Part First--God and the Most Holy Trinity
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HYMNS.
i.
THE UNITY OF GOD.
1.
One God! one Majesty!
There is no God but Thee!
Unbounded, unextended Unity!
2.
Awful in unity,
0 God! we worship Thee,
More simply one, because supremely Three!
3.
Dread, unbeginning One!
Single, yet not alone,
Creation hath not set Thee on a higher thront. 4.
Unfathomable Sea! •
All life is out of Thee,
And Thy life is Thy blissful Unity.
27
5.
All things that from Thee run,
All works that Thou hast done,
Thou didst in honor of Thy being One.
6.
And by Thy being One,
Ever by that alone,
Couldst Thou do, and doest, what Thou hast done. 7.
We from Thy oneness come,
Beyond it cannot roam,
And in Thy oneness find our one eternal home.
8.
Blest be Thy Unity!
All joys are one to me,—
The joy that there can be no other God than Thee!
2.
THE HOLY TRINITY.
1.
O Blessed Trinity!
Thy children dare to lift their hearts to Thee,
And bless Thy triple Majesty!
Holy Trinity!
Blessed Equal Three,
One God, we praise Thee.
2.
O Blessed Trinity!
Holy, unfathomable, infinite,
Thou art all Life and Love and Light.
Holy Trinity!
Blessed Equal Three,
One God, we praise Thee.
3.
O Blessed Trinity! God of a thousand attributes! we see That there is no one good but Thee. Holy Trinity! Blessed Equal Three, One God, we praise Thee.
4.
O Blessed Trinity!
In our astonished reverence we confess
Thine uncreated loveliness.
Holy Trinity!
Blessed Equal Three,
One God, we praise Thee.
5.
O Blessed Trinity!
O simplest Majesty! O Three in One!
Thou art for ever God alone.
Holy Trinity!
Blessed Equal Three,
One God, we praise Thee.
6.
O Blessed Trinity!
The Fountain of the Godhead, in repose,
For ever rests, for ever flows.
Holy Trinity!
Blessed Equal Three.
One God, we praise Thee.
7.
O Blessed Trinity!
O Unbegotten Father! give us tears
To quench our love, to calm our fears.
Holy Trinity!
Blessed Equal Three,
One God, we praise Thee.
8.
O Blessed Trinity!
Bright Son! who art the Father's mind displayed,
Thou art begotten and not made.
Holy Trinity!
Blessed Equal Three,
One God, we praise Thee.
9.
O Blessed Trinity!
Coequal Spirit! wondrous Paraclete!
By Thee the Godhead is complete.
Holy Trinity!
Blessed Equal Three,
One God, we praise Thee.
10.
O Blessed Trinity! We praise Thee, bless Thee, worship Thee as One, Yet Three are on the single Throne. Holy Trinity! Biassed Equal Three, One God, we praise Thee.
11.
O Blessed Trinity!
In the deep darkness of prayer's stillest night.
We worship Thee blinded with light.
Holy Trinity!
Blessed Equal Three,
One God, we praise Thee.
12.
O Blessed Trinity!
Oh would that we could die of love for Thee,
Iivcomparable Trinity!
Holy Trinity!
Blessed Equal Three,
One God, we praise Thee.
3.
MAJESTY DIVINE.
1.
Full of glory, full of wonders,
Majesty Divine!
'Mid Thine everlasting thunders
How Thy lightnings shine!
Shoreless Ocean! who shall sound Thee?
Thine own eternity is round Thee,
Majesty Divine!
2.
Timeless, spaceless, single, lonely,
Yet sublimely Three,
Thou art grandly, always, only
God in Unity!
Lone in grandeur, lone in glory,
Who shall tell Thy wondrous story,
Awful Trinity?
3.
Speechlessly, without beginning,
Sun that never rose!
Vast, adorable, and winning,
Day that hath no close!
Bliss from Thine own glory tasting,
Everliving, everlasting,
Life that never grows!
4.
Thine own Self for ever filling
With self-kindled flame,
In Thyself Thou art distilling
Unctions without name!
"Without worshipping of creatures,
Without veiling of Thy features,
God always the same!
5.
In Thy praise of Self untiring
Thy perfections shine; Self-sufficient, self-admiring,—
Such life must be Thine;— Glorifying Self, yet blameless With a sanctity all shameless
It is so Divine!
6.
'Mid Thine uncreated morning,
Like a trembling star
I behold creation's dawning
Glimmering from far;
Nothing giving, nothing taking,
Nothing changing, nothing breaking,
Waiting at time's bar!
7.
1 with life and love diurnal
See myself in Thee,
AW embalmed in love eternal,
Floating in Thy sea:
'Mid Thine uncreated whiteness
I behold Thy glory's brightness
Feed itself on me.
8.
Splendors upon splendors beaming
Change and intertwine! Glories over glories streaming
All translucent shine! Blessings, praises, adorations Greet Thee from the trembling nations
Majesty Divine!
4.
GOD.
1.
Have mercy on us, God Most High!
Who lift our hearts to Thee; Have mercy on us worms of earth,
Most holy Trinity!
GOD.
2.
Most ancient of all mysteries!
Before Thy throne we lie; Have mercy now, most merciful,
Most holy Trinity!
3.
When heaven and earth were yet unmade,
When time was yet unknown,
Thou in Thy bliss and majesty
Didst live and love alone!
4.
Thou wert not born; there was no fount From which Thy Being flowed;
There is no end which Thou canst reach: But Thou art simply God..
5.
How wonderful creation is,
The work that Thou didst bless,
And, oh! what then must Thou be like, Eternal Loveliness?
6.
How beautiful the Angels are,
The Saints how bright in bliss;
But with Thy beauty, Lord! compared,
How dull, how poor is this!
In wonder lost, the highest heavens
Mary, their queen, may see; If Mary is so beautiful,
What must her Maker be?
8.
No wonder Saints have died of love,
No wonder hearts can break, Pure hearts that once have learned to love
God for His own dear sake.
9.
O Majesty most beautiful!
Most holy Trinity!
On Mary's throne we climb to get
A far-off sight of Thee.
10.
O listen, then, Most Pitiful!
To Thy poor creature's heart;
It blesses Thee that Thou art God,
That Thou art what Thou art!
11.
Most ancient of all mysteries!
Still at Thy throne we lie; Have mercy now, most merciful,
Most holy Trinity!
THE ETERNITY OF GOD.
1.
O Lord! my heart is sick,
Sick of this everlasting change;
And life runs tediously quick
Through its unresting race and varied range:
Change finds no likeness to itself in Thee.
And wakes no echo in Thy mute eternity.
Dear Lord! my heart is sick
Of this perpetual lapsing time,
So slow in grief, in joy so quick,
Yet ever casting shadows so sublime:
Time of all creatures is least like to Thee,
And yet it is our share of Thine eternity.
3.
Oh change and time are storms
For lives so thin and frail as ours;
For change the work of grace deforms
With love that soils, and help that overpowers;
And time is strong, and, like some chafing sea.
It seems to fret the shores of Thine eternity.
4.
Weak, weak, for ever weak!
We cannot hold what we possess;
Youth cannot find, age will not seek,— Oh weakness is the heart's worst weariness: But weakest hearts can lift their thoughts to Thee; It makes us strong to think of Thine eternity.
5.
Thou hadst no youth, great God!
An Unbeginning End Thou art;
Thy glory in itself abode,
And still abides in its own tranquil heart:
No age can heap its outward years on Thee:
Dear God! Thou art Thyself Thine own eternity!
6.
Without an end or bound
Thy life lies all outspread in light;
Our lives feel Thy life all around,
Making our weakness strong, our darkness
bright;
Yet it is neither wilderness nor sea,
But the calm gladness of a full eternity.
7.
Oh Thou art very great
To set Thyself so far above!
But We partake of Thine estate,
Established in Thy strength and in Thy love:
That love hath made eternal room for me.
In the sweet vastness of its own eternity.
8.
Oh Thou art very meek
To overshade Thy creatures thus!
Thy grandeur is the shade we seek;
To be eternal is Thy use to us:
Ah Blessed God! what joy it is to me
To lose all thought of self in Thine eternity.
9.
Self-wearied, Lord! I come;
For I have lived my life too fast:
Now that years bring me nearer home Grace must be slowly used to make it last; When my heart beats too quick I think of Thee, And of the leisure of Thy long eternity.
10.
Farewell, vain joys of earth!
Farewell, all love that is not His!
Dear God! be Thou my only mirth,
Thy Majesty my single timid bliss!
Oh in the bosom of eternity
Thou dost not weary of Thyself, nor we of Thee!
6.
THE GREATNESS OF GOD.
1.
O Majesty unspeakable and dread!
Wert Thou less mighty than Thou art, Thou wert, O Lord! too great for our belief,
Too little for our heart.
Thy greatness would seem monstrous by the side
Of creatures frail and undivine;
Yet they would have a greatness of their own
Free and apart from Thine.
3.
Such grandeur were but a created thing,
A spectre, terror, and a grief,
Out of all keeping with a world so calm,
Oppressing our belief.
4.
But greatness, which is infinite, makes room
For all things in its lap to lie;
We should be crushed by a magnificence
Short of infinity.
5.
It would outgrow us from the face of things,
Still prospering as we decayed,
And, like a tyrannous rival, it would feed
Upon the wrecks it made.
6.
But what is infinite must be a home,
A shelter for the meanest life, Where it is free to reach its greatest growth
Far from the touch of strife.
7.
We share in what is infinite: 'tis ours,
For we and it alike are Thine; What I enjoy, great God! by right of Thea
Is more than doubly mine.
8.
Thus doth Thy hospitable greatness lie
Outside us like a boundless sea; We cannot lose ourselves where all is home,
Nor drift away from Thee.
9.
Out on that sea we are in hr.rbor still,
And scarce advert to winds and tides,
Like ships that ride at anchor, with the waves
Flapping against their sides.
10.
Thus doth Thy grandeur make us grand ourselves;
'Tis goodness bids us fear;
Thy greatness makes us brave as children are,
When those they love are near.
11.
Great God! our lowliness takes heart to play
Beneath the shadow of Thy state; The only comfort of our littleness
Is that Thou art so great.
12.
Then on Thy grandeur I will lay me down;
Already life is heaven for me:
No cradled child more softly lies than I,—
Come soon, Eternity!
7.
THE WILL OF GOD.
1.
I worship thee, sweet will of God!
And all thy ways adore.
And every day I live I seem
To love thee more and more.
2.
Thou wert the end, the blessed rule Of our Saviour's toils and tears;
Thou wert the passion of His Heart Those Three-and-thirty years.
3.
And He hath breathed into my soul
A special love of Thee,
A love to lose my will in His,
And by that loss be free.
4.
I love to see Thee bring to nought
The plans of wily men; When simple hearts outwit the wise,
Oh Thou art loveliest then!
5.
The headstrong world, it presses hard
Upon the Church full oft,
And then how easily Thou turnst
The hard ways into soft.
6.
I love to kiss each print where Thou
Hast set Thine unseen feet:
I cannot fear Thee, blessed Will!
Thine empire is so sweet.
When obstacles and trials seem
Like prison-walls to be, I do the little I can do,
And leave the rest to Thee.
8.
I know not what it is to doubt;
My heart is ever gay;
I run no risk, for come what will
Thou always hast Thy way.
9.
I have no cares, O blessed Will!
For all my cares are Thine;
I live in triumph, Lord! for Thou
Hast made Thy triumphs mine.
10.
And when it seems no chance or change
From grief can set me free, Hope finds its strength in helplessness,
And gaily waits on Thee.
11.
Man's weakness waiting upon God
Its end can never miss,
For men on earth no work can do
More angel-like than this.
12.
Ride on, ride on triumphantly,
Thou glorious Will! ride on;
Faith's pilgrim sons behind Thee take
The road that Thou hast gone.
13.
He always wins who sides with God,
To him no chance is lost;
God's will is sweetest to him when
It triumphs at his cost.
14.
Ill that He blesses is our good,
And unblest good is ill; And all is right that seems most wrong,
If it be His sweet will!
8.
THE ETERNAL FATHER.
1.
Father! the sweetest, dearest Name
That men or angels know!
Fountain of life, that had no fount
From which itself could flow!
2.
Thy life is one unwearing day;
Before its Now Thou hast No varied future yet unlived,
No lapse of changeless past.
3.
Thou comest not, Thou goest not;
Thou wert not, wilt not be; Eternity is but a thought
By which we think of Thee.
4.
No epochs lie behind Thy life;
Thou holdst Thy life of none: No other life is by Thy side;
Thine is supremely lone.
5.
Far upward in the timeless past,
Ere form or space had come,
We see Thee by Thine own dread light,
Thyself Thine only home.
6.
Thy vastness is not young or old;
Thy life hath never grown;
No time can measure out Thy days,
No space can make Thy throne.
7.
Thy life is deep within Thyself,
Sole Unbegotten Sire!
But Son and Spirit flow from Thee
In coeternal fire.
8.
They flow from Thee, They rest in Thee,
As in a Father's Breast,— Processions of eternal love,
Pulses of endless rest!
That They in majesty should reign
Coequal, Sire! with Thee,
But magnifies the singleness
Of Thy paternity.
10.
Their uncreated glories, Lord!
With Thine own glory shine; Thy glory as the Father needs
That Theirs should equal Thine.
11.
All things are equal in Thy life:
Thou joyst not to be alone,
To have no sire, and yet to have
A coeternal Son.
12.
Thy Spirit is Thy jubilee;
Thy Word is Thy delight; Thou givest Them to equal Thee
In glory and in might.
13.
Thou art too great to keep unshared
Thy grand eternity;
They have it as Thy gift to Them,
Which is no gift to Thee.
14.
We too, like Thy coequal Word,
Within Thy lap may rest:
We too, like Thine Eternal Dove,
May nestle in Thy Breast.
15.
Lone Fountain of the Godhead, hail!
Person most dread and dear!
I thrill with frightened joy to feel
Thy fatherhood so near.
16.
Lost in Thy greatness, Lord! I live,
As in some gorgeous maze;
Thy sea of unbegotten light
Blinds me, and yet I gaze.
17.
For Thy grandeur is all tenderness,
All motherlike and meek;
The hearts that will not come to it
Humbling itself to seek.
18.
Thou feign'st to be remote, and speakst
As if from far above, That fear may make more bold with Thee,
And be beguiled to love.
19.
On earth Thou hidest, not to scare
Thy children with Thy light,
Then showest us Thy face in heaven,
When we can bear the sight,
20.
All fathers learn their craft from Thee;
All loves are shadows cast From the beautiful eternal hills
Of Thine unbeginning past.
9.
OUR HEAVENLY FATHER. 1.
My God! how wonderful Thou art,
Thy Majesty how bright, How beautiful Thy Mercy-Seat
In depths of burning light!
2.
How dread are Thine eternal years,
O everlasting Lord!
By prostrate spirits day and night
Incessantly adored!
3.
How beautiful, how beautiful
The sight of Thee must be, Thine endless wisdom, boundless power,
And awful purity!
4.
Oh how I fear Thee, living God!
With deepest, tenderest fears, And worship Thee with trembling hope,
And penitential tears.
5.
Yet I may love Thee too, O Lord!
Almighty as Thou art,
For Thou hast stooped to ask of me
The love of my poor heart.
6.
Oh then this worse than worthless heart
In pity deign to take,
And make it love Thee, for Thyself,
And for Thy glory's sake.
7.
No earthly father loves like Thee,
No mother half so mild
Bears and forbears, as Thou hast done,
With me, Thy sinful child.
8.
Only to sit and think of God,
Oh what a joy it is! To think the thought, to breathe the Name,
Earth has no higher bliss I
9.
Father of Jesus! love's Reward!
What rapture will it Ije, Prostrate before Thy throne to lie,
And gaze and gaze on Thee!
10.
MY FATHER.
1.
O God! Thy power is wonderful,
Thy glory passing bright;
Thy wisdom, with its deep on deep,
A rapture to the sight.
2.
Thy justice is the gladdest thing
Creation can behold;
Thy tenderness so meek, it wins
The guilty to be bold.
3.
Yet more than all, and ever more,
Should we Thy creatures bless,
Most worshipful of attributes,
Thine awful holiness.
4.
There's not a craving in the mind
Thou dost not meet and still;
There's not a wish the heart can have
Which Thou dost not fulfil.
5.
I see Thee in the eternal years
In glory all alone,
Ere round Thine uncreated fires
Created light had shone.
6.
I see Thee walk in Eden's shade,
I see Thee all through time;
Thy patience and compassion seem
New attributes sublime.
7.
I see Thee when the doom is o'er,
And outworn time is done, Still, still incomprehensible,
O God! yet not alone.
8.
Angelic spirits, countless souls,
Of Thee have drunk their fill;
And to eternity will drink
Thy joy and glory still.
9.
Mary, herself a sea of grace,
Hath all been drawn from Thine;
And Thou couldst fill a thousand more From out those depths divine.
10.
From Thee were drawn those worlds of life,
The Saviour's Heart and Soul;
And undiminished still, Thy waves
Of calmest glory roll.
11.
All things that have been, all that are,
All things that can be dreamed,
All possible creations, made,
Kept faithful, or redeemed,—
12.
All these may draw upon Thy power,
Thy mercy may command; And still outflows Thy silent sea,
Immutable and grand.
13.
O little heart of mine! shall pain
Or sorrow make thee moan, When all this God is all for thee,
A Father all thine own?
1L
THE GOD OF MY CHILDHOOD. 1.
O God, who wert my childhood's love,
My boyhood's pure delight,
A presence felt the livelong day,
A welcome fear at night,—
2.
O let me speak to Thee, dear God!
Of those old mercies past,
O'er which new mercies day by day,
Such lengthening shadows cast.
3.
They bade me call Thee Father, Lord!
Sweet was the freedom deemed, And yet more like a mother's ways,
Thy quiet mercies seemed.
4.
At school Thou wert a kindly Face
Which I could almost see; But home and holyday appeared
Somehow more full of Thee.
5.
I could not sleep unless Thy Hand
Were underneath my head, That I might kiss it, if I lay
Wakeful upon my bed.
6.
And quite alone I never felt,—
I knew that Thou wert near,
A silence tingling in the room,
A strangely pleasant fear.
7.
And to home-Sundays long since past How fondly memory clings;
For then my mother told of Thee Such sweet, such wondrous things.
8.
I know not what I thought of Thee,
What picture I had made Of that eternal Majesty
To whom my childhood prayed.
9.
I know I used to lie awake,
And tremble at the shape Of my own thoughts, yet did not wish
Thy terrors to escape.
10.
I had no secrets as a child,
Yet never spoke of Thee;
The nights we spent together, Lord!
Were only known to me.
11.
I lived two lives which seemed distinct,
Yet which did intertwine:
One was my mother's—it is gone—
The other, Lord! was Thine.
12.
I never wandered from Thee, Lord!
But sinned before Thy Face; Yet now, on looking back, my sins
Seem all beset with grace.
13.
With age Thou grewest more divine,
More glorious than before;
I feared Thee with a deeper fear,
Because I loved Thee more.
14.
Thou broadenest out with every year,
Each breadth of life to meet:
I scarce can think Thou art the same,
Thou art so much more sweet.
15.
Changed and not changed, Thy present charms
Thy past ones only prove;
Oh make my heart more strong to bear
This newness of Thy love!
16.
These novelties of love !—when will Thy goodness find an end? Whither will Thy compassions, Lord I Incredibly extend?
17.
Father! what hast Thou grown to now?
A joy all joys above,
Something more sacred than a fear,
More tender than a love!
18.
With gentle swiftness lead me on,
Dear God! to see Thy Face; And meanwhile in my narrow heart
Oh make Thyself more space!
12.
THE ETERNAL WORD.
1.
Amid the eternal silences
God's endless Word was spoken;
None heard but He who always spake,
And the silence was unbroken.
Oh marvellous! Oh worshipful!
No song or sound is heard,
But everywhere and every hour,
In love, in wisdom, and in power,
The Father speaks His dear Eternal Word I
2.
For ever in the eternal land
The glorious day is dawning;
For ever is the Father's Light
Like an endless outspread morning.
Oh marvellous! Oh worshipful!
No song or sound is heard,
But everywhere and every hour,
In love, in wisdom, and in power,
The Father speaks His dear Eternal Word!
3.
From the Father's vast tranquillity,
In light coequal glowing,
The kingly consubstantial Word
Is unutterably flowing.
Oh marvellous! Oh worshipful!
No song or sound is heard, But everywhere and every hour, In love, in wisdom, and in power, The Father speaks His dear Eternal Word!
4.
For ever climbs that Morning Star
Without ascent or motion;
For ever is its daybreak shed
On the Spirit's boundless ocean.
Oh marvellous! Oh worshipful!
No song or sound is heard,
But everywhere and every hour,
In love, in wisdom, and in power,
The Father speaks His dear Eternal Word!
5.
O Word! who fitly can adore
Thy Birth and Thy Relation,
Lost in the impenetrable light
Of Thine awful Generation?
Oh marvellous! Oh worshipful!
No song or sound is heard, But everywhere and every hour, In love, in wisdom, and in power, The Father speaks His dear Eternal Won!! 6.
Thy Father clasps Thee evermore
In unspeakable embraces, While the angels tremble as they praise, And shroud their dazzled faces. Oh marvellous! Oh worshipful!
No song or sound is heard, But everywhere and every hour, In love, in wisdom, and in power, The Father speaks His dear Eternal Word!
7.
And oh! in what abyss of love,
So fiery yet so tender,
The Holy Ghost encircles Thee
With His uncreated splendor!
Oh marvellous! Oh worshipful!
No song or sound is heard,
But everywhere and every hour,
In love, in wisdom, and in power,
The Father speaks His dear Eternal Word i
8.
O Word! O dear and gentle Word!
Thy creatures kneel before Thee, And in ecstasies of timid love Delightfully adore Thee.
Oh marvellous! Oh worshipful!
No song or sound is heard, But everywhere and every hour, In love, in wisdom, and in power, The Father speaks His dear Eternal Word 5
9.
Hail choicest mystery of God!
Hail wondrous Generation!
The Father's selfsufficient rest!
The Spirit's jubilation!
Oh marvellous! Oh worshipful •
No song or sound is heard, But everywhere and every hour, In love, in wisdom, and in power, The Father speaks His dear Eternal Word!
10.
Dear Person! dear beyond all words,
Glorious beyond all telling!
Oh with what songs of silent love
Our ravished hearts are swelling!
Oh marvellous! Oh worshipful!
No song or sound is heard,
But everywhere and every hour,
In love, in wisdom, and in power,
The Father speaks His dear Eternal Word!
13.
JESUS IS GOD.
1.
Jesus is God! The solid earth,
The ocean broad and bright,
The countless stars, like golden dust,
That strew the skies at night,
The wheeling storm, the dreadful fire,
The pleasant, wholesome air,
The summer's sun, the winter's frost,
His own creations were.
2.
Jesus is God! The glorious bands
Of golden angels sing
Songs of adoring praise to Him,
Their Maker and their King.
He was true God in Bethlehem's crib,
On Calvary's cross true God,
He who in heaven eternal reigned,
In time on earth abode.
3.
Jesus is God! There never was
A time when he was not: Boundless, eternal, merciful,
The Word the Sire begot! Backward our thoughts through ages stretch,
Onward through endless bliss,— For there are two eternities,
And both alike are His!
4.
Jesus is God! Alas! they say
On earth the numbers grow,
Who His Divinity blaspheme
To their unfailing woe.
And yet what is the single end
Of this life's mortal span,
Except to glorify the God
Who for our sakes was man?
Jesus is God! Let sorrow come,
And pain and every ill; All are worth while, for all are means
His glory to fulfil;
Worth w'lUe a thousand years of life
To speak one little word,
If by our Credo we might own
The Godhead of our Lord!
6.
Jesus is God! Oh could I now
But compass land and sea,
To teach and tell this single truth,
How happy should I be!
Oh had I but an angel's voice
I would proolaim so loud,—Jesus, the good, the beautiful,
Is everlasting God!
7.
Jesus is God! If on the earth
This blessed faith decays,
More tender must our love become,
More plentiful our praise.
We are not angels, but we may
Down in earth's corners kneel, And multiply sweet acts of love.
And murmur what we feel.
14.
JESUS, MY GOD AND MY ALL. 1.
O Jesus, Jesus! dearest Lord!
Forgive me if I say
For very love Thy Sacred Name
A thousand times a day.
I love Thee so, I know not how
My transports to control; Thy love is like a burning fire
Within my very soul.
3.
O wonderful! that Thou shouldst let
So vile a heart as mine
Love Thee with such a love as this,
And make so free with Thine.
4.
The craft of this wise world of ouni
Poor wisdom seems to me;
Ah! dearest Jesus! I have grown
Childish with love of Thee!
5.
For Thou to me art all in all,
My honor and my wealth, My heart's desire, my body's strength,
My soul's eternal health.
6.
Burn, burn, O Love! within my heart,
Burn fiercely night and day,
Till all the dross of earthly loves
Is burned, and burned away.
7.
O Light in darkness, Joy in grief,
O heaven begun on earth!
Jesus! my Love! my Treasure! who
Can tell what Thou are worth?
8.
O Jesus! Jesus! sweetest Lord!
What art Thou not to me? Each hour brings joy before unknown,
Each day new liberty I
9.
What limit is there to Thee, love?
Thy flight where wilt Thou stay? On! on! our Lord is sweeter far
To-day than yesterday.
10.
O love of Jesus! Blessed love!
So will it ever be; Time cannot hold thy wondrous growth,
No, nor eternity!
15.
THE ETERNAL SPIRIT.
1.
Fountain of Love! Thyself true God!
Who through eternal days From Father and from Son hast flowed
In uncreated ways.
2.
O Majesty unspeakable!
O Person all Divine!
How in the Threefold Majesty
Doth Thy Procession shine I
3.
Fixed in the Godhead's awful light
Thy fiery Breath doth move I
Thou art a wonder by Thyself
To woi'ship and to love!
4.
Proceeding, yet of equal age
With those whose love Thou art;
Proceeding, yet distinct from those
From whom Thou seem'st to part:
5.
An undivided Nature shared
With Father and with Son; A Person by Thyself; with Them simple essence One;
6.
Bond art Thou of the other Twain!
Omnipotent and free!
The consummating Love of God!
The limit of the Three I
7.
Thou limitest infinity,
Thyself all infinite; The Godhead lives, and loves, and rests,
In Thine eternal light.
8.
I dread Thee, Unbegotten Love!
True God! Soip Fount of Grace! And now before Thy Blessed throne
My sinful self abase.
9.
Ocean, 'wide-flowing Ocean, Thou,
Of uncreated Love;
I tremble as within my soul
I feel Thy waters move.
10.
Thou art a sea without a shore;
Awful, immense Thou art; A sea which can contract itself
Within my narrow heart.
11.
And yet Thou art a haven too
Out on the shoreless sea,
A harbor that can hold full well
Shipwrecked Humanity.
12.
Thou art an unborn Breath outbreathed
On angels and on men, Subduing all things to Thyself,
We know not how or when.
13.
Thou art a God of fire, that doth
Create while He consumes!
A God of light, whose rays on earth
Darken where He illumes!
14.
All things, dread Spirit! to Thy praise
Thy Presence doth transmute;
Evil itself Thy glory bears,
Its one abiding fruit!
15.
O Light! O Love! O very God!
I dare no longer gaze
Upon Thy wondrous attributes
And their mysterious ways.
16.
O Spirit, beautiful and dread!
My heart is fit to break
With Love of all Thy tenderness
For us poor sinners' sake.
17.
The love of Jesus I adore;
My comfort this shall be, That, when I serve my dearest Lord,
That service worships Thee I
16.
VENI CREATOR.
1.
O come, Creator Spirit! come,
Vouchsafe to make our minds Thy home
And with Thy heavenly grace fulfil
The hearts Thou madest at Thy will.
2.
Thou that art named the Paraclete,
The gift of God, His Spirit sweet;
The Living Fountain, Fire and Love,
And gracious Unction from above.
3.
Thy sevenfold grace Thou dost expand,
O Finger of the Father's Hand;
True Promise of the Father, rich
In gifts of tongues and various speech.
4.
Kindle our senses with Thy light;
And lead our hearts to love aright:
Stablish our weakness, and refresh
With fortitude our fainting flesh.
5.
Repel far off our deadly foe,
And peace on us forthwith bestow;
With Thee for guide we need not fear,
Where Thou art, evil conies not near.
6.
By Thee the Father let us bless,
By Thee the Eternal Son confess,
And Thee Thyself we evermore,
The Spirit of Them Both, adore.
7.
To God the Father let us raise,
And to His only Son, our praise:
Praise to the Holy Spirit be
Now and for all eternity.
VENI SANCTE SPIRTTUS.
1.
Come, Holy Spirit! from the height
Of heaven send down Thy blessed light!
Come, Father of the friendless poor! Giver of gifts, and Light of Hearts, Come with that unction which imparts
Suoh consolations as endure.
2.
The Soul's Refreshment and her Guest,
Shelter in heat, in labor Rest,
The sweetest Solace in our woe!
Come, blissful Light I oh come and fill,
In all Thy faithful, heart and will,
And make our inward fervor glow.
3.
Where Thou art, Lord! there is no ill,
For evil s self Thy light can kill:
O let that light upon us rise!
Lord! heal our Abounds, and cleanse our stains,
Fountain of grace! and with Thy rains
Our barren spirits fertilise.
4.
Bend with Thy fires our stubborn will,
And quicken what the world would chill,
And homeward call the feet that stray:
Virtue's reward, and final grace,
The Eternal Vision face to face.
Spirit of Love! for these we pray.
5.
Come, Holy Spirit i bid us live;
To those who trust Thy mercy give
Joys that through endless ages flow:
Thy various gifts, foretastes of Heaven,
Those that are named Thy sacred Seven,
On us, O God of love, bestow.
18.
HOLY GHOST, COME DOWN UPON THT CHILDREN.
Holy Ghost! come down upon Thy children,
Give us grace, and make us Thine; Thy tender fires within us kindle,
Blessed Spirit! Dove Divine!
1.
For all within us good and holy
Is from Thee, Thy precious gift;
In all our joys, in all our sorrows,
Wistful hearts to Thee we lift.
Holy Ghost! come down upon Thy children,
Give us grace, and make us Thine;
Thy tender fires within us kindle,
Blessed Spirit! Dove Divine!
2.
For Thou to us art more than father,
More than sister, in Thy love, So gentle, patient, and forbearing, Holy Spirit! heavenly Dove!
Holy Ghost! come down upon Thy children,
Give us grace, and make us Thine;
Thy tender fires within us kindle,
Blessed Spirit! Dove Divine!
3.
Oh we have grieved Thee, gracious Spirit I
Wayward, wanton, cold are we; And still our sins, new every morning, Never yet have wearied Thee.
Holy Ghost! come down upon Thy children,
Give us grace, and make us Thine;
Thy tender fires within us kindle,
Blessed Spirit! Dove Divine!
4.
Dear Paraclete! how hast Thou waited,
While our hearts were slowly turned I
How often hath thy love been slighted,
While for us it grieved and burned!
Holy Ghost! come down upon Thy children,
Give us grace, and make us Thine;
Thy tender fires within us kindle,
Blessed Spirit! Dove Divine;
5.
Now, if our hearts do not deceive us,
We would take Thee for our Lord!
O dearest Spirit! make us faithful
To Thy least and lightest word.
Holy Ghost! come down upon Thy children,
Give us grace, and make us Thine;
Thy tender fires within us kindle,
Blessed Spirit! Dove Divine!
6.
Ah! sweet Consoler! though we cannot
Love Thee as Thou lovest us,
Yet, if Thou deign'st our hearts to kindle,
They will not be always thus.
Holy Ghost! come down upon Thy children,
Give us grace and make us Thine;
Thy tender fires within us kindle,
Blessed Spirit! Dove Divine!
7.
With hearts so vile how dare we venture,
Holy Ghost! to love Thee so?
And how canst Thou, with such compassion,
Bear so long with things so low?
Holy Ghost! come down upon Thy children,
Give us grace, and make us Thine;
Thy tender fires within us kindle,
Blessed Spirit I Dove Divine I