GOD AND MAN

O Lord! I will declare

Thy holy name, thy glories past compare:
My tongue shall not conceal, O Lord!
Thy righteousness made known to me:
I heard and I believed thy word,
I will not ask presumptuously.
For should the vase of clay

"What doest thou?" unto its maker say?
Him have I sought and known,

A rock of strength, a tower of might,

Resplendent as the glorious light,

Without or veil or covering, radiant shown:

Exalted, magnified,

Extolled and glorified.

The heavens from hour to hour

Declare thy wondrous works, proclaim thy power;

Sunrise and sunset, still the same,

Prostrate in awe eternally.

The angels pass through flood and flame

As unto thee they testify;

Thy praise they celebrate,

O thou, the fruit of lips who dost create.
For thou uphold'st alone,

Unwearied and invisible,

The depths, the heights, where move and dwell The living creatures and the heavenly throne: Exalted, magnified,

Extolled and glorified.

Who has the glory praised

Fitly of him, whose word the heavens upraised?

The Eternal One, who dwells concealed

In his exalted heights, but yet

In Zion's temple, full revealed,

Did erst his glorious presence set,

And he showed visions then

To cause his image to be seen of men;
Yet past all measuring

His wisdom is, past depth and height
He flashes on his prophet's sight

In visions only as the heavenly king:
Exalted, magnified,

Extolled and glorified.

His power, exceeding great,

Is without end: who can his praise narrate?

Happy the man, who testifies

Unto his greatness manifold,

Whose faith in God unshaken lies,

In God, whose arms the world uphold,

Who, fearing God, can trust

In Him, acknowledging his deeds are just, That for himself has he

Made all his works, his creatures all,

And that his awful day will call

All men, the judgment of their deeds to see: Exalted, magnified,

Extolled and glorified.

Do thou then heed and learn,
Prepare thyself thy nature to discern.
See whence thou comest, what thou art,
And who created thee and taught
Thee knowledge, and in every part
Of thee the power of motion wrought.
Mark then God's might untold,

And rouse thyself his wonders to behold.

But to himself concealed

Dare not to stretch thy hand, for then

Thou seekest, with presumptuous ken,

The first and last, the hidden and revealed: Exalted, magnified,

Extolled and glorified.

PASSOVER HYMN

When as a wall the sea
In heaps uplifted lay,
A new song unto thee

Sang the redeemed that day.

Thou didst in his deceit

O'erwhelm the Egyptian's feet, While Israel's footsteps fleet

How beautiful were they!

Jeshurun! all who see

Thy glory cry to thee: "Who like thy God can be?" Thus even our foes did say.

Oh! let thy banner soar

The scattered remnant o'er, And gather them once more Like corn on harvest day.

Who bear through all their line

Thy covenant's holy sign, And to thy name divine Are sanctified alway.

Let all the world behold

Their token, prized of old, Who on their garments' fold The thread of blue display.

Be then the truth made known
For whom, and whom alone,
The twisted fringe is shown,
The covenant kept this day.

Oh! let them, sanctified,

Once more with thee abide,

Their sun shine far and wide,
And chase the clouds away.

The well-beloved declare

Thy praise and song and prayer: "Who can with thee compare, O Lord of Hosts?" they say.

When as a wall the sea

In heaps unlifted lay,

A new song unto thee

Sang the redeemed that day.

MORNING PRAYER

O Lord! my life was known to thee
Ere thou hadst caused me yet to be,
Thy Spirit ever dwells in me.

Could I, cast down by thee, have gained
A standing place, or, if restrained
By thee, go forth with feet unchained?

Hear me, Almighty, while I pray,
My thoughts are in thy hand alway,
Be to my helplessness a stay!

Oh! may this hour thy favor yield,
And may I tread life's battle-field
Encompassed by thy mercy's shield.

Wake me at dawn thy name to bless,
And in thy sanctuary's recess
To praise and laud thy holiness.

LATER POETS

MY KING

Ere time began, ere age to age had thrilled,
I waited in his storehouse, as he willed;
He gave me being, but, my years fulfilled,
I shall be summoned back before the King.

He called the hidden to the light of day,
To right and left, each side the fountain lay,
From out the stream and down the steps, the way
That led me to the garden of the King.

Thou gavest me a light my path to guide,
To prove my heart's recesses still untried;

And as I went, thy voice in warning cried:

"Child! fear thou him who is thy God and King!"

True weight and measure learned my heart from thee;
If blessings follow, then what joy for me!

If naught but sin, all mine the shame must be,
For that was not determined by the King.

I hasten, trembling, to confess the whole

Of

my transgressions, ere I reach the goal

Where mine own words must witness 'gainst my soul,

And who dares doubt the writing of the King?

Erring I wandered in the wilderness,

In passion's grave night sinking powerless:
Now deeply I repent, in sore distress,

That I kept not the statutes of the King!