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Stern
Daughter of the Voice of God!
O Duty! if that name
you love
Who art a light to guide, a rod
To check
the erring, and reprove;
Thou, who art victory and
law
When empty terrors overawe;
From vain
temptations dost set free,
And calm'st the weary
strife of frail humanity!
There are who ask not
if thine eye
Be on them; who, in love and truth,
Where no misgiving is, rely
Upon the genial sense of
youth:
Glad hearts! without reproach or blot,
Who
do thy work, and know it not:
Oh! if through
confidence misplaced
They fail, thy saving arms,
dread Power! around them cast.
Serene will be our
days and bright,
And happy will our nature be,
When love is an unerring light,
And joy its own
security.
And they a blissful course may hold
Even
now, who, not unwisely bold,
Live in the spirit of
this creed;
Yet seek thy firm support, according to
their need.
I, loving freedom, and untried,
No
sport of every random gust,
Yet being to myself a
guide,
Too blindly have reposed my trust:
And oft,
when in my heart was heard
Thy timely mandate, I
deferred
The task, in smoother walks to stray;
But
thee I now would serve more strictly, if I may.
Through no disturbance of my soul,
Or strong
compunction in me wrought,
I supplicate for thy
control,
But in the quietness of thought:
Me this
unchartered freedom tires;
I feel the weight of
chance-desires:
My hopes no more must change
their name;
I long for a repose that ever is the
same.
Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear
The
Godhead's most benignant grace;
Nor know we anything
so fair
As is the smile upon thy face:
Flowers
laugh before thee on their beds,
And fragrance in thy
footing treads;
Thou dost preserve the stars from
wrong;
And the most ancient heavens, through Thee,
are fresh and strong.
To humbler functions, awful
Power!
I call thee: I myself commend
Unto thy
guidance from this hour;
Oh, let my weakness have an
end!
Give unto me, made lowly wise,
The spirit of
self-sacrifice;
The confidence of reason give;
And
in the light of truth thy Bondman let me live!
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