W

S. M.

43 The sacrifice of praise.
ITH joy we lift our eyes,
To those bright realms above,
That glorious temple in the skies,
Where dwells eternal Love.

2 Before thy throne we bow,
O thou almighty King;
Here we present the solemn vow,
And hymns praise we sing.

3 While in thy house we kneel,
With trust and holy fear,
Thy mercy and thy truth reveal,
And lend a gracious ear.

4 Lord, teach our hearts to pray,
And tune our lips to sing;
Nor from thy presence cast away
The sacrifice we bring.

THOMAS JERVIS, ALT.

The author's title was: Homage and Devotion. It has been changed from common to short meter. Original of altered lines:

Verse one, line one:

"With sacred joy we lift our eyes."

Verse two, line one:

"Before the auful throne we bow."

Verse two, line two:

"Of heav'n's almighty King."

Verse three, line one:

"While in thy house of prayer we kneel." Verse four, line one:

"With fervor teach our hearts to pray."

One stanza-the third-is omitted:

"Thee we adore; and, Lord, to thee
Our filial duty pay;
Thy service, unconstrained and free,
Conducts to endless day."

From A Collection of Hymns and Psalms for Public and Private Worship. A new edition, 1819. (First edition, 1795.) The Rev. Thomas Jervis (1748-1833) was an English Unitarian minister.

2 For thou, within no walls confined,
Dost dwell with those of humble mind;
Such ever bring thee where they come,
And, going, take thee to their home.

3 Great Shepherd of thy chosen few,
Thy former mercies here renew;
Here, to our waiting hearts, proclaim
The sweetness of thy saving name.

4 Here 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.

WILLIAM COWPER.

Title: On opening a place for Social Prayer.
From Olney Hymns, 1779.
The author wrote:

Verse two, line two:

"Inhabitest the humble mind."

Verse three, line one:

"Dear Shepherd of the chosen few."

There are two additional stanzas:

"Behold, at thy commanding word,
We stretch the curtain and the cord;
Come thou, and fill this wider space,
And bless us with a large increase.

"Lord, we are few, but thou art near;
Nor short thine arm, nor deaf thine ear;
Oh rend the heavens, come quickly down,
And make a thousand hearts thine own."

William Cowper was the most distinguished poet in the last half of the eighteenth century. His father was a clergyman, and chaplain to George II. Cowper was born in Hertfordshire in 1731; educated at Westminster School; read law in London, and was admitted to the bar, but always preferred literature to law. He won fame by writing the "Task," which was published in 1785. Cowper was endowed with poetic genius, and afflicted by tendency to insanity. The latter increased as he advanced in years until his mind was overshadowed by the deepest gloom. Death brought relief in his seventieth year, 1800,

LEST hour, when mortal man retires
To hold communion with his God;

To send to Heaven his warm desires,
And listen to the sacred word.

2 Blest hour, when God himself draws nigh, Well pleased his people's voice to hear; To hush the penitential sigh,

And wipe away the mourner's tear.

3 Blest hour, for, where the Lord resorts,
Foretastes of future bliss are given;
And mortals find his earthly courts
The house of God, the gate of heaven.

4 Hail, peaceful hour! supremely blest
Amid the hours of worldly care;
The hour that yields the spirit rest,
That sacred hour, the hour of prayer.

and "unceasing" for "accepted" in the last line of the third verse:

"The work of faith with power fulfill; "

and in the third line of the fourth verse:

"And pure as God Himself is pure."

There are four additional stanzas, but they are of no particular value.

L

O! God is here! let us adore,
And own how dreadful is this place;
Let all within us feel his power,
And silent bow before his face;
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 choirs 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 stammering tongue.

3 Being of beings, may our praise

Thy courts with grateful fragrance fill;
Still may we stand before thy face,
Still hear and do thy sovereign will;
To thee may all our thoughts arise,
Ceaseless, accepted sacrifice.

GERHARD TERSTEEGEN.
TR. BY J. WESLEY.

Title: Public Worship.

The first, second, and third stanzas, unaltered, of a translation found in Hymns and Sacred Poems. By John and Charles Wesley, 1739. The hymn was evidently suggested by the words of Jacob, Gen. xxviii, 16, 17:

"And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

Gerhard Tersteegen, the writer of this solemn lyric, was born in humble life, in the town of Mors, Westphalia, in 1697. He experienced religion in early years, and some time afterward consecrated himself entirely to the Lord and lived in intimate and precious communion with God. It was doubtless the author's reputation for saintliness that attracted the attention of Wesley to his hymns. He was, in fact, a mystic of lofty and pure type. He devoted himself to doing good, in a humble way, by private conversation, and by holding meetings and making addresses. In 1731 he published a volume, called The Spiritual Flower-garden, which contained one hundred and eleven hymns. Altogether, he was a remarkable man, and a great religious poet. Died 1769.

48 Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Saboath. L.M.61. NFINITE God, to thee we raise Our hearts in solemn songs of praise:

I

By all thy works on earth adored, We worship thee, the common Lord; The everlasting Father own,

And bow our souls before thy throne.

2 Thee all the choir of angels sings,
The Lord of hosts, the King of kings;
Cherubs proclaim thy praise aloud,
And seraphs shout the Triune God;
And "Holy, holy, holy," cry,
"Thy glory fills both earth and sky."

3 Father of endless majesty,
All might and love we render thee;
Thy true and only Son adore,
The same in dignity and power;
And God the Holy Ghost declare,
The saints' eternal Comforter.

CHARLES WESLEY.

Verses one, two, and five of a metrical paraphrase of the Te Deum Laudamus. The poem comprises fourteen stanzas. The author wrote "the" instead of "thy" in the last line of the first verse. From Hymns for those that Seek and Those that Have Redemption in the Blood of Jesus Christ. London, 1747.

49

CHRIST, who hast prepared a place
For us around thy throne of grace,

We pray thee, lift our hearts above,
And draw them with the cords of love.

2 Source of all good, thou, gracious Lord,
Art our exceeding great reward;
How transient is our present pain,
How boundless our eternal gain!

3 With open face and joyful heart,
We then shall see thee as thou art:
Our love shall never cease to glow,
Our praise shall never cease to flow.

4 Thy never-failing grace to prove,
A surety of thine endless love,
Send down thy Holy Ghost, to be
The raiser of our souls to thee.

SANTOLIUS VICTORINUS.

TR. BY J. CHANDLER.

Author's title: Nobis Olympo redditus. Santolius Victorinus, whose French name was Jean Baptiste Santeul, born in 1630, was a celebrated scholar and poet. He died in 1697.

This is a beautiful metrical version of Psalm lxvii. We may safely say that this grand hymn was never written; it grow, and it has grown, at length, to be nearly perfect.

The basis of the hymn is the version of the Rev. John Hopkins, who, with Thomas Sternhold and others, edited The Whole Book of Psalms, collected into English Metre, 1562.

It was slightly altered by Francis Rous for his first edition of The Book of Psalmes in English Meeter, 1641. It was again altered and improved by the editors of the version approved by the Church of Scotland. Since then it has come into its present shape. It was inspired of God, and will live forever.

The year 1744 was a time of great opposition to, and persecution of, the Methodists in England. The country was at war with France. An invasion for the purpose of dethroning George II. and crowning the exiled representative of the House of Stuart was expected. The Methodists were represented as Papists in disguise, working for the Pretender. Their meetings were broken up by mobs, and many of their preachers were impressed into the army. Even the Wesleys were brought before the magistrates for examination. In the midst of these persecutions they published a pamphlet, containing thirty-three pieces, and entitled Hymns for Times of Trouble and Persecution, 1744. This hymn was first published in that pamphlet.

"We shall surely."

English hymnologists now attribute this hymn to Fawcett, instead of Shirley.

The Hon. and Rev. Walter Shirley was born in 1725, of a noble family; was brother to Earl Ferrars, and cousin of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. He was a very useful and successful clergyman of the Church of England. He died in 1786.

53 The apostolic benediction.

M

8,7.

AY the grace of Christ our Saviour,
And the Father's boundless love,

With the Holy Spirit's favor,
Rest upon us from above:
Thus may we abide in union

With each other and the Lord;
And possess, in sweet communion,
Joys which earth cannot afford.

JOHN NEWTON.

From Olney Hymns, 1779. A metrical version of the apostolic benediction, unaltered:

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. 2 Cor. xiii, 14.

"Speak; for thy servant heareth." 1 Sam. iii, 10. The last stanza is somewhat altered.

Thomas Kelly, son of the Right Hon. Baron Kelly, was born at Dublin in 1769. After graduating at Dublin University he studied law; but gave up law for theology, and was ordained a clergyman of the Established Church in 1793. Не was subsequently an Independent minister, a wealthy and learned man, and a very popular and useful preacher. He labored in the city of Dublin more than sixty years.

In 1804 he published small volume containing ninety six original hymns. This volume increased

in successive editions until it numbered seven hundred and sixty-five hymns. This was entitled Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture. Dublin, 1853. Many of them are of little value; but some, like this, are deservedly popular. This hymn appeared in 1815. Mr. Kelly died in 1854.

Title: Hymn Commemorative of the Thrice Holy. eighth are omitted. Only one word has been The original has eight stanzas; the first, fifth, and changed; the author wrote, verse four, line three:

"Thus conspire we to adore IIim."

8,7.

RAISE the Lord! ye heavens, adore him; Praise him, angels, in his height;

JONATHAN EVANS.

To thy praise and glory live.