PREFACE. THE following very simple compositions were written a few years ago, exclusively for the Author's family circle, and without the remotest idea of their publication. It is now her wish to render them more extensively, however humbly, useful. The Hymns were intended to associate the first devotional thoughts of childhood with the loveliness and solemnity diffused over the outward creation. Should they prove acceptable, they may perhaps be followed by a series, of a character more entirely scriptural. (264) HYMNS FOR CHILDHOOD. INTRODUCTORY VERSES. OH! blest art thou, whose steps may rove And gaze afar o'er cultured plains, And forests, that beneath thee lie, And ocean mingling with the sky. For man can show thee naught so fair, For thee the stream in beauty flows, But happier far, if then thy soul Portray His bounty and His power. (265) If, in whate'er is bright or grand, Thy mind can trace His viewless hand, If heaven and earth with beauty fraught, THE RAINBOW. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. Genesis ix. 13. SOFT falls the mild, reviving shower And rain-drops bend each trembling flower Soon shall their genial influence call Which, waiting but that balmy fall, E'en now full many a blossom's bell But mark! what arch of varied hue How bright its glory! there behold Yet not alone to charm thy sight It tells us that the mighty deep, No more o'er earth's domains shall sweep, It tells that seasons, heat and cold, Shall, in their course, bid man behold That still the flower shall deck the field, That still the vine its fruit shall yield, Then, child of that fair earth! which yet THE SUN. THE Sun comes forth;-each mountain height Glows with a tinge of rosy light, And flowers that slumber'd through the night A flood of splendour bursts on high, Of crimson and of gold. Oh! thou art glorious, orb of day! Creation swells a choral lay, To welcome thy return; From thee all nature draws her hues, And in the diamond burn. Yet must thou fade;-when earth and heaven By fire and tempest shall be riven, Thou, from thy sphere of radiance driven, Oh Sun! must fall at last; Another heaven, another earth, But He, who gave the word of might, Who bade thee chase the gloom of night, And beam, the world to bless ; For ever bright, for ever pure, |