Growing in Grace

Verse 1

Praise to thy name, eternal God, For all the grace thou shed'st abroad; For all thy influence from above, To warm our souls with sacred love:

Verse 2

Bless'd be thy hand, which from the skies Brought down this plant of Paradise, And gave its heavenly beauties birth To deck this wilderness of earth.

Verse 3

But why does that celestial flower Open, and thrive, and shine no more? Where are its balmy odors fled? And why reclines its beauteous head?

Verse 4

Too plain, alas! the langour shews Th' unkindly soil in which it grows; Where the black frost and beating storm Wither, and rend its tender form.

Verse 5

Unchanging sun thy beams display, To drive the frost and storms away; Make all thy potent virtues known To cheer a plant so much thy own.

Verse 6

And thou, bless'd spirit deign to blow Fresh gales of Heaven on shrubs below; So shall they grow, and breathe abroad A fragrance grateful to our God.