Recessional by Isaac Watts

O God, our Help in ages past,
Our Hope for years to come,
Our Shelter from the stormy blast,
And our Eternal Home! 

Before the hills in order stood
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same. 

A thousand ages in Thy sight,
Are like an evening gone:
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun. 

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day. 

O God, our Help in ages past,
Our Hope for years to come,
Be Thou our Guard while life shall last,
And our Eternal Home.

——————————————-

Sung on Youtube (2:42) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-hN740J6qA

 

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Hymn by Oliver Wendell Holmes

(For the inauguration of the statue of
Governor Andrew Bingham, October 7, 1875) 

Behold the shape our eyes have known!
It lives once more in changeless stone;
So looked in mortal face and form
Our guide through peril’s deadly storm. 

But hushed the beating heart we knew,
That heart so tender, brave, and true,
Even as the rooted mountain rock,
Pure as the quarry’s whitest block! 

Not his beneath the blood-red star
To win the soldier’s envied scar;
Unarmed he battled for the right,
In Duty’s never-ending fight. 

Unconquered will, unslumbering eye,
Faith such as bids the martyr die,
The prophet’s glance, the master’s hand
To mould the work his foresight planned, 

These were his gifts; what Heaven had lent;
For justice, mercy, truth, he spent,
First to avenge the traitorous blow,
And first to lift the vanquished foe. 

Lo, thus he stood; in danger’s strait
The pilot of the Pilgrim State!
Too large his fame for her alone, –
A nation claims him as her own!

 

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Hymn by Oliver Wendell Holmes

for the fair at Chicago – 1865

O God! in danger’s darkest hour,
…In battle’s deadliest field,
Thy name has been our Nation’s tower,
…Thy truth her help and shield.

Our lips should fill the air with praise,
…Nor pay the debt we owe,
So high above the songs we raise
…The floods of mercy flow.

Yet Thou will hear the prayer we speak,
…The song of praise we sing, –
Thy children, who thine altar seek
…Their grateful gifts to bring.

Thine altar is the sufferer’s bed,
…The home of woe and pain,
The soldier’s turfy pillow, red
…With battle’s crimson rain.

No smoke of burning stains the air,
…No incense-clouds arise;
Thy peaceful servants, Lord, prepare
…A bloodless sacrifice.

Lo! for our wounded brothers’ need,
…We bear the wine and oil;
For us they faint, for us they bleed,
…For them our gracious toil!

O Father, bless the gifts we bring!
…Cause Thou thy face to shine,
Till every nation owns her King,
…And all the earth is thine.

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First-Day Thoughts by John Greenleaf Whittier

In calm and cool and silence, once again
…I find my old accustomed place among
…My brethren, where, perchance, no human tongue
…Shall utter words; where never hymn is sung,
…Nor deep-toned organ blown, nor censer swung,
Nor dim light falling through the pictured pane!
There, syllabled by silence, let me hear
The still small voice which reached the prophet’s ear;
Read in my heart a still diviner law
Than Israel’s leader on his tables saw!
There, let me strive with each besetting sin,
…Recall my wandering fancies, and restrain
…The sore disquiet of a restless brain;
…And, as the path of duty is made plain,
May grace be given that I may walk therein,
…Not like the hireling, for his selfish gain,
With backward glances and reluctant tread,
Making a merit of his coward dread,
…But, cheerful, in the light around me thrown,
…Walking as one to pleasant service led;
…Doing God’s will as if it were my own,
Yet trusting not in mine, but in his strength alone!

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Abide With Me by Henry Lyte

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me. 

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me. 

I need Thy presence every passing hour;
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me. 

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me. 

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies;
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

————————————————————

sung here (2:16) –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm7FpBxOIL4

 

 

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Brahma by Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

…………….Brahma

If the red slayer think he slays,
…Or if the slain think he is slain,
They know not well the subtle ways
…I keep, and pass, and turn again. 

Far or forgot to me is near;
…Shadow and sunlight are the same;
The vanished gods to me appear;
…And one to me are shame and fame. 

They reckon ill who leave me out;
…When me they fly, I am the wings;
I am the doubter and the doubt,
…And I the hymn the Brahmin sings. 

The strong gods pine for my abode,
…And pine in vain the sacred Seven,
But thou, meek lover of the good!
…Find me, and turn thy back on heaven.

 

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Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind by John Greenleaf Whittier

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our fev’rish ways!
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper rev’rence, praise. 

In simple trust like theirs who heard,
Beside the Syrian Sea,
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word,
Rise up and follow Thee. 

O Sabbath rest by Galilee!
O calm of hills above,
Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee
The silence of eternity
Interpreted by loved. 

Drop Thy still dews of quietness
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace. 

Breathe thru the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak thru the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still small voice of calm!

 

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