4 O, let our lives, great God, breathe forth A constant melody; And every action be a tone In that sweet hymn to thee! 865. 7s. & 6s. M. Brit. Magazine. Autumn. 1 The leaves, around me falling, Are preaching of decay; The hollow winds are calling, "Come, pilgrim, come away:" The day, in night declining, Says I must, too, decline; The year its bloom resigning, Its lot foreshadows mine. 2 The light my path surrounding, The loves to which I cling, The hopes within me bounding, The joys that round me wing,-- All, all, like stars at even, Just gleam and shoot away, Pass on before to heaven, And chide at my delay. 3 The friends gone there before me Are calling from on high, And happy angels o'er me Tempt sweetly to the sky: "Why wait," they say, "and wither, 'Mid scenes of death and sin? O, rise to glory, hither, And find true life begin." 866. C. M. Watts. Winter. 1 The hoary frost, the fleecy snow, Descend, and clothe the ground; The liquid streams forbear to flow, In icy fetters bound. 2 When, from his dreadful stores on high, God pours the sounding hail, The man that does his power defy Shall find his courage fail. 3 God sends his word and melts the snow; The fields no longer mourn; He calls the warmer gales to blow, And bids the spring return. 4 The changing wind, the flying cloud, Obey his mighty word; With songs and honors sounding loud, Praise ye the sovereign Lord. 867. H. M. Freeman. The Same. 1 Lord of the worlds below! On earth thy glories shine; The changing seasons show Thy skill and power divine. The rolling years Are full of thee; In all we see A God appears. 2 In winter, awful thou! With storms around thee cast; The leafless forests bow Beneath thy northern blast. While tempests lower, To thee, dread King, We homage bring, And own thy power. 868. L. M. H. Ballou. The Acceptable Fast. 1 This is the fast the Lord doth choose; Each heavy burden to undo, The bands of wickedness to loose, And bid the captive freely go. 2 Let every vile and sinful yoke Of servile bondage and of fear, By mercy, love and truth be broke; And from each eye wipe every tear. 3 Yes, to the hungry deal thy bread; Bring to thine house the outcast poor; There let the fainting soul be fed, Nor spurn the needy from thy door. 4 And when thou seest the naked, spare The raiment that his wants demand; Since all mankind thy kindred are, To all thy charity expand.