1 REAT God! this sacred day of thine Demands the soul's collected powers: Gladly may we to thee resign
These solemn consecrated hours;
Now may our souls, adoring, own
The grace that calls us to thy throne.
2 Hence ye vain cares and trifles, fly!
Where God resides, disturb no more :
All-seeing God, thy piercing eye
Can ev'ry secret thought explore:
Oh! may thy grace our bosoms move,
And fix our thoughts on things above.
3 Thy Spirit's powerful aid impart,
And bid 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 that calls us to thy throne.
121.
HYMN XXVIII. D. C. M.
The Preparation of the Heart in Man.-Prov, xvi. 1.
ORD! teach us how to pray aright, With reverence and with fear, Though dust and ashes in thy sight, We may, we must draw near:
God of all grace! we come to thee
With broken, contrite hearts;
Give, what thine eye delights to see,
Truth in the inward parts.
2 Give deep humility: the sense
Of godly scrrow give:
A strong desiring confidence
To see thy face and live:
Faith in the only sacrifice,
That can for sin atone;
To cast our cares, to fix our eyes,
On Christ-on Christ alone:
3 Patience to watch, and wait, and weep,
Though mercy long delay :
Courage our fainting souls to keep,
And trust thee, though thou slay;
Give these, and let thy will be done ;
Thus strengthen'd with all might,
We, through thy Spirit and thy Son,
Shall pray, and pray aright.
The Gospel a Dispensation of Grace and Mercy.
OD in the gospel of his Son,
Makes his eternal counsels known:
Where love in all its glory shines,
And truth is drawn in fairest lines.
2 The prisoner here may break his chains;
The weary rest from all his pains;
The captive feel his bondage cease;
The mourner find the way of peace.
3 Here faith reveals to mortal eyes
A brighter world beyond the skies:
Here shines the light which guides our way
From earth to realms of endless day.
4 Oh! grant us grace, Almighty Lord,
To mark, and learn, thy holy word:
Its truths with meekness to receive,
And by its holy precepts live.
From the general Confession.
ALMIGHTY Father! God of grace!
We all, like sheep astray,
In folly from thy paths have turn'd,
Each to his sinful way.
2 Sins of omission, and of act,
Through all our lives abound;
Alas! in thought, and word, and deed,
No health in us is found.
3 O spare us, Lord, in mercy spare:
Our contrite souls restore,
Through Him who suffered on the cross,
And man's transgressions bore.
4 And grant, O Father, for his sake,
That we, through all our days,
A just and godly life may lead,
To thine eternal praise.
ALVATION! O the joyful sound!
Glad tidings to our ears;
A sovereign balm for every wound,
A cordial to our fears.
Glory, honour, praise, and
Be unto the Lamb for ever!
Jesus Christ is our Redeemer,
Hallelujah! praise ye the Lord.
2 Salvation! let the echo fly,
The spacious earth around :
While all the armies of the sky
Conspire to swell the sound.
Glory, honour, praise, and
&c. &c. &c.
3 Salvation! O thou dying Lamb!
To thee the praise belongs :
Salvation shall our hearts inflame,
And dwell upon our tongues.
Glory, honour, praise, and
&c. &c. &c.
125. HYMN XXXII.
Christ the Rock of Ages.
ROCK of ages! cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee:
Let the water and the blood,
From thy side, a healing flood,
Be of sin the double cure:
Save from wrath, and make me pure.
2 Should my tears for ever flow,
Should my zeal no languor know,
This for sin could not atone,
Thou must save, and thou alone;
In my hand no price I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling.
3 While I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyelids close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold thee on thy throne;
Rock of ages! cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee.
Jesus a Compassionate Shepherd.-HEB. iv. 15.
WHEN gath'ring clouds around I view,
And days are dark, and friends are few,
On him I lean, who, not in vain,
Experienc'd ev'ry human pain :
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