(AIR.--MOZART.)
Almighty GOD! when round thy shrine
The Palm-tree's heavenly branch we twine,[1]
(Emblem of Life's eternal ray,
And Love that "fadeth not away,")
We bless the flowers, expanded all,[2]
We bless the leaves that never fall,
And trembling say,--"In Eden thus
"The Tree of Life may flower for us!"
When round thy Cherubs--smiling calm,
Without their flames--we wreathe the Palm.
Oh God! we feel the emblem true--
Thy Mercy is eternal too,
Those Cherubs, with their smiling eyes,
That crown of Palm which never dies,
Are but the types of Thee above--
Eternal Life, and Peace, and Love!
[1] "The Scriptures having declared that the Temple of Jerusalem was a
type of the Messiah, it is natural to conclude that the Palms, which made
so conspicuous a figure in that structure, represented that Life and
Immortality which were brought to light by the Gospel."--"Observations on
the Palm, as a sacred Emblem," by W. Tighe.
[2] "And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved
figures of cherubim, and palm-trees, and _open flowers_."--1 Kings,
VI. 29.