112th. Commencement of Worship. LO! God is here: let us adore,
And humbly bow before his face ;
Let all within us feel his power,
Let all within us seek his grace:
Who know his power, his grace who prove,
Serve him with awe, with reverence love.
2. Lo! God is here : him, day and night,
United quires of angels sing;
To him, enthroned above all height,
Heaven's host their noblest praises bring:
Disdain not, Lord, our meaner song,
Who praise thee with a faltering tongue.
3. Being of beings! may our praise
Thy courts with sacred incense fill;
Still may we stand before thy face,
Still hear and do thy sovereign will:
To thee may all our worship rise,
A pure and grateful sacrifice.
"TIS the fair dawn of heavenly day,
To heavenly bliss the shining way,
When to his temple God descends,
And there converses with his friends.
2. With beams of smiling majesty,
He awes, and yet invites them nigh;
His glory and his grace displays,
And shines with bright, but friendly rays.
3. While hovering o'er the happy place,
The Spirit sheds his heavenly grace;
To fix our thoughts, our hearts to raise,
And tune our souls to life and praise.
4. 'Tis here we learn the blessed skill
To know and do our Maker's will;
And while we hear, and sing, and pray,
With rapturous joy we soar away.
5. These are the dearest hours I know,-
The sweetest joys of all below:
Here would I choose my fix'd abode,
And dwell for ever near my God.
S. M. Call to Public Worship.
COME, Sound His praise abroad,
And hymns of glory sing;
Jehovah is the sovereign God,
The universal King.
He formed the deeps unknown;
He gave the seas their bound;
The watery worlds are all his own,
And all the solid ground.
Come, worship at his throne,
Come, bow before the Lord;
We are his works, and not our own;
He formed us by his word.
To-day attend his voice,
Nor dare provoke his rod;
Come, like the people of his choice,
And own your gracious God.
C. M. Reverential Worship.
WITH reverence let the saints appear,
And bow before the Lord;
His high commands with reverence hear,
And tremble at his word.
2. How terrible thy glories be!
How bright thine armies shine!
Where is the power that vies with thee?
Or truth compared to thine?
3. Thy words the raging winds control,
And rule the boisterous deep;
Thon mak'st the sleeping billows roll,
The rolling billows sleep.
4. Justice and judgment are thy throne,
Yet wondrous is thy grace;
While truth and mercy joined in one,
Invite us near thy face.
(See also Hymn 42.)
C. M. Sincere Worship.
GOD is a Spirit just and wise,
He sees our inmost mind;
In vain to heaven we raise our cries,
And leave our souls behind.
2. Nothing but truth before his throne
With honour can appear;
The painted hypocrites are known,
Through the disguise they wear.
3. Their lifted eyes salute the skies,
Their bending knees the ground;
But God abhors the sacrifice
Where not the heart is found.
4. Lord, search my thoughts, and try my ways,
And make my soul sincere ;
Then shall I stand before thy face,
And find acceptance there.
L. M. Desiring Public Worship. STEELE.
HOW lovely, how divinely sweet,
O Lord, thy sacred courts appear!
Fain would my longing passions meet
The glories of thy presence there.
2. O, blest the men, blest their employ,
Whom thy indulgent favours raise
To dwell in those abodes of joy,
And sing thy never-ceasing praise.
3. Happy the men, whom strength divine
With ardent love and zeal inspires;
Whose steps to thy blest way incline,
With willing hearts and warm desires.
4. One day within thy sacred gate
Affords more real joy to me,
Than thousands in the tents of state:
The meanest place is bliss with Thee.
17 S. M. Pleasure of Public Worship. S. STENNETT. HOW charming is the place,
Where our Redeemer God
Unveils the beauties of his face,
And sheds his love abroad!
2. Here, on the mercy-seat,
With radiant glory crowned,
Our joyful eyes behold him sit,
And smile on all around.
To him our prayers and cries
Our humble souls present;
He listens to our broken sighs,
And grants us all we want.
To us his sovereign will
He graciously imparts;
And in return accepts, with smiles,
The tribute of our hearts.
5. Give us, O Lord, a place
Within thy blest abode,
Among the children of thy grace,
The servants of our God.
LORD of hosts, how lovely fair,
E'en on earth thy temples are!
Here thy waiting people see
Much of heaven, and much of Thee.
2. From thy gracious presence flows
Bliss that softens all our woes;
While thy Spirit's holy fire
Warms our hearts with pure desire.
3. Here we supplicate thy throne,
Here thou mak'st thy glories known;
Here we learn thy righteous ways,
Taste thy love, and sing thy praise.
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