THE SABBATH.

239

1st P. M. 6 lines 8s.

The day consecrated.

Gemands our souls' collected powers; GREAT God, this hallow'd day of thine May we employ in works divine

These solemn and devoted hours:
O may our souls, adoring, own

The grace which calls us to thy throne.
2 Hence, ye vain cares and trifles, fly!
Where God resides appear no more!
Omniscient Lord, thy piercing eye
Doth every secret thought explore:
O may thy grace our thoughts refine,
And fix our hearts on things divine!

240

The day improved.

C. M.

THIS day the Lord hath call'd his own Let us his praise declare,

Fix our desires on him alone,

And seek his face with prayer.

2 Lord, in thy love we would rejoice,
Which sets the sinner free,
And, with united heart and voice,
Devote these hours to thee.

3 Now let the world's delusive things
No more our thoughts employ,
But faith be taught to stretch her wings,
Tow'rd heaven's unfailing joy.

4 O let these earthly Sabbaths, Lord,
Be to our welfare blest;

The purest comfort here afford,
And fit us for our rest.

241

The joys of the Sabbath.

L. M.

WEET is the work, my God, my King, STEPT is thy name, give thanks, sing To show thy love by morning light, And talk of all thy truth by night. 2 Sweet is the day of sacred rest; No mortal cares shall seize my breast; O may my heart in tune be found, Like David's harp of solemn sound. 3 When grace has purified my heart, Then I shall share a glorious part: And fresh supplies of joy be shed, Like holy oil to cheer my head.

4 Then shall I see, and hear, and know All I desired or wish'd below;

And every power find sweet employ

In that eternal world of joy.

242

Delight in ordinances.
TELCOME, sweet day of rest,
That saw the Lord arise:

S. M.

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 thon, 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.

213

In the Sanctuary.

L. M.

AR from my thoughts, vain world, be gone,
FAR
Let my religious hours alone;

Fain would mine eyes my Saviour see;
I wait a visit, Lord, froni thee.
20 warm my heart with holy fire,
And kindle there a pure desire:
Come, sacred Spirit, from above,
And fill my soul with heavenly love.
3 Blest Saviour, what delicious fare!
How sweet thine entertainments are!
Never did angels taste above
Redeeming grace and dying love.
4 Hail, great Immanuel, all divine!
In thee thy Father's glories shine;
Thy glorious name shall be adored,
And every tongue confess thee Lord.
244

C. M.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
HIS is the day the Lord hath made:
To earth, rejoice, and sing;

Let songs of triumph hail the morn;
Hosanna to our King!

2 The Stone the builders set at naught,
That Stone has now become

The sure foundation, and the strength
Of Zion's heavenly dome.

8 Christ is that stone, rejected once,
And number'd with the slain;
Now raised in glory, o'er his Church
Eternally to reign.

4 This is the day the Lord hath made;
O earth, rejoice and sing:

With songs of triumph hail the morn;
Hosanna to our King!

245

3d P. M. 4 6s & 2 8s.

Joyful homage.

And hail this sacred day:

WAKE, ye saints, awake!

In loftiest songs of praise

Your joyful homage pay:

Come bless the day that God hath blest,
The type of heaven's eternal rest.

2 On this auspicious morn
The Lord of life arose;
He burst the bars of death,
And vanquish'd all our foes;
And now he pleads our cause above,
And reaps the fruit of all his love.

8 All hail, triumphant Lord!
Heaven with hosannas rings,
And earth, in humbler strains,
Thy praise responsive sings:

Worthy the Lamb, that once was slain,
Through endless years to live and reign.

246

The type of everlasting rest.

COME, let us join with one accord

In hymns around the throne; This is the day our rising Lord Hath made and call'd his own.

C. M

2 This is the day which God hath blest,
The brightest of the seven,
Type of that everlasting rest
The saints enjoy in heaven.

3 Then let us in his name sing on,
And hasten to that day

When our Redeemer shall come down,

And shadows pass away.

4 Not one,

but all our days below,

Let us in hymns employ; And, in our Lord rejoicing, go To his eternal joy.

247

n

Pledge of endless rest.

L. M.

DETURN, my soul, enjoy thy rest;
the day thy God hath biest:

Another six days' work is done;

Another Sabbath is begun.

20 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.
3 This heavenly calm within the breast,
Is the dear pledge of glorious rest,
Which for the Church of God remains,
The end of cares, the end of pains.
4 In holy duties, let the day,
In holy comforts, pass away;

How sweet, a Sabbath thus to spend,
In hope of one that ne'er shall end.
248

5th P. M. 4 lines 78.

Life and immortality brought to light.
of God thou blessed day,

DAY

At thy dawn the grave gave way
To the power of Him within,
Who had, sinless, bled for sín.

2 Thine the radiance to illume
First, for man, the dismal tomb,
When its bars their weakness own'd,
There revealing death dethroned.
3 Then the Sun of righteousness
Rose, a darken'd world to bless,
Bringing up from mortal night
Immortality and light.