I feel the balm that heals my wounds, HYMN XIV. C. M. Death and Eternity. I. My thoughts, that often mount the skies, Go, search the world beneath, II. The tyrant, how he triumphs here! III. These skulls, what ghastly figures now? These are the heads we lately knew IV. But where the souls, those deathless things, That left this dying clay? My thoughts, now stretch out all your wings, And trace eternity. V. O that unfathomable sea! Those deeps without a shore ! Where living waters gently play, VI. Thus must we leave the banks of life, Vain are our groans, and dying strife, VII. There we shall swim in heav'nly bliss, While the pale carcase thoughtless lies VIII. Some hearty friend shall drop his tear On our dry bones, and say, "These once were strong, as mine appear, "And mine must be as they." IX. Thus shall our mould'ring members teach, O HYMN XV. 8 and 7. I. Azure vaults! O chrystal sky! The world's transparent canopy, Break your long silence, and let mortal know With what contempt you look on things below. II. Wing'd squadrons of the GoD of war, Who conquer wheresoe'er you are, Let echoing anthems make his praises known On earth, his footstool, as in heav'n his throne. Great eye of all, whose glorious ray Rules the bright empire of the day. O praise his name, without whose purer light, Thou hadst been hid in an abyss of night. IV. Ye moon and planets, who dispense, By God's command, your influence; Resign to him, as your Creator due That veneration, which men pay to you. V. Fairest, as well as first, of things From whom all joy, all beauty springs. O praise th' almighty Ruler of the globe, Who useth thee for his empyreal robe. VI. Praise him, ye loud harmonious spheres, Whose sacred stamp all nature bears, Who did all forms from the rude chaos draw, And whose command is th' universal law. VII. Ye wat'ry mountains of the sky, you so far above our eye, And Vast ever-moving orbs, exalt his name, Who gave its being to your glorious frame. VIII. Ye dragons whose contagious breath Peoples the dark retreats of death, Change your fierce hissing into joyful song, And praise your Maker with your forked tongue. IX. Praise him ye monsters of the deep, : That in the sea's vast bosom sleep, At whose command the foaming billows roar, Yet know their limits, tremble, and adore. X. Ye mists and vapours, hail and snow, And you who through the concave blow. Swift executors of his holy word Whirlwinds and tempests, praise th' almighty LORD. XI, Mountains, who to your Maker's view Seem less than mole-hills do to you, Remember how, when first Jehovah spoke, All heav'n was fire, and Sinai hid in smoke. XII. Praise him, sweet offspring of the ground, With heav'nly nectar yearly crown'd; And ye tall cedars, celebrate his praise, That in his temple sacred altars raise. XIII. Idle musicians of the spring, Fly through the world, and let your trembling throat, Praise your Creator with the sweetest note. XIV. Praise him, each furious, savage beast That on his stores do daily feast, And you tame slaves of the laborious plow. Your weary knees to your Creator bow. XV. Majestic monarchs, mortal gods, Whose pow'r hath here no periods, May all attempts against your crowns be vain; But still remember by whose pow'r you reign. XVI. Let the wide world his praises sing, Where Tagus and Euphrates spring, And from the Danube's frosty banks, to those Where from an unknown head great Nilus flows. XVII. You that dispose of all our lives, Praise him from whom your pow'r derives : Be true and just, like him, and fear his word, As much as malefactors do your sword. XVIII. Praise him, old monuments of time; |