WAVES.
Reading edition
Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.—Job, xxxviii. 11.
Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?—Jeremiah, v. 22.
Deep calleth unto deep. And what are we, That hear the question of that voice sublime? O, what are all the notes that ever rung From war’s vain trumpet, by thy thundering side! Yea, what is all the riot man can make In his short life, to thy unceasing roar! And yet, bold babbler, what art thou to Him Who drowned a world, and heaped the waters far Above its loftiest mountains?—a light wave, That breaks, and whispers of its Maker’s might. J. G. C. Brainard.
Thou, Thou alone, with whom, enthroned on high, Sits co-essential wisdom, bad’st subside The valleys, and the mountains, from amidst Th’ o’erwhelming moisture, heave their brow sublime. The liquid troops, obedient to Thy voice, Fled to the appointed station. Thou a bound Hast set, they cannot pass; nor ever spread Their flowing mantle o’er th’ invested earth: Thou to the sea sayest,—Hitherto advance, And here thy proud licentious waves be stayed. George Bally.
How oft the ruddy cheek will pale To leave the earth behind! How oft the glowing heart will quail Before the tempest wind! We fear the billow’s dash, but why? There’s One to guard and save; There’s One whose wide and watchful eye Sleeps not above the wave. Eliza Cook.