4 Oh send us not away unblessed, For on thy gracious word we rest; We, sinners, to our Saviour flee,
Helpless and hopeless but in thee. C. (original.)
COME, Lord, and warm each languid heart,
Inspire each lifeless tongue;
And let the joys of heaven impart
Their influence to our song.
2 The saints, from sin for ever free,
There mourn its power no more;
But, clothed in spotless purity,
Redeeming love adore.
3 There the bless'd followers of the Lamb
Join in immortal songs;
And endless honors to his name
Employ their tuneful tongues.
4 Lord, tune our hearts to praise and love; Our feeble notes inspire;
Till in thy blissful courts above
We join th' angelic choir.
Invocation of the Saviour.
1 COME, thou desire of all thy saints,
Our humble strains attend ;
While, with our praises and complaints,
Low at thy feet we bend.
2 When we thy wondrous glories hear,
And all thy sufferings trace,
What sweetly awful scenes appear!
What rich, unbounded grace!
3 How should our songs, like those above,
With warm devotion rise!
How should our souls, on wings of love,
Mount upward to the skies!
4 Come, Lord, thy love alone can raise
In us the heavenly flame ;
Then shall our lips resound thy praise,
Our hearts adore thy name.
5 Dear Saviour, let thy glory shine,
And fill thy dwellings here,
Till life and love and joy divine
A heaven on earth appear.
Spiritual Strength implored.
1 COME, gracious Lord, descend and dwell
By faith and love in every breast;
Then shall we know and taste and feel
The joys that cannot be expressed.
2 Come, fill our hearts with inward strength,
Make our enlarged souls possess,
And learn the height and breadth and length
Of thine unmeasurable grace.
3 Now to the God whose power can do
More than our thoughts or wishes know, Be everlasting honors done
By all the church, through Christ his Son.
The Presence of the Saviour.
1 JESUS, where'er thy people meet,
There they behold thy mercy-seat;
Where'er they seek thee, thou art found ;
And every place is hallowed ground.
2 Dear Shepherd of thy chosen few,
Thy former mercies here renew;
Here to our waiting hearts proclaim
The sweetness of thy saving name.
3 Here may we prove the power of prayer
To strengthen faith and banish care;
To teach our faint desires to rise
To things unseen beyond the skies.
4 Lord, we are few, but thou art near,
Nor short thine arm, nor deaf thine ear;
Oh rend the heavens this favored hour-
Let thousands feel thy saving power.
Sincerity.
1 LORD, when we bend before thy throne,
And our confessions pour,
Teach us to feel the sins we own,
And hate what we deplore.
2 Our burdened spirits pitying see;
True penitence impart ;
And let a healing ray from thee.
Beam hope on every heart.
3 When our responsive tongues essay
Their grateful songs to raise,
Grant that our souls may join the lay,
And rise to thee in praise.
4 When we disclose our wants in prayer,
May we our wills resign;
And not a thought our bosom share,
Which is not wholly thine.
5 Let faith each meek petition fill,
And waft it to the skies;
And teach our hearts 'tis goodness still
That grants it, or denies.
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 While we seek supplies of grace,
Through the dear Redeemer's name ;
Show thy reconciling face,
Take away our sin and shame;
From our worldly cares set free,
May we rest this day in thee.
3 Here we come thy name to praise ;
Let us feel thy presence near :
May thy glory meet our eyes,
While we in thy house appear:
Here afford us, Lord, a taste
Of our everlasting feast.
4 May the gospel's joyful sound
Conquer sinners, comfort saints,
Make the fruits of grace abound,
Bring relief from all complaints:
Thus let all our Sabbaths prove,
Till we join the church above.
The Courts of the Lord.
1 HOW charming is the place
Where my Redeemer God
Unvails the beauties of his face,
And sheds his love abroad!
2 Not the fair palaces
To which the great resort,
Are once to be compared with this,
Where Jesus holds his court.
3 Here on the mercy-seat,
With radiant glory crowned,
Our joyful eyes behold him sit,
And smile on all around.
4 To him their prayers and cries
Each humble soul presents;
He listens to their broken sighs,
And grants them all their wants.
5 Give me, O Lord, a place
Within thy bless'd abode,
Among the children of thy grace,
The servants of my God.
14 Prayer and Vow. Gen. xxviii. 19-21.
GOD of Bethel, by whose hand
Thy people still are fed,
Thou through this weary pilgrimage
Hast all our fathers led.
2 Our vows, our prayers we now present
Before thy throne of grace;
God of our fathers, be the God
Of their succeeding race.
3 Through each perplexing path of life
Our wandering footsteps guide;
Give us each day our daily bread,
And raiment fit provide.
4 Oh spread thy covering wings around,
Till all our wanderings cease,
And at our Father's loved abode
Our souls arrive in peace.
5 Such blessings from thy gracious hand
Our humble prayers implore;
And thou shalt be our chosen God
And portion evermore.
Welcome to Christian Friends.
INDRED in Christ, for his dear sake
A hearty welcome here receive;
May we together now partake
The joys which only he can give.
2 May he by whose kind care we meet,
Send his good Spirit from above,
Make our communications sweet,
And cause our hearts to burn with love.
3 Forgotten be each worldly theme,
When Christians see each other thus ;
We only wish to speak of him
Who lived, and died, and reigns for us.
4 We'll talk of all he did and said
And suffered for us here below;
The path he marked for us to tread,
And what he's doing for us now.
5 Thus, as the moments pass away,
We'll love and wonder and adore,
And hasten on the glorious day
When we shall meet to part no more. Newton.
Heavenly Joy on Earth.
NOME, we who love the Lord,
And let our joys be known;
Join in a song, with sweet accord,
And thus surround the throne.
The sorrows of the mind
Be banished from the place;
Religion never was designed
To make our pleasures less.
3 Let those refuse to sing,
Who never knew our God;
But children of the heavenly King
May speak their joys abroad.
4 The God who rules on high,
And thunders when he please,
Who rides upon the stormy sky,
And manages the seas :-
5 This awful God is ours,
Our Father and our love;
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