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Thine altar is the contrite heart,
Thine incense the repentant sigh.
4 O, may our land, in this her hour,
Confess thy hand, and bless the rod,
By penitence make thee her Friend,
And find in thee a guardian God.

694.

C. M.

Humiliation and Prayer.

S. STREETER

1 HERE, in thy temple, Lord, we meet,
And bow before thy throne;
Abased and guilty, at thy feet,
We seek thy grace alone.

2 Our sins rise up in dread array,
And fill our hearts with fear;
Our trembling spirits melt away,
But find no helper near.

3 O, send thy pity from on high
With pardon all-divine;

Bring now thy gracious spirit nigh,
And make us wholly thine.

4 We humbly mourn our follies past,
Each guilty path deplore;

Resolved, while feeble life shall last,
To tread those paths no more.

695.

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Judgments for National Sins deprecated.

1 ALMIGHTY Lord, before thy throne
Thy mourning people bend ;

'T is on thy pardoning grace alone
Our dying hopes depend.

2 Dark judgments, from thy heavy hand,
Thy dreadful power display;

Yet mercy spares our guilty land,
And still we live to pray.

3 How changed, alas! are truths divine,
For error, guilt, and shame!
What impious numbers, bold in sin,
Disgrace the Christian name!

4 O, turn us, turn us, mighty Lord;
Convert us by thy grace;

Then shall our hearts obey thy word,
And see again thy face.

5 Then, should oppressing foes invade,
We will not yield to fear,
Secure of all-sufficient aid,

696.

When thou, O God, art near.

L. M.

Penitence and Forgiveness.

MONTGOMERY.

1 HAVE mercy on me, O my God!
In loving kindness hear my prayer;
Withdraw the terror of thy rod;
Lord, in thy tender mercy, spare.
2 Offences rise where'er I look,

But I confess their guilt to thee;
Blot my transgressions from thy book;
Wash me from all iniquity.

3 Not streaming blood nor cleansing fire
Thy seeming anger can appease;
Burnt-offerings thou dost not require,
Or gladly I would render these.

4 The broken heart in sacrifice,

Alone, will thine acceptance meet;
My heart, O God, do not despise,
Abased and contrite at thy feet.

5 Thy consolations, as of old,

Now to my troubled mind restore ;
By thy free spirit's might uphold,
And guide my steps to fall no more.

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"Is it such a Fast that I have chosen?" 1" IS this a fast for me?".

Thus saith the Lord our God;
"A day for man to vex his soul,
And feel affliction's rod?

2" Like bulrush low to bow
His sorrow-stricken head,

With sackcloth for his inner vest,
And ashes round him spread?
3"Shall day like this have power
To stay th' avenging hand,
Efface transgression, or avert
My judgments from the land?
4 "No; is not this alone

DRUMMOND.

The sacred fast I choose,-
Oppression's yoke to burst in twain,
The bands of guilt unloose? -

5" To nakedness and want

Your food and raiment deal,
To dwell your kindred race among,
And all their sufferings heal?

6" Then, like the morning ray,

698.

Shall spring your health and light ;
Before you, righteousness shall shine,
Behind, my glory bright!"

C. M.

Humility under Affliction.

1 O SINNER, bring not tears alone,

Or outward form of prayer,

But let it in thy heart be known

That penitence is there.

BREVIARY.

2 To smite the breast, the clothes to rend,

God asketh not of thee:

Thy secret soul he bids thee bend
In true humility.

3 0, let us, then, with heartfelt grief,
Draw near unto our God,

And pray to him to grant relief,
And stay the lifted rod.

4 O righteous Judge, if thou wilt deign
To grant us what we need,

We pray for time to turn again,
And grace to turn indeed.

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1 WHILE sounds of war are heard around,

And death and ruin strow the ground,
To thee we look, on thee we call,
The Parent and the Lord of all.

2 Thou who hast stamped on human kind
The image of a heaven-born mind,
And in a Father's wide embrace
Hast cherished all the kindred race,

3 Great God, whose powerful hand can bind
The raging waves, the furious wind,
O, bid the human tempest cease,
And hush the maddening world to peace.
4 With reverence may each hostile land
Hear and obey that high command,
Thy Son's blest errand from above,
My creatures, live in mutual love! "

700.

C. M.

For a Day of Fasting and Prayer.

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AIKIN.

ANONYMOUS.

1 NOW let our prayers ascend to thee,
Thou great and holy One ;

Above the world raise thou our hearts;
In us, thy will be done.

2 O, let us feel how frail we are,
How much we need thy grace;
O, strengthen, Lord, our fainting souls,
While here we seek thy face.

3 Our sins, alas! before thee rise;
Thou knowest all our guilt;

Let not our faith, our hope, our trust,
On earthly things be built.

4 Forgive our sins, thy spirit grant,
Let love our souls refine,

And heavenly peace and holy hope
Assure that we are thine.

701.

C. M.

God our Deliverer.

TATE & BRADY.

1 O LORD, our fathers oft have told,
In our attentive ears,

Thy wonders in their days performed,
And in more ancient years.

2 'T was not their courage, nor their sword,
To them salvation gave;

'T was not their number, nor their strength, That did their country save.

3 But thy right hand, thy powerful arm,-
Whose succour they implored;

Thy providence protected them,
Who thy great name adored.

4 As thee their God our fathers owned,
So thou art still our King ;

O, therefore, as thou didst to them,
To us deliverance bring.

5 To thee the glory we 'll ascribe,
From whom salvation came;

In God, our shield, we will rejoice,
And ever bless thy name.

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