HYMN 134. L. M. CoWPER.

W

Exhortation to Prayer.

HAT various hindrances we meet, In coming to a mercy seat! Yet who that knows the worth of prayer, But wishes to be often there?

Prayer makes the dark'ned cloud
withdraw,

Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw;
Gives exercise to faith and love,
Brings every blessing from above.

3 Restraining prayer, we cease to fight; Prayer makes the Christian's armour bright;

And Satan trembles, when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.

4 While Moses stood with arms spread wide,

Success was found on Israel's side;
But when through weariness they fail'd,
That moment Amalek prevail'd.

5 Have you no words? Ah, think again,
Words flow apace when you complain;
And fill a fellow-creature's ear,
With the sad tale of all your care.

6 Were half the breath thus vainly spent,
To heaven-in supplication sent,
Your cheerful song would oft❜ner be,
Hear what the Lord has done for me."
ARMLEY.

HYMN 135. 7s. NEWTON.

Power of Prayer.

N themselves as weak as worms, How can poor believers stand, When temptations, foes, and storms, Press them close on every hand?

2 Weak indeed they feel they are,
But they know the throne of grace;
And the God, who answers prayer,
Helps them when they seek his face.

3 Though the Lord awhile delay,
Succour they at length obtain;
He who taught their hearts to pray,
Will not let them cry in vain.

4 Wrestling prayer can wonders do,
Bring relief in deepest straits;
Prayer can force a passage through
Iron bars and brazen gates.
PLEYEL'S.

'Tis on thy sovereign grace alone, Our humble hopes depend.

e 2 Tremendous judgments from thy hand
Thy dreadful powers display;
Yet mercy spares this guilty land,
And still we live to pray.

p 3 How chang'd, alas! are truths divine,
For error, guilt, and shame!
What impious numbers, bold in sin,.
Disgrace the Christian name.

-40 turn us, turn us, mighty Lord,
By thy resistless grace;

Then shall our hearts obey thy word,
And humbly seek thy face.

o 5 Then, should insulting foes invade,
We shall not sink in fear;
Secure of never-failing aid,
When God, our God, is near.
BANGOR.

1

HYMN 137. C. M. ScoTT.

Public Fast. Gen. xviii, 23-32.

HEN Abrah'm, full of sacred awe,

W Before Jehovah stood;

And, with a humble, fervent prayer,
For guilty Sodom sued:-

2 With what success, what wondrous
Was his petition crown'd! [grace-
The Lord would spare, if in that place,
Ten righteous men were found.

3 And could a single holy soul, So rich a boon obtain?

e Great God, and shall a nation pray, And plead with thee in vain?

o 4 Still we are thine-we bear thy name; Here yet is thine abode;

• Long has thy presence bless'd our landForsake us not, O God!

e

e 1

WANTAGE.

HYMN 138. L. M. DODDRIDGE.

Public Fast. Ezek. ix, 4-6.

We tremble at thy dreadful name;
And all our crying guilt we own,
In dust and tears before thy throne.

e 2 So manifold our crimes have been,
Such crimson tincture dyes our sin,
That, could we all its horrours know,
Our streaming eyes with blood might

flow.

4 Ten thousand witnesses arise,
Thy mercies, and our crimes appear,
More than the stars that deck the skies,
And all our dreadful guilt declare.

e 5 How shall we come before thy face, And in thine awful presence bow? What o'rings can secure thy grace, or calm the terrours of thy brow?

e 6 Thousands of ramsin vain might bleed;
Rivers of oil might blaze in vain!
Or the first-born's devoted head
With horrid gore thine altar stain.

-7 But thy own Lamb, all-gracious God,
Whom impious sinners dar'd to slay!
Has sovereign virtue in his blood
To purge the nation's guilt away.

-8 With humble faith to that we fly;
With that may we be sprinkled o'er;
Trembling no more in dust we lie,
And dread thy hand and bar no more.
PSALM 97TH.

HYMN 140. L. M. RIPPON'S COL.

Thanksgiving: Seasons crowned with goodness. Ps. lxv, 11.

1NTERNAL Source of every joy!

Well may thy praise our lips employ; While in thy temple we appear, To hail thee Sovereign of the year.

2 Wide as the wheels of nature roli,
Thy hand supports and guides the whole
The sun is taught by thee to rise,
And darkness, when to veil the skies.

3 The flowery spring, at thy command,
Perfumes the air, and paints the land;
The summer rays with vigour shine,
To raise the corn, and cheer the vine.

4 Thy hand, in autumn, richly pours
Thro' all our coasts redundant stores;
Aud winters, soften'd by thy care,
No more the face of horrour wear.

g6 And in the great decisive day,
When God the nations shall survey,
May it before the world appear,
That crowds were born to glory here.
GREEN'S.

HYMN 142. H. M. FRANCIS.

Dedication of a House for Worship.

1

N sweet exalted strains,

The King of glory praise; O'er heaven and earth he reigns, Through everlasting days; He, with a nod, the world controls, Sustains, or sinks, the distant poles.

2 To earth he bends his throne→→→ His throne of grace divine; Wide is his bounty known, And wide his glories shine: Fair Salem, still his chosen rest,

Is with his smiles and presence blest.

-3 Great King of glory, come,
And with thy favour, crown
This temple as thy dome-
This people as thy own:
Beneath this roof, Ô deign to show,
How God can dwell with men below.

5 Here may thine ears attend Thy people's humble cries; And grateful praise ascend, All fragrant, to the skies: Here may thy word melodious sound, And spread celestial joys around.

--5 Here may th' attentive throng,
Imbibe thy truth and love;
And converts join the song
Of seraphim above;

And willing crowds surround thy board,
With sacred joy, and sweet accord.

6 Here may our unborn sons
And daughters sound thy praise;
And shine like polish'd stones,
Through long succeeding days:

g Here, Lord, display thy saving power, While temples stand, and men adore. TRIUMPH.

HYMN 143. L. M. DonDRIDGE.

Qrdination: Joshua the high Priest. Zech. iii, 6, 7.

1 REAT Lord of angels, we adore The grace that builds thy courts below;

And, thro' ten thousand sons of light, Stoops to regard what mortals do.

e 2 Amidst the wastes of time and death, Successive pastors thou dost raise,

Thy charge to keep, thy house to guide,
And form a people for thy praise.

o 3 The heavenly natives with delight
Hover around the sacred place;
Nor scorn to learn from mortal tongues
The wonders of redeeming grace.

-4 At length, dismiss'd from feeble clay,
Thy servants join th' angelick band;
o With them, thro' distant worlds they fly;
e With them, before thy presence stand.
05 O glorious hope! O blest employ!
e Sweet lenitive of grief and care!
When shall we reach those radiant
courts,

1

And all their joy and honour share? -6 Yet while these labours we pursue, Thus distant from thy heavenly throne, Give us a zeal and love like theirs, And half their heaven shall here be known. OLD HUNDRED.

2 The Saviour, when to heaven he rose
In splendid triumph o'er his foes,
Scatter'd his gifts on men below,
And wide his royal bounties flow.

3 Hence sprung th' apostles' honour'd
Sacred beyond heroick fane; [name,
Hence dictates the prophetic sage,
And hence the evangelic page.

4 In lower forms, to bless our eyes,
Pastors from hence, and teachers rise;
Who, tho' with feebler rays they shine,
Still gild a long-extended line."

5 From Christ their varied gifts derive, And fed by Christ, their graces live: While, guarded by his potent hand, 'Midst all the rage of hell they stand.

6 So shall the bright succession run, Through the last courses of the sun; While unborn churches, by their care, Shall rise and flourish, large and fair.

7 Jesus our Lord their hearts shall know, The spring whence all these blessings flow:

• Pastors and people shout his praise, Thro' the long round of endless days. LEEDS. OPORTO.

View the sad breast, the streaming eye,
And let our sorrows pierce the sky.

2Thou know'st the anxious cares we feel,
And all our trembling lips would tell;
Thou only canst assuage our grief,
And yield our woe-fraught heart relief.

3 With power benign, thy servant spare,
Nor turn aside thy people's prayer;
Avert thy swift descending stroke,
Nor smite the shepherd of the flock,

4 Restore him, sinking to the grave; Stretch out thine arm, make haste te

save;

Back to our hopes and wishes give, And bid our friend and father live.

5 Bound to each soul by tenderest ties,
In every breast his image lies;
Thy pitying aid, O God, impart,
Nor rend him from each bleeding heart.

6 Yet if our supplications fail,
And prayers and tears can naught pre-
vail;

Be thou his strength, be thou his stay And guide him safe to endless day. PLEYEL'S.

HYMN 148. C. M. CowPER.
Death of a Minister.

1 IS master taken from his head, Elisha saw him go;

And in desponding accents said, "Ah! what must Israel do?"

-2 But he forgot the Lord, who lifts
The beggar to the throne;
Nor knew that all Elijah's gifts,
Would soon be made his own.

[course,

d 3 What-when a Paul has run his
Or when Appollos dies-
Is Israel left without resource?
And have we no supplies?

o 4 Yes, while the dear Redeemer lives, We have a boundless store;

-And shall be fed with what he gives, Who lives forevermore.

g

CANTERBURY.

HYMN 149. C. M. DODDRIDGE.

1No

Death of a Minister.

OW let our mourning hearts revive, And all our tears be dry; Why should those eyes be drown'd in Which view a Saviour nigh? [grief,

e 2 What tho' the arm of conquering deatl Does God's own house invade?

p What tho' the prophet, and the priest, Be number'd with the dead?

1

e

And this shall be our children's song, When we are cold in dust.

L

HYMN 20.

HYMN 150. C. M.

Christ the Refuge of the Church.

EE who on earth as man was known,
And bore our sins and pains;

g Now, seated on th' eternal throne-
The God of glory reigns!

His hands the wheels of nature guide,
With an unerring skill;
And countless worlds extended wide,
Obey his sovereign wili.

3 While harps unnumber'd sound his
In yonder world above; [praise,
His saints on earth admire his ways,
And glory in his love.

His righteousness to faith reveal'd,
Wrought out for guilty worms;
Affords a hiding place, and shield,
From enemies and storms.

e 2 O happy bond, that seals my vows To him, who merits all my love! o Let cheerful anthems fill his house, While to that sacred shrine I move.

d 3'Tis done:-the great transaction's done;
I am my Lord's, and he is mine:
He drew me and I follow'd ou-
Charm'd to confess the voice divine.

-4 Now rest, my long-divided heart, Fix'd on this blissful centre, rest; With ashes who would grudge to part, When call'd on augel's bread to feast?

5High heav'n, that heard the solemn vow, That vow renew'd shall daily hear:

e Till in life's latest hour I bow, And bless in death a bond so dear. MORSTON.