HYMNS SEASONS. BEFORE ANNUAL SERMONS TO YOUNG PEOPLE HYMN VII. Prayer for a Blessing. 1 Now, gracious Lord, thine arm reveal, And soften hearts of stone ! 2 Help us to venture near thy throne, 3 From all the guilt of former sin 4 Send down thy Spirit from above, 5 And when before thee we appear May growing numbers worship here, HYMN VIII. ANOTHER. 1 BESTOW, dear Lord, upon our youth, 2 Grace is a plant, where'er it grows, 3 Ye careless ones, O hear betimes 4 True, you are young, but there's a stone Or half the crimes which you have done, 5 For you the public prayer is made, 6 We pray that you may early prove HYMN IX. ANOTHER. C. 1 Now may fervent prayer arise, 2 Bless, O Lord, the op'ning year, 155 3 Shepherd of thy blood-bought sheep! Teach the stony heart to weep: Let the blind have eyes to see, See themselves and look on thee! 4 Let the minds of all our youth Feel the force of sacred truth; While the gospel-call they hear, May they learn to love and fear. 5 Show them what their have been, ways Show them the desert of sin; Then thy dying love reveal, This shall melt a heart of steel. 6 Where thou hast thy work begun, Give new strength the race to run; Scatter darkness, doubts, and fears, Wipe away the mourner's tears. 7 Bless us all, both old and young; Call forth praise from every tongue; Let the whole assembly prove All thy power, and all thy love. HYMN X. Casting the Gospel-Net. 1 WHEN Peter, through the tedious night,* 2 Once more the gospel-net we cast, And now we meet at thy command, 8 O hear our prayer, and give us hope, * Luke v. 4. HYMN XI. Pleading for and with Youth. 1 SIN has undone our wretched race, But Jesus has restor❜d, And brought the sinner face to face 2 This we repeat, from year to 5 We see, though you perceive it not, 6 Dear Saviour, let this new-born year 66 HYMN XII. 1 GRACIOUS Lord, our children see, How the fierce malicious foe, HYMN XIII. The Shunamite. 1 THE Shunamite, oppress'd with grief, When she had lost the son she lov'd, Went to Elisha for relief, Nor vain her application prov'd. C. C. Exod. x. 9. ↑ Exod. xii. 13. 12 Kings iv, 31. 2 He sent his servant on before, To lay a staff upon his head; This he could do, but do no more; He left him, as he found him-dead. 3 But when the Lord's almighty power Wrought with the prophet's prayer and The mother saw a joyful hour, [faith, She saw her child restor'd from death. 4 Thus, like the weeping Shunamite, For many dead in sin we grieve; Now, Lord, display thine arm of might, Cause them to hear thy voice and live. 5 Thy preachers bear the staff in vain, Though at thine own command we go; Lord, we have tried and tried again, We find them dead, and leave them so. 6 Come then thyself-to ev'ry heart The glory of thy name make known; The means are our appointed part, The power and grace are thine alone. HYMN XIV. Elijah's Prayer.* 1 Does it not grief and wonder move, To think of Israel's shameful fall? Who needed miracles to prove Whether the Lord was God or Baal! 2 Methinks I see Elijah stand, His features glow with love and zeal: In faith and prayer he lifts his hand, And makes to heaven his great appeal. 3 "O God, if I thy servant am, If 'tis thy message fills my heart, Now glorify thy holy name, And show this people who thou art!" 4 He spake, and, lo! a sudden flame Consum'd the wood, the dust, the stone; The people struck, at once proclaim, "The Lord is God, the Lord alone." 5 Like him, we mourn, an awful day, When more for Baal than God appear; Like him, believers, let us pray, And may the God of Israel hear! 6 Lord, if thy servant speak thy truth, 2 When sent to preach to mould'ring bones, Who could have thought he would succeed, But well he knew the Lord from stones Could raise up Abrah'm's chosen seed. 3 Can these be made a num'rous host, And such dry bones new life receive? The prophet answer'd, "Lord, thou know'st They shall, if thou commandment give." 4 Like him, around I cast my eye, HYMN XVII. God speaking from Mount Zion. 1 THE God who once to Israel spoke From Sinai's top, in fire and smoke, In gentler strains of gospel-grace Invites us now to seek his face. 2 He wears no terrors on his brow, And, oh! what heaps of bones appear; Like him, by Jesus sent, I'll try, For he can cause the dead to hear. 5 Hear, ye dry bones, the Saviour's word! He, who, when dying, gasp'd, "Forgive," That gracious sinner-loving Lord Says, "Look to me, dry bones, and live."4 6 Thou heavenly wind, awake and blow, In answer to the prayer of faith; Now thine almighty influence show, And fill dry bones with living breath. 7 O make them hear, and feel, and shake, And at thy call obedient move; The bonds of death and Satan break, And bone to bone unite in love. HYMN XVI. The Rod of Moses. 1 WHEN Moses wav'd his mystic rod, 3 But what could Moses' rod have done, 4 O Lord, regard thy people's prayers! 6 Make streams of godly sorrow flow That thou art near, their griefs to heal. 7 But chiefly, we would now look up To ask a blessing for our youth, The rising generation's hope, That they may know and love thy truth. 8 Arise, O Lord, afford a sign, Now shall our prayers success obtain; Exod. xiv. 22. † Numb. xx. 11. Exod. ix. 23. 5 What other arguments can move 8 How will they else thy presence bear, HYMN XVIII. A Prayer for Power on the means of Grace. 10 THOU, at whose almighty word The glorious light from darkness sprung, And clothe with power the preacher's 2 Though 'tis thy truth he hopes to speak, 3 As when of old the water flow'd Down to the earth at once were cast, 5 Thus we would in the means be found, 6 Now, while we hear thy word of grace, Let self and pride before it fall; And rocky hearts dissolve apace, In streams of sorrow at thy call. 7 On all our youth assembled here, The unction of thy Spirit pour; Nor let them lose another year, Lest thou shouldst strive and call no more. HYMN XIX. Elijah's Mantle. 2 Kings ii. 11–14. 2 But while he look'd a last adieu, 7 Assist thy messenger to speak, And while he aims to lisp thy truth, The bonds of sin and Satan break, And pour thy blessing on our youth. 8 For them we now approach thy throne, Teach them to know and love thy name; Then shall thy thankful people own Elijah's God is still the same. HYMNS AFTER SERMONS TO YOUNG PEOPLE ON NEWYEAR EVENINGS, SUITED TO THE SUBJECTS. HYMN XX. David's Charge to Solomon. 1 O DAVID'S Son, and David's Lord! • Acts. 3 Like David, when this life shall end, HYMN XXI. The Lord's Call to his Children. 1 LET us adore the grace that seeks 2 Though, fill'd with awe, before his throne Each angel veils his face; He claims a people for his own 3 Careless, a while, they live in sin, But they obey the call divine, In his appointed hour. 4 "Come forth (he says,) no more pursue 5 "My sons and daughters you shall be, And you shall claim, and find in me, 6 Lord, speak these words to ev'ry heart, 7 If now we learn to seek thy face HYMN XXII. The Prayer of Jabez. 1 Chron. iv. 9, 10. 1 JESUS, who bought us with his blood, 2 Jabez a child of grief! the name 3 Teach us, O Lord, like him to plead For mercies from above; O come, and bless our souls indeed, With light, and joy, and love. 4 The gospel's promis'd land is wide, We fain would enter in; But we are press'd on ev'ry side With unbelief and sin. 5 Arise, O Lord, enlarge our coast, 6 Oh! may thy hand be with us still, Till death shall set us free. 7 Help us on thee to cast our care, And on thy word to rest, That Israel's God, who heareth prayer, Will grant us our request. HYMN XXIII. Waiting at Wisdom's Gates. 1 ENSNAR'D too long my heart has been He calls poor sinners to his feet, 3 Approach, my soul, to Wisdom's gates, No one who watches there, and waits, 4 He will not let me seek in vain, 5 Lord, I have hated thee too long, 6 Now I would break my league with death, And live to thee alone; Oh! let thy Spirit's seal of faith 7 Let all the saints assembled here, HYMN XXIV. Asking the way to Zion. 1 ZION, the city of our God, How glorious is the place! We were Pharaoh's Bondmen. 1 BENEATH the tyrant Satan's yoke, 2 Jesus, in that important hour, 3 Now, freed from bondage, sin, and death, We walk in wisdom's ways; And wish to spend our ev'ry breath 4 Ere long, we hope with him to dwell And now we only live to tell 5 O might we, ere we hence remove, To seek, that they may likewise prove 6 Like Simeon, we shall gladly go,* If they are left a seed below, To serve him in our room. 7 Lord, hear our prayer, indulge our hope, HYMN XXVI. Travelling in Birth for Souls. Gal. iv. 19 Jer. 1. 5. 1 The Saviour there has his abode, And sinners see his face! WHAT contradictions meet In ministers employ! It is a bitter sweet, A sorrow full of joy: * Luke ii 29 |