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A genuine prayer song, one of Cowper's festival of the Malpas, Middlewich and

best.

In the most recently published edition of Cowper's Poems (London, 1905) the editor, J. C. Bailey, has the following note which gives some interesting facts concerning the origin of this hymn:

This beautiful hymn was written on the occasion of the first prayer meeting held at a house in Olney called the Great House. In the letter of November 30, 1793, to John Johnson, printed for the first time in the appendix to the Introduction, Cowper says that writing on a Sabbath morning makes him go back to the time when "on Sabbath mornings in winter I rose before day, and by the light of a lanthorn trudged with Mrs. Unwin, often through snow and rain, to a prayer meeting at the Great House, as they call it, near the church at Olney. There I always found assembled forty or fifty poor folks, who preferred a glimpse of the light of God's countenance and favor to the comforts of a warm bed," etc.

Nantwich Choral Association. It was later revised and reduced to the four stanzas here given and published in the Appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern,

1868. It is the most popular of all the author's hymns, and is regarded as one of the greatest evening hymns of the English Church. It was written to be sung to. a tune in Thorne's collection titled "St. Agnes;" but the author later expressed a preference for the tune by Dr. Hopkins ("Ellers") found in the music edition.

"As tenderly spiritual as it is ethically strong," is Horder's comment. The omitted stanza is:

Grant us thy peace-the peace thou didst bestow

On thine apostles in thine hour of woe;
The peace thou broughtest, when at eventide
They saw thy pierced hands, thy wounded
side.

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My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: The foolneither shall evil dwell with thee.

ish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy and in thy fear will I worship thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.

toward thy holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in

The original contains eight stanzas. We have above verses one, two, and five, unal

tered. Stanzas three and four are as follows:

3 Thou art a God before whose Sight
The Wicked shall not stand;
Sinners shall ne'er be thy Delight,
Nor dwell at thy Right-hand.

4 But to thy House will I resort
To taste thy Mercies there;

I will frequent thine holy Court,
And worship in thy Fear.

From The Psalms of David Imitated in

From the Olney Hymns, 1779. It is a the Language of the New Testament, Lonmetrical version of the apostolic benedic- don, 1719.

tion: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion. on the Holy Ghost, be with you all." (2 Cor. xiii, 14.) It has been translated into several languages.

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L. M.

EW every morning is the love

Nour wakening and uprising prove;

Through sleep and darkness safely brought, Restored to life and power and thought.

2 New mercies, each returning day, Hover around us while we pray; New perils past, new sins forgiven,

New thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven.

3 If on our daily course our mind

Be set to hallow all we find,

New treasures still of countless price
God will provide for sacrifice.

4 The trivial round, the common task,
Will furnish all we ought to ask-
Room to deny ourselves, a road
To bring us daily nearer God.

5 Only, O Lord, in thy dear love
Fit us for perfect rest above;
And help us this, and every day,
To live more nearly as we pray.

John Keble. "Morning" is the title of this in the author's Christian Year, 1827. It comprises verses six, seven, eight, fourteen, and sixteen of a poem of sixteen stanzas. It is based upon Lamentations iii. 22, 23: "His compassions fail not. They are new every morning." The hymn begins with the words: "Hues of the rich unfolding morn." It was written September 20, 1822. The Christian Year is one of the greatest religious classics in the English language. What the Prayer Book is in prose for public worship, the Christian Year is in poetry for private devotion.

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STILL

11s, 10s.

still with Thee, when purple morning breaketh,

So does this bless consciousness awaking, Breathe each day nearness unto thee and heaven.

5 When sinks the soul, subdued by toil, to slumber,

Its closing eyes look up to thee in

prayer;

Sweet the repose beneath thy wings o'ershading,

But sweeter still, to wake and find thee there.

6 So shall it be at last, in that bright morning,

When the soul waketh, and life's shadows flee;

O in that hour, fairer than daylight dawning,

Shall rise the glorious thought-I am with thee. Harriet B. Stowe. Contributed by the author, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, to the Plymouth Collection, edited by her brother, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, in 1855. It manifests a spirit of entire consecration and an intimate communion with God. As the fifth stanza intimates, the last conscious thought of the Christian at night and the first in the morning should be of God. Very suitable for private use, I doubt if this hymn ever becomes popular for the public congregation. It is unaltered and

entire.

The author of this hymn by writing Uncle Tom's Cabin gained a permanent place in the annals of the nation. People

When the bird waketh, and the shadows differ as to the correctness of her pen picflee;

Fairer than morning, lovelier than daylight, Dawns the sweet consciousness, I am with thee.

ture of slavery, but I am not aware that any one questions the honesty of her purpose or the piety of her heart.

A

2 Alone with thee, amid the mystic shadows, 44
The solemn hush of nature newly born;
Alone with thee in breathless adoration,
In the calm dew and freshness of the
morn.

3 As in the dawning o'er the waveless ocean,
The image of the morning-star doth rest,
So in this stillness, thou beholdest only
Thine image in the waters of my breast.

4 Still, still to thee! as to each newborn
morning,

A fresh and solemn splendor still is given,

L. M.

WAKE, my soul, and with the sun
Thy daily stage of duty run;
Shake off dull sloth, and joyful rise
To pay thy morning sacrifice.

2 Wake, and lift up thyself, my heart,
And with the angels bear thy part,
Who all night long unwearied sing
High praises to the eternal King.

3 All praise to thee, who safe hast kept,
And hast refreshed me while I slept :
Grant, Lord, when I from death shall wake,
I may of endless life partake.

4 Lord, I my vows to thee renew:

Disperse my sins as morning dew;

that took place. He is buried in the churchyard at Frome, under the east win

Guard my first springs of thought and will, dow of the church, and nothing but a simAnd with thyself my spirit fill.

5 Direct, control, suggest, this day,
All I design, or do, or say;

That all my powers, with all their might,
In thy sole glory may unite.

Thomas Ken.

This is a part of Bishop Ken's famous "Morning Hymn," the original of which contains fourteen stanzas, being the first, fifth, ninth, twelfth, and thirteenth stanzas. This and its companions, the no less admired Evening and Midnight Hymns, enjoy the enviable distinction of having furnished, at least in English-speaking countries, The Doxology of the Christian Church. Each of these hymns closes with our well-known "long-meter doxology."

ple iron railing marks his resting place. But one who is embalmed in the affections of the Christian Church, as he is, needs no marble shaft to perpetuate his memory or to mark his resting place as long as his grand doxology shall continue to be sung the world around.

The fact that these three hymns should have been prepared especially for the use of college students adds to their interest. Two omitted stanzas in the "Morning Hymn" are worthy of being quoted here:

I would not wake nor rise again,
And Heaven itself I would disdain,
Wert Thou not there to be enjoyed,
And I in hymns to be employed.
Heaven is, dear Lord, where'er thou art;
O never then from me depart;
For to my soul 'tis hell to be
But for one moment without thee.

The "Evening Hymn" contains sentiments that young and old alike can well afford

day:

These three valuable hymns, it is interesting to note, were originally written for the use of the students in Winchester College. As early as 1674 Bishop Ken published a Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Scholars of Winchester College. This book had gone through thirty-two to utter in prayer-song at the close of editions by 1799. The earliest edition that contained the above three hymns was that of 1695. In this work he thus counsels the young men: "Be sure to sing the Morning and Evening Hymns in your chamber, devoutly remembering that the Psalmist upon happy experience assures you that it is a good thing to tell of the loving-kindness of the Lord early in the morning and of his truth in the night season." As these words appear in the first (1674) edition of the Manual, we are warranted in concluding that the two hymns referred to had then been printed and supplied to students, possibly on sheets of paper.

The author used to sing this hymn every morning upon waking, playing the accompaniment with his lute. In obedience to his expressed wish, when he died he was buried at sunrise, and the singing of this hymn was almost the only ceremony

Forgive me, Lord, for thy dear Son,
The ills that I this day have done;
That with the world, myself, and thee,
I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.
Teach me to live that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed;
Teach me to die, that so I may
Rise glorious at the awful day.

How much better than lying awake and
fretting because of inability to sleep is it
for one to quiet his restless soul by such
reveries and prayers as the following,
taken from the "Midnight Hymn:"

My God, I now from sleep awake,
The sole possession of me take:
From midnight terrors me secure,
And guard my heart from thoughts impure.
Lord, lest the tempter me surprise,
Watch over thine own sacrifice:
All loose, all idle thoughts cast out,
And make my very dreams devout.

The soul that begins and closes all his days with songs and prayers like these has learned the secret of a serene, happy, and useful life.

Were any lines ever written more certain to secure immortality for their author and for themselves than the following four lines which were first written as a closing stanza for each of these three hymns?

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise him, all creatures here below; Praise him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

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S. M.

E lift our hearts to thee,

O Day-Star from on high!
The sun itself is but thy shade,
Yet cheers both earth and sky.

20 let thy orient beams

The night of sin disperse,
The mists of error and of vice
Which shade the universe!

3 How beauteous nature now!
How dark and sad before!
With joy we view the pleasing change,
And nature's God adore.

4 May we this life improve,

To mourn for errors past;

And live this short revolving day
As if it were our last.

5 To God, the Father, Son,
And Spirit-One in Three-
Be glory; as it was, is now,
And shall forever be.

John Wesley.

Title: "A Morning Hymn," from A Collection of Psalms and Hymns, published by John Wesley, 1741. This is one of the few original hymns ascribed to John Wesley. One reason why it is thought to be his rather than Charles Wesley's is that it is only half-rhymed. Not a single known stanza of Charles Wesley's has that peculiarity. The sublime thought expressed in the third line of the first stanza is borrowed from Plato: "Lumen est umbra Dei."

It has not been altered, but one stanza, the fourth, has been omitted:

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