197

m OR thy mercy and thy grace, Faithful through another year,

Hear our song of thankfulness,
Father, and Redeemer, hear.

Lo, our sins on thee we cast,
Thee, our perfect sacrifice;
And, forgetting all the past,
Press towards our glorious prize.

Dark the future; let thy light

Guide us, Bright and Morning Star : Fierce our foes, and hard the fight; Arm us, Saviour, for the war.

In our weakness and distress,

Rock of Strength, be thou our stay ;

In the pathless wilderness

Be our true and living way.

Who of us death's awful road

In the coming year shall tread? i With thy rod and staff, O God, Comfort thou his dying head.

m Keep us faithful, keep us pure,
Keep us evermore thine own;
Help, O help us to endure;

Fit us for the promised crown.

7 So within thy palace gate

We shall praise, on golden chords,
Thee, the only Potentate,

King of kings, and Lord of lords.

H

USHED was the evening hymn,
The temple courts were dark,

The lamp was burning dim

Before the sacred ark;

When suddenly a Voice Divine

Rang through the silence of the shrine.

The old man, meek and mild,
The priest of Israel, slept;
His watch the temple child,
The little Levite, kept;

And what from Eli's sense was sealed
The Lord to Hannah's son revealed.

O give me Samuel's ear,
The open ear, O Lord,
Alive and quick to hear

Each whisper of thy word;
i Like him to answer at thy call,
And to obey thee first of all.

SO give me Samuel's heart,
A lowly heart that waits
Where in thy house thou art,
Or watches at thy gates

By day and night, a heart that still
Moves at the breathing of thy will.

O give me Samuel's mind,
A sweet, unmurmuring faith,
Obedient and resigned

To thee in life and death;"

i That I may read with child-like eyes Truths that are hidden from the wise.

199

'OME, let us join our friends above That have obtained the prize,

Co

And on the eagle wings of love
To joy celestial rise;

Let all the saints terrestrial sing
With those to glory gone,
For all the servants of our King,
In earth and heaven are one.

m One family we dwell in him,

One church above, beneath;
Though now divided by the stream,

The narrow stream of death:

One army of the living God,

To his command we bow;

Part of his host hath crossed the flood,
And part is crossing now.

m Our old companions in distress
We haste again to see;

And eager long for our release
And full felicity:

Even now by faith we join our hands
With those that went before,

And greet the blood-besprinkled bands
On the eternal shore.

Our spirits too shall quickly join,
Like theirs, with glory crowned,
i And shout to see our Captain's sign,
To hear his trumpet sound:

O that we now might grasp our guide,
O that the word were given;
Come, Lord of hosts, the waves divide,
And land us all in heaven.

200' Se soldiers of the cross;

TAND up! stand up for Jesus!

Ye

Lift high his royal banner,
It must not suffer loss.
m From victory to victory
His army he shall lead,
Till every foe is vanquished,
And Christ is Lord indeed.

7 Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
The trumpet-call obey,
Forth to the mighty conflict
In this his glorious day;
Ye that are men now serve him,
Against unnumbered foes;
Your courage rise with danger,
And strength to strength oppose.

d

s

Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
Stand in his strength alone;
The arm of flesh will fail you,

Ye dare not trust your own:
m Put on the gospel armour,

Each piece put on with prayer;
Where duty calls, or danger,
Be never wanting there.

/ Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
The strife will not be long,
This day the noise of battle,

m

i

The next the victor's song:
To him that overcometh,
A crown of life shall be ;
He with the King of Glory
Shall reign eternally.

201

A

FEW more years shall roll,
A few more seasons come;

d And we shall be with those that rest,
Asleep within the tomb.

SA few more suns shall set

O'er these dark hills of time;

i And we shall be where suns are not,
A far serener clime.

A few more storms shall beat

On this wild rocky shore;

i And we shall be where tempests cease, And surges swell no more.

S

i

A few more struggles here,

A few more partings o'er,

A few more toils, a few more tears,
And we shall weep no more.

m A few more Sabbaths here

Shall cheer us on our way;

i And we shall reach the endless rest,
The eternal Sabbath-day.

/ 'Tis but a little while

And he shall come again,

Who died that we might live, who lives
That we with him may reign.

After each verse,

m Then, O my Lord, prepare
My soul for that great * day;
O wash me in thy precious blood,
And take my sins away.

2, bless'd; 3, calm; 4, bright; 5, sweet; 6, glad.