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S. M.

SPIRIT OF THE PS.

The Day of Rest.

1 SWEET is the task, O Lord,

Thy glorious acts to sing;

To praise thy name, and hear thy word,

And grateful offerings bring.

2 Sweet, at the dawning hour,

Thy boundless love to tell;

And when the night-wind shuts the flower,

Still on the theme to dwell.

3 Sweet, on this day of rest,

To join in heart and voice

With those who love and serve thee best,
And in thy name rejoice.

4 To thoughts of praise and joy
Be every Lord's day given,
That such may be our blest employ
Eternally in heaven.

8 & 7s M. SUN. SCHOOL H. B.

Lord's Day Morning.

1 WELCOME, Welcome, quiet morning!

Welcome is this holy day;

Now the sacred morn, returning,
Says a week has passed away.

Let me think how time is passing;
Soon the longest life departs;
Nothing human is abiding,

Save the love of humble hearts.

2 Love to God, and to our neighbor,
Makes our purest happiness;
Vain the wish, the care, the labor,
Earth's poor trifles to possess.
Swift my life's vain dreams are passing ;
Like the startled dove they fly,
Or the clouds each other chasing
Over yonder quiet sky.

3 Father, now one prayer I raise thee:
Give an humble, grateful heart;
Never let me cease to praise thee,
Never from thy fear depart.

Then, when years have gathered o'er me,
And the world is sunk in shade,

Heaven's bright realm will rise before me;
There my treasure will be laid.

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L. M.

MRS. GILMAN.

Day of Rest.

1 WE bless thee for this sacred day,
Thou who hast every blessing given,
Which sends the dreams of earth away,
And yields a glimpse of opening heaven.

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2 Rich day of holy, thoughtful rest,
We would improve thy calm repose;
And, in God's service truly blest,

Forget the world, its joys and woes.

3 Lord, may thy truth upon the heart
Now fall and dwell as heavenly dew,
And flowers of grace in freshness start

Where once the weeds of error grew.

4 May prayer now lift her sacred wings,
Contented with that aim alone

Which bears her to the King of kings,
And rests her at his sheltering throne.

Sunday Morning.

1 SAFELY through another week

God has brought us on our way;
Let us now a blessing seek,
Waiting in his courts to-day.
Day of all the week the best,
Emblem of eternal rest!

2 Mercies, multiplied each hour,

Through our lives, our praise demand;

Guarded by thy mighty power,

Fed and guided by thy hand.
Yet ungrateful we have been,
Paying back these gifts with sin.

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3 Lord, we pray for pardoning grace,
In our dear Redeemer's name :
Sin remove, and in its place

Give us virtue's purest flame;
Thus, from all our sins set free,
May we rest at last with thee!

S. M.

The Lord's Bay.

1 WELCOME, Sweet day of rest,
That saw the Lord arise;
Welcome to this reviving breast,
And these rejoicing eyes.

2 The King himself comes near,
And feasts his saints to-day;

Here we may sit and see him here,
And love, and praise, and pray.

3 My willing soul would stay
In such a frame as this,

And sit and sing herself away
To everlasting bliss.

L. M.

The Eternal Sabbath.

WATTS.

DODDRIDGE.

1 LORD of the Sabbath, hear our vows,
On this thy day, in this thy house;

And own, as grateful sacrifice,

The songs

which from thy churches rise.

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2 Thine earthly sabbaths, Lord, we love;
But there's a nobler rest above;
To that our longing souls aspire,
With earnest hope and strong desire.

3 No more fatigue, no more distress;
Nor sin nor death shall reach the place;
No groans to mingle with the songs
Which warble from immortal tongues.

4 No rude alarms of raging foes;
No cares to break the long repose;
No midnight shade, no clouded sun,
But sacred, high, eternal noon.

5 O long-expected day, begin!

Dawn on these realms of woe and sin ;
Fain would we leave this weary road,
And sleep in death, to rest with God.

1 WHEN, as returns this solemn day,
Man comes to meet his Maker, God,
What rites, what honors, shall he pay?
How spread his Sovereign's praise abroad?

2 From marble domes, and gilded spires,
Shall curling clouds of incense rise ;
And gems, and gold, and garlands, deck
The costly pomp of sacrifice?