Spirit of sacrifice and praise,
Of holiness and love.
HYMN 553. S. M. [247]
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 One day in such a place
Where thou, my God, art seen,
Is sweeter than ten thousand days,
Of pleasurable sin.
4 My willing soul would stay
In such a frame as this,
And sit and sing herself away,
To everlasting bliss.
HYMN 554. L. M.
RETURN, my soul, enjoy thy rest,
Improve the day thy God has blest,
Another six days' work is done,
Another Sabbath is begun.
2 Come, bless the Lord, whose love assigns,
So sweet a rest for wearied minds;
Provides a blest foretaste of heaven,
On this day more than all the seven.
3 O that our thoughts and thanks may rise, As grateful incense to the skies;
And draw from Christ that sweet repose,
Which none but he that feels it knows.
4 This heavenly calm within the breast,
Is the best pledge of glorious rest,
Which for the Church of God remains,
The end of cares, the end of pains.
5 With joy, great God, thy works we scan,
Creation's scene, redemption's plan,
With praise we think on mercies past,
With hope we future pleasures taste.
HYMN 555. L. M. [366]
THINE earthly Sabbaths, Lord, we love,
But there's a nobler rest above;
To that our longing souls aspire,
With cheerful hope and strong desire.
2 No more fatigue, no more distress,
Nor sin, nor death, shall reach the place;
No groans shall mingle with the songs
Which dwell upon immortal tongues;
3 No rude alarms of angry foes,
No cares to break the long repose;
No midnight shade, no clouded sun,
But sacred, high, eternal noon.
4 O long-expected day, begin;
Dawn on these realms of pain and sin;
With joy we'll tread th' appointed road,
And sleep in death, to rest with God.
HYMN 556. H. M.
WELCOME, delightful morn,
Thou day of sacred rest;
I hail thy kind return,
Lord make these moments blest:
From the low train of mortal toys,
I soar to reach immortal joys.
2 Now may the King descend,
And fill his throne of grace;
Thy sceptre, Lord, extend,
While saints address thy face:
Let sinners feel thy quick'ning word, And learn to know and fear the Lord. 3 Descend, celestial Dove,
With all thy quick'ning powers; Disclose a Saviour's love,
And bless the sacred hours:
Then shall my soul new life obtain,
Nor Sabbaths be indulg'd in vain.
HYMN 557. 7s. [402]
IN thy house while now we sing,
Tune our hearts, O heavenly King!
Then our joyful souls shall bless
Thee, the Lord, our Righteousness!
2 While to Thee our pray'rs ascend,
Let thine ear in love attend:
Hear us, for thy Spirit pleads:
Hear, for Jesus intercedes!
3 While we hear thy word with awe,
While we tremble at thy law,
Let thy gospel's wondrous love,
Ev'ry doubt and fear remove.
4 From thy house when we return,
Let our hearts within us burn:
This, at evening, we shall say,-
"We have walk'd with God to-day!"
HYMN 558. L. M. [365]
THIS day the Lord has called his own;
O let us, then, his praise declare;
Fix our desires on him alone,
And seek his face with fervent prayer. 2 Lord, in thy love we would rejoice, Which bids the burdened soul be free, And with united heart and voice,
Devote these sacred hours to thee.
3 Now let the world's delusive things
No more our grovelling thoughts employ,
But Faith be taught to stretch her wings,
In search of heaven's unfailing joy.
4 O let these earthly Sabbaths, Lord,
Be to our lasting welfare blest;
The purest comfort here afford,
And fit us for eternal rest.
HYMN 559. C. M. [364]
WHEN the worn spirit wants repose,
And sighs her God to seek,
How sweet to hail the evening's close,
That ends the weary week!
2 How sweet to hail the early dawn,
That opens on the sight,
When first that soul-reviving morn,
Sheds forth new rays of light!.
3 Sweet day! thine hours too soon will cease;
Yet, while they gently roll,
Breathe, heavenly Spirit, source of peace,
A Sabbath o'er my soul.
4 When will my pilgrimage be done,
The world's long week be o'er,
That Sabbath dawn which needs no sun,
That day which fades no more?
HYMN 560. L. M. [249]
FROM year to year in love we meet,
From year to year in peace we part;
The tongues of thousands uttering sweet
The bosom-joy of every heart.
2 But time rolls on, and year by year We change, grow up, or pass away; Not twice the same assembly here
Have hailed the children's festal day. 3 Death, ere another spring, may strike Some in our union, marked to fall; Be young and old prepared alike— The warning is to each, to all. 4 This sole occasion, then, is ours; This day we ne'er again shall see; Lord God, awaken all our powers To spend it for eternity.
HYMN 561. C. M. [250]
O WISDOM, whose unfailing power
Beside th' Eternal stood,
To frame, in nature's earliest hour,
The land, the sky, the flood;
2 Yet didst not Thou disdain awhile
An infant form to wear;
To bless thy mother with a smile,
And lisp thy faltered prayer.
3 But in thy Father's own abode,
With Israel's elders round,
Conversing high with Israel's God,
Thy chiefest joy was found.
4 So may our youth adore thy name; And, Saviour deign to bless,
With fostering grace, the timid flame
Of early holiness.
HYMN 562. C. M. [251]
BY cool Siloam's shady rill,
How fair the lily grows!
How sweet the breath beneath the hill
Of Sharon's dewy rose.
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