THERE IS A GOD
The one who says there is no God
Should study nature's laws;
From worlds in space, down to our sod
There's naught without a cause;
The laws which govern earth and sky
To God's existence testify.
Look at the earth-see how plants grow
Out of a little seed;
If one would only wish to know
His God, this he would heed;
For plants all grow by certain laws
Of which our God's the only cause.
Let him who doth his God deny
The stars of heaven trace;
See how each world doth occupy
A certain part of space;
They're made and moved by certain laws
Of which our God's the only cause.
Year after year, from west to east,
Our planet round doth go;
And ev'ry star, to say the least,
Some motion has, we know ;
These laws of motion tidings bring
Of God, the everlasting King.
Who made the laws which govern space?
Who maketh grow each seed?
Who gives each starry world its place,
And bids it onward speed?
'Tis God, the King of earth and sky,
Who lives on earth and dwells on high.
MARTIN LEHMAYER
THE HYMN OF NATURE
The heavenly spheres to Thee, O God!
Attune their evening hymn;
All-wise, All-holy, Thou art praised
In song of seraphim.
Unnumbered systems, suns, and worlds,
Unite to worship Thee;
While Thy majestic greatness fills
Space, time, eternity.
Nature, a temple worthy Thee,
Beams with Thy light and love,
Whose flowers so sweetly bloom below,
Whose stars rejoice above;
Whose altars are the mountain-cliffs
That rise along the shore;
Whose anthems, the sublime accord
Of storm and ocean roar.
Her song of gratitude is sung
By Spring's awakening hours;
Her Summer offers at Thy shrine
Its earliest, loveliest flowers;
Her Autumn brings its golden fruits,
In glorious luxury given;
While Winter's silver heights reflect
Thy brightness back to heaven.
PRAISE TO NATURE'S GOD
Lauded be Thy name forever,
Thou of life the Guard and Giver!
Thou who slumberest not nor sleepest!
Blest are they Thou kindly keepest.
God of stillness and of motion,
Of the rainbow and the ocean,
Of the mountain and the river,
Lauded be Thy name forever!
God of evening's peaceful ray,
God of every dawning day
Rising from the distant sea,
Breathing of eternity,-
Thine the flaming sphere of light,
Thine the darkness of the night;
God of life, who dieth never,
Glory to Thy name forever.
ABOU BEN ADHEM
Abou Ben Adhem-may his tribe increase!
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich and like a lily in bloom,
An angel, writing in a book of gold.
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said,
"What writest Thou?" The vision raised its head,
And with a look all made of sweet accord,
Answered, “The names of those that love the Lord.”
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low
But cheerily still, and said, "I pray Thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow-men"
The angel wrote and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.
Abram and Zimri owned a field together
A level field hid in a happy vale;
They plowed it with one plow, and in the spring
Sowed, walking side by side, the fruitful seed.
In harvest, when the glad earth smiled with grain,
Each carried to his home one-half the sheaves,
And stored them with much labor in his barns.
Now Abram had a wife and seven sons,
But Zimri dwelt alone within his house.
One night, before the sheaves were gathered in, As Zimri lay upon his lonely bed
And counted in his mind his little gains,
He thought upon his brother Abram's lot,
And said, "I dwell alone within my house,
But Abram hath a wife and seven sons,
And yet we share the harvest sheaves alike.
He surely needeth more for life than I;
I will arise, and gird myself, and go
Down to the field, and add to his from mine."
So he arose, and girded up his loins, And went out softly to the level field;
The moon shone out from dusky bars of clouds, The trees stood black against the cold blue sky, The branches waved and whispered in the wind. So Zimri, guided by the shifting light,
Went down the mountain path, and found the field,
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