4 Open wide, O God, thy door,
For the outcast and the poor,
Who can call no house their own,
Where we lay this corner-stone.
5 By wise master-builders squared,
Here be living stones prepared
For the temple near thy throne ;—
Jesus Christ its corner-stone.

964

DEDICATION.

8d P. M. 4 6s & 2 88.

Invoking God's presence and blessing.
TREAT King of glory, come,
U And with thy favour crown
This temple as thy home,-

This people as thine own:

Beneath this roof, O deign to show
How God can dwell with men below.

2 Here may thine ears attend
Our interceding cries,
And grateful praise ascend,

Like incense, to the skies:
Here may thy soul-converting word
With faith be preach'd, in faith be heard.
3 Here may our unborn sons
And daughters sound thy praise,
And shine, like polish'd stones,

Through long-succeeding days:
Here, Lord, display thy saving power,
While temples stand and men adore.
4 Here may the listing throng
Receive thy truth in love:
Here Christians join the song
Of the redeem'd above;

Till all, who humbly seek thy face,
Rejoice in thy abounding grace.

965

S. M.

The honour and safety of a nation.

REAT is the Lord our God,
And let his praise be great;
He makes his churches his abode,
His most delightful seat.
2 These temples of his grace,
How beautiful they stand :-
The honours of our native place,
And bulwarks of our land.
3 In Zion God is known,

A refuge in distress;

How bright has his salvation shone
Through all her palaces!

4 In every new distress

We'll to his house repair;

We'll think upon his wondrous grace, And seek deliv'rance there.

966

5th P. M. 4 lines 7s.

Prayer and praise.

ORD of hosts! to thee we ine

thise:

Thou thy people's hearts prepare,
Here to meet for praise and prayer.
2 Let the living here be fed
With thy word, the heavenly bread:
Here, in hope of glory blest,
May the dead be laid to rest.

8 Here to thee a temple stand,
While the sea shall gird the land:
Here reveal thy mercy sure,

While the sun and moon endure.

4 Hallelujah -earth and sky To the joyful sound reply: Hallelujah! hence ascend

Prayer and praise till time shall end.

967

C. M.

A blessing supplicated.
GOD, though countless worlds of light
Thy power and glory show,-

Though round thy throne, above all height,
Immortal seraphs glow,-

2 Yet, Lord, where'er thy saints apart
Are met for praise and prayer,-
Wherever sighs a contrite heart,
Thou, gracious God, art there.

3 With grateful joy, thy children rear
This temple, Lord, to thee;

Long may they sing thy praises here,
And here thy beauty see.

4 Here, Saviour, deign thy saints to meet; With peace their hearts to fill;

And here, like Sharon's odours sweet,
May grace divine distil,

5 Here may thy truth fresh triumphs win;
Eternal Spirit, here,

In many a heart now dead in sin,

A living temple rear.

968

Jehovah's presence.

L. M.

NOT heaven's wide range of hallow'd space

Jehovah's presence can confine;

Nor angels' claims restrain his grace,
Whose glories through creation shine.
2 It beam'd on Eden's guilty days,
And traced redemption's wondrous plan;
From Calvary, in brightest rays,

It glow'd to guide benighted man.
8 Its sacred shrine it fixes there,
Where two or three are met to raise
Their holy hands in humble prayer,
Or tune their hearts to grateful praise.

4 Be this, O Lord, that honour'd place,The house of God, the gate of heaven; And may the fulness of thy grace

To all who here shall meet be given. 5 And hence, in spirit, may we soar To those bright courts where seraphs bend; With awe like theirs, on earth adore, Till with their anthems ours shall blend.

969

The tokens of His grace.
ND will the great eternal God

L. M.

And will he, from his radiant throne,
Accept our temples for his own!
2 These walls we to thy honour raise;
Long may they echo with thy praise:
And thou, descending, fill the place
With choicest tokens of thy grace.
3 Here let the great Redeemer reign,
With all the graces of his train;
While power divine his word attends,
To conquer foes, and cheer his friends.
4 And in the great decisive day,
Waen God the nations shall survey,
May it before the world appear
That crowds were born to glory here.

970

L. M.

An humble offering to Jehovah. Te first temple built by God; HE perfect world, by Adam trod,

His fiat laid the corner-stone;

He spake, and, lo! the work was done.
2 He hung its starry roof on high,
The broad expanse of azure sky;

He spread its pavement, green and bright,
And curtain'd it with morning light.

3 The mountains in their places stood,
The sea, the sky; and all was good;
And when its first pure praises rang,
The morning stars together sang.

4 Lord, 'tis not ours to make the sea,
And earth, and sky, a house for thee;
But in thy sight our off'ring stands,
An humble temple built with hands.

971

9th P. M. 87, 87, 87, 87.

For the dedication of a seamen's Bethel,

THOU, who on the whirlwind ridest,

At whose word the thunder roars,

Who in majesty presidest

O'er the oceans and their shores; From those shores, and from the ocean, We, the children of the sea,

Come to offer our devotion,

And to give this house to thee.

2 When, for business on great waters,
We go down to sea in ships,
And our weeping sons and daughters
Hang, at parting, on our lips;
This our Bethel shall remind us
That Jehovah heareth prayer;
And that those we leave behind us
Are thy faithful church's care.

3 When in port, each day that's holy

To this house we 'll press in throngs;

When at sea, with spirit lowly,
We'll repeat its sacred songs.

Outward bound, shall we, in sadness,

Lose its flag behind the sens;

Homeward bound, we'll greet with gladness Its first floating on the breeze.