2 Thine earthly Sabbaths, Lord! we love;
But there's a nobler rest above;

Oh! that we might that rest attain,
From sin, from sorrow, and from pain!

3 In thy blest kingdom we shall be
From every mortal trouble free;
No sighs shall mingle with the songs
Resounding from immortal tongues:

4 No rude alarms of raging foes,
No cares to break the long repose,
No midnight shade, no clouded sun,
But sacred, high, eternal noon.

5 O long-expected day, begin!

Dawn on this world of woe and sin!
Fain would we leave this weary road,
And sleep in death, to rest with God.

334

Prayer for purer Sabbath devotion.

Ps. xliii, 3-5.

1 FREQUENT the day of God returns
To shed its quick'ning beams;
And yet how low devotion burns!
How languid are its flames!

C. M.

2 Accept our faint attempts to love;
Our frailties, Lord! forgive:
We would be like thy saints above,
And praise Thee while we live.

3 Increase, O Lord! our faith and hope,
And fit us to ascend

Where the assembly ne'er breaks up,
Where Sabbaths never end.

4 There we shall breathe celestial air,
With heav'nly lustre shine,
Before the throne of God appear,
And feast on love divine.

335

Thoughts befitting the Sabbath implored.

Ps. cxxii, 1. Rev. i, 10.

1 GREAT God! this sacred day of thine
Demands our souls' collected powers;
May we employ in praise divine

These solemn, these devoted hours:
Oh! may our hearts adoring own
The grace which calls us to thy throne!

6-8's.

2 Ye cares of earth, and trifles, fly!
Where God resides appear no more!
Omniscient God! thy piercing eye

Can every secret thought explore:
Oh! may thy love our hearts refine,
And fix our thoughts on things divine!
3[The word of life dispensed to-day
Invites us to a heavenly feast;
May every ear the call obey,

Be every heart a grateful guest;
Oh! bid the humble sons of need
On soul-reviving bounties feed!]
4 Thy Spirit's powerful aid impart;

Oh! may thy word with life divine
Engage the ear, and warm the heart!
Then shall the day indeed be thine;
Then shall our souls adoring own
The grace which calls us to thy throne.

336

C. M.

Rejoicing in the day which the Lord hath made.

Ps. cxviii, 22-24.

John i, 1-3. Col. fii, 16.

1 LORD of the Sabbath! Thee we praise

In concert with the blest,

Who joyful in harmonious lays
Employ an endless rest.

2 On this glad day a brighter scene
Of glory was display'd,

Than when by God, th' eternal Word,
The universe was made.

3 He rises, who our pardon bought
With grief and pain extreme;

'Twas great to speak a world from nought; 'Twas greater to redeem.

4 In psalms and hymns we would proclaim
The triumphs of thy grace;
Oft tell the wonders of thy name,
And all thy love retrace.

5 Exalted on thy radiant throne,
Accept our grateful songs;

Be Thou our theme, and Thou alone!
Our all to Thee belongs.

337

1

Sabbath-evening reflections.

Jer. viii, 20. Luke xix, 20.

THE light of Sabbath-eve

Is fading fast away;

Oh! then what record will it leave

To crown the closing day?

S. M.

2

3

Is it a Sabbath spent

Fruitless and vain and void?

Or have these blessed moments lent
Been piously employed?

How dreadful and how drear,
In yon dark world of pain,
Will many a Sabbath lost appear,
Which cannot come again!

Oh! in that hopeless place,
How will the sinner say:-
I had those precious hours of grace,
Yet cast them all away!

5

Lord of these Sabbath-hours!
Oh! may we never dare

To waste in sinful thoughts of ours
These sacred days of prayer!

Public Worship.

338

The church-service.

2 Cor. v, 20. Heb. iv, 14-16; x, 19-25.

1 IN THY presence we appear;
Lord! we love to worship here,
When within the veil we meet
Christ upon the mercy-seat.

7's.