32 How can you sit in God's house in sack cloth, or return to your homes disconsolate % You, who might have been fading flowers—dead stones — nothing! Nay, who, but for God's amazing and infinite grace, would be this hour lost spirits—the eternal gulph between you and the heavenly mansions—the immortal wing outward-bound unto the blackness of darkness ! You, whose afflictions, even at their worst, are no more than a stain of dust on a conqueror's chariot-wheel—a plume gone from the wing of a soaring eagle! What mean you, thus thanklessly to count your losses and trials and sorrows in a reckoning with God % Oh, awake to better thoughts ! Lift your eye from the low path you are treading to the brighter things before and around you—the divine love that watches over you ; the shining angels that wait on you ; the eternal city that opens its glorious gates to welcome you ! Awake! awake from those frames of thankless sadness! Awake, psaltery and harp! Oh, sons and daughters of God, break forth into singing. Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song. Let Israel rejoice in Him that made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King; both young men and maidens, old men and children. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving. Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the firmament of His power. Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise according to His excellent greatness. Praise the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name !
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