O Shadow in a sultry land, We gather to thy breast, Whose love, unfolding like the night, Brings quietude and rest, Glimpse of the fairer life to be, In foretaste here possessed;
2 From aimless wanderings we come, From drifting to and fro; The wave of being mingles deep, Amid its ebb and flow; The grander sweep of tides serene Our spirits yearn to know!
3 That which the garish day had lost, The twilight vigil brings, While softlier the vesper bell Its silver cadence rings,— The sense of an immortal trust, The brush of angel wings!
4 Drop down behind the solemn hills, O Day, with golden skies! Serene above its fading glow, Night, starry-crowned, arise! So beautiful may heaven be, When life’s last sunbeam dies!
1314 S. M. Christ the Day-Star.
We lift our hearts to thee, Thou Day-star from on high: The sun itself is but thy shade, Yet cheers both earth and sky.
2 O, let thy rising beams Dispel the shades of night; And let the glories of thy love, Come like the morning light!
3 How beauteous nature now! How dark and sad before!— With joy we view the pleasing change, And nature’s God adore.
4 May we this life improve, To mourn for errors past; And live this short, revolving day, As if it were our last.
1315 C. M. Evening.
O Lord! another day is flown, And we, a feeble band, Are met once more before thy throne, To bless thy fostering hand.
2 Thy heavenly grace to each impart; All evil far remove; And shed abroad in every heart Thine everlasting love.
3 Our souls, obedient to thy sway, In Christian bonds unite; Let peace and love conclude the day, And hail the morning light.
4 Thus, cleansed from sin, and wholly thine, A flock by Jesus led, The Sun of Righteousness shall shine In glory on our head.
5 O still restore our wandering feet, And still direct our way, Till worlds shall fail, and faith shall greet The dawn of endless day.
1316 P. M. Flee as a bird.
Flee as a bird to your mountain, Thou who art weary of sin; Go to the clear flowing fountain, Where you may wash and be clean! Fly, for the avenger is near thee; Call, and the Saviour will hear thee; He on his bosom will bear thee, Thou who art weary of sin, O thou who art weary of sin.
2 He will protect thee for ever, Wipe every falling tear; He will forsake thee, O never, Sheltered so tenderly there; Haste, then, the hours are flying, Spend not the moments in sighing, Cease from your sorrow and crying, The Saviour will wipe every tear, The Saviour will wipe every tear.
1317 P. M. Evening prayer.
I come to thee to-night, In my lone closet, where no eye can see, And dare to crave an interview with thee, Father of love and light.
2 Softly the moonbeams shine On the still branches of the shadowy trees, While all sweet sounds of evening on the breeze Steal through the slumbering vine.
3 Thou gavest the calm repose That rests on all; the air, the birds, the flower, The human spirit in its weary hour, Now at the bright day’s close.
4 Father! my soul would be Pure as the drops of eve’s unsullied dew— And as the stars whose nightly course is true, So would I be to thee.
5 Not for myself alone Would I the blessings of thy love implore; But for each penitent the wide earth o’er, Whom thou hast called thine own.
6 And for my heart’s best friends, Whose steadfast kindness o’er my painful years Has watched, to soothe affliction’s griefs and tears, My warmest prayer ascends.
7 And now, O Father, take The heart I cast with humble faith on thee, And cleanse its depths from each impurity, For my Redeemer’s sake.
1318 6s & 4. Calvary.
Whene’er I think of thee, O! sacred Calvary, Love fills my breast. Flow, then, the joyous tears; Flee, all my guilty fears; Saviour! thy cross appears, And I find rest.
2 When from thy bleeding side I see the crimson tide Streaming for me; Faith in thy flowing blood, O! spotless Lamb of God, Points me from earth’s dark clod, Upward to thee.
3 When death’s unsparing dart Pierces my fainting heart, Sweetly I’ll sing: Grave! thou no terror hast; All fearful gloom is past; Victor through Christ at last, Death has no sting!
1319 8s & 7s. Invitation.
Come to Calvary’s holy mountain, Sinners, ruined by the fall! Here a pure and healing fountain, Flows to cleanse the guilty soul; In a full, perpetual tide, Opened when the Saviour died.
2 Come in sorrow and contrition, Wounded, impotent, and blind; Here the guilty find remission, Here the lost a refuge find; Health this fountain will restore; He that drinks shall thirst no more.