NEARER TO THEE. Then with my waking thoughts, Bright with thy praise, Out of my stony griefs Bethel I'll raise; So by my woes to be Nearer, my God, to thee- Or if on joyful wing, Sun, moon, and stars forgot, Upward I fly; Still all my song shall be Nearer, my God, to thee Nearer to thee! 27 Sonnet. FROM THE ITALIAN OF PETRARCH. I LIVE lamenting my departed years, Help for this soul, feeble and wandering, So that if I have lived in storm and strife, Shelter'd in peaceful haven I may rest; And my last hour, O be Thou near to aid, On Thee, thou knowest, my only hope is staid. THE HEBREW MOURNER. 31 The Hebrew Mourner. Psalm cii, 1-16. WHY, trembling and sad, dost thou stand there and mourn, Son of Israel, the days that can never return? And why do those tear-drops of misery fall On the moldering ruin, the perishing wall? Was yon city, in robes of the heathen now clad, Once the flourishing Zion where Judah was glad? And those walls, that disjointed and scatter'd now lie, Were they once vow'd to Heaven and hallow'd on high? Yet why dost thou mourn? O, to gladness awaken! Though Jehovah this city of God has forsaken, No longer the tear for your city shall flow; |