3 Join we God's people in our youth,
Quit the vain world, like humble Ruth,
With them resolved, our lot to try,
Rejoice or suffer, live and die.
4 Like Joshua, through this war of life,
Victor in many a deadly strife,
May each this solemn pledge record,
"I and my house will serve the Lord."
5 When prayers and vows to heaven we make, The words of Solomon we'll take, Freely for every blessing call,
Yet ask forgiveness with them all.
O Lord our God, to Thee
The sum of our petitions be
The language of thy blessed Son,
"Father, thy will, not mine, be done."
Solomon's prayer for wisdom.
1 ALMIGHTY God, in humble prayer,
To Thee our souls we lift,
Do Thou our waiting minds prepare
For thy most needful gift.
2 We ask not golden streams of wealth
Along our path to flow;
We ask not undecaying health,
Nor length of years below.
3 We ask not honours, which an hour
May bring and take away;
We ask not pleasure, pomp, and power,
Lest we should go astray.
4 We ask for wisdom :-Lord, impart
The knowledge how to live;
A wise and understanding heart
To all before Thee give.
5 For we, like children, born in sin,
Know not, till Thou hast taught,
How to go out, or how come in,
By word, or deed, or thought.
6 The young remember Thee in youth,
Before the evil days!
The old be guided by thy truth
In wisdom's pleasant ways!
Longing to draw near to a throne of grace.-
Job xxiii. 3, 4-10, 16.
10 THAT I knew where I might find
My righteous Judge's seat,
To pour out all my troubled mind
In prayer before his feet!
2 Not with the thunder of thy power
Wouldst thou against me plead;
No, thy good Spirit, in that hour,
For me would intercede.
3 For me, thy Son Himself would pray,
Thy well-beloved Son;
Father, Thou couldst not turn away
From thine Anointed One.
4 Thine own unutterable grace,
Thy love-thy love to me,-
Constrain me thus to seek thy face,
And cast my cares on Thee.
5 Hear then the voice of my desire,
My griefs, my fears behold;
Search me, and try me as with fire,
And bring me forth like gold.
6 Lo, Thou hast troubled my repose,
Thy chastisements I feel;
Thine hand hath touch'd my heart,-it glows,
It melts, impress thy seal.
7 Stamp thine own image on my soul;
Lift from the dust mine head;
Lord, Thou hast wounded,-make me whole
Hast slain,-now raise the dead.
The soul returning to God.-Psal. cxvi. I RETURN, my soul, unto thy rest,
From vain pursuits and maddening cares; From lonely woes that wring thy breast, The world's allurements, Satan's snares. 2 Return unto thy rest, my soul,
From all the wanderings of thy thought:
From sickness unto death, made whole;
Safe through a thousand perils brought.
3 Then to thy rest, my soul, return,
From passions every hour at strife,
Sin's works, and ways, and wages spurn,
Lay hold upon eternal life.
4 God is thy rest;—with heart inclined
To keep his word, that word believe;
Christ is thy rest;-with lowly mind,
His light and easy yoke receive.
The invitation of wisdom.-Prov. viii.
To us the voice of wisdom cries,
-"Hearken, ye children, and be wise;"
Better than gold the fruit I bear,
Rubies with me may not compare.
2 "Happy the man who daily waits
To hear me, watching at my gates;
Wretched is he who scorns my voice,
Death and destruction are his choice.
3" To them that love me I am kind,
And those who seek me early find;
My Son, give me thine heart,-and learn
Wisdom from folly to discern.
4 "The Lord possess'd me, ere of old
His hand the firmament unroll'd;
Before He bade the mountains stand,
Or pour'd the ocean round the land.
5" Rejoicing then before his throne,
From everlasting was known;
Rejoicing still, as in his sight,
With men on earth is my delight.
6" Mark the beginning of my law,
-Fear ye the Lord with sacred awe:
Mark the fulfilment of the whole,
-Love ye the Lord with all your soul.”
7 We hear, we learn; may we obey;
Jesus, the life, the truth, the way,
Wisdom and righteousness, we see,
Grace and salvation, all in Thee.
The universal Church.-Isa. lxvi. 12, 19, 23.
1 THUS saith the Lord," My Church, to thee Peace, like a river, I will send;
The Gentiles, in a stream, shall see
My mercy flowing without end.
2 The isles, that never heard my fame,
Nor knew the glory of my might,
They shall be taught to fear my name,
-Call'd out of darkness into light.
3 And it shall come to pass, that vows,
From Sabbath unto Sabbath-day,
From moon to moon, in mine own house, All nations, tribes, and tongues shall pay."
The fellowship of those who fear the Lord.-
Malachi iii. 16-18. and iv. 1.
1 WHEN those who fear'd the Lord of old
Met oft, and spake with one accord,
A book was written, and enroll'd
Their faithful names before the Lord.
2 They shall be mine, Jehovah said,
And as a signet on my hand,
A crown of glory for my head,
Among my chosen jewels stand.
3 And I will spare them in that day,
Even as a father spares his son,
When all the proud are swept away,
The wicked, root and branch, undone.
4 Then shall my righteousness be shown:
Then, by their good or evil lot,
The sinner and the saint be known,
Who served the Lord,-who served Him not.
5 Lord, we are taught thy name to fear;
O may we tremble to offend;
Lord, we are taught to serve Thee here;
May we be faithful to the end.
6 Our names are on thy Church's rolls,
But in thy Book our pardon write;
Rich was the ransom of our souls,
May they be precious in thy sight.
1 WHAT is the thing of greatest price,
The whole creation round?
-That, which was lost in Paradise,
-That, which in Christ is found,
2 The Soul of Man,-Jehovah's breath!
That keeps two world's at strife;
Hell moves beneath to work its death,
Heaven stoops to give it life.
3 God, to reclaim it, did not spare
His well-beloved Son;
Jesus, to save it, deign'd to bear
The sins of all in One.
4 The Holy Spirit seal'd the plan,
And pledged the blood divine,
To ransom every soul of man;
-That price was paid for mine.
|