I love thy kingdom, Lord,
The house of thine abode,
The church our blest Redeemer saved
With his own precious blood.
I love thy church, O God!
Her walls before thee stand,
Dear as the apple of thine eye,
And graven on thy hand.
If e’er to bless thy sons
My voice or hands deny,
These hands let useful...
Where ancient forests round us spread,
Where bends the cataract’s ocean-fall,
On the lone mountain’s silent head,
There are thy temples, God of all!
Beneath the dark-blue, midnight arch,
Whence myriad suns pour down their rays,
Where planets trace their ceaseless march,
Father! we worship as we gaze.
The tombs thine...
Turning from Shelley’s sculptured face aside,
And pacing thoughtfully the silent aisles
Of the gray church that overlooks the smiles
Of the glad Avon hastening its tide
To join the seaward-winding Stour, I spied
Close at my feet a slab among the tiles
That paved the minster, where the sculptor’s files
Had graven only “Died of Grief,”...
From the German by James Freeman Clarke
THE BELLS of the churches are ringing,—
Papa and mamma have both gone,—
And three little children sit singing
Together this still Sunday morn.
While the bells toll away in the steeple,
Though too small to sit still in a pew,
These busy religious small people
Determine to have their...
Although I enter not,
Yet round about the spot
Ofttimes I hover;
And near the sacred gate
With longing eyes I wait,
Expectant of her.
The minster bell tolls out
Above the city’s rout,
And noise and humming;
They ’ve hushed the minster bell;
The organ ’gins to swell;
She ’s coming, coming...
Thou whose sweet youth and early hopes enhance
Thy rate and price, and mark thee for a treasure,
Hearken unto a Verser, who may chance
Rhyme thee to good, and make a bait of pleasure:
A verse may find him who a sermon flies
And turn delight into a sacrifice.* * * * *
When thou dost purpose aught (within thy...
They ’ve got a bran new organ, Sue,
For all their fuss and search;
They ’ve done just as they said they ’d do,
And fetched it into church.
They ’re bound the critter shall be seen,
And on the preacher’s right,
They ’ve hoisted up their new machine
In everybody’s sight.
They ’ve got a chorister and choir,
Ag’in my...
LORD, lead my heart to learn;
Prepare my ears to hear;
And let me useful knowledge seek,
In thy most holy fear.
If unforgiven sin
Within my bosom lies,
Or evil motives linger there
T' offend thy perfect eyes,—
Remove them...
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church —
I keep it, staying at Home —
With a Bobolink for a Chorister —
And an Orchard, for a Dome —
Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice —
I just wear my Wings —
And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,
Our little Sexton — sings.
God...
When Bells stop ringing — Church — begins
The Positive — of Bells —
When Cogs — stop — that's Circumference —
The Ultimate — of Wheels.
