PSALM.
Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.—Psalm lxxxi. 2.
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.—Ephesians, v. 19.
Is any merry? let him sing psalms.—James, v. 13.
When Israel’s king first woke his strains sublime,
And offered praises unto Thee, O Lord!
With heart contrite for expiated crime,
And soul that yearned Thy mercy-seat toward;
He knew Thy power, he felt Thy saving grace,
On earth with joy Thy wondrous works surveyed,
Then turned to Heaven, his final resting-place,
And thence drew inspiration as he prayed.
With shawms and psalt’rys as in days of yore,
And dulcimers and harps we greet Thee not,
But richer, sweeter strains around us pour,
And fill with melody this sacred spot;
To Thee, to Thee, great God of Hosts! this day
An instrument of praise we consecrate:
May we, like David, own Thy sovereign sway,
And unto Thee our service dedicate.
As through Thy temple now the deep strains peal
And choral minstrelsy is heard to swell,
Devotion wakes within us, and we feel
All that the psalmist hath expressed so well;
Be it no transient feeling that within
The bosom stirs, and turns the soul to Thee;
Guard us, and save us from besetting sin;
Make us Thine own to all eternity!
Egone.
Nor think the muse, whose sober voice ye hear,
Contracts, with bigot frown, her sullen brow;
Casts round Religion’s orb the mists of fear,
Or shades with horrors what with smiles should glow.
No; she would warm you with seraphic fire,
Heirs as ye are, of Heaven’s eternal day;
Would bid you boldly to that Heaven aspire,
Nor sink and slumber in your cells of clay.
William Mason.