2. God, thou art merciful. The wintry storm, The cloud that pours the thunder from its womb, But show the sterner grandeur of thy form. The lightnings glancing through the midnight gloom, To Faith's raised eye as calm, as lovely, come As splendors of the autumnal evening star, As roses shaken by the breeze's plume, When like cool incense comes the dewy air, And on the golden wave the sunset burns afar.
3. O thou Eternal One! whose presence bright All space doth occupy, all motion guide; Unchanged through Time's all-devastating flight; Thou only God!--there is no God beside! Being above all beings! Three-in-one! Whom none can comprehend, and none explore; Who fill'st existence with Thyself alone; Embracing all, supporting, ruling o'er; Being whom we call God, and know no more!
1. When in the silent night all earth lies hushed In slumber; when the glorious stars shine out, Each star a sun, each sun a central light Of some fair system, ever wheeling on In one unbroken round, and that again Revolving round another sun; while all, Suns, stars, and systems, proudly roll along In one majestic, ever-onward course, In space uncircumscribed and limitless,-- Oh! think you then the undebased soul Can calmly give itself to sleep,--to rest?
2. Go stand upon the heights at Niagara, and listen in awe-struck silence to that boldest most earnest and eloquent, of all Nature's orators! And what is Niagara, with its plunging waters and its mighty roar, but the oracle of God, the whisper of His voice who is revealed in the Bible as sitting above the water-floods forever?
3. The drums are all muffled; the bugles are still; There's a pause in the valley, a halt on the hill; And the bearers of standards swerve back with a thrill Where the sheaves of the dead bar the way: For a great field is reaped, heaven's garners to fill; And stern Death holds his harvest to-day.
As there are all kinds and qualities of emotions, so there are all kinds and qualities of voice to express them. The shade and varieties of these qualities are as infinite in number as the emotions they express. We need, however, in practice, to make but four general divisions,--whisper, aspirate, pure, and orotund. The whisper expresses secrecy, fear, and like emotions. It is seldom required in reading, as the aspirate is expressive of the same, and you would be likely to use that instead of whisper. You should practise the whisper until you can make it very clear, and free from all impurity, or sound of throat, and full, so as to be heard at a distance. In both whisper and aspirate leave the throat free and open; and be energetic, remembering that force is made by control of muscles at the waist, and not by effort of throat or mouth. The clearer you can make a whisper, the better quality you can make in pure and orotund. Pure tone or quality is sound made with no disagreeable quality being heard; and is the same as pleasant quality, spoken of as being necessary to make listeners. Pure quality is made with ease, with no waste of breath, and is used for expression of agreeable feelings. Orotund is a magnified, pure tone, and adds richness and power to the voice in speech. It is the expression of intense feelings, usually slow in movement, as grandeur, sublimity, awe, &c. It can only be obtained by much practice and much patience, allowing the voice to grow in fulness, as it will in time, if practice continues.