  902. C. M. Ancient Hymns.The Joy of Social Worship. 1How good and pleasant is the sight, How great the bliss they share, When Christ's assembled flock unite In acts of social prayer! God thither, with paternal care, His face benignant bends; And Jesus, by his spirit there, On faithful hearts descends. 2To such, by hallowed lips expressed, His grace confirms his word, As once Cornelius' house it blest, From holy Peter heard: On prayer and praise, in faith preferred, His heavenly dew is shed; And he to all, who come prepared, Dispenses heavenly bread. 3To God, adored in ages past, Enthroned in majesty,-- To God, whose worship aye shall last Throughout eternity,-- To thee, Great God, we bend the knee, And in the Holy Ghost, Through Christ, all glory give to thee, With all thy heavenly host. The Joy of Social Devotion. 1O, it is joy in one to meet Whom one communion blends, Council to hold in converse sweet, And talk as Christian friends. 2'Tis joy to think the angel train, Who 'mid heaven's temple shine, To seek our earthly temples deign, And in our anthems join. 3But chief, 'tis joy to think that He, To whom his church is dear, Delights her gathered flock to see, Her joint devotions hear. 4Then who would choose to walk abroad, While here such joys are given? "This is indeed the house of God, And this the gate of heaven!" 904. 7s. M. Anonymous.For a Prayer Meeting. 1Father, hear us when we pray, Look in mercy from above; Turn not, Lord, thy face away, Hear, and grant thy pardoning love. 2In the name of Christ we come, Asking grace and seeking peace, Raise our hearts to heaven, our home, And from worldly cares release. 3Pure and holy may we be, Far removed all vain desire; From all hate and envy free, Let our souls to thee aspire. 4While we love the Saviour's name, And his words with zeal obey, His sweet promise we may claim;-- "He will meet us when we pray." 905. 7s. M. Methodist Coll.Call to Social Worship. 1Let us join, as God commands, Let us join our hearts and hands, Help to gain our calling's hope; Help to build each other up; Carry on the Christian's strife; Walk in holiness of life; Faithfully our gifts improve For the sake of him we love;-- 2Still forget the things behind; Follow Christ in heart and mind; Toward the mark unwearied press; Seize the crown of righteousness, While we walk with God in light, God our hearts will still unite; Dearest fellowship we prove-- Fellowship in Jesus, love. 3Still, O Lord, our faith increase; Cleanse from all unrighteousness: Thee th' unholy cannot see: Make, O make us meet for thee: Every vile affection kill; Root out every seed of ill; Utterly abolish sin; Write thy law of love within. 906. C. M. Ancient Hymns.Call to Social Worship. 1O, come, and let th' assembly all To serve our God unite, And, mindful of the social call, Partake the social rite. 2In token of the common vow, Be ours, with one consent, The worship of the lowly brow, And knees devoutly bent! 3But chief, inflamed with heavenly fire, Devotion's better part, Be ours instinct with one desire, The worship of the heart! 4Let each, let all, their prayers above, In one oblation bend, And God, the God of peace and love, On all, on each descend! 907. C. M. Methodist Coll.Call to Worship. 1Father, united by thy grace, And each to each endeared With confidence we seek thy face, And know our prayer is heard. 2Still let us own our common Lord, And bear his easy yoke, A band of love, a three-fold cord Which never can be broke. 3Make us into one spirit drink; Baptize into one name; And let us always kindly think, And sweetly speak the same. 4Touched by the loadstone of thy love, Let all our hearts agree; And ever towards each other move, And ever move towards thee. 908. 7s. M. Wesley's Coll.For Brotherly Love. 1God of love, we look to thee; Let us in thy Son agree; Show to us the Prince of Peace; Bid our jars forever cease. By thy reconciling love, Every stumbling-block remove; Each to each unite, endear; Come, and spread thy banner here. 2Make us of one heart and mind, Courteous, pitiful, and kind; Lowly, meek, in thought and word, Altogether like our Lord. Let us for each other care; Each the other's burden bear; To thy church the pattern give; Show how true believers live. 3Free from anger and from pride, Let us thus in God abide; All the depths of love express, All the heights of holiness. Let us, then, with joy remove To the family above; On the wings of angels fly; Show how true believers die. 909. L. M. Newton.Meeting of Christian Friends. 1Kindred in Christ, for his dear sake, A hearty welcome here receive; May we together now partake The joys which only he can give. 2May he by whose kind care we meet, Send his good Spirit from above, Make our communications sweet, And cause our hearts to burn with love. 3Forgotten be each worldly theme, When Christians meet together thus; We only wish to speak of him Who lived, and died, and reigns, for us. 4We'll talk of all he did, and said, And suffered, for us here below, The path he marked for us to tread, And what he's doing for us now. 910. L. M. Cowper.For Social Worship. 1Our God, where'er thy people meet, There they behold thy mercy-seat; Where'er they seek thee, thou art found, And every place is hallowed ground. 2For thou, within no walls confined, Inhabitest the humble mind; Such ever bring thee where they come, And, going, take thee to their home. 3Here may we prove the power of prayer To strengthen faith, and sweeten care; To teach our faint desires to rise, And bring all heaven before our eyes. 4Lord, we are few, but thou art near; Nor short thine arm, nor deaf thine ear: O, rend the heavens, comes quickly down, And make a thousand hearts thine own! 911. L. M. Ancient Hymns.Commendatory of Christian Union. 1Blest with unearthly bliss were they Who saw the church's infant day, And strove their Christian part to bear, By sign and spirit joined with her. 2The truth, which Christ's apostles taught, Then ruled each faithful convert's thought; Each aimed in unity to keep Unrent th' apostles' fellowship. 3The bread, with rites harmonious broke, The union of all hearts bespoke; And prayer, with lips united prayed, The union of all minds displayed. 4O thus that Christians still would live, And thus delightful witness give, How well the debt of love they know, To Christ and to his church they owe! 912. 6s. & 8s. M. Methodist Coll.For Union. 1Thou God of truth and love, We seek thy perfect way, Ready thy choice t' approve, Thy providence t' obey; Enter into thy wise design, And sweetly lose our will in thine. 2Why hast thou cast our lot In the same age and place? And why together brought To see each other's face? To join with softest sympathy, And mix our friendly souls in thee? 3Didst thou not make us one, That we might one remain, Together travel on, And bear each other's pain; Till all thy utmost goodness prove And rise renewed in perfect love? 913. 7s. M. Methodist Coll.For Union of Heart. 1God, from whom all blessings flow, Perfecting the saints below, Hear us, who thy nature share, Who thy loving children are. Join us, in one spirit join, Let us still receive of thine: Still for more on thee we call, Thou who fillest all in all! 2Closer knit us to our Head; Nourish us, in Christ, and feed; Let us daily growth receive, More and more in Jesus live. Move, and actuate, and guide; Divers gifts to each divide: Placed according to thy will, Let us all our work fulfil; 3Sweetly may we all agree, Touched with softest sympathy; Kindly for each other care; Every member feel its share. Love, like death, hath all destroyed, Rendered our distinctions void! Names, and sects, and parties fall: Thou, O God, art all in all! 914. C. M. Milton.The Blessedness of the Devout. 1How lovely are thy dwellings, Lord, From noise and trouble free; How beautiful the sweet accord Of souls that pray to thee. 2Lord God of hosts, that reign'st on high, They are the truly blest, Who only will on thee rely, In thee alone will rest. 3They pass refreshed the thirsty vale, The dry and barren ground, As through a fruitful, watery dale, Where springs and showers abound. 4They journey on from strength to strength, With joy and gladsome cheer, Till all before our God at length. In Zion do appear. 5For God, the Lord, both sun and shield, Gives grace and glory bright; No good from him shall be withheld Whose ways are just and right. 915. C. M. Wesley's Coll.For Mutual Edification. 1Help us to help each other, Lord, Each other's cross to bear! Let each his friendly aid afford, And feel his brother's care. 2Help us to build each other up; Our little stock improve; Increase our faith, confirm our hope, And perfect us in love. 3Up into thee, our living Head, Let us in all things grow, Till thou hast made us free indeed, And spotless here below. 916. 7s. M. Methodist Coll.Invocation. 1Father, at thy footstool see Those who now are one in thee: Draw us by thy grace alone; Give, O give us to thy Son. 2Jesus, friend of human kind, Let us in thy name be joined; Each to each unite and bless; Keep us still in perfect peace. 3Heavenly, all-alluring Dove, Shed thy overshadowing love; Love, the sealing grace impart; Dwell within our single heart. 917. C. M. Anonymous.The Love of the Brethren. 1A holy air is breathing round, A savor from above; Be every soul from sense unbound, Be every spirit love. 2O God, unite us heart to heart, In sympathy divine, That we be never drawn apart, And love nor thee nor thine. 3But, by the cross of Jesus taught, And all thy gracious word, Be nearer to each other brought, And nearer to our Lord. 918. C. M. Watts.Christian Union. 1Lo! what an entertaining sight Those friendly brethren prove, Whose cheerful hearts in bands unite Of harmony and love! 2Where streams of bliss from Christ, the spring, Descend to every soul, And heavenly peace, with balmy wing, Shades and bedews the whole. 3'Tis pleasant as the morning dews That fall on Zion's hill, Where God his mildest glory shows, And makes his grace distil. 919. S. M. Sacred Lyrics.Morning Prayer Meeting. 1How sweet the melting lay, Which breaks upon the ear, When, at the hour of rising day, Christians unite in prayer! 2The breezes waft their cries Up to Jehovah's throne; He listens to their humble sighs, And sends his blessings down. 3So Jesus rose to pray Before the morning light,-- Once on the chilling mount did stay, And wrestle all the night. 4Glory to God on high, Who sends his blessings down To rescue souls condemned to die, And make his people one. 920. C. M. Ancient Hymns.Social Evening Worship. 1O, 'Tis a scene the heart to move, When, at the close of day, Whom God unites in Christian love Unite their thanks to pay. 2What though the number be but small; Whenever two or three Join on the Saviour's name to call, There in the midst is he. 3When faithful and repentant hearts His heavenly grace ensue, His grace, intreated, he imparts To many or to few. 4O, come, then, and, with joint accord, In social worship meet; And, mindful of the Saviour's word, The Saviour's boon intreat. 921. 7s. M. Newton.Parting Hymn. 1For a season called to part, Let us then ourselves commend To the gracious eye and heart Of our ever-present Friend. 2Father, hear our humble prayer! Tender shepherd of thy sheep, Let thy mercy and thy care All our souls in safety keep. 3In thy strength may we be strong; Sweeten every cross and pain; Give us, if we live, ere long, Here to meet in peace again. 922. C. M. Methodist Coll.The Same. 1Through thee we now together came, In singleness of heart; We met, O, Jesus, in thy name, And in thy name we part. 2We part in body, not in mind; Our minds continue one; And, each to each in Jesus joined, We hand in hand go on. 3Present we still in spirit are, And intimately nigh, While on the wings of faith and prayer We each to other fly. 4Our life is hid with Christ in God; Our life shall soon appear, And shed his glory all abroad In all his members here. 923. L. M. Doddridge.The Christian Farewell. 1Thy presence, everlasting God! Wide o'er all nature spreads abroad: Thy watchful eyes, which cannot sleep, In every place thy children keep. 2While near each other we remain, Thou dost our lives and souls sustain; When sep'rate, happy if we share Thy smiles, thy counsels, and thy care. 3To thee we all our ways commit, And seek our comforts near thy feet; Still on our souls vouchsafe to shine, And guard and guide us still as thine. 4Give us in thy belovd house, Again to pay our grateful vows; Or, if that joy no more be known, Give us to meet around thy throne. 924. 8s. & 7s. M. C. Wesley.Domestic Worship. 1Peace be to this habitation; Peace to all that dwell therein; Peace, the earnest of salvation; Peace, the fruit of pardoned sin; Peace, that speaks the heavenly Giver; Peace, to worldly minds unknown; Peace divine, that lasts forever; Peace, that comes from God alone. 2Jesus, Prince of Peace, be near us; Fix in all our hearts thy home; With thy gracious presence cheer us; Let thy sacred kingdom come; Raise to heaven our expectation, Give our favored souls to prove Glorious and complete salvation, In the realms of bliss above. 925. L. M. Doddridge & Merrick.The Same. Ps. 128. 1Blest is the man who fears the Lord, And walks by his unerring word; Comfort and peace his days attend, And God will ever prove his friend. 2To him who condescends to dwell With saints in their obscurest cell, Be our domestic altars raised, And daily let his name be praised. 3To him may each assembled house Present their night and morning vows; And children of the rising race Be taught his precepts and his grace. 4When nature droops, our aged eyes Shall see our children's children rise; Till pleased and thankful we remove, And join the family above. 926. L. M. Scott.Family Religion. 1Where'er the Lord shall build my house, An altar to his name I'll raise; There, morn and evening, shall ascend The sacrifice of prayer and praise. 2With duteous mind, the social band Shall search the records of thy law; There learn thy will, and humbly bow With filial reverence and awe. 3Here may he fix his sacred seat, And spread the banner of his love; Till, ripened for a happier state, We meet the family above. 927. L. M. 6l. Methodist Coll.Religion at Home. 1When quiet in my house I sit Thy book be my companion still; My joy thy sayings to repeat, Talk o'er the records of thy will, And search the oracles divine, Till every heart-felt word be mine. 2O may the gracious words divine Mingled with all my converse be: So will the Lord his follower join, And walk and talk himself with me; So shall my heart his presence prove And burn with everlasting love. 3Oft as I lay me down to rest, O, may the reconciling word Sweetly compose my weary breast, While, trusting in my gracious Lord, I sink in peaceful dreams away, And visions of eternal day! 4Rising to sing my Father's praise, Thee may I publish all day long; And let thy precious word of grace Flow from my heart and fill my tongue; Fill all my life with purest love, And join me to the church above. 928. S. M. Watts.Family Affection from Religious Principles. 1How pleasing, Lord! to see, How pure is the delight, When mutual love, and love to thee, A family unite! 2From these celestial springs Such streams of comfort flow, As no increase of riches brings, Nor honors can bestow. 3No bliss can equal theirs, Where such affections meet; While mingled praise and mingled prayers Make their communion sweet. 4'Tis the same pleasure fills The breast in worlds above; Where joy like morning dew distils, And all the air is love. 929. C. M. Taylor's Coll.The Family Altar. 1Great God! where'er we pitch our tent, Let us an altar raise, And there, with humble frame, present Our sacrifice of praise. 2To thee we give our health and strength, While health and strength shall last, For future mercies humbly trust, Nor e'er forget the past. 930. C. M. Barry Cornwall.For a Sick Child. 1Send down thy wingÉd angel; God! Amidst this night so wild, And bid him come where now we watch, And breathe upon our child! 2It lies upon its pillow, pale, And moans within its sleep, Or wakeneth with a patient smile, And striveth not to weep! 3How gentle and how good a child It is, we know too well; And dearer to its parents' hearts Than our weak words can tell. 4We love,--we watch throughout the night, To aid, where need may be; We hope,--and have despaired at times; But now we turn to thee! 5Send down thy sweet-souled angel, God! Amidst the darkness wild, And bid him soothe our souls to-night, And heal our gentle child! 931. C. M. Heber.In Times of Domestic Distress. 1O God, that madest earth and sky! The darkness and the day! Give ear to this thy family, And help us when we pray! For wide the waves of bitterness Around our vessel roar, And heavy grows the pilot's heart To view the rocky shore! 2The cross our Master bore for us, For him we fain would bear, But mortal strength to weakness turns, And courage to despair! Then mercy on our failings, Lord! Our sinking faith renew! And when thy sorrows visit us, O send thy patience too. 932. C. M. Doddridge.Sickness and Recovery. 1My God, thy service well demands The remnant of my days; Why was this fleeting breath renewed, But to renew thy praise? 2Thine arms of everlasting love Did this weak frame sustain, When life was hovering o'er the grave, And nature sunk with pain. 3I calmly bowed my fainting head On thy dear, faithful breast, And waited for my Father's call To his eternal rest. 4Back from the borders of the grave, At thy command, I come; Nor will I ask a speedier flight To my celestial home. 5Where thou appointest mine abode There would I choose to be; For in thy presence death is life, And earth is heaven with thee. 933. C. M. H. K. White.A Family Evening Prayer. 1O Lord, another day is flown, And we, a lonely band, Are met once more before thy throne, To bless thy fostering hand. 2And wilt thou lend a listening ear To praises low as ours! Thou wilt; for thou dost love to hear The song which meekness pours. 3O, let thy grace perform its part, And let contention cease; And shed abroad in every heart Thine everlasting peace. 4Thus chastened, cleansed, entirely thine, A flock by Jesus led, The Sun of holiness shall shine In glory on our head. 5And thou wilt turn our wandering feet, And thou wilt bless our way, Till worlds shall fade, and faith shall greet The dawn of lasting day. 934. L. M. S. S. Cutting.Family Hymn. Evening. 1Father, we bless the gentle care That watches o'er us day by day, That guards us from the tempter's snare, And guides us in the heavenward way:-- We bless thee for the tender love, That mingles all our hearts in one,-- The music of the soul;--above 'Tis purer spirits' unison. 2Father, 'tis evening's solemn hour, And cast we now our cares on thee; Darkly the storm may round us lower,-- Peace is within,--Christ makes us free,-- And when life's toil and joy are o'er, And evening gathers on its sky, Our circle broke,--we sing no more,-- O, may we meet and sing on high. |
|
