5 Tho' swells the threat'ning tide
Mounting to heaven above,

We know in whom our souls confide
And fearless trust His love.

6 Snatch'd from a darker deep,
And waves of wilder foam,

Thou, Lord, our trusting souls shalt keep,
And waft them safely home.

7 Home where no tempests sound,
Nor angry waters roar,

Nor troublous billows heave around
Th' eternal, peaceful shore.

Tonna.

"He bowed the heavens also, and came down, and darkness

450

was under Him."

C. M.

HE Lord descended from above,
And bowed the heavens most high,

ΤΗ

And underneath His feet He cast
The darkness of the sky.

2 On cherub and on cherubim

Full royally He rode;

And on the wings of mighty winds
Came flying all abroad.

3 And like a den most dark He made
His hidden secret place;

With waters black and airy clouds
Encompassed He was.

4 He sat serene upon the floods,

Their fury to restrain;

And He, as sovereign Lord and King,

For evermore shall reign.

Thomas Sternhold, 1549.

THE LAYING OF A CORNER-STONE.

"The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of

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O

My sanctuary."

L. M.

LORD of hosts, whose glory fills
The bounds of the eternal hills,
And yet vouchsafes, in Christian lands,
To dwell in temples made with hands:

2 Grant that we, who here to-day
Rejoicing this foundation lay,
May be in very deed Thine own,
Built on the precious Corner-stone.
3 Endue the creatures with Thy grace,
That shall adorn Thy dwelling-place;
The beauty of the oak and pine,

The gold and silver, they are Thine.

4 To Thee they all pertain; to Thee
The treasures of the earth and sea;
And when we bring them to Thy throne,
We render, Lord, to Thee Thine own.

5

The architects endue with skill:

The hands that work preserve from ill;
May all who build this house to Thee,
Built in Thy heavenly Temple be.

6 Both now and ever, Lord, protect
The temple of Thine own elect;

Be Thou in them, and they in Thee,
O ever blessed Trinity.

John M. Neale.

"That Thine eyes may be open towards this house night and day, even toward the place of which Thou hast said, 'My name

HIS stone to Thee in faith we lay,

TH

We build the temple, Lord, to Thee.
Thine eye be open night and day

To guard this house and sanctuary.

2 Here, when Thy people seek Thy face,
And dying sinners pray to live,
Hear Thou in heaven, Thy dwelling-place,
And when Thou hearest, O forgive.

3 Here, when Thy messengers proclaim
The blessed gospel of Thy Son,
Still by the power of His great name
Be mighty signs and wonders done.

4 Hosanna! to their heavenly King,

When children's voices raise that song,
Hosanna! let their angels sing

And heaven with earth the strain prolong.

5 But will, indeed, Jehovah deign.
Here to abide, no transient guest?
Here will the world's Redeemer reign?
And here the Holy Spirit rest?

6 That glory never hence depart?

Yet choose not, Lord, this house alone:
Thy kingdom come to every heart,

In every bosom fix Thy throne.

James Montgomery.

THE CONSECRATION OF A CHURCH.

"The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings

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of Jacob."

C. M.

GOD, who lovest to abide,
In Zion's chosen gate,

More than the thousand tents beside,
Where Israel's faithful wait;

2 Accept our works, and hear our vows,
Unworthy though we be;

And look in mercy on the House
We dedicate to Thee.

3 Here answer Thou, as Thou art wont,
Thy people when they pray;
Here in the waters of Thy font
Let sin be washed away.

4 Here set Thy Confirmation's seal
For ghostly strength and good;
Here give Thy people, as they kneel,
Their Saviour's Flesh and Blood.

5 If after sin they seek Thy face,
And by Thy precepts live,

Hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling-place,
And when Thou hear'st, forgive!

6 If there be famine in the land,

Or pestilence, or foe,

Stretch out from heaven Thy strong right hand,
When here Thy flock fall low.

7 Bless those, O Lord, and hear their cry,
That raised Thy Temple here:

That in Thy House beyond the sky,

With joy they may appear!

8 All worship be to God alone;
Praise to the Father be,

To Christ, the precious Corner-stone,
And Holy Ghost, to Thee.

John M. Neale.

"Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Corner-stone."

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8s & 75, 6 lines.

HRIST is made the sure Foundation,

CH

And the precious Corner-stone,

Who, the two-fold walls surmounting,

Bind them closely into one :

Holy Zion's help for ever,

And her confidence alone.

2 All that dedicated City

Dearly loved by God on high,

In exultant jubilation

Pours perpetual melody;

God the One, and God the Trinal,
Singing everlastingly.

3 To this temple, where we call Thee,
Come, O Lord of Hosts, to-day!
With Thy wonted loving-kindness
Hear Thy people as they pray;
And Thy fullest benediction

Shed within its walls for aye.

4 Here vouchsafe to all Thy servants
What they supplicate to gain :
Here to have and hold for ever

Those good things their prayers obtain ;
And hereafter in Thy glory

With Thy blessed ones to reign.

5 Laud and honor to the Father;
Laud and honor to the Son ;
Laud and honor to the Spirit ;
Ever Three and ever One:
Consubstantial, Coeternal,

While unending ages run.

Latin Hymn.

Trans. John. M Neale, 18_1.

Behold the tabernacle of God is with men."

155.

HEN the Architect Almighty fashion'd had the heaven and earth,

WHE

Temple of the glorious Godhead, angels shouted at their birth; Morning stars in holy concert sang a joyful Jubilee,

And the whole creation chanted, Hallelujah, Lord to Thee! 2 In a moving Tabernacle, Thou, O Lord, didst deign to dwell, In the darkness and the stillness of the holy oracle;

In the awful cloud was shrouded, in the fire Thy presence shone, In the consecrated Temple of the royal Solomon.

3 God in human flesh appearing, shrining man with Deity, And presented in the Temple did of old vouchsafe to be; In the Temple holy Jesus as a Child and Teacher sate; And the Feast of Dedication God with us did celebrate. 4 Look from heaven, and shine upon us with the lustre of Thy face, Send on us the Pentecostal benedictions of Thy grace; Ever present and propitious to the eye of faith appear In the worship of the Temple which to Thee to-day we rear. 5 Here, O Lord, an earthly temple to Thy name we dedicate, And we pray Thee with Thy Holy Spirit us to consecrate; Consecrate us to be temples of the Blessed Three in One, Founded on Apostles, Prophets, Jesus Christ the Corner-stone. 6 So when all our earthly temples are dissolved in the dust, May we at Thy Resurrection rise in glory with the just, When the heavenly city shining, and adorned as a Bride For her Husband, in His glory shall be ever glorified. 7 When that holy City gleaming with its jewels, pearls, and gold, Shall descend, and in its portals all the risen saints enfold; May we in its light eternal sing with all the heavenly host "Glory be to God the Father, to the Son and Holy Ghost.' Christopher Wordsworth.

THE CONSECRATION OF A BURIAL GROUND.

"For the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and come forth.”

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TH

C. M.

HE trump shall sound, and in the clouds
The Lord shall be reveal'd,

And every grave shall open'd be,

And every tomb unseal'd.