Hymns for Ordination and Installation V

O God, we see thee smile again
In the sweet sunshine of the spring;
Thou comest in the gracious rain;
Thou ridest on the wind's soft wing.


Thou visitest the vales in floods,
That in their fulness roll along;
And, when thou breathest on the woods,
They wave in pomp, and wake with song.


And, Lord, are not thy goings thus
In this our sanctuary seen?
Comes not thy breath of life to us,
Our prospects clothing all in green?


Reviving hopes around us bud,
Hopes, that were rooted long ago,
But languished till thy grace, in flood,
Returned and bade them swell and blow.


What though for years thy feeble flock
By hands of strangers hath been fed?--
What though we've long drawn near our Rock
Without a shepherd at our head?


We humbly hope, that not in vain
We 've borne the trials of our trust;
And that thy truth will rise, like grain,
The stronger for its sleep in dust.


For days of care, and hope deferred,
O grant us years of large increase,
Till from above thy voice is heard;
"Ye faithful ones, depart in peace."