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A successful rendering of the first three verses of Psalm exlviii:

"Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights. Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise ye him, all ye stars of light."

It was attributed to the Rev. John Kempthorne, (1775-1838,) an English clergyman, on the authority of Daniel Sedgwick. Kempthorne published it, with others, in Select Portions of Psalms and Hymns, 1810, but he made no claim to the authorship. The hymn is taken, unaltered and entire, from Psalms, Hymns, and Anthems For the Foundling Chapel. London, 1796. It must be marked Un

known.

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ARK! the notes of angels, singing,

HARGlory to the Lamb

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All in heaven their tribute bringing,
Raising high the Saviour's name.

2 Ye for whom his life was given,
Sacred themes to you belong:
Come, assist the choir of heaven;
Join the everlasting song.

3 Sce! the angelic host have crowned him,
Jesus fills the throne on high;
Countless myriads, hovering round him,
With his praises rend the sky.

4 Filled with holy emulation,
Let us vie with those above:
Sweet the theme, a free salvation,
Fruit of everlasting love.

5 Endless life in him possessing,
Let us praise his precious name;
Glory, honor, power, and blessing,
Be forever to the Lamb.

THOMAS KELLY.

Taken unaltered from the Author's Hymns on
Various Passages of Scripture, 1806. The passage
prefixed to this hymn is, "Worthy is the Lamb."
Rev. v, 12.

One stanza, the third of the original, has been
left out:

"Saints and angels thus united,

Songs imperfect still must raise;
Though despised on earth and slighted
Jesus is above all praise."

The subject of this hymn is a common one with hymn writers. The author has put it into a new and pleasing form. For a brief sketch of the Rev. Thomas Kelly, see No. 54.

59

L

Dismission.

ORD, dismiss us

8,7.

with thy blessing,

Bid us now depart in peace;
Still on heavenly manna feeding,
Let our faith and love increase:
Fill each breast with consolation;
Up to thee our hearts we raise:
When we reach our blissful station,
Then we'll give thee nobler praise.

ROBERT HAWKER.

The original text of this short closing hymn cannot be ascertained; nor can the authorship be positively settled. Some collections attribute it to Edwin Smythe, some to Walter Shirley, some to Burder, some to Robert Hawker.

The last is probably correct; although it is not certain that he wrote it. The Rev. Robert Hawker (1753-1828) was a Church of England clergyman, noted for his extreme Calvinism. He was the author of numerous sermons, and of a commentary on the Bible.

60

L

Confession, prayer, and praise.

ORD, when

С. М.

we bend before thy throne,

✓ And our confessions pour,

O may we feel the sins we own,
And hate what we deplore.

2 Our contrite spirits pitying see;
True penitence impart;
And let a healing ray from thee
Beam peace into each heart.

3 When we disclose our wants in prayer,
May we our wills resign;

And not a thought our bosom share
Which is not wholly thine.

4 And when, with heart and voice, we strive

Our grateful hymns to raise,

Let love divine within us live,

And fill our souls with praise.

5 Then, on thy glories while we dwell,
Thy mercies we'll review;
With love divine transported, tell-
Thou, God, art Father too!

JOSEPH D. CARLYLE, ALT.

This hymn is so altered that we give the original from Poems Suggested Chiefly by Scenes in Asia Minor, 1805.

Title: A Hymn Before Public Worship:

1 The first stanza is copied verbatim.
2 "Our broken spirits pitying see,
And penitence impart-
Then let a kindling glance from thee,
Beam HOPE upon the heart.

3 "When our responsive tongues essay,
Their grateful HYMNS to raise;
Grant that our souls may join the lay,
And mount to Thee in praise.

4 "Then, on thy glories while we dwell,
Thy mercies we'll renew,
Till LOVE divine transported tell,
Our God's our Father too."

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5 Thus while thy word our footsteps guides, Shall we be truly blest;

And safe arrive where love provides
An everlasting rest.

WILLIAM H. BATHURST.

From Psalms and Hymns for Public and Private Use. London, 1831.

Title: For an Understanding of the Scriptures. Text: Col. iii, 16:

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."

In the third line of third stanza the author wrote: "And teach us as we read to feel;"

and in the last three lines of the last stanza:

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From Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year, 1827.

Notice the scriptural allusions to the parable of the sower, Matt. xiii. It has not been altered.

Bishop Reginald Heber was born at Malpas, Cheshire, in 1783; was educated at Brazenose College, Oxford, and ordained in 1807. In 1823 he was appointed Bishop of Calcutta, and received the degree of D.D. from Oxford just before sailing for India. Bishop Heber was a man of learning, piety, and energy; and a voluminous author. His fame rests mainly upon his hymns. He died in 1826.

63 The glories of the King.

COM

C. M.

(OME, ye that love the Saviour's name,
And joy to make it known,
The Sovereign of your hearts proclaim,
And bow before his throne.

2 Behold your Lord, your Master, crowned
With glories all divine;

And tell the wondering nations round
How bright those glories shine.

3 When, in his earthly courts, we view
The glories of our King,
We long to love as angels do,
And wish like them to sing.

4 And shall we long and wish in vain?
Lord, teach our songs to rise:
Thy love can animate the strain,
And bid it reach the skies.

ANNE STEELE.

4 Now, Saviour, let thy glory shine,
And fill thy dwellings here,
Till life, and love, and joy divine,
A heaven on earth appear.

5 Then shall our hearts, enraptured, say,
"Come, great Redeemer, come,
And bring the bright, the glorious day,
That calls thy children home."

ANNE STEELE.

Title: Entreating the Presence of Christ in his Church.

"The Desire of all nations shall come." Hag. ii, 7.

One word only has been altered. The author wrote, verse four, line one:

"Dear Saviour, let thy glory shine."

Title: The King of Saints.

The original has seven stanzas. From the author's Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional. London, 1760.

From Miscellaneous Pieces in Verse and Prose.

Miss Steele published two volumes in 1760, under

London, 1780. The original has eight stanzas. The the assumed name of "Theodosia." A third volauthor wrote, verse two, line one:

"Behold your King your Saviour crown'd."

ume was published in 1780, soon after her death, by her friend, Dr. Caleb Evans, of Bristol. In the Boston edition, 1808, the three books were published in two volumes. See No. 63.

Miss Anne Steele (1717-1778) was the daughter
of the Rev. William Steele, a Baptist minister in
Hampshire, England. She was a very talented
lady; although a permanent invalid and a great suf- 65
ferer, her life was useful and happy. Her published
hymns are found in nearly all collections, and have
been a blessing to many people. Many of them are
good, and a few deserve the highest praise. The
following appropriate lines are inscribed upon her
tomb:

"Silent the lyre, and dumb the tuneful tongue,
That sung on earth her great Redeemer's praise;
But now in heaven she joins the angelic song,
In more harmonious, more exalted lays."

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Invoking divine blessings.

ITHIN thy house, O Lord
W
In majesty appear;
Make this a place of thine abode,
And shed thy blessings here.

2 As we thy mercy-seat surround,
Thy Spirit, Lord, impart;
And let thy gospel's joyous sound,
With power reach every heart.

С. М. our God,

3 Here let the blind their sight obtain;
Here give the mourner rest;
Let Jesus here triumphant reign,
Enthroned in every breast.

4 Here let the voice of sacred joy
And fervent prayer arise,
Till higher strains our tongues employ,
In realms beyond the skies.

UNKNOWN.

This anonymous hymn has been traced to Hymns Adapted to the Public Worship of the Christian Church, Princeton, N. J., 1829, where it is a long meter hymn. It was rewritten about 1830, and has found its way into many collections.

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YOME, let us tune our loftiest song. And raise to Christ our joyful strain;

C

Worship and thanks to him belong,
Who reigns, and shall forever reign.

2 His sovereign power our bodies made;
Our souls are his immortal breath;
And when his creatures sinned, he bled,
To save us from eternal death.

3 Burn every breast with Jesus' love;
Bound every heart with rapturous joy;
And saints on earth, with saints above,
Your voices in his praise employ.

4 Extol the Lamb with loftiest song,
Ascend for him our cheerful strain;
Worship and thanks to him belong,
Who reigns, and shall forever reign.

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PRAISE

The bond of love.

L. M.

RAISE waits in Zion, Lord, for thee:
Thy saints adore thy holy name;
Thy creatures bend the obedient knee,
And humbly now thy presence claim.

2 Eternal Source of truth and light,
To thee we look, on thee we call;
Lord, we are nothing in thy sight,
But thou to us art all in all.

3 Still may thy children in thy word
Their common trust and refuge see;
O bind us to each other, Lord,

By one great bond, -the love of thee.

4 Here at the portal of thy house,

We leave our mortal hopes and fears; Accept our prayers, and bless our vows, And dry our penitential tears.

5 So shall our sun of hope arise

With brighter still and brighter ray, Till thou shalt bless our longing eyes With beams of everlasting day.

SIR J. E. SMITH.

Written for Hymns for Public Worship, Selected for the Use of the Congregation Assembling in the Octagon Chapel, Norwich, 1814.

In verse one, line four, the original is:

"And humbly thy protection claim."

In verse three, line four, the author wrote "tie" instead of "bond."

The second stanza is omitted:

"Thy hand has raised us from the dust:
The breath of life thy Spirit gave:
Where but in thee can mortals trust?

Who but our God has power to save?"

Sir James Edward Smith, M.D., was born at Norwich, England, in 1759; was graduated at a medical school in Leyden; was a great lover and student of botany, one of the founders of the Linnæan Society, London, and its first president; and was knighted by the Prince Regent in 1814. He was a member and officer in the Unitarian Church, Norwich. He died in 1828.

L. M.

68 The praises of Jehovah. NERVANTS of God, in joyful lays,

S

Sing ye the Lord Jehovah's praise;

His glorious name let all adore,
From age to age, for evermore.

2 Blest be that name, supremely blest,
From the sun's rising to its rest;
Above the heavens his power is known,
Through all the earth his goodness shown.

3 Who is like God? so great, so high,
He bows himself to view the sky;
And yet, with condescending grace,
Looks down upon the human race.

4 He hears the uncomplaining moan
Of those who sit and weep alone;
He lifts the mourner from the dust;
In him the poor may safely trust.

5 O then, aloud, in joyful lays,
Sing to the Lord Jehovah's praise;
His saving name let all adore,
From age to age, for evermore.

JAMES MONTGOMERY.

An exhortation to praise God for his excellency, and his mercy.

A fine metrical version of Psalm exiii:

"Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the

HYMN STUDIES.

ET

The eternal God exalted.

TERNAL God, celestial King,
Exalted be thy glorious name;

Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, who hum- 70
bleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven,
and in the earth! He raiseth up the poor out of
the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
that he may set him with princes, even with the Let hosts in heaven thy praises sing,
princes of his people. He maketh the barren wom-
an to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of chil-
dren. Praise ye the Lord."

Verse four, line four, the author wrote:

"And saves the poor in him that trust."

The first two lines of the fifth stanza were the same as the first.

It is interesting to trace the resemblance of this hymn to the psalm upon which it is founded. From Songs of Zion, 1822.

69

G

Joy of public worship.

L. M.

REAT God, attend, while Zion sings
The joy that from thy presence springs;

To spend one day with thee on earth
Exceeds a thousand days of mirth.

2 Might I enjoy the meanest place
Within thy house, O God of grace,
Not tents of ease, nor thrones of power,
Should tempt my feet to leave thy door.

3 God is our sun, he makes our day;
God is our shield, he guards our way
From all assaults of hell and sin,
From foes without, and foes within.

4 All needful grace will God bestow,
And crown that grace with glory too;
He gives us all things, and withholds
No real good from upright souls.

5 O God, our King, whose sovereign sway
The glorious hosts of heaven obey,
And devils at thy presence flee;
Blest is the man that trusts in thee.

ISAAC WATTS.

The original title to this grand old hymn is: God and His Church; or, Grace and Glory. It is founded on the last part of Psalm lxxxiv:

"O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah. Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee."

Date, 1719. It is unaltered and complete.

3

L. M.

And saints on earth thy love proclaim.

2 My heart is fixed on thee, my God;
I rest my hope on thee alone;
I'll spread thy sacred truths abroad,
To all mankind thy love make known.

3 Awake, my tongue; awake, my lyre;
With morning's earliest dawn arise;
To songs of joy my soul inspire,

And swell your music to the skies.

4 With those who in thy grace abound,
To thee I'll raise my thankful voice;
Till every land, the earth around,
Shall hear, and in thy name rejoice.

WILLIAM WRANGHAM.

The four stanzas of this hymn were suggested by Psalm lvii, 5, 7, 8, 9:

"Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth. My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise. Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations."

From A New Metrical Version of the Psalms, Adapted to Devotional Purposes. London, 1829. Miller, in his Singers and Songs of the Church, says that Wrangham was an Englishman, and by trade, a jeweler. Verse two, line two, the author

wrote:

71

"And rests its hope on Thee alone."

H

Hosanna to the living Lord. L. M.

OSANNA to the living Lord!
Hosanna to the incarnate Word!

To Christ, Creator, Saviour, King,
Let earth, let heaven, hosanna sing.

2 "Hosanna, Lord!" thine angels cry,
"Hosanna, Lord!" thy saints reply;
Above, beneath us, and around,
The dead and living swell the sound.

3 O Saviour, with protecting care,
Return to this, thy house of prayer.
Assembled in thy sacred name,
Where we thy parting promise claim.

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