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There is a gracious day,

When conscience speaks within; "Tis now, for now the Spirit strives, Convincing us of sin.

There is a holy day,

Of faith, and hope, and love:
It reaches through our Christian life
On earth to heaven above.

There is a serious day,

When we must yield our breath;
Be born, to die no more, or die
An everlasting death.

There is an awful day,

Of judgment and decrce;

Lord! be we all, through Christ, prepared
That last of days to see.

There is a glorious day,
Of sweet sabbatic rest:
Oh, may we its eternal length
Enjoy with all the blest!

980 (805)

COME, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,

To whom we for our children cry;
The good desired and wanted most,
Out of Thy richest grace supply;
The sacred discipline be given,

To train and bring them up for heaven. 2 Answer on them the end of all

Our cares, and pains, and studies here;
On them, recovered from their fall,
Stamped with the humble character,
Raised by the nurture of the Lord,
To all their Paradise restored.

S Error and ignorance remove,-
Their blindness both of heart and mind;
Give them the wisdom from above,
Spotless, and peaceable, and kind;
In knowledge pure their minds renew,
And store with thoughts divinely true.

4 Learning's redundant part, and vain, Be here cut off, and cast aside;

But let them, Lord, the substance gain,
In every solid truth abide;

Swiftly acquire, and ne'er forego,
The knowledge fit for man to know.
5 Unite the pair so long disjoined,
Knowledge and vital Piety:
Learning and Holiness combined,
And Truth and Love, let all men see,
In those, whom up to Thee we give,
Thine, wholly Thine, to die and live.
6 Father, accept them, through Thy Son,
And ever by Thy Spirit guide!

Thy wisdom in their lives be shown,
Thy name confessed and glorified;
Thy power and love diffused abroad,
Till all the earth is filled with God.

C. WESLEY.

981 (oca) L.M. 6 lines.
CAPTAIN of our salvation, take

The souls we here present to Thee,
And fit for Thy great service make
These heirs of immortality;

And let them in Thine image rise,
And then transplant to Paradise.
2 Unspotted from the world and pure,
Preserve them for Thy glorious cause,
Accustomed daily to endure

The welcome burden of Thy cross;
Inured to toil and patient pain,
Till all Thy perfect mind they gain.
3 Our sons henceforth be wholly Thine,
And serve and love Thee all their days;
Infuse the principle divine

In all who here expect Thy grace;
Let each improve the grace bestowed;
Rise every child a man of God!

4 Train up Thy hardy soldiers, Lord,
In all their Captain's steps to tread !

Or send them to proclaim Thy word,
Thy gospel through the world to spread;
Freely as they receive to give,

And preach the death by which we live!

982

C.M.

STRAPHAN.

Band turn the rising race

LEST work, the youthful mind to win,

From the deceitful paths of sin,
To seek redeeming grace.

2 Children our kind protection claim;
And God will well approve,

When infants learn to lisp His name,
And their Redeemer love.

3 Be ours the bliss, in wisdom's way
To guide untutored youth;

And show the mind, which went astray,
The Way, the Life, the Truth.

4 Thy Spirit, Father, on us shed,
And bless this good design;

The honours of Thy name be spread,
And all the glory Thine.

THE OLD AND NEW YEAR.

983

GREAT God, we sing that mighty hand

By which supported still we stand; The opening year Thy mercy shows, That mercy crowns it till it close. 2 By day, by night, at home, abroad, Still are we guarded by our God; By His incessant bounty fed, By His unerring counsel led.

3 With grateful hearts the past we own; The future, all to us unknown, We to Thy guardian care commit, Content with what Thou deemest fit. 4 In scenes exalted or depressed, Thou art our joy, and Thou our rest;

Thy goodness all our hopes shall raise, Adored throughout our changing days. 5 When death shall interrupt these songs, And seal in silence mortal tongues, Our Helper, God, in whom we trust, Shall keep our souls, and guard our dust.

984

L.M. 6 lines.

C. WESLEY.

Watch-Night.

HOW many pass this solemn night
In revellings and frantic mirth!
The creature is their sole delight,
Their happiness the things of earth:
For us suffice the season past;
We choose the better part at last.
2 We will not close our wakeful eyes,
We will not let our eyelids sleep,
But humbly lift them to the skies,
And all a solemn vigil keep:
So many years on sin bestowed,
Can we not watch one night for God?

3 We can, O Jesus, for Thy sake,

Devote our every hour to Thee:
Speak but the word, our souls shall wake,
And sing with cheerful melody;
Thy praise shall our glad tongues employ,
And every heart shall dance for joy.

4 Shout, in the midst of us, O King
Of saints, and make our joys abound;
Let us exult, give thanks, and sing,
And triumph in redemption found;
We ask for every waiting soul,
O let our glorious joy be full!
5 O may we all triumphant rise,
With joy upon our heads return,
And far above these nether skies,
By thee on eagles' wings upborne,
Through all yon radiant circles move,
And gain the highest heaven of love!

COME, let us anew

Our journey pursue,

Roll round with the year,

C. WESLEY.

And never stand still, till the Master appear.

2 His adorable will
Let us gladly fulfil,

And our talents improve,

By the patience of hope, and the labour of love. 3 Our life is a dream;

Our time, as a stream,
Glides swiftly away;

And the fugitive moment refuses to stay.
4 The arrow is flown;
The moment is gone:
The millennial year

Rushes on to our view, and eternity's here.
5 O that each in the day

Of His coming may say,

"I have fought my way through; [do." I have finished the work Thou didst give me to 6 O that each from his Lord

May receive the glad word,
"Well and faithfully done;

Enter into My joy, and sit down on My throne."

L.M.

DODDRIDGE.

986 (44)
HOW many kindred souls are fled

To the vast regions of the dead, Since from this day the changing sun Through his last yearly course has run! 2 We yet survive, but who can say, Or through this year, or mouth, or day, 'I will retain this vital breath,

Thus far, at least, in league with death?' 3 That breath is Thine, eternal God; "Tis Thine to fix the soul's abode: It holds its life from Thee alone, On earth, or in the worlds unknown.