Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion

Excerpt

Invitation.

1 Come to the house of prayer,

O ye afflicted, come!

The God of peace shall meet you there,

He makes that house His home.

2 Come to the house of praise,

Ye who are happy now;

In sweet accord your voices raise,

In kindred homage bow.

3 Ye aged, hither come,

For ye have felt His love;

Soon shall ye lift a holier song

In fairer courts above.

4 Ye young, before His throne,

Come, bow; your voices raise;

Let not your hearts His praise disown,

Who gives the power to praise.

5 Thou, whose benignant eye

In mercy looks on all;

Who seest the tear of misery,

And hear’st the mourner’s call;

6 Up to Thy dwelling-place

Bear our frail spirits on,

Till they outstrip time’s tardy pace,

And heaven on earth be won.

2.

P. M.

H. Ware.

Call to Prayer.

1 To prayer, to prayer!—for the morning breaks,

And earth in her Maker’s smile awakes;

His light is on all below and above,

The light of gladness, and life, and love:

O, then, on the breath of this early air,

Send upward the incense of grateful prayer.

2 To prayer!—for the day that God has blest

Comes tranquilly on with its solemn rest;

It speaks of creation’s early bloom,—

It speaks of the Prince who burst the tomb:

Then summon the spirit’s exalted powers,

And devote to heaven the hallowed hours.

3 Awake, awake, and gird up thy strength,

To join Christ’s holy band at length;

To Him who unceasing love displays,

Whom the powers of nature unceasingly praise;

To Him thy heart and thy hours be given,

For a life of prayer is the life of heaven.

3.

S. M.

*Watts.

Cheerful Worship.

1 Come, ye who love the Lord!

And let your joys be known;

Join in a song with sweet accord,

And thus surround His throne.

2 The sorrows of the mind

Be banished from this place!

Religion never was designed

To make our pleasures less.

3 The sons of God have found

That heaven begins below:

Celestial fruits, on earthly ground,

From faith and hope may grow.

4 Then let our sorrows cease,

And every tear be dry;

We’re travelling through the paths of peace

To fairer worlds on high.

4.

L. M.

Anonymous.

The House of God.

1 Be still! be still! for all around,

On either hand, is holy ground:

Here in His house, the Lord to-day

Will listen, while His people pray.

2 Thou, tost upon the waves of care,

Ready to sink with deep despair,

Here ask relief, with heart sincere,

And thou shalt find that God is here.

3 Thou who hast laid within the grave

Those whom thou hadst no power to save,

Believe their spirits now are near,

For angels wait while God is here.

4 Thou who hast dear ones far away,

In foreign lands, ’mid ocean’s spray,

Pray for them now, and dry the tear,

And trust the God who listens here.

5 Thou who art mourning o’er thy sin,

Deploring guilt that reigns within,

The God of peace is ever near;

The troubled spirit meets Him here.

5.

7s. M.

Seeking God.

1 Thirsting for a living spring,

Seeking for a higher home,

Resting where our souls must cling,

Trusting, hoping, Lord, we come.

2 Glorious hopes our spirit fill,

When we feel that Thou art near:

Father!...