While Satan's fellest rage
With patient faith they bore;
Consumed from age to age,
Till known on earth no more. 3 Yet was a remnant saved;
Still wrestling with affliction,
Their foes they singly braved,
Beneath Thy benediction:
Again went forth the word,
Abroad the Spirit flew ;
The voice of GOD was heard,
Creating all things new.
4 An hundred years are past,
Since that revival glorious;
And still Thy Church stands fast,
On earth and hill victorious:
The path our fathers trod,
Lay through Gethsemane,
Thither, O Lamb of GOD,
This day we follow Thee.
5 Thence borne to Calvary's brow,
Thy griefs and sorrows viewing,
With heart, soul, spirit, now
Our covenant renewing:
Thy love we here record,
Our sins with tears bewail;
Thy blood pleads for us, LORD;
Ŏ let that plea prevail.
6 Through suffering, shame, and loss, Through honour, wealth, and pleasure,
To glory in Thy Cross,
As our eternal treasure;
That Cross with joy to bear
Through realms that know Thee not;
And thus Thy way prepare,
Still be Thy Brethren's lot.
For the Centenary Celebration, August 13, 1827, of the memorable day of the union of all hearts and minds in the congregation of the United Brethren at Hernhut, amongst whom, since their revival, five years previously, considerable differences had prevailed on minor points, which were all blessedly reconciled at the Holy Sacrament in the parish church of Bethelsdorf, in 1727.
1 THE GOD of your forefathers praise,
Thou, Brethren's Congregation!
Whose mighty arm, by wondrous ways,
Accomplish'd their salvation:
He heard their groans, came down and broke
The bigot's chain, the tyrant's yoke,
And led them forth to freedom.
2 He brought them to his chosen place,
Among the woods and mountains;
The desert fled before their face.
Gardens, and fields, and fountains,
Round their new homes and temple sprang,
While day and night hosannas rang
Through all their little Zion.
3 They walk'd with GOD in peace and love,
But fail'd with one another;
While sternly for the faith they strove,
Brother fell out with brother:
But He, in whom they put their trust.
Who knew their frames, that they were dust,
Pitied and heal'd their weakness.
4 He found them in His house of prayer,
With one accord assembled,
And so reveal'd His presence there,
They wept for joy, and trembled;
One cup they drank, one bread they brake,
One baptism shared, one language spake,
Forgiving and forgiven.
5 Then forth they went with tongues of flame,
In one blest theme delighting,
The love of JESUS, and His Name
GOD's children all uniting!
That love, our theme and watchword still;
That law of love may we fulfil,
And love as we are loved.
6 JESUS, Thy little flock behold,
Here met in sweet communion,
Confirm, as in the years of old,
Our sacramental union;
Renew that day of Pentecost,
Send down on us the Holy Ghost,
The promise of the Father.
7 Now blow the trump of Jubilee,
And while the Church rejoices,
As in one faith, hope, charity,
Join songs, and hearts, and voices,
To Father, Son, and Spirit raise,
On earth, the song of heavenly praise,
Sing, "Holy, Holy, Holy."
For the Centenary Anniversaries of the Brethren's Eldership, and the beginning of the Society for the furtherance of the Gospel in the Moravian Church, November 13 and 19, 1841.
1 ALL hail! our Church's Elder dear,
JESUS, her glorious head!
To Thy disciples now appear,
As risen from the dead;
Let our rejoicing souls in Thee,
The tokens of Thy Passion see,
And hear Thy gentle voice anew,
Say "Peace be unto you."
2 Remembering what our fathers told,
Thou didst in their young day,
This solemn jubilee we hold,
That we, as then did they,
Ourselves in covenant may bind,
With soul and strength, and heart and mind,
Through life and death, on land, o'er sea,
Meekly to follow Thee.
3 Revive Thy work amidst the years,
Our brethren still employ.
O'er heathen soils to sow in tears,
With hope to reap in joy:
Though wide the fields, the labourers few,
If Thou our failing faith renew,
The weakest of Thy servants, we
Can all things do through Thee.
4 Through Thee, from Greenland's sterile rocks,
Rich harvests have been led;
In Indian forests wandering flocks,
With heavenly knowledge fed;
In island-prisons o'er the sea,
Bond-slaves have been made gospel-free;
'Midst lion-haunts, on Afric sands,
Strange tribes lift holy hands.
5 To-day, one world-neglected race,
We fervently commend
To Thee, and to Thy Word of grace;
LORD, visit and befriend
A people scatter'd, peel'd, and rude,
By land and ocean-solitude,
Cut off from every social shore,
In dreary Labrador.
6 Thither, while to and fro she steers,
Still guide our annual bark *,
* For particulars of the missionary ship, and the providence which has preserved her through so many perilous annual voyages, vide periodical accounts of the Missions of the United ethren.
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