The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1874-09-10
From the New York Observer.l
How Precious are Thy Thoughts.
osaIna I39: IL
BY MARY G. BRAINARD.

BY MARY G. BRAINARD.
How can We know Gods thoughts? Gooutan'
! In evening stiffness, on His star-writ book,
/ And, while there comes to thee nor voice no
sound
From the dim mysteries of that holy ground,
! Yet read the golden words with awe profound
/ So shalt though know Gods thoughts-thought
which We're born
! IN living words when at Creatlon morn .,;,
4 He spake, and suns and planets TOOK thel
place
In wondrous order through the awful space!
! Think of the myriad worlds His skill mas
wrought,
And, soaring upward on the wings of thought
Pursue thy journey on from world TO world
See countless systems around systems whlried
Till human powers grow dizzy in the height
And sink back humbled from Gods Infinite.
As some wee fiedgling might with timid eye
Look from its little home the world to spy,
And, frightened, shrink back from its eagerness
Within the soft enclosure of the nest
So turns the dizzy, frightened soul in awe,
From heights where thought but Nalnly seeks
And nestles in its downy place of birth,
Its quiet nest-its little feathered earth
But, Mighty, Infinite, Eternal Mind,
Parts OF Thy ways our seeking souls can find
And say. returning from the starry road,
''How precious are Thy thoughts to US, o God!
Read, too, these thoughts at sunsets charmed
hour,
Blending in tints of tenderness and power;
Blue, scarlet, purple, hung on pillars gold,
As was the Tabernacle veil of old,
Or floating, like that snowy veil whose light
Received the Great High Priest from mortal
What mysteries of thought in every leaf!
In every blade of grass We tread beneath!
What still small voices come to us from flowers,
Breathing Gods sweetness through this world
of ours;
From varied lips most delicately wrought
We catch the utterance, 81 am Gods thought" "
And through each leafy tongue and perfumed
word.
How precious are thy thoughts to US, God :"
Whisper Thy tenderness in evening breeze.
And roll Thy mighty majesty in mighty seas;
Snow us Thy terror in the ocean storm,
And breathe Thy pity in the after-calm:
And make us glad that he whose power can
bring
A world rom chaos veins an insects wing
And keeps a thought within His loving breast
OF how the tinniest bird shall build its nest
On which the stamp of Deity is not;
In distant worlds that gIorify the night,
In moats that flOat upon the winged light,
WeSee Thy touch, yet who can understand
The working of Thy wise, Almighty hand?
Thou, by all angel hosts of Heaven adored,
How precious are thy toughts to us, o God?"
And yet what art Thou? Where? Come close
And let me feel Thee if 1 may not see;
Let these weak hands reach out until they
twine,
In holy trust about the hand divine;
Or, let me bow a little way from Thee,
And know Thee human in Gethsemane
Here gaze on the Word without whose aid
Not anything of all that is was made,
But love him deepest in His agony,
And follow His meek steps to Calvary.
see the pity in His dying eye;
hear the anguish OF His dying cry;
L trace the precious, precious thoughts OF Goa
Upon His cross in crimson lines of blood,
And, while the light grows dim in heaven
above,
seize the lnystery-Her is Lowell
But is it all for me, o God of light?
My own to hold--my portion and my right?
The pillow for my head when grief draws nigh?
The Power which holds me that may not die
word,
q" How Precious are thy thoughts to me, o God "