P. M. H. WARE, JR.
Prayer at Morning or Evening.
1 TO PRAYER, to prayer! for the morning breaks,
And earth in her Maker's smiles awakes;
His light is on all below and above-
The light of gladness, and life, and love:
O, then, on the breath of this early air,
Send upward the incense of grateful prayer.
2 To prayer! for the glorious sun is gone,
And the gathering darkness of night comes on.
Like a curtain from God's kind hand it flows
To shade the couch where his children repose;
Then kneel, while the watching stars are bright,
And give your last thoughts to the Guardian
of night.
1 OH! timely happy, timely wise,
Hearts that with rising morn arise!
Eyes that the beam celestial view,
Which evermore makes all things new!
2 New every morning is the love
Our wakening and uprising prove;
Through sleep and darkness safely brought, Restored to life, and power, and thought.
3 New mercies, each returning day, Hover around us while we pray; New perils past, new sins forgiven,
New thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven.
4 If, on our daily course, our mind
Be set to hallow all we find,
New treasures still, of countless price,
God will provide for sacrifice.
5 Old friends, old scenes, will lovelier be,
As more of heaven in each we see;
Some softening gleams of love and prayer
Shall dawn on every cross and care.
110. L. M. WATTS.
Morning Hymn.
1 GOD of the morning! at whose voice
The cheerful sun makes haste to rise,
And like a giant doth rejoice
To run his journey through the skies: 2 Oh, like the sun, may I fulfil
The appointed duties of the day;
With ready mind and active will
March on, and keep my heavenly way.
3 Lord, thy commands are clean and pure,
Enlightening our beclouded eyes;
Thy threatenings just, thy promise sure;
Thy gospel makes the simple wise.
4 Give me thy counsel for my guide,
And then receive me to thy bliss;
All my desires and hopes beside
Are faint and cold, compared with this.
1 LORD, in the morning thou shalt hear
My voice ascending high;
To thee will I direct my prayer,
To thee lift up mine eye.
2 Thou art a God, before whose sight
The wicked shall not stand;
Sinners shall ne'er be thy delight,
Nor dwell at thy right hand.
3 But to thy house will I resort,
To taste thy mercies there;
I will frequent thine holy court,
And worship in thy fear.
4 O may thy Spirit guide my feet
In ways of righteousness!
Make every path of duty straight
And plain before my face.
5 The men, who love and fear thy name,
Shall see their hopes fulfilled;
The mighty God will compass them
With favour as a shield.
1 AWAKE, my soul, and with the sun
Thy daily stage of duty run;
Shake off dull sloth, and joyful rise
To pay thy morning sacrifice.
2 Thy precious time, misspent, redeem;
Each present day, thy last esteem;
Improve thy talent with due care;
For the great day thyself prepare.
3 In conversation be sincere;
Keep conscience, as the noontide, clear; Think how the all-seeing God, thy ways And all thy secret thoughts surveys. 4 Lord, I my vows to thee renew`; Scatter my sins like morning dew; Guard my first springs of thought and will, And with thyself my spirit fill.
5 Direct, control, suggest, this day,
All I design, or do, or say;
That all my powers, with all their might,
In thy sole glory may unite.
1 LORD of my life! O may thy praise
Employ my noblest powers,
Whose goodness lengthens out my days,
And fills the circling hours!
2 Preserved by thy almighty arm,
I passed the shades of night,
Serene and safe from every harm,
And see returning light.
3 When sleep death's semblance o'er me spread,
And I unconscious lay,
Thy watchful care was round my bed,
To guard my feeble clay.
4 O let the same almighty care
My waking hours attend;
From every danger, every snare,
My heedless steps defend.
5 Smile on my minutes as they roll,
And guide my future days;
And let thy goodness fill my soul
With gratitude and praise.
1 IN sleep's serene oblivion laid,
I safely passed the silent night:
Again I see the breaking shade,
I drink again the morning light.
2 New-born, I bless the waking hour;
Once more, with awe, rejoice to be;
My conscious soul resumes her power,
And springs, my guardian God! to thee.
3 O guide me through the various maze
My doubtful feet are doomed to tread;
And spread thy shield's protecting blaze
Where dangers press around my head.
4 A deeper shade shall soon impend,
A deeper sleep my eyes oppress;
Yet then thy strength shall still defend
Thy goodness still delight to bless.
5 That deeper shade shall break away,
That deeper sleep shall leave my eyes;
Thy light shall give eternal day;
Thy love, the rapture of the skies.
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