2 Mercy, descending from above,
In softest accents pleads;
O may each tender bosom move,
When mercy intercedes!
3 Be ours the bliss, in wisdom's way
To guide untutored youth,
And lead the mind that went astray,
To virtue and to truth.
4 Children our kind protection claim;
And God will well approve
When infants learn to lisp his name,
And their Creator love.
5 Delightful work! young souls to win,
And turn the rising race
From the deceitful paths of sin,
To seek redeeming grace.
6 Almighty God! thy influence shed
To aid this good design;
The honors of thy name be spread,
And all the glory thine!
1 God of mercy and of wisdom !
Hear thy children's lisping cry;
Let thy presence, Lord, be with them,
Teaching lessons from on high.
2 Here, beneath thy wing, we seat us,
Up to heaven for wisdom look;
Lord, in mercy deign to meet us,
Meet us in thy sacred book.
3 Since thy truth doth gild its pages,
May that truth, Lord, make us free;
On the Rock of endless ages
Let our faith established be.
4 To our faith we'll add the graces,
Virtue, knowledge, patience, love:
When on earth we leave our places,
Raise us all to seats above.
At art Annual Convention.
1 DEAR Lord, behold thy servants, here,
From various parts, together meet,
To tell their labors through the year,
And lay the harvest at thy feet.
2 In thy wide fields and vineyards, Lord,
We've toiled and wrought with watchful cares
Thy wheat hath flourished by thy word,
Thy love consumed the choking tare.
3 The reapers cry, 'Thy fields are white,
All ready to be gathered in,
And harvests wave, in changing light,
Far as the eye can trace the scene.'
4 Lord, bless us while we here remain;
With holy love our bosoms fill;
O may thy doctrine drop like rain,
And like the silent dew distil.
5 While we attend thy churches' care
O grant us wisdom from above;
With prudent thought and humble prayer,
May we fulfil the works of love.
At an Association of Ministers.
1 BEFORE thy throne, eternal King!
Thy ministers their tribute bring,—
Their tribute of united praise
For heavenly news and peaceful days.
2 We sing the conquests of thy sword,
And publish loud thy healing word;
While angels sound thy glorious name,
Thy saving grace our lips proclaim.
3 Thy various service we esteem
Our sweet employ, our bliss supreme;
And, while we feel thy heavenly love,
We burn like seraphim above.
4 Still in thy work would we abound;
Still prune the vine, or plough the ground;
Thy sheep with wholesome pasture feed,
And watch them with unwearied heed.
5 Thou art our Lord, our life, our love,
Our care below, our crown above:
Thy praise shall be our best employ,
Thy presence our eternal joy.
Alms bestowed in View of God's Mercy.
1 BRIGHT Source of everlasting love!
To thee our souls we raisé,
And to thy sovereign bounty rear
A monument of praise.
2 Thy mercy gilds the paths of life
With every cheering ray,
And still restrains the rising tear,
Or wipes that tear away.
3 When, sunk in guilt, our souls approached The borders of despair,
Thy grace, through Jesus' blood, proclaimed
A free salvation near.
4 What shall we render, bounteous Lord!
For all the grace we see?
Alas! the goodness we can yield
Extendeth not to thee.
5 To tents of woe, to beds of pain,
We cheerfully repair;
And, with the gift thy hand bestows,
Relieve the mourners' care.
6 The widow's heart shall sing for joy;
The orphan shall be glad;
The hungering soul with joy we'll point
To Christ, the living bread.
Charity and Instruction to the Poor.
1 O, How can they look up to heaven,
And ask for mercy there,
Who never soothed the poor man's pang,
Nor dried the orphan's tear?
2 Our Savior was the healing friend
Of poverty and pain;
And never did imploring wretch
His garment touch in vain.
3 May we with humble effort take
Example from above,
And thence the active lesson learn
Of charity and love.
4 But chiefly be the labor ours
To shade the early plant;
To guard from ignorance and guilt
The infancy of want;
5 To graft the virtues, ere the bud
The canker-worm has gnawed,
And teach the rescued child to lisp
Its gratitude to God.
Charity to the Distressed.
1 FATHER of mercies! send thy grace,
All powerful, from above,
To form in our obedient souls
The image of thy love.
2 O, may our sympathizing breasts
That generous pleasure know,
Kindly to share in others' joy,
And weep for others' woe!
? When the poor helpless sons of grief
tow distress are laid,
Soft be our hearts their pains to feel,
And swift our hands to aid.
4 So Jesus looked on dying man
When throned above the skies; And midst the blessedness of heaven He felt compassion rise.
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