Birds, your warbling treble sing;
Clouds, your peals of thunder ring;
Sun and moon, exalted higher,
And you stars, augment the choir.
Come, ye sons of human race,
In this chorus take your place;
And amid this mortal throng
Be ye masters of the song.
Let, in praise of God, the sound
Run a never-ending round;
That our holy hymn may be
Everlasting, as is He.
So shall He, from heaven's high tower
On the earth his blessing shower;
All this huge wide orb we see
Shall one choir, one temple be.
Then our voices we will rear,
Till we fill it every where.
Come, O come, with sacred lays,
Let us sound th' Almighty's praise.
CHRIST is gone up with a joyful sound,
He is gone to his bright abode;
The armies of heaven they throng around,
To hail their ascended God.
He is gone to his glorious throne on high,
And to claim the victor's crown;
And captive He leads captivity,
And the foe He has overthrown.
He is gone to pour, from the fount of love,
Rich gifts on a sinful race;
To prepare a place for his saints above,
And to shed the Spirit's grace.
THOU art gone up on high,
To mansions in the skies;
And round thy throne unceasingly
The songs of praise arise.
But we are lingering here,
With sin and care oppress'd;
Lord, send thy promised Comforter,
And lead us to our rest.
Thou art gone up on high,
But Thou didst first come down,
Through earth's most bitter misery
To pass unto thy crown;
And girt with griefs and fears
Our onward course must be ;
But only let that path of tears
Lead us at last to Thee !
Thou art gone up on high;
But Thou shalt come again,
With all the bright ones of the sky
Attendant in thy train.
Oh! by thy saving power,
So make us live and die,
That we may stand in that dread hour
At thy right hand on high.
THE eternal gates lift up their heads,
The doors are open'd wide,
The King of Glory is gone up
Unto his Father's side.
Thou art gone in before us, Lord,
Thou hast prepared a place,
That we may be where now Thou art,
And look upon thy face.
And ever on our earthly path
A gleam of glory lies,
A light still breaks behind the cloud
That veils Thee from our eyes.
Lift up our hearts, lift up our minds,
And let thy grace be given,
That while we linger yet below
Our treasure be in heaven.
That, where Thou art at God's right hand,
Our hope, our love may be :
Dwell in us now, that we may dwell
For evermore in Thee.
Lo! the heaven its Lord receives !
Yet He loves the earth He leaves;
Though returning to his throne,
Still He calls mankind his own.
THE Lord of Might, from Sinai's brow,
Gave forth his voice of thunder;
And Israel lay on earth below,
Outstretch'd in fear and wonder.
Beneath his feet was pitchy night,
And at his left hand and his right
The rocks were rent asunder.
The Lord of Love, on Calvary,
A meek and suffering Stranger,
Upraised to heaven his languid eye,
In nature's hour of danger.
For us He bore the weight of woe,
For us He gave his blood to flow,
And met his Father's anger.
The Lord of Love, the Lord of Might,
The King of all created,
Shall back return to claim his right,
On clouds of glory seated;
With trumpet-sound and angel-song,
And hallelujahs loud and long,
O'er death and hell defeated.
SALVATION! O the joyful sound,
'Tis pleasure to our ears;
A sovereign balm for every wound,
A cordial for our fears.
Buried in sorrow and in sin,
At hell's dark door we lay ;
But we arise by grace Divine
To see a heavenly day.
Salvation! let the echo fly
The spacious earth around,
While all the armies of the sky
Conspire to raise the sound.
WE saw Thee not when Thou didst tread,
In mortal guise, this sinful earth,
Nor heard thy voice restore the dead,
And wake them to a second birth :
But we believe that Thou didst come,
And leave for us thy glorious home.
We were not with Thee on the wave,
When Thou the stormy sea didst bind,
Nor saw the health thy blessing gave
To lame and sick, to deaf and blind :
But we believe the Fount of light
Could give the darken'd eyeball sight.
We did not mark the chosen few,
When Thou didst through the clouds ascend, First lift to heaven their wondering view, Then to the earth all prostrate bend :
But we believe that mortal eyes
Beheld that journey to the skies.
|