1. Hark! ’tis the holy temple’s bell;
The voice that summons me to prayer:
My heart, each roving fancy quell;
Come, to the house of God repair.
2. There, while, in orison sublime,
Souls to the throne of God ascend,
Let no unhallowed child of time
Profane pollutions with them blend.
3. How for thy wants canst thou implore,
Crave for thy frailties pardon free,
Of praise the votive tribute pour,
Or bend, in thanks, the grateful knee,
4. If, from the awful King of kings,
Each bauble lures thy soul astray;
If to this dust of earth it clings,
And, fickle, flies from heaven away;
5. Pure as the blessed seraph’s vow,
O, let the sacred concert rise;
Intent with humble rapture bow,
Adore the Ruler of the skies.
6. Bid earthborn atoms all depart;
Within thyself collected, fall;
And give one day, rebellious heart,
Unsullied to the Lord of all!
Source: The Cyber Hymnal #2646
Adams, John Quincy. (Braintree, Mass., July 11, 1767-February 21, 1848, Washington, D.C.). Most of Adams' verse, both religious and secular, was written after he had left the Presidency. In his later years he composed a metrical version of the Psalms, best described as a free rendering in fairly good verse of what he felt was the essential idea of each Psalm. When his minister, William P. Lunt, of the First Parish, (Unitarian), Quincy, Mass., undertook the preparation of his hymn book The Christian Psalter, Mrs. Adams put the manuscript of her husband's metrical Psalms into Lunt's hands, and the latter included 17 of them in his book, and five other hymns by his distinguished parishioner.
The effect on Adams is recorded in a moving entr… Go to person page >
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