Thy spirit sways with soft control,
And bears our thoughts above.

3 Why should we then decline from thee?
In search of folly rove?

Or strive to set our passions free

From these soft bands of love?

4 Extend around thy loving arms,
Infold us in thy breast,

Where, captives to resistless charms,
Our joyful souls may rest.

HYMN 418. 61. L. M. [#]
Angelic Strains responded.

1 ARRAYED in clouds of golden light,
More bright than heaven's resplendent bow,
Jehovah's angel came by night,

To bless the sleeping world below:
How soft the music of his tongue!
How sweet the hallowed strains he sung!
2 Good will henceforth to man be given;
The light of glory beams on earth;
Let angels tune the harps of heaven,
And saints below rejoice with mirth:
On Bethlehem's plains the shepherds sing,
And Judah's children hail their King.
26*

EVANGELICAL DEVOTION.

HYMN 419. C. M. [# or b]

Devotion.

1 WHILE thee I seek, protecting Power,
Be my vain wishes stilled;
And may this consecrated hour

With better hopes be filled.

2 Thy love the power of thought bestowed;
To thee my thoughts would soar:
Thy mercy o'er my life has flowed;
That mercy I adore.

3 In each event of life, how clear
Thy ruling hand I see!

Each blessing to my soul more dear,
Because conferred by thee.

4 In every joy that crowns my days,
In every pain I bear,

My heart shall find delight in praise,
Or seek relief in prayer.

5 When gladness wings my favoured hour,
Thy love my thoughts shall fill;
Resigned when storms of sorrow lower,
My soul shall meet thy will.

6 My lifted eye, without a tear,

The gathering storm shall see;
My steadfast heart shall know no fear;
That heart will rest on thee.

HYMN 420.

C. M. [b]

Secret Devotion.

1 FATHER divine, thy piercing eye
Looks through the shades of night;
In deep retirement thou art nigh,
With heart discerning-sight.

2 There shall that piercing eye survey
My humble worship paid
With every morning's dawning ray,
And every evening's shade.

3 I'll leave behind each earthly care;
To thee my soul shall soar;

While grateful praise and fervent prayer
Employ the silent hour.

4 So shall the visits of thy love
My soul in secret bless;

So shalt thou deign, in worlds above,
Thy suppliant to confess.

HYMN 421. L. M. [# or b ]

Devout Considerations and Desires.

1 As showers on meadows newly mown
The Lord shall shed his blessings down;
Crowned with whose life-infusing drops,
Earth shall renew her blissful corps.

2 Lands that, beneath a burning sky,
Have long been desolate and dry,
Effusions of his love shall share,
And sudden life and verdure wear.

3 The dews and rains, in all their store, Drenching the pastures o'er and o'er, Are not so copious as that grace Which sanctifies and saves our race.

4 As, in soft silence, vernal showers Descend, and cheer the fainting flowers, So, in the secrecy of love,

Falls the sweet influence from above.

5 That heavenly influence let me find
In holy silence of the mind,

While every grace maintains its bloom,
Diffusing wide its rich perfume.

6 Nor let these blessings be confined
To me, but poured on all mankind,
Till earth's wild wastes in verdure rise,
And a young Eden bless our eyes.

HYMN 422. C. M. [# or b]
Breathing after the holy Spirit.

1 COME, holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,
With all thy quickening powers;
Kindle a flame of sacred love
In these cold hearts of ours.

2 Look, how we grovel here below,
Fond of these trifling toys;
Our souls can neither fly nor go
To reach eternal joys.

3 In vain we tune our formal songs,
In vain we strive to rise;

Hosannas languish on our tongues,
And our devotion dies.

4 Dear Lord, and shall we ever live
At this poor dying rate?
Our love so faint, so cold to thee,
And thine to us so great?

5 Come, holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,
With all thy quickening powers;
Come, shed abroad a Saviour's love,
And that shall kindle ours.

HYMN 423. L. M. [#]

Pleasures of Devotion.

1 FAR from my thoughts, vain world, be gone; Let my religious hours alone :

Fain would my eyes my Saviour see;
I wait a visit, Lord, from thee.

2 My heart grows warm with holy fire,
And kindles with a pure desire;
Come, my dear Jesus, from above,
And feed my soul with heavenly love.
3 Blest Jesus, what delicious fare!
How sweet thine entertainments are!
Never did angels taste, above,
Redeeming grace and dying love.

4 Hail, great Immanuel, all divine!
In thee thy Father's glories shine,
Thou brightest, sweetest, fairest one,
That eyes have seen, or angels known!