Henry Formby

Name: A First Series of Hymns and Songs
Author: Henry Formby

A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

Summary

“A First Series of Hymns and Songs”, published in 1853, is a work by Henry Formby. It explores elements such as tweedle, Spider and ne'er.

Quotes from A First Series of Hymns and Songs (Henry Formby)

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ With a tatter'd straw bonnet, that loosely is tied,
And a little rush basket that hangs at her side,
Which she fills full with heather bells lilac and blue,
And daisies and berries of many a hue,
My sweet Highland lassie is singing as gay,
As a little sky-lark at the break of the day.
My pretty young child, can I take you with me,
My little pet servant and maiden to be,
Away from this moorland, so dismal and drear,
To be nurse to my own little baby and dear;
To sing your nice songs, all so lively and gay,
To my merry young folks at the time of their play? ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Save one, who wakeful in her lonely dwelling,
⁠Of Juda born, a stem of Jesse's rod,
A virgin pure, all others far excelling,
⁠Uplifts her heart in tranquil prayer to God.
The while she prays, behold the silence broken,
⁠She starts, a look of fear o'erspreads her face;
She hears, till then to mortal ears unspoken,
⁠Those words of love, "Hail, Lady, full of grace!
Fear not, the Lord is with thee; thou art chosen
⁠The Virgin Mother of thy God to be;
And many a heart in sin and guilt now frozen,
⁠Shall melt beneath the sunbeam born of thee." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Said the cunning Spider to the Fly, Dear friend, what can I do
To prove the warm affection I have ever felt tor you?
I have within my parlour great store of all that's nice:
I'm sure you're very welcome; will you please to take a slice!
Oh, no, no! said the little Fly; kind sir, that cannot be;
For I know what's in your pantry, and I do not wish to see.
Sweet creature, said the Spider, you're witty and you're wise;
How handsome are your gaudy wings, how brilliant are your eyes! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ But the cholera came, and my father fell sick,
⁠My mother stood by at his death;
Then she too was seized, and within a few hours
⁠Convulsively gasp'd her last breath.
Ah me, what a sight for a helpless young boy,
⁠A father and mother both dead!
Yet the hard-hearted landlord soon turn'd me adrift,
⁠To roam and to beg for my bread.
Then pity, kind ladies, the poor orphan boy,
⁠That has not a friend or a home;
Who is browbeat and scolded wherever he goes,
⁠And wanders forlorn and alone. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ To the Butterfly's ball and the Grasshopper's feast:
The trumpeter Gad-fly has summoned the crew,
And the revels are now only waiting for you.
On the smooth-shaven grass by the side of a wood
Beneath a broad oak which for ages has stood,
See the children of earth and the tenants of air
For an evening's amusement together repair. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ For though your home is on the earth,
⁠And ours in heaven above,
Yet are we one by human birth,
⁠And one in Christ's dear love.
And though our eyes are ever blest
⁠His face unveil'd to see.
He comes to you a hidden guest,
⁠To make you blest as we. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ The Good Shepherd.
I met the Good Shepherd but now on the plain,
As homeward he carried his lost one again:
I marvell'd how gently his burden he bore,
And as he pass'd by me I knelt to adore.
Oh, Shepherd, Good Shepherd, thy wounds they are deep.
The wolves have sore hurt thee in saving thy sheep ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Take, oh, take me for thy child.
All my life, oh, let it be
My best joy to think of thee.
When my eyes are clos'd in sleep
Through the night my slumbers keep,
Make my latest thought to be,
How to love thy Son and thee. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ From his rope in an instant poor harlequin fell;
Yet he touch'd not the ground, but with talons outspread,
Hung suspended in air at the end of a thread.
Then the Grasshopper came, with a jerk and a spring,
Very long was his leg, though but short was his wing
He took but three leaps, and was soon out of sight,
Then chirp'd his own praises the rest of the night
With steps quite majestic the Snail did advance,
And promis'd the gazers a minuet to dance ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Mother of Mercy, day by day
⁠My love of thee grows more and more;
Thy gifts are strown upon my way,
⁠Like sands upon the great sea-shore.
Though poverty and work and woe
⁠The masters of my life may be;
In darkest hours, who does not know
⁠That all is light with love of thee? ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Then as ev'ning gave way to the shadows of night,
Their watchman, the Glow-worm, came out with his light;
Then home let us hasten while yet we can see,
For no watchman is waiting for you and for me. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ And yet, upon thine altar-throne,
Too oft we leave thee all alone.
Ah, since it is thy chief delight
To dwell with us both day and night,
Sweet Jesus, make it ours to be
Both night and day to stay with thee. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Here no school-boy shall molest thee,
No one here shall use thee ill.
Fresh spring-water here shall cheer thee,
Barley-corns and crumbs of bread;
Sleep and fear no danger near thee,
On the sails recline thine head ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Thou alone the Lord from heaven
⁠Didst for us incarnate bear.
Fairer than the beam of morning
⁠Was the star that told his birth,
To the lands their God announcing,
⁠Hid beneath a form of earth. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Oh, then away with fear and care
⁠For all that may betide:
And turn to God in trustful pray'r,
⁠And in his love confide.
He is our Father, and he knows
⁠His earthly children's need;
On all our daily wants and woes
⁠He looks with careful heed. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ My Saviour and my Lord divine
⁠Is come to me from heav'n above.
He makes my heart his own abode,
⁠His flesh becomes my daily bread;
He pours on me his healing blood,
⁠And with his life my soul is fed.
My love is mine, and I am his ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Ah, then how sweet shall be to me
⁠The lot my Lord did share,
And dearer far his poverty
⁠Than treasures rich and rare!
How helpless seems this Infant God,
⁠How weak his little form!
Yet nature trembles at his nod,
⁠He rules the wintry storm. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ From thy stem in beauty budded
⁠Ancient Jesse's mystic rod;
Earth from thee received the mother
⁠Of the eternal Son of God.
All the human race benighted
⁠In the depths of darkness lay,
"When in Anne it saw the dawning
⁠Of the long-expected day. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ The stars that sparkle in the sky,
Like friendly eyes that watch on high:
The boundless sea, the spacious land,
Whatever is great, or rich, or grand;—
All these, and more than eye can see,
The Lord has made for love of me. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ The wounded Side of Jesus.
There is an everlasting home
⁠Where contrite souls may hide,
Where death and danger dare not come—
⁠The Saviour's side!
It was a cleft of matchless love
⁠Open'd when he had died,
When mercy hail'd in worlds above—
⁠That wounded side. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Of earth's blooming children there are none
⁠I love like thee.
Picture thou of Christ's most blessed cross
⁠To gentle, faithful eyes,
Pointing brightly from a world of dross
⁠To yonder skies. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Sweet bird, enchantress of the earth,
⁠Born in the world's young prime,
The only bird of Eden birth
⁠Left to this latter time.
Why on the joyous sunny day
⁠Thy golden notes expend?
To lonely night belongs thy lay;
⁠Save thee she has no friend. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Eternal life awaiteth them.
Now let us praise the Lord most high,
And strive his name to magnify
On this great day through earth and sky,
Whose mercy ever runneth o'er;
Whom men and angel hosts adore ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Oh, keep me safe in wisdom's way.
And bring me back if I should stray.
When angry passions fill my soul,
Subdue them to thy meek control;
Through good and ill, oh, ever be
A guide, a guard, a friend to me. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Teach us all evil to abhor,
⁠And purify ourselves within.
Be thou our guide, be thou our goal,
⁠Be thou our pathway to the skies:
Our joy when sorrow fills the soul,
⁠In death our everlasting prize. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ O Jesu, thou the beauty art
⁠Of angel worlds above;
Thy Name is music to the heart,
⁠Enchanting it with love.
O hope of every contrite soul,
⁠O Joy of all the meek,
How kind art thou to those who fall,
⁠How good to those who seek! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Now if I climb our highest hill,
⁠How little can I see!
Oh, had I but a pair of wings,
⁠How happy should I be!
I wish I were a little bird,
⁠To fly so far and high,
To sail along the golden clouds,
⁠And through the azure sky. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Yet is Herod's wrath in vain,
⁠Though a thousand babes he slay;
Christ, amid a thousand slain,
⁠Is in safety borne away.
Honour, virtue, glory, merit,
⁠Be to thee, O Virgin's Son,
With the Father and the Spirit,
⁠While eternal ages run. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Suffering early for our sake;
Name ador'd on bended knee,
Name of grace and majesty,—
Chorus.
⁠Child of Mary, hear our cry!
⁠Thou wert little once as we;
⁠Hear the loving Litany
⁠We, thy children, sing to thee. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ The Fox and the Cat.
The Fox and the Cat, as they travelled one day,
With moral discourses cut shorter the way:
"'Tis good," said the Fox, "to make justice our guide."
"How godlike is mercy!" Grimalkin replied. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Now doth the sun ascend the sky,
⁠And wake creation with its ray:
Be present with us, Lord most high,
⁠Through all the actions of the day.
Create in us a heart sincere,
⁠Simplicity of word and will ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Thou, when deepest night infernal
⁠Had for ages shrouded man,
Gavest us that light eternal
⁠Promis'd when the world began.
Teach, oh teach us, holy Mother,
⁠How to conquer every sin,
How to love and help each other,
⁠How the prize of life to win. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Sing, my tongue, the Saviour's glory,
⁠Sing with joy and holy mirth;
Tell aloud the famous story
⁠Of his spotless virgin birth:
How he comes, an infant stranger,
⁠Here to dwell with us on earth. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Sweet to the early wayfarer
⁠The song amid the sky,
Where twinkling in the dewy light,
⁠The sky-lark soars on high;
And cheering to the wayfarer
⁠The gales that o'er him play,
When faint and heavily he drags
⁠Along his noon-tide way. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Faith of our fathers! we will love
⁠Both friend and foe in all our strife,
And preach thee too, as love knows how,
⁠By kindly words and virtuous life.
⁠Faith of our fathers! &c.
Faith of our fathers! guile and force
⁠To do thee bitter wrong unite ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ They track them on, nor ever lost,
⁠And to the bridge they came.
They follow'd from the snowy bank
⁠Those footmarks, one by one,
Into the middle of the plank—
⁠And further there were none!
You yet may spy the fawn at play,
⁠The hare upon the green;
But the sweet face of Lucy Gray
⁠Will never more be seen. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ And nought can quench that spirit's light
⁠Except the breath of sin.
Oh, would'st thou then undimm'd maintain
⁠The lustre of the soul,
Each evil thought thou must restrain,
⁠Each sinful wish control. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ The cheerful light, the vital air,
⁠Are blessings widely giv'n;
Let Nature's children all enjoy
⁠The common gifts of Heav'n.
The tender sympathising heart
⁠To all compassion gives,
Casts round the world its glance of love,
⁠And feels for all that lives. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ The flowers, beneath the evening star,
⁠Drink up the dewdrops of the night.
The lambs are by their mothers laid,
⁠The lark is brooding o'er its nest;
And when the evening prayer is made,
⁠E'en busy man will be at rest. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ By the nails and pointed spear,
By thy people's cruel jeer,
By thy dying prayer which rose
Begging mercy for thy foes,—
⁠Jesu, Saviour, &c.
By the darkness thick as night,
Blotting out the sun from sight ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ My God! my Jesus! it is thou
⁠Art ravishing my heart with bliss;
Thy presence is within me now:
⁠Ah! could I ask a boon like this?
Yes! stooping from thy throne above,
⁠Thou wilt not dwell from man apart ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Among the gifts thy hands bestow
⁠Each day and hour on me,
'Tis not the least, O Lord, to know
⁠That they all come from thee.
How Joyfully each day I ought
⁠Thy precepts to fulfil,
Since I have been so early taught
⁠To do thy gracious will! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Loving Shepherd of thy sheep,
Keep thy lamb, in safety keep:
Nothing can thy power withstand,
None can pluck me from thy hand.
Loving Shepherd, thou didst give
Thine own life that I might live ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Good Mistress Goose, this charming day
Pray walk with me a little way;
The sun is up, the air is clear,
A walk will do you good, my dear.
Suppose we just go into town,
To hear and see what's going on ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ To thee we sigh, to thee we mourn,
⁠To thee we lift our suppliant song.
From Satan's snare preserve us free,
⁠And keep us safe from earthly stain,
That in this world we pure may be,
⁠And in the next may see thee reign. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Lady, than all the heavens more high,
More than seraph in purity,
⁠A glance of pity incline!
Teach us to feel, teach us to know,
Teach us in life and death to shew
⁠What treasures of grace are thine. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ Upon the loving infant smile
⁠Which there divinely plays.
⁠Sleep, Jesus, sleep;
⁠Oh, take thy brief repose;
Too quickly will thy slumbers break,
And thou to lengthen'd pains awake,
⁠Which death alone shall close. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ By this how many passing acts,
⁠Which else had been in vain,
Endued with meritorious power,
⁠A prize eternal gain!
By this to me it open'd wide,
⁠Through death's inviting door,
A brighter world, a nobler realm
⁠Than Adam lest of yore. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Formby, A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853)

“ By thy face so meek and mild;
Teach us to resemble thee
In thy sweet humility.
⁠Hail, &c.
Virgin Mother! Mary blest!
By the joys that fill thy breast,
Pray for us, that we may prove
Worthy of the Saviour's love. ”

Henry Formby

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Quotes from A First Series of Hymns and Songs (Henry Formby)

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